Witch Creek Road S4 E11 Commentary
Episode 11 (aka Innsmouth Epilogues)
SUMMARY, EPILOGUE 1: Nadine and the Local escape town. Nadine's suspicion of the Local causes her to stab him through the neck and dump his body on the side of the road.
SUMMARY, EPILOGUE 2: Grant, Dave and Ashlee are sacrificed by the cultists in order to complete the ritual.
NADINE'S DECISION TO KILL THE LOCAL: Though perhaps a bit controversial, Nadine murders the very person who's been helping her all along: the Local.
To put this into context, Nadine has just experienced a very traumatic event. She's confused, scared and just trying to get away. The one person who's been straight with her is Faye, who is also trying to kill her. But Faye showed her what the people of Innsmouth become, and so Nadine is finally beginning to put two and two together. The Local stayed underwater for almost seven minutes. The Local was with the cultists when they came to the hotel. And yes, the Local has been helping her, but he's also being very vague in their conversations. For example:
- NADINE: How do I know I can trust you?
- LOCAL: You don't.
- NADINE: Where are we going?
- LOCAL: Away.
- NADINE: Why are you helping me?
- LOCAL: I don't know.
- NADINE: How many people have you helped kill?
- LOCAL: Not as many as you're imagining.
Every answer the Local provides is very cryptic, and finally Nadine, after the Local admits to killing people, decides to kill the Local while his guard is down.
Plus, there was nothing to say this all wasn't an act and just part of the ritual... (Side note: It wasn't. The Local legitimately wanted out of Innsmouth).
In the end, Nadine had to make a judgement call based on available information.
THE JEEP: In Season 4 Episode 2, the Local made a bet with Nadine and put his Jeep on the line. While Nadine didn't win the bet, she still ended up with the Jeep... And, to be fair, this was completely unintentional. It was actually angrybears1000000000 in the Webtoons comment section who, I believe, first made the connection. And while I would love to take credit for purposely structuring the story to come full circle like that, this was definitely a happy coincidence.
ASHLEE'S FINAL MOMENTS: This was my favorite scene to write in this particular storyline, simply because Ashlee is such a badass in her final moments. What begins as a touching moment, with Ashlee reaching out her hand to Dave, quickly downgrades to her blaming Dave for the entire trip. She also breaks up with him, and even causes the cultist priest to pause long enough that Ashlee is able to spit in his face.
Ashlee knows she's going to die, and rather than succumbing to fear, she goes out on her own terms.
OLI: Oli is absent from the final ritual. This ties back to what Faye said in Season 4 Episode 9: "At this point, they don't even need you." In short, neither Oli nor Nadine were required for the ritual, because the cultists already had three sacrifices. This was more about the cultists tying up loose ends, and also to prevent Faye from making a sacrifice to her own god (who the cultists believe to be beneath their god).
But make no mistake: the Deep Ones killed him.
THE RITUAL: Though we don't get to see the conclusion to the ritual, you'll see the end results in Season 4 Episode 17 onward.