WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Trickster Season 1, Episode 6, now available on The CW.
The series finale of Trickster leaves its three factions in difficult places. The witches, Sophia and Maggie, are divided emotionally and physically, the ritual of the Trickster is unresolved, though Wade is captured, and the Ancients are bound to the physical plane. Worse, the dissatisfaction the ancient spirits feel is boiling over, and they don't see Jared's attempts to make a new Trickster tradition as anything but betrayal, so they're ready to destroy the Trickster lineage.
It's not all bad for the Ancients. Their leader, Georgina, taught Sophia to see the spiritual world around them, and she's leaving Maggie and Jared to join them. Meanwhile, Albert may not have found his voice, but he found awkward acceptance with Jared's friend, Crashpad. He also got a chance to try out video games, a new physical plane pleasure for the spirit. However, none of that is enough to match the mistrust the Ancients have after Wade cheated death again, so they devise a plan.
They want to find Wade, debilitate him and have Jared complete the ritual. It would leave one new Trickster in the world and open the North Door so they could rejoin the spirit plane. However, Wade outsmarted their attempts to trap him, only to get tricked by Jared, no longer able to outrun his destiny.
While Jared has him, he doesn't rush to complete the ritual, and Maggie interferes, leaving Wade in a horrific state. The Trickster is turned to ash, bottled up and left in Jared's possession with Maggie urging him to finish the job by scattering his ash. In his final scenes, Jared is alone at a spiritual crossroads. He can't bring himself to end Wade, and he knows better than to just trust in what he's told to do.
Meanwhile, all the Ancients know is that when Jared had the chance to complete the ritual, he didn't. After centuries leashed to Earth, their last chance to trust a Trickster to do the right thing has failed. While it's not hard to see it from their perspective, especially since they've watched the destruction of nature and tribal identity for centuries, they still cast a too-harsh judgment on a boy who just wanted to find a new way to bring balance to the spirits.
Georgina's last words are about her anger and mistrust as she longs to split the spiritual world from its physical partner entirely, and she wants the Tricksters gone for good. With Jared's blood, Georgina and the remaining spirits will pass through their door and lock it behind them, taking all their knowledge and magic with them.
The tribes and world the spirits once watched over seem all but destroyed, but they've got one last advocate, Sophia, who's learned the hard way about the values of temperance and kindness. It's not clear that she'll have any effect on the spirits' renewed distrust of all Tricksters, but the best route would be for them to meet with Jared and have all parties listen to each other.
The final tragedy of Trickster is that audiences won't get to see if that hope bears fruit. Jared is a kindhearted young man who's still capable of seeing the bright parts of the spirit world, as seen whenever he's with Sarah, but with her gone and the Ancients still too angry to listen, even speculation is difficult. Fortunately, Eden Robinson's books may hold the answer to what might finally soothe these angry spirits.
Based on Eden Robinson's Trickster trilogy and directed by Michelle Latimer, Trickster stars Joel Oulette as Jared, Kalani Queypo as Wade, Crystle Lightning as Maggie, Georgina Lightning as Sophia, Anna Lambe as Sarah, Nathan Alexis as Crashpad, Craig Lauzon as Phil, Gail Maurice as Georgina, Joel Thomas Hynes as Richie and Jamie Spilchuk as Mr. Good. Trickster airs Tuesdays on The CW.
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