Netflix’s The Body kept viewers guessing from beginning to end: what really happened to Grace, and does she actually possess supernatural (and possibly divine) powers? Did the other members of the dance team ever actually “see” them? Like the many mystery boxes that came before it, the story is keeping those answers close to its chest, but that’s just the promise of more in the future.
But what exactly happened? Here’s everything you need to know about the shocking cliffhanger ending, and where the characters stand after the dust settles.
Warning! Major Spoilers for The Body Season 1 below!
Grace Franklin is possibly possessed, possibly a saint, but is definitely having an effect on her team.
The Body began with a spot opening up in a high school’s prestigious dance team, and after that spot is filled by Grace (Sofia Wylie), she must be initiated into the team with a raucous Halloween party at an abandoned convent where a bunch of nuns went crazy. While there, she seemingly has a bad reaction to the molly she was given. Team captain Anya (Kristina Bogic) and new kid at school Lisbeth (Geena Meszaros) realize what happened and try to get her help, but they panic when she appears to pass away in Lisbeth’s lap. They scramble and bring her back home, but somehow she survives and remains in a coma.
While Grace lay unconscious, the girls cope with the tragedy in different ways. Elise (Sara Boustany) fakes a vision of Grace to make Anya jealous, but soon others claim visions of Grace, including the dance coach (Gabby Windey), who claims Grace visited her during labor. But is it real, or is it mass hysteria? The biggest evidence for the former comes from Leo (Jackson Kelly), who has been plagued with images of Grace in various forms since the moment he met her. It could just be teen hormones, but it could be divine intervention.
Over the course of Season 1’s eight episodes, we learn that Lisbeth and Leo used to be members of a fire-and-brimstone snake church run by their late father back in West Virginia. Originally, Grace’s position as a possible saint was admittedly a hoax made up by Anya and Lisbeth, but by the time of the debutante ball, it seemed like even they weren’t sure about what was really going on.
While some of the hysterical moments in The Body are fake, we don’t know for sure if every vision is.
Meanwhile, Lisbeth has decided to take advantage of Grace’s condition and claim that it was she who revived Grace, since she was in the car at the time. Like her father before her, she’s claiming to be a prophet. Unlike her father, she’s also blackmailing Anya for a place in her household. Considering that Lisbeth and Leo’s mom is shown taking her own life, that will definitely come in handy.
During the debutante ball, Anya and Elise finally have their massive confrontation as Elise realizes the web of lies that Anya has concocted, and how she was willing to pin the blame on anyone who wasn’t her.
In the show’s final moments, Grace’s parents and her uncle (and principal), Father Franklin (Nnamdi Asomugha), catch her waking up after they realize she did, in fact, have ecstasy in her system. It’s only brief, but she’s able to say a few words: “I...am...God.” Grace has already amassed a few followers, but with that statement, things are bound to get a lot more chaotic. Sure, her coma may be explainable, but the visions and miracles sure aren’t.
At the end of the season, there are still so many questions that haven’t been answered, like how legitimate the visions have been, what made Lisbeth’s chickens fall down dead, and why Maddie’s ankle was instantly healed. It’s the kind of story that can’t be fully told by just one season, but this is Netflix, a streaming service known for one-season wonders. Hopefully, we’ll get to see the long-term plan for this show play out as it was actually meant to, and The Body can become the new Yellowjackets it was meant to be.
