Goosebumps season 1 finale recap, review & ending explained

Open Go TV / November 19, 2023 / Reviews

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In the season finale of Goosebumps, Kanduu aims to complete a mystic ritual as the kids try to stop him. The episode is streaming on Disney+.

Episode 10 recap: Welcome to Horrorland

Rupert was a soldier in a war on foreign soil when he was shot and thrown into an underground temple. He observes some inscriptions in the local language on the wall and when he reads one of them out, it heals his wound.

In 1885, Rupert, who has rechristened himself as Kanduu, visits a failing fair led by Franz Mahar. Mahar was a puppet maker who also made coffins. Kanduu offered success to Mahar’s fair and in return, Mahar would build something for Kanduu.

A year later, Mahar learned what Kanduu had planned, as he used his magic to turn many souls into puppets for his ritual. Mahar created Slappy and used Kanduu’s magic to trap his soul inside the dummy.

Margot hasn’t gotten over the fact that Lucas just left without much of an explanation, and they decide to go back to Port Lawrence. Lucas gets back home and finds the cafe empty.

He runs into his father, who explains that he was in witness protection and not actually dead, but it turns out to be Kanduu, who turns him into a puppet along with Nora.

The others return home, and after some encouragement from James, Isaiah tells Margot about his feelings for her. He gives her time to answer and she goes into her house.

Isaiah goes home and sees his parents with a college recruiter, but he feels something weird stops himself from engaging. Margot sees her parents back together but Isaiah rushes in and says that it’s not real.

They rush out and James and Isabella drive by to pick them up. They all notice that their parents have been turned into puppets and are under someone else’s control.

They head over to Lucas’ place and when he rides out on his bike, they follow him until they reach the school. They are then swarmed by their parents and the other people in the town who are all dummies.

They are taken to a tent in the field where a giant spire of wood has been built. Nathan is inside and explains that Kanduu showed the other people a fantasy and turned them into dummies so that he could control them.

Goosebumps season 1 ending explained in detail:

Who is Kanduu?

Kanduu decides to show the kids his story, of how he fell into a temple during the war and decided to name himself after the word that healed him.

His goal after that was to complete the ritual and release true monsters out into the world so that humans would forget things like war and have something they could fear together.

Nathan mentions that Franz Mahar is the first of his ancestors to make a deal with Kanduu, and he comes from a long line of them. The kids do not agree with Kanduu’s plan and he tells Fifi to kill them.

How do they fight back?

Nathan says that Franz knows how to defeat Kanduu, and they plead with him to find out what it is. They use Kanduu’s spell to turn him into a dummy temporarily and buy them some time, but it isn’t enough.

He begins the ritual and smoke surrounds all of them. Isaiah notices that the spellbook fights off the smoke, so he frees himself and Margot and gives her the book to find the right spell while he fights Kanduu.

They struggle for a bit until Margot gets the spell that healed Kanduu and reverses it. He turns back into the solder he was before and is dragged into the ground by his fellow men.

What happens in the aftermath?

Before he goes down, Kanduu shoots Margot with the gun he has, but Isaiah jumps in the way. The people of the town are turned back into regular people and Isaiah is rushed to the hospital.

Nathan is very stressed out because of his role in the situation. Margot goes into Isaiah’s room and says that she’s not ready to give him up just yet, before reading out the spell to heal him.

Nathan goes into the washroom and when he looks into the mirror, he sees Kanduu looking back at him.

Review

There is more exposition in this episode to explain Kanduu’s existence and it is written well. It is all laid out very clearly and it doesn’t seem too far-fetched either.
The humor is also apt and settles with the tone quite well. Even the tense moments can be lightened with a well-delivered joke and that happens often here.
The ending is intriguing and keeps the story ticking. The writing has been wonderful and the adaptation of the books into this screenplay has been seamless.