The Rig follows the crew of Kinloch Bravo as they find themselves stranded on their oil rig when a mysterious fog brings an entity that threatens the world. The series is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
The crew members of Kinloch Bravo are preparing to go back home to their loved ones. Captain Magnus gathers everyone and brings bad news about a power failure on the North Kilscour platform.
This means the crew of Kinloch Bravo may have to wait a bit longer than expected, as the choppers won’t be coming to pick them up for now.
Before the meeting could finish, the lights started blinking, hinting at a possible blackout. The oil rig began to shake. The crew worked together to find the source of this. The oil rig nearest to them, Kinloch Charlie, also faces the same problem.
Kinloch Bravo fails to contact Charlie but eventually manages to stabilize the situation for themselves. Until they figure out what caused this, Magnus orders all the workers to stand down.
Another small shake occurs, and seconds later, the crew members see a thick fog coming their way. The fog surrounds Bravo, which leads the crew to lose sight of Charlie.
Magnus wants to make sure that the beach is receiving the rig’s signals. In order to do so, Fulmer, the crew’s radio operator, is sent to check the tower.
Baz, a fellow crew member who lost his seat back home to Fulmer, joins him. Baz believes Fulmer got the seat only because he is dating Rose, the representative of Pictor, the oil rig company.
After fixing the tower, Fulmer comes down nice and easy, but Baz ends up falling from above.
Cat, the crew’s medic, assesses his situation and breaks the news that there is no chance that Baz will survive on the oil rig. Only a hospital can help him, but they are trapped right now.
Hutton, another crew member, gets furious and starts rallying people against Magnus on the helipad. Magnus comes out to confront him, and soon a rain of what looks like ash starts pouring on the oil rig.
Baz, who has healed himself to some extent, walks up to them and warns them about a wave that is coming their way. He has seen this wave in his visions.
While Baz heals further, the crew notices that Charlie is trying to contact them with a signal. Leck goes out to decode the message. When he comes back inside, he sees his tattoos falling off. Heather, another crew member, later finds him dead in his room.
Meanwhile, Baz goes on the run and starts claiming that he has to protect this thing that is growing around the rig. Alwyn, a fellow crew member, tries to stop him but loses his life in the process.
Rose investigates the ash that is raining down on them and discovers that these are living microorganisms. This bacteria is looking for a healthy host, and it rejects the ones that are not. It can enter the body through an injury or a cut and heal the host.
Fulmer becomes a potential target of the bacteria. He receives a cut while looking for Baz. Rose plans to test the crew using Baz’s blood, but Baz infiltrates her lab and steals his blood. He later drops it into the ocean.
Baz manages to recruit another young crew member, Garrow, on his side. They join hands to save this bacteria by opening the well head.
Magnus sends Bullseye, an underwater vehicle controlled from above, to close the well head. The crew comes across mysterious circles that have formed around the S valve. The Bullseye shuts down the S valve and buys the crew some time.
Some of the crew members believe that Baz is not trying to hurt them. There must be a reason why he is doing all of this. Fulmer, who is slowly forming a connection with the bacteria, recognizes the circles as he has been drawing them for a while now.
The connections come back for a few minutes. Everyone contacts their loved ones. Magnus calls the beach while Rose looks into Pictor’s files for information on some bacteria.
She comes across something called Project Cirein, which is password protected. While talking to her wife, Cat realizes that the cities are also facing blackouts as the fog has now shifted there.
Rose discovers Fulmer’s drawings and confronts him. He has become the parasite’s prey, but he is still in his right mind. The problem arises when Baz starts contacting Fulmer for help using the bacteria. Fulmer ends up following his directions.
A lifeboat from Charlie arrives at Bravo, and out comes David Coake from Pictor’s Research & Development Department and some surviving crew members.
Rose and Marcus find Coake shady, as he is not willing to disclose what exactly went down at Charlie. They continue with their work. Rose soon figures out what the circle means. It is signaling an upcoming event that will end the world.
The bacteria they are investigating has stayed alive for millions of years and has survived a number of catastrophic apocalypses. It’s more like the ancestor of every other being on this planet.
Coake, in secrecy, makes use of the people who are looking for a change in leadership and executes a plan to kill the bacteria, which is growing across the production module, where Fulmer, Baz, and Garrow are, without telling Magnus or Rose.
The plan doesn’t work, but it ends up killing two more members of Magnus’ crew. Rose barges into the production module to save Fulmer. Magnus and Rose realize that they really need to investigate who Coake is and what he wants.
The Rig ending explained in detail:
What does the Ancestor intend to do?
Upon questioning Coake, Magnus and Rose learn that he pulled off a similar stunt on Charlie. He knew about the bacteria, and the Pictor had messaged him to inquire about Project Cirein’s status. They had confirmed the existence of this bacteria.
Pictor plans to kill the bacteria right away to secure the company’s oil rigs. Somewhere, Rose believes that killing it won’t work at all. This bacteria has managed to survive dozens of apocalypses. It has seen the harm done to the planet and is now just retaliating.
Rose and Fulmer sit down to figure out what the Ancestor wants. Rose pitches Fulmer to use quorum sensing, the process through which bacteria communicate.
Through this process, the bacteria decides whether it should compete or collaborate with someone.
Earlier, Baz used the same method to contact Fulmer, who followed his directions. Fulmer gives this method a shot and comes to realize that the Ancestor intends to cause a tsunami that no one will survive.
Does the crew manage to collaborate with the Ancestor?
The fact that a tsunami is headed toward them leaves the crew wondering what their next moves will be. Magnus feels Coake is probably right about killing this bacteria right away.
Rose explains that this bacteria is intelligent. It can make decisions of its own and has been trying to figure out whether they are its enemies or not. Attacking it would give it another reason to trigger the tsunami.
This bacteria could be all around the world, and it could trigger the tsunami again from anywhere.
All this time, Baz has been trying to collaborate with the bacteria to save them. They didn’t listen to him, and it’s high time that they should.
Magnus not only allows Rose to establish contact with Baz and the bacteria, which is the Ancestor, but he also joins her and Fulmer as they go down to the production module.
They try to reason with the Ancestor, but time runs out. The wave, as in the tsunami, as predicted by Baz, comes close. Magnus, Rose, and Fulmer are left with no choice but to escape.
Baz decides to stay and sacrifice himself. He intends to show the Ancestor what they can give to the world. This way, he might be able to convince the Ancestor to spare some of them.
Does everyone escape the rig in time?
Coake keeps the information on two choppers coming to Bravo away from the rest of the crew. While Magnus, Rose, and Fulmer are down there at the production module, he contacts them.
He only invites Harish, a surviving crew member of Charlie, with him. Harish turns on Coake and alerts everyone about the choppers. Hutton stops Coake from boarding the choppers alone.
The surviving crew members board the first helicopter. Hutton, Cat, and Heather wait for Magnus, Rose, and Fulmer. They manage to make it in time.
The wave destroys the rig in one blow and heads toward the beach and the city. Since Magnus, Rose, and Fulmer failed to convince the Ancestor in time, the wave is going to destroy the cities as well.
Coake further informs the crew that they are not heading back there; they are going somewhere else altogether.
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