Them: The Scare Ending Explained: Who is the Murderer? What Happens to Dawn?

Them Season 2 Overview

When LAPD Detective Dawn Reeve comes across a shocking crime scene, she is pushed into a whirlpool of confusing situations that leads her deeper and deeper into her own life. The closer she comes to uncovering the truth about the murderer’s identity, the closer she gets to losing everything and everyone she holds dear.

Them: The Scare Ending Explained

The episode starts with Dawn being called to a case where a foster mother is found brutally murdered in the most heinous fashion by her foster children. The predominantly white male detectives of the force want to pin the case on the 16-year-old child who found the body but Reeve realises that there is something fishy about the tale and it’s not possible for such a young boy to do the kind of damage that the victim suffered. Unfortunately, due to a past incident, she is placed under the supervision of racist Detective Ronald McKinney who looks down on her because of her race. However, Dawn doesn’t give up.

Meanwhile, struggling actor Edmund Gaimes tries to land a role through a talent agency while working as a child entertainer but things aren’t going well. He has a good relationship with the receptionist but finds himself troubled by the incidents surrounding him and his inability to do something with his life. It is also shown that he is searching for someone, but the information isn’t coming up easily.

Meanwhile, through her investigation Dawn comes across a man who is acting sketchy – he looks terrified of something or someone and keeps his windows and mirrors covered. Although the police aren’t able to find anything concrete at his house, that night, he too is brutally slaughtered. When her boss refuses to help her, Dawn decides to open up about the possibility of a serial killer terrorising Black communities to the press, landing her in a ton of trouble. Edmund, meanwhile, finds himself out of a job when he brandishes a knife during his work hours scaring all the customers.

The next day, Dawn gets to lead the investigation with Detective Joaquin Diaz, who agrees to help her. Meanwhile, Edmund calls the receptionist to his house for a date but ends up scaring her out of her mind after he gets into a role a bit too well, making her run out of his house in terror. The next day, he is escorted out of the talent agency as well and sets his eyes on an assistant director, who had laughed at him previously. Elsewhere, Dawn and McKinney start to butt heads after the latter terrorises her and her son and she vows revenge.

She looks into McKinney and discovers that he might have something to do with the death of another Black man a few years ago but isn’t able to go forward with it further after he tails McKinney to a “white” party and is threatened by a huge group of men. Later on, she finds out that something similar had happened to a set of Korean twin girls after their brother calls her for help. From their home, she finds a tape recording where she hears the girls saying that a man with red hair is stalking them, making her dive deeper into the mystery.

Meanwhile, Edmund vandalises Donovan’s home and kidnaps him, making him reenact his childhood birthday before brutally murdering him. That day, he receives a call after coming back home, telling him that they have finally found what he has been searching for. We then cut to him going to Corey’s house with a cake and it turns out that we have been following Edmund in the year 1989, not 1991 (the present). Edmund meets a younger Dawn and his jumbled excuses make her suspicious and she eventually throws him out of the house, breaking his heart. In the present, Dawn finds out that a young boy named Benito is also seeing a man with red hair and goes to meet him but his grandmother refuses to entertain the police.

That night we see Dawn and Diaz sitting outside Benito’s home and, in the middle of an exorcism, Benito starts having a seizure. Instead of waiting for the ambulance and risking his dying, Dawn rushes out with the boy who dies unnaturally in the back of her car. Dawn is left stunned and confused and is eventually forced to be investigated for her role in Benito’s death. In the midst of this, Dawn’s son Kelvin starts to see the man with the red hair as well, while Athena tells Dawn that she was adopted.

As Kelvin’s condition starts to worsen, Dawn takes it upon herself to get into what is terrorising her family. One night when the red-haired man terrorises Kelvin, Dawn searches through the house for him but only finds a Raggedy Ann doll in the basement. This triggers a memory for Athena who finally discloses the truth to Dawn.

What is Dawn’s Relationship with Edmund?

Athena tells Dawn that she is a twin and his twin brother, Edmund, was adopted with her when they were very little from Bernice Mott’s home. She further tells him that Edmund was unhealthily attached to her, so much so that he wouldn’t let her get out of his sight. Although Athena and her husband tried everything, they were not able to control his temper tantrums and his odd behaviours. Her limit was reached when, one day, she took Dawn to the park and came home to see Edmund sitting with her husband’s dead body. Although she didn’t blame him for what happened, she was unable to get over the scene and eventually sent Edmund back to Mott, keeping Dawn with her.

Having realised that this incident, and the fact that Mott might have been abusive with her foster kids, might have something to do with Edmund’s rage, Dawn decides to face her brother once and for all.

What Happens in Them: The Scare Episode 8?

In the last episode, Dawn finally learns the entire truth after going to Mott’s house – Mott tortured her and Edmund since they were young. Edmund was the one who always saved her from their foster mother’s violence, which explains his unhealthy attachment to her – he just wanted to save her. Plus, we also learn that Dawn and Edmund are Ruby Lee Emory’s children who, after the harrowing incidents of the first season, wasn’t able to take care of the children and decided to give them up for a better life.

In the end, she is able to talk to Edmund and apologise to him for forgetting him but promises that she will love him forever because they are family.

After everything is wrapped up, she goes through the box of trinkets her mother had left them and finds an old picture of Ruby Lee Emory with her own family and she is stunned to see Lucky’s picture. Realising that the trauma runs deeper in their family and won’t be easily rid of, she hears Da Tap Dance Man coming up the stairs and whistling and making himself known to her, signifying that she cannot run from her generational trauma just by a few kind words.

Them: The Scare is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Also Read: Them Season 2 Review: Deborah Ayorinde’s Horror Series is Truly Terrifying