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Warning: This article includes MAJOR SPOILERS for Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen!
Rachel’s family curse becomes the driving force in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, and here’s the deal with Death broken down in detail. Although the Netflix series is initially presented as atmospheric horror, the story also blends in gore, body horror, folk horror, and paranormal horror.
As I mentioned in my review of Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen for ScreenRant, the series blends these together with plenty of horror tropes without feeling derivative, which is part of what makes it so brilliant. The supernatural horror is truly what becomes the key to Rachel’s journey in the Netflix horror.
Death, which is a sentient being in this story, has subjected Rachel’s family to a curse, and it looms over her wedding day. These are all the details you need to know to understand the threat Rachel faces.
The Details Of Rachel’s Family Curse In The Duffer Brothers’ Horror Show
Halfway through Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, Rachel discovers the reason for her feeling of dread and nosebleeds. None of it is in her head. Instead, Rachel is the most recent victim of a curse that has stretched back in her family for around 200 years.
Everyone in her family can remain single or be in a committed but not legally binding relationship without consequences. If Rachel and Nicky had just stayed together without getting engaged or married, they would have been fine. Similarly, there are no issues if they have a child out of wedlock with someone they love. However, the curse goes into effect the minute they choose to marry.
Because Rachel got engaged, she has to marry her soulmate by sundown on her wedding day. If the person she loves is her soulmate, they both will be fine. If the person she loves is not her soulmate, she will die a terrifying death where blood pours out of her face.
If she leaves him at the altar, she would curse Nicky and his entire family line with the curse that she and her family experienced. She believes this will only be true moving forward, but that’s not the case. Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen doesn’t explore what would happen if they used other loopholes, though.
For instance, could the wedding be delayed repeatedly without dying? Can they marry someone who isn’t their fiancé and live if it’s their soulmate? Could they get a civil union without the curse affecting them? Presumably, Death would find a way to punish the members of Rachel’s family if they went this route, since the entity also did so when the Witness didn’t get married.
How The Family Curse Started In Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen
Even though Rachel’s family is cursed at the start of Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, it didn’t actually start with the Harkins. Around 500 years before the events of the Netflix show, give or take a century, a man and woman get engaged to be married. He dies in a horrible hunting accident, and the woman desperately calls out for help.
She begs Death to bring back her beloved, and the deity agrees to a Faustian bargain. Death will bring the fiancé back to life if the woman truly believes that he’s her soulmate. If she’s wrong, she will die when they marry. The woman agrees, not knowing that this would curse every member of her family from then on.
Since then, Death has followed each person in the family, prepared to take their soul as soon as they marry the wrong person. About 200 years before Rachel’s wedding, the curse moved from the previous family line to the Harkins because of the Witness.
Who Is The Witness To The Curse?
Zlatko Buric plays the Witness in the cast of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, following the Harkins and observing their tragic endings. He has maintained the role for the past 200 years, ever since he left his wife Marion at the altar. Death punished him for his cowardice by forcing him to watch as Marion’s family suffered the curse.
He watched as his beloved married Thomas Harkin, Rachel’s great-great-great-grandfather, and passed the curse down the bloodline. The Witness is the one who must sign every marriage certificate. After 200 years, he seems disgruntled, uncaring, and a little creepy. Rachel first meets him in the bar, where he watches her pee, and she stabs him with her keys.
He’s immortal but still capable of feeling the pain of being stabbed. To get back at Rachel for stabbing him with her keys, he stabs her in the leg with a knife when she finds him at the bar. That’s how little he cares about the people whom he’s watching. The Witness does choose to warn all the folks he’s watching, though.
He asks each individual, “Are you sure [insert pronoun here]’s the one?” before their wedding. The Witness shows this when he speaks to Ali at the chapel and Rachel at the bar. Weirdly, he chooses to warn the Harkins after they’re already engaged, which means that they’ll probably die or pass on the curse.
However, he’s finally freed from this role at the end of Something Very Bad Is Going to Die, due to Nicky’s deceptive behavior. He leaves a message in blood saying that it’s Rachel’s turn to be the Witness, and Death finally takes his soul.
How Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen’s Ending Continues The Curse
For all intents and purposes, Nicky is the villain of Rachel’s story, not Death. He lied to Rachel about why he was at the airport when they met. He ignored her statement that she never wanted marriage. He pressured her into an engagement. He lied to her, as he didn’t really believe in Rachel’s potentially supernatural sixth sense. He makes her think that he still wants to marry her after the truth comes out.
Unfortunately, Nicky ruins everything for everyone at the end of the show. When they get to the altar, Rachel says yes to marrying Nicky, but he says no. By backing out, he curses his entire bloodline to die if they marry anyone but their soulmate. This retroactively applies, so their wedding, which is family-only, turns into a complete bloodbath.
Only six individuals survive the wedding:
- Nicky
- Boris
- Nell
- Jules
- Jude
- Rachel (the new Witness)
Nicky tricks Rachel into marrying him after the deaths started. He gets to live because Rachel married him, but he’s theoretically still cursed because of his first decision. That means it jumps to another family line if he remarries.
Nell and Jules survive since they are soulmates. If they divorce and remarry or if they have another child, they could continue the curse. Boris lives, even though his wife died, because he still thinks of her as his soulmate. I don’t foresee Boris remarrying, given his devotion to Victoria, but he could pass it on in that case if the person isn’t his soulmate.
Then, there’s Jude. Jude is the individual most likely to deal with the curse in the future. He’s a child right now. In the future, he may or may not want romance or marriage. If he does, he will have to be absolutely certain they are his soulmate.
If he marries and they’re not his soulmate, he’ll die. If he walks out on the wedding, he becomes the Witness and passes on the curse. Ultimately, the curse is far from over, even if Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is finished.
- Release Date
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March 26, 2026
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Haley Z. Boston
- Writers
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Haley Z. Boston
Cast
