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Netflix’s latest horror series, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, created by Haley Z. Boston and brought to life by executive producers Matt and Ross Duffer, delivers a chilling punch as it builds up to its climactic wedding scene in the season finale.
Warning: Spoilers for the ending of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen ahead!
This gripping, eight-episode narrative centers on engaged couple Rachel Harkin (played by Camila Morrone) and Nicky Cunningham (portrayed by Adam DiMarco). As their wedding day approaches, an ominous cloud of bad luck and eerie portents looms over them. Rachel’s worst fears come true when she discovers her family is cursed. The Harkin lineage is doomed: if they marry someone who is not their destined soulmate, they will suffer a gruesome and untimely death on their wedding day. This curse claimed her mother’s life the day Rachel was born, and now it threatens her own future.
Rachel’s quest to break free from this family curse intensifies in the final episodes. Her love for Nicky is undeniable, yet she grapples with the uncertainty of his soulmate status. Consumed by self-doubt and guilt, Rachel often feels inferior to Nicky. Desperate to avoid her mother’s fate, she contacts an ancestor’s spirit for guidance. This spectral encounter leads her to a risky ritual that could transform her into Nicky’s true love—though it may cost her soul.
The series builds to a tense crescendo over its first seven episodes, making it a genuine relief when Rachel and Nicky finally stand together at the altar. But viewers are left on edge, questioning whether the show’s ominous prophecy will indeed manifest. Will something very bad truly happen on their wedding day?
Keep reading to learn more about how Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen sticks the landing in that brutal series finale.
Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen Netflix Ending Explained:
It’s finally happening. The finale of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen opens with Rachel walking down the aisle to greet Nicky as his proud family, and the skeptical Witness, watch on. Everyone appears to be in good spirits, even Rachel, Jules and Nell, who all know about the curse. Considering Episode 7 ended with Rachel completing the ritual of finding something living, something dead, something stolen, something red as her ancestor advised so she could turn into Nicky’s soulmate, Nell and Jules likely believe they finally figured out a way around the curse. But did Rachel actually drink the potion?
While exchanging vows, Rachel promises to devote herself to him and trust in their love for each other, no matter the risks. “There is no certainty in marriage, in love, in anything. The only certainty in life is death,” she tells him. “So fuck certainty.” Cut to Rachel deliberating over the potion with her trusty penny in hand, only to decide against taking the potion (even after she cut her own pinky toe off for it!)
Morrone told DECIDER this was Rachel’s “way of sacrificing and saying, I love you, and I know I love you and I’m going to go for this.”
“I think she wants to put her faith in Nicky and in their love, and give them the benefit of the doubt and give this love the benefit of the doubt and like, really commit to him,” she said. (But, as DiMarco put it, “She’s also probably thinking, like, ‘Damn, I wish I kept my pinky toe on.’”)
Rachel and Nicky share an emotional moment together at the altar as Rachel takes this “leap of faith” and proclaims that she believes Nicky to be her true soulmate. Nicky promises the same to her, but he blindsides her when it comes time to exchange rings. “Everything I thought I knew about love and marriage has changed,” he confesses, likely referring to the truth about his parents’ marriage. “Marriage destroys people.” Rachel is beyond shocked, to say the least. Nicky insists that he’s trying to do the right thing for Rachel by “freeing” them from the “institution of marriage,” but Rachel isn’t hearing any of it considering, well, her life is quite literally on the line.
After they run away from the altar, Rachel and Nicky find themselves at an impasse. Rachel is deeply betrayed as she insists they have to get married because of the curse, while Nicky refuses to believe this is reason enough, considering she never wanted to get married in the first place. In their argument, Rachel and Nicky unpack years worth of issues they’ve harbored, including Nicky accusing her of being paranoid and narcissistic.
But, on the other side of the house, the party must go on. Portia is ensuring everyone at the wedding is well imbibed to distract them from the drama. Meanwhile, Victoria and Boris are having some trouble of their own as Victoria accuses him of ruining her relationship with Nicky by revealing he may not be his biological father. Somewhere in the room, Nell and Jules, who are facing their own divorce, are also bickering over what to do about the newlyweds. It goes to show that no marriage is perfect.
