Revenge of the Island

Episode 26: The Real Ending

The episode begins with Chef and Wayne carrying the canoe to the dock—though, in truth, Chef is doing most of the heavy lifting, barely breaking a sweat. They drop it by Chef’s boat and start heading back to the cabin, ready for the next step of their escape.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Bowie is scanning the area with increasing frustration. “Where is it?!” he exclaims, standing up straight. He and Axel have been searching for the rope for over ten minutes. “I swear, it was behind that log,” Axel says, pointing, but there’s no rope in sight. They share a look. “You think Scary Girl took it?” Bowie asks. Axel shrugs. “Maybe.”

After another two minutes of searching, Bowie finally looks up with a mix of irritation and disbelief. “Oh. My. Fucking. God.” Axel follows his gaze, sighing as she spots the rope dangling from a tree branch at least 25 feet off the ground. “How does that even happen?” she mutters. Bowie shrugs, joking, “The wind?”

Desperate, Bowie hurls his shoe upward, but it catches on a branch just a bit lower than the rope. He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. Axel finally suggests, “Someone’s gonna have to climb.” Bowie immediately looks at her. “By ‘someone,’ I hope you mean you.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “You’re the one who’s all survivalist and zombie-apocalypse-ready,” he teases. Axel rolls her eyes. “Yeah, but this is a straight climb—no branches to grab. If I fall, everything gets a lot harder.”

They both sigh, resigned. Bowie gathers a pile of leaves at the base of the tree as a makeshift cushion, and Axel hesitantly begins her climb. She slips early on, falling into the leaves with a soft “Shit!” She glares at Bowie, who only offers a sarcastic, “Well, don’t fall.”

Back at the cabin, Chef and Wayne return, only to find that Bowie and Axel are still gone. "Where's Bowie and Axel?" Wayne asks looking at Caleb, who just shrugs. “How hard is it to find a rope that you put down?” Chef wonders out loud. Caleb has MK securely tied to a deck post, and Julia, now outside, is listening intently. “Maybe they’re having trouble finding it?” Wayne suggests, but Damien shakes his head. “It’s right behind a log—nothing complicated. And they’d call for help if they really needed it.”

The scene cuts back to Bowie and Axel. “Think we should ask for help?” Bowie calls up to her. Axel reaches a bit higher, grabbing Bowie’s shoe and tossing it down. “No, I’m too far up now. Don’t even think about leaving me.” Bowie chuckles, hands raised in mock surrender, though she can’t see. “Relax, I’m not going anywhere.”

At the cabin, the group debates whether to go look for them. “Give them a little more time,” Chef advises. As the sun begins to set, everyone settles back into the cabin, anxious but waiting as patiently as they can.

Finally, as the sky begins to darken, and the sun begins to set, we see Axel shimmying down the tree, the rope in hand. She and Bowie celebrate with triumphant “Woop woop!”s and a high-five, which they surprisingly don't even hesitate on, before heading back, energized by their well-be-it strange newfound bond. Approaching the cabin, they notice MK tied to the post, seemingly left out in the cold. Bowie smirks, raising an eyebrow. “Looks like they left you hanging,” he says, prompting a very slow, unamused nod from MK. He chuckles, “Wow! You still understand English, huh?” MK shoots him a silent, lethal glare, which only makes him and Axel laugh harder as they enter the cabin.

The group welcomes them back with cheers, and they waste no time preparing to leave. Chef directs everyone with a calm authority. “Axel, Bowie, push the canoe to the back of the boat,” he says, they nod at Chef, then look at eachother, they smile at one another, satisfied with their newfound friendship. Chef instructs Damien and Julia to tie the rope between the two boats while he gets Raj and settles him into a comfortable position on the main boat. Despite his gruff exterior, there’s a clear sense of warmth and care as Chef tends to each of them. All the events with this new cast has defrosted his cold, unloving heart. Chef was always a good man deep down, it's just now, he's not afraid to show it.

Confessional - Bowie:
"We did it..." laughs "We really did it."

With the boats tethered together, Caleb drags MK onto the canoe, her hands still bound, getting himself onto the canoe aswell, while the rest of the group piles onto Chef’s boat. They all get on one-by-one, Julia is the last one aboard, but just as she's about to step on, she hears an eerie giggle from the forest, her heart skipping a beat as she turns around, peering into the trees. It's leading her in, but she knows this island, she recognizes the trap. She quickly steps aboard the boat, taking a seat near the back. As she turns to look into the forest yet again, she sees a faint figure—Lauren, watching from the shadows, her eyes narrowed with unsettling intensity. Julia’s chest tightens, her gaze lingering as Chef starts the engine.

As they move away, the waves slap against the boats, a bit of water splashing into the canoe. It’s quiet, but unlike the first time they left, this silence feels whole. There’s a shared feeling of relief, a sense that they’ve finally reached the end of this nightmare. The peaceful, fading light of the sunset washes over them, giving them a fleeting moment of comfort as they journey back, the island fading away from behind them. It feels like maybe, just maybe, this right here, might just  be... The Real Ending.