The Rig: The True Purpose of the Fog and Ash in S1 Explained

Prime Video’s latest supernatural drama-thriller, The Rig, premiered on the streaming platform on January 6, 2023, with six episodes of riveting TV. 

The show focuses on Kinloch Bravo’s stranded crew as a fog rolls in, cutting off all electromagnetic communication. The eerie fog gives way to something darker, and the mysterious events that follow test the crew’s sanity and survival skills. The show opened to favorable reviews, commending the actors’ performance and the show’s important life lesson at the end of it.

We’re here to briefly explain how the fog was created and how it connects to the ash that unraveled the mystery in the first place. We learn later in the series that it was Kinloch Charlie’s fault that the fog descended on Bravo in the first place. 

David Coake ordered his crew to drill the seabed to derive the money-making oil, destroying the plant life there, but instead awakened an unknown life form. The Ancestor, as coined by Rose, warn the humans and preserve the world before it reached its doom.

But how did they go about doing so? The Ancestor sent in the ash, hidden by the fog, which spread the spores, activating a psychic connection with anyone infected, as we see in Baz and Leck’s case. Baz becomes the Ancestor’s spokesperson, warning the crew that humanity will destroy the world they live in unless they change their ways.

Of course, no one believes the Ancestor in their paranoid state and blames the fog and ash as the danger they need to avoid. But Rose deduces Baz’s concentric circles as a warning that history is about to be repeated and that an apocalyptic disaster is almost upon them.

The second reason for the Ancestor taking hosts is also revealed, unraveling Kinloch Charlie’s true mission, which Coake had been hiding. The Ancestor was trying to regrow the plants Coake destroyed to restore the balance, which obviously Coake disliked. 

The show very neatly surmised how nature is rising to warn humanity about their impending self-inflicted doom, but mankind is too busy making money to put their trust and effort into such “trivial” things. 

Their belief in treating The Ancestor as the enemy is what sealed their extinction, even though it was far from the truth. 

Leck’s transformation goes poorly since his body was not fit for the spores. We also see Ancestor backing off from Cat who is pregnant. Baz is regretful after killing Alwyn which proves he killed in self-defense. All of this proves that Coake is just spreading rumors about the being.

And maybe, in the end, their destructive ways may seem harsh, but that’s the point the show wants to make. The last scene, where the flood lays waste to all, warns viewers that nature will do anything to save the earth – even if it means exterminating the pest that humanity is.

If you missed the point, we totally support your decision to go watch the show again on Amazon Prime Video.

About The Rig

The Rig is a sci-fi thriller TV series created by David Macpherson for Amazon Prime Video. The series is directed by John Strickland and is the first Amazon Original filmed entirely in Scotland. The series was released on January 6, 2023, consisting of six episodes.

When the Kinloch Bravo oil rig crew is due to return to the mainland, a mysterious fog rolls in and cuts off communication with the outside world. The team will be driven to the limits of their endurance and loyalties, forced into a confrontation with forces beyond their imagination.

The series stars Iain Glen, Calvin Demba, Emily Hampshire, Martin Compston, Mark Bonnar, Mark Addy, and more.

Source: Primevideos