Meanwhile, the figure we now know to be Death is stalking through the halls of the house and the wedding reception, unbeknownst to all of the guests there. But the party is certainly going on; there’s laughter and merriment and tons of drinking as Rachel and Nicky continue their back and forth in the bedroom where it’s revealed that Nicky doesn’t actually believe in the curse.
Rachel becomes hysterical as it dawns on her that she staked her entire life on a man who ultimately doesn’t believe her when it matters most. “You chose a version of me a long time ago and that’s all I am,” she tells him during their screaming match. “Then you get frustrated when I’m not that. You have made it impossible, impossible for me to exist!”
As a looming clock ticks towards sundown, The Witness is creeping out the guests by asking if they believe they’ve married their soulmates.
Nell and Jules attempt to convince Nicky to marry her to no avail. In a pathetic moment that is quite telling of his character, only Nicky’s mother can convince him to calm down and marry Rachel in the end. This is enough to convince Rachel he was never her soulmate; he apologizes to Rachel but she ultimately turns him down and tries to get away, despite all of the Cunninghams chasing after her.
But they’re already out of time. It’s 4:45, the sun is beginning to set and they still haven’t gotten married, which means the curse has already spread to Nicky’s family. The invisible force of Death goes for its first victim: Victoria. As she begins to bleed profusely from her nose, the same happens to one of the wedding guests, then another who is dancing with Jude, until the curse spreads to every member of the Cunningham family at the wedding (and likely beyond) who married someone who is not their soulmate, sparking total mayhem.
The Witness insists he “warned” Rachel by telling her the curse would spread to Nicky’s bloodline, but she could never have imagined it would have this kind of impact. Dozens of Nicky’s loved ones are hemorrhaging and dying a painful, bloody death, as their loved ones watch on. It’s impossible to overstate how much blood there is everywhere as the reception breaks into absolute pandemonium. Meanwhile, Jules finds Jude hiding from the chaos under the table, much like he once hid from the Sorry Man when he was kid.
After locking Jude in a bedroom to keep him safe, Jules returns to his parents’ room where Victoria is dying while surrounded by her family. He confirms the curse has spread to their bloodline, prompting Portia to reveal she may also be at risk of dying since she secretly married someone in Vegas. Jules attempts to stop the curse from spreading further by making Nicky marry Rachel, which The Witness signs off on.
Rachel begs Nicky not to do it, but The Witness signs off on the marriage, sealing her fate forever.
She quickly begins to bleed out, just like her mother did. She walks away from the Cunninghams as she bleeds profusely onto Victoria’s wedding dress on her way to the atrium, where she hemorrhages to death and dies by herself. Meanwhile, the Cunninghams all still have each other. Portia bleeds out as her father and her siblings hold her dying body.
In the end, Death finally comes for The Witness, who has been alive for countless generations now. “Finally, you come for me,” he says with a smile.
At least one couple gets a happy ending. In the bedroom, Nell and Jules reunite with Jude. Nell, who recently filed for divorce, questions why Jules hasn’t suffered the same fate as his family. He just looks at her sadly, implying that this confirms they are actually soulmates.
Back at the reception, The Witness finally drops dead after what looks like a decadent last meal. And as soon as he does, Rachel wakes up in the atrium, indicating that she is the new Witness. She looks like a ghost in her bloody wedding dress as she returns to the bedroom she shares with Nicky where he’s literally clutching a teddy bear.
But she later crosses paths with Jude and apologizes to him, while empowering him to believe in himself and his intuition. “You have to be really, really, really, really careful who you choose to marry,” she advises him. “And don’t worry. I’m going to be there to witness.” She gives him a final hug and promises to see him again later.
She goes back to her wedding reception where she sees the bloody aftermath and the Witness’ final message to her. “Your turn!” he wrote on the table in blood.
Rachel puts on his clothes and gets in his car, assuming this new identity of hers. The radio only plays one monotonous song over and over again, and there’s no changing it. But after a bit of smoking, Rachel finally cracks a smile. In a way, she’s finally free.
The Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen ending is bittersweet. Rachel is technically free of the curse and is now immortal after having been so willing to throw herself away to become Nicky’s soulmate. She will have to witness every wedding in Nicky’s bloodline through the generations until someone else is unlucky enough to take over the mantle and become the Witness.