SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for the Season 1 finale of “Teacup”, now streaming on Peacock.

Everyone remembers that famous Jordan Peele teacup scene. “To go out.” Missy stirs her teacup and Chris experiences surreal body hypnosis in the “sunken place”. Peacock’s new, aptly titled horror series “Teacup,” maybe even scarier. In this series, the most terrifying threat is not a specific person or group, but rather the monsters within us.

Produced by James Wan under his Atomic Monster banner, the creator’s series Ian McCulloch (“Yellowstone”) is loosely based on Robert R. McCammon’s best-selling novel “Stinger.” “Teacup,” which concluded its first season on Oct. 31, follows a group of neighbors in rural Georgia who band together in the face of a mysterious presence putting their community in danger and an assassin-like host taking control of their bodies.

The show revolves around the Chenoweth family: James (Scott Speedman), Maggie (Yvonne Strahovsky) and their two children, Meryl (Émilie Bierre) and Arlo (Caleb Dolden). When we meet these characters, James and Maggie’s marriage is shaken by the discovery that he has been having an affair.

Shortly after, a horse is mysteriously found dripping blood on its face; Arlo ventures into the woods and returns, changed, speaking of the danger that awaits him; a stranger in a gas mask paints a blue line across the city and offers warnings via cryptic messages on a whiteboard. As these developments intensify, the Chenoweth clan is forced to shelter with their neighbors. This happens to be the family of the woman James engaged in infidelity with, leading to palpable tension.

“We wanted to drop people right in the middle of this situation,” McCulloch says. “The idea that Maggie knows, but she doesn’t know who – and who is the worst person you bring into their environment, other than the woman that (her husband) was having an affair with?”

The group must work together to uncover the disturbing presence affecting their community. However, because “the assassin” can possess anyone at any time, the line quickly blurs between the one who tells the truth and the one who seeks to kill those around him. By the end of the season, almost every character has turned on each other, struggling to determine if anyone can be trusted.

When the assassin enters Meryl in the finale, her parents successfully expel the creature from their daughter’s body, only for her to choose her father as her next victim. James, influenced by the assassin, attacks Maggie, who stabs him in the leg with a knife. When he dislodges the knife and attempts to strike her again, James falls into a large freezer. “We don’t need to win. We just have to trick you,” Maggie tells her husband before closing the lid and locking him away. James tries to scream and push the container open, attracting the attention of the others, who pile pillows on top of the container to prevent him from escaping.

Meryl is the only character to protest the rest of the group’s decision. “He’s going to die, Mom. He’s going to die,” she says as her mother holds her and the container stops shaking, signaling her father’s death. The scene ends with the remaining members of the Chenoweth clan: Maggie, Meryl and Arlo sobbing as they embrace and fall to the ground.

“It was intense and emotional and wild,” Speedman says of his character’s fate in the finale. “I just feel like it’s going to be a crazy ride – really satisfying on a genre level and on an emotional level.”

McCulloch adds that James’ death was satisfying from a storytelling perspective, due to the story arc his character goes through throughout Season 1. He details how James becomes proactive as a father and husband, his journey being linked to repairing his past mistakes and achieving redemption. himself in the eyes of his family.

“His redemption story ends before he becomes an assassin,” says McCulloch. “By the time we get to episode 8, I think James has grown as much as he’s going to grow.”

“(Ian McCulloch) really had a specific vision,” Strahovski says. “He wanted to look at character and relationships.”

McCulloch says that even though members of the writers’ room argued for James’ survival, the showrunner always knew the character was going to die in the finale.

“James’ story is a redemption arc,” McCulloch says. “Scott did a tremendous amount of work over the course of the season to win people over and become a character that you cared about. I think taking that character away is, for me, a really good way to keep your audience on their toes.