Spoilers follow for Episode 8 of Bodies.
Netflix's time travel murder mystery Bodies has become one of the more compelling, mystifying drama series to hit the streaming giant this year, with viewers gripped by its central conundrum: the naked corpse of a man who has been shot through the eye is found on a London street across four different time periods. The same man, with the same cause of death, being investigated by detectives in 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053.
Each time frame offers a glimpse into the society of that time through the lens of the investigator, from the Victorian repression of DI Hillinghead in the late 19th century to the near-future dystopia of "United Britain" ruled over by Elias Mannix. But over the course of eight episodes, we learn that Mannix has been manipulating the course of history, and is behind the bombing in 2023 that led to the change in society and his organization's rise to power.
In Episode 6, "The World Is Yours," we also learn that Iris Maplewood, the DC investigating the body in the lane, inadvertently became the killer she was trying to find, after shooting Gabriel Defoe as he was entering the time machine known as The Throat. This led to versions of his body being scattered across all four timelines.
Over the next two episodes, Maplewood follows Mannix back to Victorian London in an attempt to thwart his plans—a mission made all the more difficult by the fact that time travelers arrive in their destinations naked, and she no longer has access to the futuristic technology which allows her to walk.
An alternate, older version of Mannix is ultimately persuaded to alter his past actions by altering the recordings he made to his younger self, instructing him not to go ahead with the bombing. This change results in the loop beginning anew, with the detectives in each timeline going about their lives unaware of the events they have been involved in.
The mystery has been solved, and disaster has been averted. But in the final moments of the eighth and final episode, "Know You Are Loved," it becomes clear that all is not as it should be in the present day timeline. Shahara Hasan, the police officer in 2023, starts her day as usual, but this time does not discover the body in the lane. Instead, she makes her way to a family party in the back of a taxi, making small talk with the driver and ruminating on what the future might hold.
The driver, it is then revealed, is none other than Iris Maplewood, the detective from 2053. And she knows Hasan's name. As the car continues its journey through London, "Know You Are Loved," the mantra of Mannix's cultlike junta, appears on the side of a building.
Cut to credits.
It's a frustratingly ambiguous ending for a series which otherwise manages to wrap up all of its disparate plot threads. And as series writer Paul Tomalin explained in a recent interview, that ominous uncertainty was the goal.
Why was Iris Maplewood in the taxi in 2023?
"What was interesting rounding each character off was finding a way to do Maplewood, the future, in a way that basically didn't say, 'The future's going to be great, guys.' The future now is so terrifying for us all that it felt smug to show Maplewood there happy," Tomalin told Radio Times, hinting that this could provide a way into a potential Season 2.
"It was much more intriguing to take her and put her in the present and figure out why she would be there," he continued. "Also, her character from 1890 is left in the cell - we don't see what happens to her. There's many tantalising ideas. I just love knowing that because she's the most open-ended ending, she's the one that's going to continue it and figure out how to continue it if it were to happen."
