Like any good anthology, the Netflix series Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams strings seemingly-unrelated tales together to create a bigger story arc, with all seven season 1 episodes combining to create an entirely new superhero mythos and potentially set up a second season.
Spoilers ahead!
All episodes of Nightmares and Daydreams share two attributes: They are time stamped at the beginning of each story, so we know when in time the episode occurred, and all of the tales take place in Jakarta and reflect the political and social issues therein. The stories are all about strange occurrences happening to ordinary people, but it’s not clear how they all tie together until the very end. Once viewers realize what the connection is, it all makes sense—trust us!
1. Episode 1: “Old House”
“Old House” introduces us to Panji Suwono (Ario Bayu), a humble taxi driver who agrees to let his elderly mother go live in a seemingly-luxurious nursing home. He soon discovers that there are monsters at the nursing home who feed off of people, and he can’t get his mother out. This episode raises the theme of desperation and how it skews peoples’ judgement, which is a common thread throughout.
2. Episode 2: “The Orphan”
The desperation theme continues with “The Orphan,” a tale of an impoverished couple who agree to take in an orphan child rumored to bring wealth to any family that takes him in. At first it works, but then they discover that the caveat is they will die just seven days after he joins their family. The wife, Ipah (Nirina Zubir) immediately grows attached to the child, only to have to choose between her new son and her husband.
3.Episode 3: “Poems and Pain”
Rania (Marissa Anita) is a writer whose last book was a flop. The pressure is on to write something amazing, but as she begins to write, she finds out fast that everything that happens to the protagonist happens to her. Covered in bruises, she starts digging into family history and finds out the protagonist she’s “created” is actually her long-lost twin. She’s too late to save her sister, but she discovers something about herself that changes everything.
4. Episode 4: “Encounter”
Wahyu (Lukman Sardi) is a fisherman in a struggling village that’s about to be destroyed by industry. He’s obsessed with saving enough money to track down the mother who left him as a child, and the money makes him a target in his poor town. When Wahyu acquires a photograph of what looks like an angel, causing him to be flooded with a deeper knowledge about humanity … and the monsters who dwell among us.
5. Episode 5: “The Other Side”
It’s the 1990s, and couple Bandi (Kiki Narendra) and Dewi (Sita Nursanti) are struggling through a recession. Yearning for happier times, Bandi wanders into an old movie theater where he used to work and enters a time warp full of larger-than-life characters. He’s so enamored with the effect that by the time he comes out, two years have passed outside. We learn that Bandi has been under the control of a monster with psychological powers, leading Dewi to take drastic action to free him.
6. Episode 6: “Hypnotized”
This is when the anthology connections really start to click! Ali (Fachri Albar) is a trouble dad and colorblind electrician who discovers he has the power to hypnotize others to do what they want. But after he robs a woman using his newfound abilities, his life goes terribly wrong. In the end, Ali encounters Dewi, who also has the power to hypnotize others. They ultimately call it a draw, and Dewi recruits Ali to fight monsters as part of … wait for it … the Antibodies!
7. Episode 7: “P.O. Box”
The final episode is when we finally get the full picture! Valdya (Asmara Abigail) is a diamond appraiser who is searching for her missing sister. When she discovers a post office box linked to a strange job listing, she unearths a conspiracy involving real-life monsters … and a group of heroes determined to fight them.
As you may have guessed, in all of the episodes the “monsters” are the same. In episode seven, we learn that the monsters look human and were created at the same time as humans, but they live underground in a place called Agartha. The beasts wear lenses to disguise their jet-black eyes, and they harvest humans who possess special skills and eat them.
Wahyu, the fisherman who saw the angel and gained otherworldly insight back in episode 4, has recruited a group of humans who all have special skills to fight the monsters. No, they’re not called X-Men … they’re called The Antibodies. When The Antibodies rescue Valdya from the monsters, she agrees to join them.
The full explanation
It’s Agartha monsters versus The Antibodies! There are now seven heroes that make up The Antibodies, including Valdya: Panji (episode 1), who can heal people by touching them; Rania (episode 3), the author now has the power to control others and make them mirror her own movements; Wahyu (episode 4), who has mind-control powers; Dewi (episode 5), who can hypnotize others; Ali (episode 6), who also has hypnotic powers; and Laksmi (episode 7), who joins The Antibodies late in episode 7.
There’s no exact connection between the characters in “The Orphan” and The Antibodies, but something tells us this discrepancy will be addressed in subsequent seasons. One thing is for certain: Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams sets the action up perfectly for a second season, if there is one!
Published: Jul 30, 2024 03:59 pm