The Midnight Club episode 7 review, recap, and analysis: 'Anya'

Warning: spoilers for The Midnight Club episode 7 in this review. Turn back if you don't want to be spoiled!

The Midnight Club finally delivers on its promise with a heartbreaking episode that changes everything... It's a year later and Anya appears to be living a solitary and fairly depressing life in the outside world. She goes to work at a supermarket, peers longingly through the window of a ballet class, half watches a dreadful crime show on TV (Order & Reprimand – an obvious parody of the Law & Order franchise), and misses her friends. An attempt to reconnect with former bestie Rhett goes badly wrong, so she just keeps doing the same thing over and over again. It’s a miserable, purgatorial existence. 

None of this is real, of course. Anya's clock is always set at 11:59, familiar voices from the real world bleed through on the radio – very Life On Mars – and characters from the Club's stories have started to appear around her. She thinks she sees Amesh, but it's actually Luke, the young programmer from episode 5. Dusty's mother appears, followed by Dusty/Kevin, who kills Sheila/Ilonka. The ghost girl from Natsuki's first story is lurking throughout and Anya even sees herself from 'The Two Danas' narrative. In reality, her condition has deteriorated. She is dying – but not alone. In her dream state, she hears the voices of her friends, gathered together at midnight to tell her one last story.

Natsuki says that on the night of the Five Sisters ritual, Anya vanished, returning a few days later fully healed. She then used the ritual to heal everyone else and the kids all left Brightcliffe together. Anya became a dancer once more before settling down for a peaceful life in suburbia with Rhett, surrounded by her friends and family – and they all lived happily ever after. It's a beautiful, cathartic way to say goodbye to Anya, who passes peacefully away, no longer afraid or alone.

Still, her death is a bitter pill for her friends to swallow. Ilonka seeks out Shasta to find out why the ritual didn't work. She reiterates that the area Brightcliffe is built on is a magical place, somewhere where all manner of high strangeness occurs, but she also ends their chat on a truly ominous note: "It’s important to do no harm… unless you have to." Something tells us she’ll feel like she has to before the season is out.

There are consequences to the Midnight Club's actions, of course. Stanton is furious that they had accessed the chamber beneath the morgue. She's known about the Club all along - who did they think had been restocking the firewood every night? - and threatens to throw them out if they do anything like this ever again. Still, rather than going to bed as instructed, the kids conduct a late-night funeral for their friend, scattering Anya’s ashes into the lake. 

Afterward, Kevin and Ilonka talk and she leans in to kiss him, but he resists. It's clear that he wants to, but he's knotted up with guilt. 

The episode's most intriguing development comes right at the end. Ilonka overhears Stanton on the phone. She's devastated at losing Anya and reveals that something miraculous has occurred – one of the kids is in recovery. The implication is clear: the ritual worked, just not on Anya.

Gobsmacked, Ilonka runs back to her room, just in time to be jumped by the two ghosts that have been trailing her all season. It's a genuinely frightening and unexpected moment in a horror show that's been light on them. Trapped in her bathroom, the doorknob rattling, Ilonka collapses.

It's a terrific end to an episode that upped the emotional stakes, said farewell to the series' best character (and actor), and offered a tantalizing note of hope. Let’s hope the show can keep this level of quality up as we move into the final three episodes.

Brightcliffe notes...

The male ghost - who also appeared at the start of episode one when Ilonka was first taken ill – is played by Canadian actor William B Davis, best known as the Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-Files.

The music continues to play fast and loose with real world release dates. We've already touched on Radiohead's 'Exit Music (For A Film)' not being out yet and the same goes for Green Day's 'Good Riddance' which was first released in late 1997. As far as we can tell The Midnight Club is still set in 1995. So it seems like the showrunners have taken a creative decision to use songs that fit the 90s indie vibe, historical accuracy be damned.

Ilonka finds Rhett's phone number in Anya's belongings and calls it, but the number is disconnected. Has he simply moved on or will there be a greater significance to this down the line?

What's happened to Mark? After appearing in all of the first few episodes he seems to have vanished completely.

On the jukebox

The last few episodes have mostly dispensed with the needle drops, but we get a few apt cues here.

• 'Glycerine' by Bush
• Cherri performs 'Good Riddance' by Green Day
• Stanton listens to 'Seasons in the Sun' by Terry Jacks

The Midnight Club is available on Netflix – keep with us for episodic reviews of Mike Flanagan's new show. For more viewing options, check out our list of the best Netflix shows available to watch right now.