Newark, NJ

> "*It was February when the Angels came. They rained from the sky like comets in a blur of fury and smoke. Scattering across the town of Newark, New Jersey. No one knew exactly what they were or why they had come to the Garden State in the dead of an otherwise ordinary winter. The event became known as "The Fall."*"
> ― Tabitha
>
>

**Newark, NJ** is the eighth and final episode of the first season of the Hulu original series *Monsterland* and the eighth episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

A grieving couple struggles to say goodbye.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

It was February when the angels fell from the sky. They scattered across all of Newark, New Jersey. No was certain what they were, but the event became known as "The Fall."

Brian buys a doll from the store. The cashier drops the change on the floor, which seemingly triggers some type of memory in Brian. By the time the cashier looks up, Brian is gone. On his way home, he averts his eyes from the ballerina studio. He returns home and retrieves the bottle opener from the drawer, where there are also dozens of brown markers. He then wraps the doll in wrapping paper and places it under the Christmas tree.

Brian’s wife, Amy, returns home from work, and she tells him that it’s time to leave for the group grieving meeting. However, Brian no longer wishes to attend despite the fact that Amy had to take off work to make time for it. The doctor said it would help for them to meet people also mourning the loss of a child. However, in Brian and Amy’s case, their kid isn’t dead, Tabitha is merely missing. Nevertheless, Amy decides to go to the meeting by herself.

Brian goes to a hypnotherapist, who walks him back in time to the day his daughter went missing. They were walking down the street. He had just picked Tabitha up from ballet, and they were going to get ice cream. There was a dog outside that she wanted to pet. While Brian was paying for the ice cream, he looked over and noticed that she was gone. He ran outside to find that she was gone. He also remembered seeing a car with the license plate "2FX1QZ."

Brian takes this to the police station and presents it to an officer in hopes they’ll follow up on the lead. He claims it came back to him during hypnotherapy. It’s been 16 months since Tabitha went missing, but they’re still working the case.

Tommy welcomes Amy to the group therapy session. She reveals that her daughter, Tabitha, wanted to be a ballerina. She was only eight years old and wanted a pair of brown ballet shoes. But their dance store only carried pink. And so Brian would take a brown sharpie and color them in. Tabitha wore them everywhere and Brian would color them in over and over. And now that Tabitha’s missing, all they have is a bunch of brown sharpies.

Amy gets a call from Officer Clayton, who informs her that they followed up on the license plate they got from Brian. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. Just as Amy starts the car, she thinks that she sees Tabitha running past in her rear view window. Amy follows her into a homeless den, where she finds the head of an angel in a shopping cart.

Brian returns home to learn that Amy has thrown out all the brown markers. Amy claims that Tabitha is dead. She has a feeling and had been thinking about it for a while. Brian refuses to give up on her and insists that she’s coming back.

Brian gets a call from a private investigator, who informs him that they have identified the owner of the plates he sent them. They belong to Bill Deckhart over in Harrison.

Amy is called down to the station after Brian is arrested for trespassing. The neighbors saw him snooping around and called the police. They had already looked into the plates. The owner, Bill Deckhart, wasn’t even in town when Tabitha went missing. Given that their car had been impounded, they ride home with Tommy from the grief group. Amy tells him that he can’t behave so recklessly, but Brian refuses to sit around doing nothing. She reminds him that they’re on the same side. She never points fingers when he drinks himself to sleep or spends a fortune on Christmas gifts. And when he was too torn up to go to work, she agreed to go to work for the both of them, but she can’t continue to do so. She then reveals that she’s having an affair with Tommy. She tells Brian to fight for her, but he can’t. Because if he does, then their daughter is dead.

Toni sleeps in a booth while working night shift at a diner. Brian enters in search of something to drink. She goes in the back and grabs a bottle of liquor. She suggests they have sex, but he points out that he’s married, leaving her to question why he’s doing shots alone in a diner at 2:00 am. He says that she’s too young to be so jaded. Toni retorts that she’s wise. She had an epiphany last week. There was a crying baby in the diner, which reminded Toni of her daughter, Jack. So she went outside to get some fresh air and that’s when she saw the local drug dealer. She approached him and asked what he was selling. "Angel blood," he replied. He tells her it’ll make her whole. Toni swallowed the pills, which took effect almost instantly. Her trip ended with her vomiting in the restroom. She went to wash her face in the sink and when she looked into the mirror, her eyes were bleeding black goo and her mouth was gone. It showed her that she was a monster.

Toni wishes to play a game of who is the worst person. She reveals goes to a grieving group for parents who lost their kids. However, her kid isn’t dead, though she tells stories as if she were. Toni has not the slightest idea where her child is now and has no desire to get Jack back. Brian then reveals that he promised his daughter he would watch her. And he did. He watched her for every ballet session. And then, one time, they went to get ice cream after class. The cashier dropped Brian’s change. He bent down to pick it up and just like that, his daughter was gone. He said he would watch her and didn’t. Toni turns on the jukebox, and she and Brian started to dance. Just as they’re about to kiss, the music cuts off. She goes to get change from the register and drops the coins onto the floor. This triggers Brian, reminding him of the day that Tabitha went missing, and so he leaves.

Brian hallucinates seeing Tabitha and follows her into an alleyway. He follows a trail of brown markers to a dumpster. Inside, he finds a wounded angel, covered by trash and newspaper. Brian carries her home and lays her in Tabitha’s bed. Amy examines the wound. They’re unsure of what to do with the angel. Amy wonders why the angels came. Brian replies maybe God threw them out of the sky and heaven is a dark place. However, Amy thinks the angel came to help them.

Brian and Amy sleep at the angel’s bedside. They awaken to find her making an odd noise. She dips her nail into her wound and feeds them both a drop of blood. The effects are instantaneous. Brian begins to come to terms with that fact that Tabitha isn’t coming home, and he questions what the rest of their life will look like. Amy reminds him that they’re still a family. But he knows it’ll never be the same without Tabitha. She then tells Brian to take the tree down. When he refuses, she destroys the Christmas tree herself, along with the presents.

Brian asks Amy about her affair with Tommy and whether or not he was good. She replies that he was and that they had sex in the house. Brian becomes enraged. He finds Tommy in the middle of a grief group session and punches him. When Brian returns home, Amy wraps his hand and recalls when they saw *Galaxy Quest* 20 years ago. She remembers thinking that she wanted Brian to hold her hand, and he did. Brian tells Amy that he’s loved her from the start, and they kiss. They proceed to get undressed and have sex on the living room floor. The angel creeps down the steps. She crawls over the couch and slits her throat, spewing her blood all over Brian and Amy. The two of them suddenly find themselves sitting in the audience of a theater. The curtains go up, and Tabitha is the sole ballerina performing on stage. They hold hands and watch as she dances across the stage.

## Cast

### Starring

* Mike Colter as Brian Cooke
* Adepero Oduye as Amy Cooke
* Kaitlyn Dever as Toni

### Guest Starring

* Michael Chernus as Tommy
* Vanessa Aspillaga as The Hypnotherapist
* Scott Nicholson as Clayton

### Co-Starring

* V Nixie as Angel
* Amia Fisher as Tabitha Cooke
* Jordyn Curet as Tabitha Voice
* Grant Monohon as Dealer
* Andrea Jones-Sojola
* Craig De Lorenzo as Ricky
* Brian Ray Norris as Bereaved Father
* Margaret Burrus as Cashier
* Charlotte Cabell and Vivian Cabell as Jack