War of the Worlds

In the series’ final episode the surviving scientist Ogilvy finally reaches Amy, who has been living with his only son on a landscape choked by a perpetual red haze. George is long dead, and Amy’s son is gravely ill with typhoid, leaving her on the brink of surrender.

Ogilvy explains that the black smoke spilling from the Martian machines was not merely a weapon but a self‑replicating pathogen. It turned the soil into a carpet of crimson weeds, reddened the water, stopped the birth of human children, and threatened to erase life on Earth. When the Martians began feeding on human flesh, the same bacterial disease—originally carried by the humans—infected their bodies. Because the alien immune system was utterly unprepared, the creatures rapidly collapsed and died.

Using the typhoid strain extracted from Amy’s son, Ogilvy isolates the lethal bacteria and engineers a serum that can neutralise the alien virus. He administers it to the infected ground, and the red plague begins to recede. The camera lingers on a small patch where green grass sprouts through the ash, a visual promise that the world can heal.

The ending therefore ties the Martians’ downfall to humanity’s own microscopic enemy and offers a fragile yet tangible hope: the red dawn can end, and Earth may once again become hospitable to its original inhabitants.

Last Updated: August 19, 2025 at 19:42