‘Daybreak’ Had One of the Greatest Finales of the Year and No One Noticed

It seems impossible that Netflix’s Daybreak would ever be able to top itself. A post-apocalyptic sci-fi comedy that loves to break the fourth wall Ferris Bueller style? How do you shock anyone when you’re starting with that premise? But Season 1’s final episode, “FWASH-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!,” managed to do just that, delivering a conclusion that was simultaneously innovative, emotionally rewarding, and unrelentingly badass. And no one is talking about how awesome it was.

Episode 10 picks up right after Josh (Colin Ford) reunites with the ex he’s been searching for all season, Sam (Sophie Simnett). But it’s almost as if the show itself gets bored with this too perfect calm before a stormy finale. In the finale’s opening minutes, the cannibalistic ex-principal Baron Triumph (Matthew Broderick) sets off a bomb, impairing the hearing of anyone who wasn’t prepared for the explosion.

The next 10 minutes or so are completely dialogue free. As Josh and his allies debate whether they should flee or confront Triumph, all of their communication unfolds through a combination of ASL, scrawled messages, and over the top gestures. We already know that this debate is going to end with our heroes deciding to take down their big bad guy. It’s a conclusion so predictable we don’t need to hear the specifics of each side’s arguments. And so we don’t. Instead, what happens is fascinating examination of nonverbal communication in the wake of the end of the world, similar to Sun’s storyline in Black Summer.

After Josh and company decide to inevitably become heroes, the sound returns and everything unfolds exactly how you want. To combat Triumph’s army of Jocks, Josh lures his own army of zombie-like Ghoulies, giving viewers an immensely satisfying big battle scene. Josh and Sam take turns attacking and outsmarting Triumph, eventually defeating him with a well-placed callback to the first episode (’twas peanut butter that killed the beast. Who would have guessed?). There was even a death fake-out for a major character. Shortly after the beloved and deranged Ms. Crumble (Krysta Rodriguez) offers to sacrifice her life to save her new friends, she re-emerges perfectly fine. Turns out none of those heartfelt goodbyes were necessary. And Ms. Crumble is just charming enough to make the trickery feel funny, rather than grating.

Episode 10 is an overall fun and bizarre ending for a bizarre show. At least that’s the case until its final few minutes. That’s when Josh confesses his love to Sam only to be rejected by her. Sam doesn’t spurn his advances because of something trite like another man, another woman, or wanting to be alone. She sees through him in a way not even he understands, rightfully concluding that he’s not in love with her at all. He’s in love with the idea of playing a hero for a damsel in distress. And she’s never going to be that. That’s one giant, feminist and therapy-coated middle finger to almost every adventure epic around. But Daybreak doesn’t even stop there.

With a chilling amount of confidence, Sam ascends the throne and declares herself ruler of the teenagers. The sweet girl next door doesn’t just call our hero out on his dehumanizing bullshit. She recognizes that her charm and popularity is a weapon in and of itself, and she decides to use it to rule with Mona Lisa (Jeanté Godlock) at her side. She literally takes the throne away from this show’s expected ruler: a white, male protagonist.

It’s a slap in the face from a series that never fails to deliver twists. And it’s an immensely satisfying one. Of course Sam would see herself as this group’s leader rather than deferring to the insecure and unstable Josh. Throughout Season 1 she rarely questions herself. A viral video that is so often referenced shows Sam accurately and happily calling out the strengths of all of her classmates. Why should she start doubting herself now that she has an army on her side?

All of that confidence and goodwill Josh used to idolize now seems sinister as it’s being turned against him. You can practically feel the budding malevolence and power as Sam says, “The apocalypse wasn’t the best thing to happen to you, Josh. It was the best thing to happen to me.”

It’s a twist that’s so delicious because of how much it sense it makes. No one acts out of character during this power shift. Sam is still the popular and inspiring leader. Josh is still the reluctantly allied loner. Angelica (Alyvia Alyn Lind) is still a destructive genius with a heart of gold. This is the way Daybreak should have naturally ended, but the series used the very tropes it holds dear to bait and switch our expectations. It wanted us to think that Josh would ultimately become this story’s begrudging leader with the love of his life by his side. We’ve seen that narrative so many times. And even as Daybreak consciously and willingly broke every other trope in sight, it counted on the fact we’d hold this one dear.

It’s a conclusion that has all the elements of greatness. It’s smart, wildly innovative, makes complete sense for this universe, and it’s fun. If Daybreak premiered during the TV landscape of just a couple of years ago it seems impossible that it wouldn’t be discussed with the same fervor of other buzzy dramas. Instead, all of this trope breaking and pointed innovation has been met with relative silence.

From its very first moments Daybreak was positioning Sam to be a Daenerys-like queen. We were just too consumed by Josh’s ego to notice.

Watch Daybreak on Netflix