The Gloaming Season 1, Episode 7 recap: The Mark of the Witch

The Gloaming Episode 7 begins in 1851, we start by focusing on a group of women in Van Dieman’s Land. The scene is cast in black and white to show that it’s something from a genuine bygone era. These women are being harassed by guards who call them Scottish heretics. One man rips one woman’s shirt open, revealing the mark of the witch on her shoulder ––  the same symbol we’ve been seeing throughout the season. And then the scene fades to the present, where Stephanie has that same scar on her shoulder. “It’s the mark of your forebears, the mark of your destiny.”

At the police station, forensics starts digging up the bones beneath the field at Grace’s house. Lewis is focusing on Freddie more than Grace, and since we know he’s somehow involved, it seems suspicious on his part. Alex is more interested in finding out how this case connects, especially now that he knows Grace is Jenny’s aunt.

Of course, Grace claims she knows nothing about the bones and is mostly irritated and uncooperative as Alex and Lewis question her. She just says the island is full of restless spirits and when Alex tries to find out more about Grace’s connection to Stephanie and Jenny, Grace says, “Only fools chase shadows, detective.”

The Gloaming Episode 7 recap:  The investigation into Gareth continues

Later, Alex visits Freddie at the hospital, he’s awake and in a wheelchair now. He’s drawing when Alex visits, but he doesn’t have many answers for Alex and eventually, a nurse comes to take him away. All Freddie tells Alex is that he killed Dorothy, “for the children.”

We also find out that Marianne, who is likely Dorothy, had two sisters, Alma and Shirley. Alma was Valerie’s mother. Valerie was strangled to death in 1995.

Things aren’t looking good for Gareth as the cops show up at his office with a warrant to search the premises and ask questions about Jacinta’s death. Alex and Molly agree it’s probably better if he sits in on the interview since things are still messy between Molly and Gareth. Molly reminds him about Gareth’s bandaged hand and the fact he might be Marianne Gowdy’s son.

In the interrogation room, Alex presses him about what witnesses saw in the parking lot, how Gareth grabbed Jacinta. Gareth’s lawyer steps in frequently, preventing Alex from really getting the info he wants. They need to get a blood sample from Gareth to confirm the family link, but his lawyer forbids it.

We pivot back to Grace and Stephanie. Grace teaches her niece how to cut thorns off a rose bush. “The flower is beautiful but it’s the thorns that are potent. We use them to make markings that protect us. When persecution comes, we’ll be thankful for the thorns.” Then we return to the opening flashback and see the women have murdered all of the guards.

Further investigation into Valerie Gowdy’s murder links her death to several foster kids. Ricky Jones was a foster kid and several others have disappeared over the years. “Vulnerable kids like Daisy,” Molly remarks. It was seven to ten kids in total who could have connections to each other. Lewis returns to Freddie’s house and sees sketches on the wall, are they sketches of those lost children?

The Gloaming Episode 7 recap: Mystery of the lost kids

Grace tells Stephanie how centuries ago, in the old country, the villagers were hemmed in by the forest. At the outer fields, there was a hedge, a boundary that separated the village from the wildlands. “Our people, your people, lived on that boundary, they were the riders of the border between this world and the other, crossing one to the other and returning with wisdom and insight.” Grace hands a small vial of something to a mysterious woman while the narration discusses how her ancestors were never above delivering retribution.

In 1851, the woman with the witch mark is prepared to be hanged. She smiles as she dies and the guards laugh at her death.

Molly looks at their wall of lost kids. She says she’s seen the photo of Ricky Jones before, in Gareth’s study. She notices that Valerie was killed in 1995, the same year Gareth turned up at Hillcrest.

Speaking of Gareth, he’s trying to destroy all of his evidence, erasing files, shredding stuff, etc. But the cops show up and arrest him for misconduct and obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Then Maggie checks Valerie’s DNA and immediately contacts the detectives to let them know she found a surprising link. Valerie and Jenny were related, so it looks like Grace Cochran, Eileen McGinty and Dorothy Moxley are the Gowdie sisters, a.k.a. Alma, Marianna and Shirley! They’ve since changed their names, obviously. Molly insists that they get Lewis to reopen the case files on Valerie and Jenny.

The Gloaming Episode 7 recap: Lewis tells Alex the truth

When Alex meets with Lewis, he tells them what they’ve uncovered and why they need to reopen the cases. Lewis starts talking about his past and stuff and then Alex realizes that’s why Lewis brought him onboard, to get Jenny’s case reopened.

At the hospital, Freddie is fed some soup by his nurse, who I believe is the same woman Grace met with, I’m guessing Grace is setting up Freddie’s death. Before he falls asleep, he sees an apparition of Daisy.

Elsewhere, Grace and her coven are making creepy masks for the impending winter solstice, a time where “we rejoice in the darkest hour, the coldest hour is a time when the veil between this world and the other is the thinnest. When the world is the most darkest and dead.” Why is Lily there?!

And yes, Freddie dies. The doctors claim he suffered from a fatal cardiac arrest, but they don’t have any more information at the moment.

Alex returns to the original spot where Dorothy’s (well, Marianne’s) body was found, alone. He doesn’t answer Molly’s calls.

The Gloaming Episode 7 recap: Alex returns to the scene of Jenny’s murder

Lewis visits Grace to tell her Freddie is dead. “I never did trust hospital food.” Oh, Grace, you sneaky fox. Lewis warns her that this will bring attention to her. They talk about the past and Grace says she remembers Lewis as a child, a lost boy searching for salvation. It sounds like Lewis was inducted into their church at a young age but he never had enough faith for their beliefs. Lewis says he paid his dues and he’d give it all back if he could. He brought Alex in so he could resolve the past and only he can do that.

Grace tells Lewis he can go now, he’s “free” and they don’t want him anymore. And as he departs, we see another voodoo in her possession — this one with Alex’s business card nearby!

In 1851, a woman stands in a deserted field and sees a stone angel statue. She bows and touches the stone.

Toward the end of The Gloaming Episode 7, Alex continues traipsing through the woods and winds up back in the same place he and Jenny visited all those years ago. The mark of the witch is on the trees and Blair Witch-style stick figures hang from the trees. Then he sees the gravestones in front and the same stone angel from 1851.

Alex goes into the deserted old house and remembers being a kid, tied at the hands with rope and a hood on his head. He sees a blue door and remembers that there is something horrible inside. He recalls a man wearing a straw mask aiming a gun at him. Then in the present, William is waiting for Alex inside with his mask on as he takes it off and tells Alex that he “really shouldn’t have come back.”

And when Molly returns home, frantically trying to get in touch with Alex, Gareth is waiting for her and he knocks her unconscious.

What did you think about The Gloaming Episode 7? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The season finale of The Gloaming airs next Sunday on Starz.