We explain the ending of The Swarm and compare the sci-fi finale to the book by Frank Schätzing. Unlike there, a 2nd season is possible.
All episodes of Der Schwarm are now available to stream in the ZDF-Mediathek. On Thursday, March 9, 2023, the series finale will be broadcast on TV. We explain to you the partly confusing ending and what is known about season 2. Accordingly, from here on: Attention, spoilers to the finale of The Swarm.
The series finale of The Swarm explained: What happens at the end?
The scientists:inside of The Swarm discover over the first 7 episodes of the series the ocean intelligence called Yrr. It exploits the creatures of the ocean and coordinates them to attack humans. This battle reaches its climax in episode 8.
We learn: The Yrr is a single-celled organism, but it can also merge into a multicellular mass. To the swarm. The alien being can survive alone or as a community. As such, it has a collective memory and sends the message that it has been on Earth much longer than Homo Sapiens. And that it will not allow man to destroy everything. The question is whether peace between the two species is still possible.
image-The Swarm
In the pool in the belly of the research ship Thorvaldson, a part of the Yrr has been captured and can thus be studied. Thus, Dr. Roche (Cécile de France) finds out that it is possible to poison the Yrr with ketamine. With a chain reaction of the linked organism in the ocean, the enemy could be killed completely, but this could also destroy the ecosystem. The series The Swarm sums it up this way, “If the ocean dies, so do we. “
The end explained: there are two ways to defeat the swarm
Despite this, an appropriate weapon for destruction is developed and tested. In the process, Roscovitz (Klaas Heufer-Umlauf) dies. At the same time, an alternative idea for mutual destruction is formed: the humans must show the Yrr that they are a part of them. By injecting the Yrr into Roscovitz’s corpse, they could fuse with his cells. (A process the swarm previously failed to use on Alicia Delaware.) For successful communication, the humans must become part of the swarm collective, which does not attack itself. However, this can only succeed in great depth.
Charlie Wagner (Leonie Benesch) therefore takes the submersible deep into the ocean. Here she encounters the luminescent organisms, realizes that Roscovitz’s corpse has been dead too long, and sacrifices herself. After she surrenders herself to the Yrr and is “read” and understood by them, the worldwide ocean attacks cease. This is shown in the series by the drifting icebergs that had previously encircled the ship.
At the very end, Charlie’s body washes up on a shore in The Shoal. Her eyes briefly glimmer blue as she opens them. Not only has she survived, but the fusion with the Yrr has succeeded within her. So there is hope for the humans to resolve this conflict by mutual agreement. However, the extent to which Charlie has changed, is controlled, or is still Charlie at all remains an open question.
In comparison, here’s how Frank Schätzing’s book ending differs from The Swarm series
In the novel The Swarm ends a little differently: here it is the character Karen Weaver, omitted or rewritten in the series, who descends. In order to elicit an emotional response from her adversary, she delivers a corpse pumped full of yrr pheromones as a messenger to the underwater collective. The swarm then halts its attack. Weaver herself survives the dive. However, many main characters such as Dr. Johanson (Alexander Karim), who advocate a peaceful solution, are previously murdered in conflict with the military, which wants to kill the Yrr.
A year later, humanity is still recovering from the conflict and is only slowly beginning to get used to the idea of a second equivalent intelligence on their planet. In this cautious truce, a new beginning must take place in which society rebuilds itself, this time without destroying nature in the process. For the underwater force continues to watch them.
