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What Really Happened in Hysteria! - Was It Demons, Mass Confusion, or Something Else?
All eight episodes of Hysteria! are now streaming exclusively on Peacock.
***WARNING! The following contains major spoilers for the end of Hysteria!***
Hysteria, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is "behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess."
That pretty much sums up the Satanic Panic of the 1980s when parents across America were thoroughly convinced that their children were falling prey to the occult forces of Devil worship, the ritual sacrifice of animals, and, worst of all, Dungeons & Dragons. This irrational concern, of course, turned out to be unfounded and yet, it remains a perfect example of how a small flame of fear can quickly grow into a blazing conflagration that turns all logic and reason into smoldering ash.
As such, we must now ask ourselves: Was the town of in Peacock's Hysteria! (all episodes are now streaming) actually plagued by demons or was it merely the victim of mass confusion?
What was really happening in Peacock's Hysteria!?
Well, the answer is: We still don't know for certain. Until the very last frame of Hysteria!, the audience is meant to believe that the denizens of Happy Hollow were simply overcome by mass — what else? — hysteria. Those strange rashes and encounters with alleged demonic activity were merely the result of the power of suggestion; an unfortunate byproduct of Ryan Hudson's seemingly ritualistic death, Dylan Campbell's ill-advised Satanic cult, and Tracy Whitehead's intentional fear-mongering.
This theory is furthermore compounded by the penultimate scene where Spud (Kezii Curtis) recounts the story of a the Halifax Slasher, an apocryphal boogeyman born out of widespread fear and panic, to Dylan and Jordy. But mere moments after this conversation takes place, we see a snarling demon (or perhaps even Satan Himself) lurking around Linda and Gene's bedroom door. Maybe the explanation lies somewhere in between real demons and mass hysteria? What if all those terrified minds focusing on the same thing for hours on end literally manifested a tulpa-like presence in Happy Hollow?
"We don’t know!" Julie Bowen tells USA Insider. "I don’t even have that answer necessarily by the end of the entire season. I’m still wondering what was real and what wasn’t real, which I think is the fun part."
Indeed, that's the great thing about ambiguous endings. Fans can debate the answer for hours on end!
How to watch Hysteria!
All eight episodes of Hysteria! are now streaming exclusively on Peacock. Episodes also air weekly, every Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
The show stars Bowen as Linda Campbell; Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect) as Tracy Whitehead; Emjay Anthony (Chef) as Dylan Campbell; Chiara Aurelia (Fear Street: Part Two) as Jordy; Kezii Curtis (Secret Headquarters) as Spud; Nikki Hahn (American Housewife) as Faith; Garret Dillahunt (Burn Notice) as The Reverend; Nolan North (Uncharted) as Gene Campbell; Elijah Richardson (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Cliff; Milly Shapiro (Hereditary) as Ingrid; Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13) as Officer Olsen; Jessica Treska (Sharp Objects) as Judith; and the great Bruce Campbell (Ash vs Evil Dead) as Chief Dandridge. (Click here for more on who plays who.)
Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer, Kong: Skull Island) directed Episodes 1 and 8. He also serves as an executive producer alongside co-creators Matthew Scott Kane and David A. Goodman; Chris Bender (The Last Voyage of The Demeter); Jake Weiner (Mulan); and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves co-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.
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