The Ending Of The Order Season 2 Explained

Contains major spoilers for The Order season 2

Season 2 of The Order dropped on June 18, and the show immediately shot to the upper echelons of Netflix's Top 10. As the many fans who have already binged their way through the Netflix original supernatural drama can readily attest, the season's two-part finale offered plenty of thrills, kills and blood spills — as well as plot twists that leave us clamoring for season 3. 

The season finale is entitled "New World Order," and what we get is pretty much what it says on the tin. Over the course of the two-parter, we see the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose and their frenemy faction, the werewolf Knights of Saint Christopher, face off with Praxis leader Salvador Grant (Diana Bang) and her freshly re-powered ally, Alyssa Drake (Sarah Grey). While the magical secret societies battle their extremist foes, the Knights have their own agenda, as they're desperate to rescue their fallen companion Lilith Bathory (Devery Jacobs) from the clutches of hell. But does anyone truly get what they want? What could their actions mean for the show's future? 

Here's the ending of The Order season 2 explained.

What better place to begin than the most shocking turn of The Order season 2 finale? 

Alyssa spent the two "New World Order" episodes aligned with Praxis, and Salvador even helped her break her magic-using bond with the Vade Maecum grimoire, making her a true force to be reckoned with. Indeed, Alyssa served as one of the main threats of the finale — winning confrontations left and right, and even assuming the leadership of Praxis after Salvador was defeated. However, despite her mission to acquire the Foris Factorum incantation from the Order at any cost necessary, she found it difficult to let go of her feelings for Jack Morton (Jake Manley). Though on opposite sides of the conflict, Alyssa and Jake were emotionally closer than ever — and as a result, a certain overpriced hotel room became an important and often-visited location for the two. 

Unfortunately, Alyssa wasn't aware of the most dangerous threat of them all until it was too late. While the finale's main conflict was ultimately resolved peacefully, things took a turn with a surprise attack by the bloodthirsty Midnight, who had a bone to pick with Jack's werewolf, Silverback. With her throat ripped open and life escaping from her body, Alyssa was in bad shape. But are things really over for her? Jack was last seen heading into the woods, carrying the ultra-powerful Vade Maecum and Alyssa's bloodied body in tow.

Salvador Grant and her Praxis movement aimed to bring magic to the common people. While their intentions were noble, Salvador herself had all the potential to be a truly chilling villain once she emerged from the shadow of the fake Praxis leader, Professor Cameron Foley (Matty Finochio). As if her sheer magical power wasn't enough, The Order's season 2 finale showed that she was both capable and willing to burn the whole world in her quest of magic equality. What's more, she was the daughter of Grafton Davis — the former champion of Alpha, the most powerful and mysterious werewolf of all the Knights of Saint Christopher. Oh, and she had Alpha now.  

Salvador's endgame was to get the Foris Factorum incantation, which supposedly allows anyone to cast magic without sacrifice. However, she was completely indifferent about the fact that Praxis' flippant actions with magic were causing chaotic events known as Tartarus eruptions. In fact, Salvador welcomed the knowledge that these events were reaching critical mass, and that a potentially apocalyptic one was incoming. After all, what better way to create a pure world than to destroy the corrupted one first?

Take all this into account, and it's easy to think that The Order set Salvador up for a major physical and magical threat during the season 2 finale. However, Grand Magus Vera Stone (Katharine Isabelle) ultimately deposed her rather easily. When the two parlayed and were magically bound to take the same physical damage, Salvador tried to kill Vera by unsheathing her werewolf claws — slicing Vera's fingers open in the process — and trying to cut her own throat. Unfortunately for the villain, Vera was ready for her, and ended both the bond and Salvador's life with a silver bullet.

Though Vera starts and ends the Order season 2 finale in her office with the stoic Hamish Duke (Thomas Elms) by her side, her journey might be one of the biggest changes in the show's ever-shifting status quo. 

Frustrated that the Order wouldn't grant her temporary Imperium authority so she could ignore bureaucracy and fully focus on defeating Praxis, Vera staged a supposedly Praxis-caused Tartarus eruption that killed councilman Bennett (Claude Knowlton) and injured Elizabeth Kepler (Francoise Yip). Her plan successful, the newly autonomic Grand Magus agreed to go against Salvador in an effort to avoid unnecessary deaths. Though the meeting proved nearly lethal for her, Vera ultimately managed to kill Salvador.

