And the whole scenario was engineered by Mother, who is likely trying to save Sam by keeping his sub-conscious alive.
In episode 7, the Duchess told Sam that that was how Mother talked to the people who arrived at the Boroughs.
Though I don’t personally buy this theory, because if Sam had attained Mother’s powers, then his wound on the forehead would have healed instantly.
This would keep him, and her consciousness inside Sam’s brain, alive, and give Sam’s body enough time to heal completely.
Well, these are my theories on why Sam Cooper glitched at the end of The Boroughs, but if you have anything to add or share, please feel free to comment below.
[Spoiler Alert] At first, it seemed like everything went back to normal, the bad guys were defeated, the alien mother in distress had been liberated, and the friends were finally reunited, but then The Boroughs’ ending drops a hint that makes you reconsider everything. In the closing sequence, we see the protagonist of the show, Sam Cooper, walking into the bathroom, to change his band-aid for a wound on the forehead, and while he’s doing that, his reflection in the mirror suddenly glitches. Now, this paves way for a number of theories which I want to discuss with you all, so you can tell me which one you think is closest to what might have actually happened in the finale.
Okay, first and foremost, I think the entire scene where Sam and his friends are reunited at his house in the Boroughs takes place inside his head. And the whole scenario was engineered by Mother, who is likely trying to save Sam by keeping his sub-conscious alive. The show has already established that Mother can create scenarios in people’s heads, by taking the form of their loved ones. In episode 7, the Duchess told Sam that that was how Mother talked to the people who arrived at the Boroughs. And the reason why Sam’s reflection in the mirror glitched was because in this scene, his daughter, Claire, asked him a difficult question which (in layman’s terms) overloaded the system. Claire asked Sam whether he wants a burger or a hot dog, and I know this may sound funny, but if someone asks you this kind of thing in real life, it will disrupt your chain of thought for a second or two. So if Mother is using Sam’s memories to fabricate an event in his head, then as soon as this “burger hot dog” question turns up, Mother has to use a portion of her powers to scan Sam’s brain to figure out which one he likes more. I think you get the gist. Also, the reason why I am not entertaining the possibility that Sam’s reflection glitched because he absorbed Mother’s powers is because, in that case, it would have been his physical body that glitched, and not his reflection. Furthermore, the entities with Mother’s blood in them only glitched when they came in contact with cathode rays, but there was no such thing in Sam’s bathroom. My theory is: Sam’s in a coma, and Mother’s still alive somewhere (likely inside his head), and she’s trying her best to not let Sam die, because he’s precious to her. But how did things come to that?
Okay, so when Sam finally met Mother in the flesh, the alien entity told Sam that she had lived long enough, and just wanted to die in peace, which was why she wanted Sam to take her to the cave where Blaine (real name Marcus Shaw) and Anneliese had found her in 1949. Now, there was a mysterious tree in this abandoned copper mine, and the story behind it was never explained in the show, but I think it was connected to Mother in some capacity, as it bore fruits (peaches in particular) that could make a person younger. It is to be noted that Mother’s blood only stopped Blaine and company from aging, but it never made any one of them younger, so it’s likely that this magic fruit has powers far greater than Mother’s herself, and Mother was aware of it, which was why she wanted to sacrifice her body near the tree inside the cave. It’s possible that she wanted the tree to absorb what life she had left in her, and this tree may play a bigger role in the next season of The Boroughs (if the show gets renewed).
Coming back to the final fight sequence, Mother was going to explode near the tree to end her life, when suddenly Blaine showed up, because of which Sam couldn’t escape the cave in time, and Mother had to explode with Sam and Blaine fighting each other a few feet away from her. Now, there’s no way that the explosion that burned Blaine to the bone and killed all of Mother’s children left Sam without a scratch. We are obviously missing something in this sequence, and I think whatever happened in that cave is directly linked to the “glitch” in the mirror. It’s possible that Mother never actually exploded, because she didn’t want to kill Sam, the way her children accidentally killed one of his friends, Jack. So, what might have happened is this: Blaine badly injured Sam, and captured Mother again, but she used her powers to keep Sam alive, so he could rescue her from the clutches of this tyrant. This could mean Blaine won the fight in the end, and he was going to use Mother’s powers to bring back his beloved, Anneliese, who had previously been killed by Sam and his friends.
A second theory is that, before exploding her hybrid human-alien body, Mother transferred her powers, along with her consciousness, into Sam’s body, which was how he survived the explosion. Though I don’t personally buy this theory, because if Sam had attained Mother’s powers, then his wound on the forehead would have healed instantly. However, it’s possible that this sequence might have played this way: Mother transferred herself into Sam’s body (after the explosion) and he went into coma, either due to the transfer or because of the explosion, and the invasion gave Mother access to Sam’s memories, which she used to create a scenario in Sam’s head, giving him a sense of victory, in order to keep him from giving up. This would keep him, and her consciousness inside Sam’s brain, alive, and give Sam’s body enough time to heal completely. In episode 7, the Duchess pointed out that the loss of his wife had split Sam’s mind, with a part of himself still stuck in the day she died, and if you remember, Mother first appeared to Sam in the form of his late wife, Lilly. In the finale, Mother used her powers to help Sam meet Lilly in his sub-conscious mind, and spend time with her, so he could make peace with her death and eventually move on. I think, after Sam got his closure, Mother moved into this part of Sam’s brain (which has recently been left vacant) to make the switch. We know that Mother’s original body was dying quickly, which was why Blaine wanted to do a bone marrow transplant on her, in order to keep his golden goose alive for a few more years. So, what if Mother herself found a solution to keep herself alive?
In either case, I think the reunion sequence in the finale was just a figment of Sam’s imagination, and it’s likely that someone else was pulling the strings inside his brain. The last thing I want to discuss is that both Blaine and the Duchess mentioned that Mother doesn’t experience time in a straight line. Inside the cave, Blaine told Sam that he was going to bring Anneliese back, in a way suggesting that Mother has powers through which she could “undo” things. So what does it mean? Can Mother travel through time as well? I think yes, because in episode 4, Blaine experienced a nightmare (possibly triggered by Mother) in which he witnessed his wife lying lifeless in a tub filled with Mother’s blood. And a few episodes later, this was actually what happened, when Anneliese’s wounds stopped healing altogether, so maybe Blaine’s dream foreshadowed Anneliese’s death, as Mother already knew her fate. So if Mother could walk through time, then the last sequence could also be a recreation of a possible future, which would have likely taken place if Sam and his friends successfully defeated Blaine without any casualties. And the glitch was just a subtle reminder that Sam didn’t fully succeed in his mission, and they might have to try it again to bring this story to a happy ending. Well, these are my theories on why Sam Cooper glitched at the end of The Boroughs, but if you have anything to add or share, please feel free to comment below.
