Anya
Anya is a character in this story who is trying to figure out what her life is supposed to be. She’s a cashier at a supermarket, and she has her own apartment, but she’s not sure what she wants to do with her life. She’s still interested in being a ballerina, but it seems like it’s harder than ever to get up on stage and perform.
Anya tries to call her old friend Rhett, having found his number in the phonebook. He’s pretty frosty toward her though, as Anya pleads with him to try and tell her that everything will be okay. Teary-eyed, she tells him that he should have come and found her to help her out rather than vanishing. Rhett hangs up.
Anya’s radio keeps going off at midnight. Every time, a voice seems to be crackling through whispering something around static. On one time, we hear Spence’s voice. Apparently these are all ghosts of the past though, as Anya attends therapy and admits that all of her friends (from Brightcliffe) have died and have been for about a year now. ..
The stories in Midnight Club all seem to be connected, as Anya begins to realize that something is wrong. This reality completely implodes, eventually leading to Anya being shot in the head, falling backwards and landing on her bed. That shadow from before materializes into a baby on the ceiling, which grows to a skeletal creature, reaching out for her through the ceiling.
Anya is hopeful after hearing from the Midnight Club. They tell her that if the ritual is successful, she will have a perfect reality. ..
After Ilonka’s talk with Anya, she promises that she is not alone and that they are always there for her. She promises that everything will be okay and as we cut back to Brightcliffe, Anya has passed away. Ilonka is given Anya’s belongings. ..
Ilonka is not happy though. She questions Ilonka, demanding to know exactly what she was doing in the basement. She’s seriously considering throwing her out of Brightcliffe. Instead, Ilonka heads over to see Shasta, telling her that the ritual didn’t work.Apparently the symbol is a reference for “as above, so below” and it’s ancient. Apparently her group are gentle as kittens and they only get violent “when they have to.”
The Midnight Club has reunited and this time, Dr Stanton is among them. She reveals that she’s known about the group for years and they’ve heard their voices through the walls. Besides, who supplies all the fresh firewood? She’s been lenient until now but they went too far with their ritual and for now, she’s breaking up the group until she can decide what to do.
The kids gather around the water’s edge to say their goodbyes to Anya. They scatter her ashes into the water and Cheri plays a sad song on her guitar. Ilonka and Kevin hug each other tightly, but when Kevin tries to kiss Ilonka, she pulls away. ..
Ilonka wakes up to find an old woman creeping up on her in the bathroom. She’s scared and tells Ilonka that she’s hungry, but Ilonka doesn’t want to eat. The old woman leaves and Ilonka falls asleep again.
The Episode Review
After the tease of what could be at the end of the last episode, we instead get 20 minutes of Anya off in a dream world before seeing the final moments of her perfect life. This is, of course, a throwback to Big Fish but this time there’s far less emotional weight behind it. I still think this could have been handled much better with Anya actually living her best life and then realizing at the end that it was all a dream, only to then continue on with her passing away. ..
The Midnight Club has lost one of its most popular members. It’s been a long process to build up her character, and it will be a major blow for the show given how much time has been invested in her development. We have three episodes left, and it’s still unclear whether we’ll see some of the other characters step up and take center stage. ..