Still, her troubles were far from over: Vera now had to deal with Alyssa, who ambushed her at her office and stripped her magic powers away. This eventually forced the two enemies to work together, combining Vera's knowledge and Alyssa's powers to negate an impeding, cataclysmic Tartarus eruption with a device called the Cretian loom. Though they were successful — and Jack's emergence stopped Alyssa from taking revenge on Vera afterwards — the Grand Magus ended The Order season 2 without her powers ... and without the respect of several members of the Order, who think her alliance with the werewolves makes her unworthy to lead the secret society.

The season 2 finale of The Order started on a high note for the werewolves, as Jack and Randall Carpio (Adam DiMarco) carried out a successful mission that prompted Vera to promote the wolves among the ranks of the Order's Magistratus. Unfortunately, things soon took a much darker turn: Jack's former werewolf, the noble but reckless Midnight, claimed Gabrielle Dupres (Louriza Tronco) as its new champion. Made flesh once more, Midnight hatched a plan to kill Jack's werewolf, Silverback. The two spent the majority of "New World Order, Part 2" at each other's throats ... until Midnight conceded that Jack's actions during the season finale were clever and noble, and begrudgingly allowed him to live. Unfortunately, the werewolf-possessed Gabrielle was still out for blood, and ended up killing Alyssa.

Interestingly, we also left The Order season 2 with no idea where the hide of Alpha, the most powerful werewolf of them all, is located. After Salvador died, all we got was a passing comment from Alyssa about a "safe place." But this is The Order – how safe can it be, really? Alpha is bound to return sooner or later, and because the season 2 finale only showed us its claws, there's no telling what sort of monster is waiting in the sidelines for season 3. 

The Knights may have been involved in the fight against Praxis, but their main objective on the season 2 finale of The Order was to open a portal to Hell in order to rescue their fallen comrade, Lilith Bathory (Devery Jacobs). There was just one problem: When Lilith emerged from the pit, she objected to the others' use of the term "Hell," remarking that it's actually more of a transdimensional plane. This was because she now bore the facial markings of a demon, and complained that the Knights hadn't rescued her but actually dragged her away from her home. It remains to be seen if this means Lilith is now a werewolf and a demon, or if the Lilith that we saw on the finale is something (or someone) else entirely.

Oh, and there was also the small matter of human sacrifice. When Randall and Nicole Birch (Anesha Bailey) discovered that the portal incantation required the sacrifice of a witch, Randall promptly erased Nicole's memory of the fact. The Order season 2 finale heavily implied that he then secretly abducted and killed Kepler in order to make the Hell-spell work. Surely, none of this will ever come to bite anyone back in the future. 

For Gabrielle, The Order season 2 finale was one big conga line of trauma and humiliation. She spent much of "New World Order, Part 1" hurting and being ignored, and she further complicated the situation by lashing out at people. Then, Gabrielle considered destroying Lilith's werewolf pelt, but eventually decided against it. 

On some shows, this might have been the start of a brighter path for a character like Gabrielle. But on The Order, her misery was just getting started. As soon as Gabrielle made the decision not to mess with Lilith's werewolf pelt, the vicious Midnight possessed her, shunting poor Gabrielle into the collective unconscious. There, various people from Gabrielle's life manipulated her, bullied her, and hurled abuse at her — essentially brainwashing her into a compliant, ruthless vessel for Midnight. The werewolf's stated reason for this: to defeat Silverback by killing its champion, Jack. 

Midnight-Gabrielle eventually decided against her original, murderous plans. However, she ended up ambushing and killing Alyssa instead. The Order season 2 left Gabrielle crying in the woods, blood-stained and thoroughly broken. It remains to be seen what the show has planned for her, but frankly, it's hard to imagine good things in her immediate future. 

Salvador Grant may be dead, but season 2 finale of The Order left us with plenty of juicy tensions between the remaining characters. Vera has no magic, and her claim to rule the Order may be creaking at the seams. Lilith thinks that the realm of the demons is now her home, and probably won't be happy with her fellow Knights tearing her away from there. Randall appears to have killed a powerful member of the Order — and while Gabrielle probably would have preferred to leave Alyssa alive, she is the new Midnight and will probably have to answer a whole lot of questions, especially to Jack.

Speaking of Jack, he's clearly up to something dangerous with Alyssa's body and the Vade Maecum. If he's trying to resurrect her, there's no telling what will happen. Even if he succeeds, Alyssa still has her extremist streak — as well as the Foris Factorum incantation and, presumably, Alpha's hide. Whatever direction The Order is going to take next, terrifying things are sure to happen ... and, frankly, we can't wait.