Revival Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Rend the Veil Leaves More Hurt Than Hope

If Moore Creek is one of the few places on earth where the membrane between oblivion and awareness is the thinnest, I wish Revival Season 1 Episode 10 had run through it.

The finale was … something.

There were a few bright spots, but overall, it was more disappointing and depressing than enlightening.

The Quest for Eternal Life — and Why It Fell Flat 

It turns out this has all been about the quest for unending life. Again. Lester’s “old ass” wanting to live forever in his current state? Absurd. 

If someone told me 20 years ago I could stick around forever as I was then, I’d have said bring it on. But Lester’s best years are far behind him, and with a pentagram carved into his chest, he’s taken to murder to extend his life. Embarrassing.

• Revival Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Rend the Veil Leaves More Hurt Than Hope
  by Carissa Pavlica
• Athena’s Kids Return — and 9-1-1 Begins to Heal
  by Whitney Evans
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 Episode 7 Review: The Gang Gets Ready for Primetime
  by Sam Huang

Honestly, Blaine isn’t so crazy after all. There’s something wrong with this town and its inhabitants, and it’s not demons — just humans. Two humans, to be exact, who believe their lives matter more than anyone else’s. 

Their selfishness invited the governor, the military, and every other opportunist into Moore Creek. It spun wildly out of control.

The Cypress and Blackdeer Tragedy

The Cypress family was used and abused alongside the Blackdeers. Lester and Aaron first killed Rose to trigger whatever sacrifice magic they thought the creek held. 

When that failed, they turned to Em. For Aaron, it was convenient — get rid of his affair while “saving” his wife with the healing waters.

Except, was anyone actually healed? The water only seemed to work for the revivers. Em got powers, sure, but using them drained her life. That’s not salvation — that’s a slow death sentence.

And what was the plan? Kill young women until Lester and Aaron figured out the creek’s secrets or died trying? Lester’s chatter at the end was pure raving nonsense.

The Muddled Mythology and Patty’s Return

Why did Em fall for her mother’s trick again — the same vision that had already led her into danger? 

Patty’s appearance this time, allegedly to drown her in creek water, turned into a baffling mess when it was suddenly Lester holding her under. Even he seemed shocked to see Patty. Clear as mud.

• Mythic Quest’s Original Ending Almost Ruined Its Legacy
  by Sam Huang
• Music City Mayhem! Could 9-1-1’s Next Big Crossover Hit Nashville?
  by Whitney Evans
• Resident Alien and the Rare Magic of TV That Feels Like Coming Home
  by Carissa Pavlica

The military’s involvement made just as little sense. They arrived like some major power player, caused chaos, and then were ordered away with so little fanfare it was almost laughable. 

Why were they there in the first place? Were they after the water? The souls? It felt like a dropped subplot from another show entirely.

The Purple Soul Mystery

In the middle of that chaos, we got one of the most visually striking — and most unexplained — sequences of the finale. Em — short for Martha — was the only soul that glowed purple instead of gold. 

When Lester drowned her, purple tendrils of light connected them, like two beings sharing the same strange energy source. When she turned the tables and ripped out his heart, that same purple glowed from the inside out, pouring from his eyes.

When Em died, the light radiated from her eyes, too. Dana held her in that moment, and it looked like there might have been a beam-of-light explosion, but the scene was such a chaotic blur that it’s impossible to say for sure. 

Was the purple an indicator of her being the “special” child Patty proclaimed her to be at birth? If Martha is the reason Revival Day happened, why is she different from every other soul?

The finale didn’t bother to answer. It just left us staring at the purple glow and wondering if it meant anything at all.

Nithiya: Caring or Calculated?

Was Nithiya’s fight to become Em’s therapist about Aaron’s affair? Did she uncover Lester and Aaron’s plans and want to cure herself by using Em? 

And how would she even know Em was the conduit? She sometimes seemed to genuinely care, but her actions were manipulative, not heroic.

• Mythic Quest’s Original Ending Almost Ruined Its Legacy
  by Sam Huang
• I Finally Pinpointed What’s Wrong with Shifting Gears — Tim Allen’s Comedy Style
  by Denis Kimathi
• Netflix Needs to Stop Trying to Make the Virgin River Prequel Happen
  by Jasmine Blu

Wayne’s Descent into Despair

The most gut-wrenching moments belonged to Wayne Cypress, who handed his badge to JP and walked away from his role as sheriff before this all came to a head. Revived by Em and wrongly suspected of her death, Wayne reached out to Dana in despair.

That scene in the car was brutal. His voice wasn’t angry or even panicked — it was cracked and hollow, the sound of a man with nothing left. 

The call felt like a last attempt to find an anchor before the tide took him. Dana offered to talk, but it was half-hearted, and she hung up before he could truly speak his piece. 

The look on his face made it equally believable that he was driving out of town for good or heading toward a cliff’s edge.

The Souls and What’s at Stake

We can’t overlook the glowing beings — souls. Seeing Jordan and Jesse Blackdeer reunited with theirs was hauntingly beautiful. But the image that gutted me most was Wanda’s.

Her burned body meant her soul could never return to it. Unlike us, who don’t consciously know we have a soul, a soul knows it belongs to a body. It knows the connection has been severed. 

The sound that came from Wanda’s soul — deep, drawn out, almost like a scream pulled from the edge of the universe — was devastating. 

And the general? He looked down at her as though she were trash, dismissing her existence as “not needed anymore.” The cruelty in that moment was staggering.

• Your Official Rainmaker Prep Kit: 13 Legal Thrillers and Blue Sky Favorites to Get You Courtroom-Ready
  by Carissa Pavlica
• 11 One Chicago Ship-Based Spinoffs We’d Watch In a Heartbeat
  by Jasmine Blu
• 7 Bloody Violent TV Shows To Bring Out Your Inner Caveman
  by Denis Kimathi

If the story continues, surely the goal should be reconnecting souls and bodies. Souls wandering apart from their humans is crueler than any horror the show has conjured so far. 

And yet, it feels like the series will shift its focus to Martha’s birth or the water’s alleged power — smaller, pettier mysteries compared to the profound questions of what makes us whole.

The Lingering Questions and Lingering Hurt

Ibrahim is sticking around to study the water, but the spark is gone from everyone. Lester claimed life is lived forward and understood backward, but what has Revival Day actually taught them?

Some of them now know souls exist, which should offer comfort. But they also know how easily that truth can be exploited. 

The purple glow, the tendrils, the military’s random incursion, Wanda’s unmoored soul — none of it has been explained. None of it has been given the emotional weight it deserves.

I’m not sure what to think. All I know is that I felt awful after watching “Rend the Veil.” It hurt my soul. That can’t possibly be the intention, can it?

Watch Revival Online

The post Revival Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Rend the Veil Leaves More Hurt Than Hope appeared first on TV Fanatic.