Undone season finale recap: The Halloween Night

Undone time travels back to “The Halloween Night.” Alma’s family unites to help her, but she’s out to change history. Will she succeed? We’ve got the recap!

Undone ends its eight episode run with “The Halloween Night.” It’s a brisk 21-minute episode that explores time travel, shame, and the meaning of life itself. If you haven’t been rooting for Alma (Rosa Salazar), you will by the end of the episode. She’s quite possibly at the pinnacle of human capability, yet she’s willing to potentially sacrifice that power in order to get her dad (Bob Odenkirk) back. Along the way, we learn that fate is more powerful than time and that some memories are forgotten for a reason.

Through the Daycare Mirror

Alma hides behind one of the decorative headstones in a front yard while her younger self (Luna-Marie Katich) and Jacob Prime come into view. She waits for Jacob Alpha to show up next to her. When he does, he wants to know how he got there. Alma insists it’s not a big deal. She just summoned the spirit of her ancestors through an Aztec dance that she’s always known. Jacob is impressed and speechless. He insists that they try to find out who kills him. If they just change time right now, the killers could try again at a later date that they would not be prepared for. That’s a key thing to remember.

They follow Jacob Prime to his lab. It’s being trashed. Is this the same person who trashed the lab the week before? That was the basis of Alma and Sam’s (Siddharth Dhananjay) investigation in “Prayers and Visions.” The vandal is revealed. It’s Camila (Constance Marie)! And, she’s looking for Alma! Apparently, Jacob knew about Alma’s capabilities way back when. He had been performing brain scans and MRIs on her like he had with other shaman. Once Camila says this, Alma remembers it. She never thought about it until this moment.

Farnaz (Sheila Vand) is as shocked as I was. She knew about the tests, but she thought that Jacob had told Camila about them. It’s not ethical to test a child without both parent’s consent. Jacob makes matters way worse when he tells Camila not worry. He’s not testing or hiding Alma right now. He left her on the street in a nice neighborhood at night on Halloween. This is when fears of Jacob being a bad guy where quickly replaced with the reality that’s he’s obsessive and unbalanced.

Camila tells Jacob that she’s had enough. She tells him to never come home again. After Camila storms off to try and find Alma, Farnaz tells Jacob that she’s going to turn him for his lack of ethics. Jacob asks her not to, but also offers to drive her home. This whole time Alma is watching. You can tell that she understands what all of this means. She was used. She was an experiment. Still, Alma is trying to hold on to good thoughts about her dad. But, when they first met up at the beginning of the episode, Alma reminded Jacob that she waited for him all night. The let downs are piling up fast.

Next, Alma is in the back of Jacob’s car. He and Farnaz are talking. Jacob is suddenly distraught over losing his family. Is he? Or is he concerned about losing his best test subject in Alma? We get a solid answer when he tells Farnaz that if she turns him in his work will be considered invalid. Farnaz understands what he’s saying. She tries to get out of the car, but Jacob locks the doors. Farnaz promises not to say anything, but Jacob says he can’t trust her.

At this point, Jacob Alpha shows up in the back seat next to Alma. His mental block of the memory is lifted. He now remembers what he did. He wants Alma to get out. She doesn’t need to see this. He phases her into her car before her accident. He tells her to stop before the light and the accident will never happen. All that she has seen will never happen. Jacob has enjoyed spending time with her, but she can live her life. Alma refuses. Back in the car, the truck is coming, but it never gets close to Jacob. He swerves the car off the cliff in a murder suicide.

Alma phases them back to the point where Jacob leaves her to go to the lab. She insists all of the emotional growth he’s gained since his death will make him a better man. He’ll be able to fight the impulse to kill himself and Farnaz. Jacob Alpha gets up and merges with Jacob Prime. When Farnaz calls his cell phone, he tells her that he can’t come to work. He’s with his daughter.

How Could I trust You?!

Alma wakes up on the floor of the daycare surrounded by broken glass. She has a nasty gash on her head. Tunde (Daveed Diggs) cares about Alma, but he’s had enough. He fires her. But, Alma is cool with it. She returns home to pack. She’s headed to meet her dad in a cave in Mexico when the timelines catch up and self correct. Sam is skeptical and afraid. He calls Camila. Alma feels betrayed. She asks Sam why she keeps trusting him. A few episodes back when Alma wanted to end a conversation with Sam, she removed her hearing aide. I thought that was cold. Well, Alma one-ups herself. She tells Sam that none of this matters because when the timelines reset, they’ll never have met. Sam looks shocked. I gasped. Erasing someone else’s history is a horrifying thought. It’s something Jacob would do.

Outside of her apartment, Camila confronts Alma. She wants to take her to a mental institution. Camila tells Alma that in the weeks leading up to his accident, Jacob was diagnosed with schizophrenia, just like his mom. That makes Alma pause, but she still steals her mom’s car keys and drives to Mexico. There, she waits and waits for her dad to appear from the cave. As she stares, her eyes get watery. Becca (Angelique Cabral) walks up behind her. She was sent by their mom. Alma apologizes if she ruined her honeymoon. Becca tells her not to worry. She confessed all of her cheating that she decided to hold back in “The Wedding” to Reed. The family was at work to get the marriage annulled.

This is huge news. Alma had originally gotten the wedding canceled by blurbing Becca’s cheating in front of everyone. But, she had changed the timeline. Even though she erased that blunder, Becca’s conscience still led her to end the marriage by confessing on her own. What happens will happen one way or another. Jacob was afraid that if they didn’t snuff out the reason he died, it would happen again. Although he altered his personality, Jacob didn’t change the fact that Camila knew he used Alma as a test subject. Farnaz may have still turned him in. His research may have been disregarded along with him being fired. Jacob may have killed himself at a later date.

It’s a beautiful morning, but Alma is willing to admit she might be wrong about having saved Jacob. She will return home with Becca, but she just wants to go and make sure her dad is not going to come out of that cave. As soon as Becca walks away, the sun jumps over the horizon of the cave and shines bright on Alma’s face. Her eyes get wide. She looks like she sees something. Is it Jacob? Or is it just the sun continuing to rise? That’s up to us. This is where the episode ends.

I’ll write a review of the entire season of Undone, but this episode encapsulates the story. Our reality is left up to our interpretation. We are given clues, rules, and evidence. Whether we choose to apply them or deny them is up to us. Alma became very powerful throughout the eight episodes. Yet, she was excited to sacrifice that power to an altered reality if only to have her dad back.

Loss is powerful. It can destroy you. Undone was also powerful. It destroyed me a lot. What did you think of the season? Let’s discuss in the comments!