A horror drama, Grotesquerie is a new series available on Hulu. Released on September 25, 2024, the series was created by Ryan Murphy, Joe Baken, and Jon Robin Baitz and features intricate layers of Biblical references.
Grotesquerie revolves around Detective Lois Tryon who joins forces with a local nun Sister Megan to nail the culprit behind a string of horrific crimes. Detective Tryon and Sister Megan must solve these crimes before it's too late.
The main cast features Niecy Nash-Betts as Detective Lois Tryon, Courtney B. Vance as Marshall Tryon, Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Father Charlie Mayhew, and Micaela Diamond as Sister Megan Duval.
The series cast also includes Raven Goodwin as Merritt Tryon, and Lesley Manville as Nurse Redd. Grotesquerie currently has one season consisting of ten episodes. The first seven episodes of Grotesquerie are available to stream on Hulu and new episodes air weekly on Thursdays.
Disclaimer: The following article may contain spoilers from Grotesquerie.
Biblical references in Grotesquerie
1) One of the seven deadly sins: Gluttony
Audiences can see a biblical reference in the first episode of Grotesquerie. The victims of the first crime are the Burnside Family. Before their murder, they were a family loved by community members for their progressive fight for justice in society.
The killer murders the youngest infant of the family by boiling the child in a pot. The father is murdered by being roasted in an oven for two hours with salt, pepper, fennel seeds, cayenne, sunchokes, and baby carrots.
The others are forced to eat their father resulting in their deaths from acute shock. As sister Megan helps the detective, she suspects this murder has a connection to religion.
She realizes the murder is about one of the biblical seven deadly sins, Gluttony also known as greed and overindulgence. As the killer thinks people who fight for social progress will eventually turn on each other, he chooses the Burnside family to punish them for Gluttony.
2) The Last Supper
The killer breaks into the church where Father Charlie Mayhew and Sister Megan work. After accessing the altar, the killer arranges murders to look like the Last Supper.
The Last Supper is a prominent event that symbolizes communion with bread and wine which stand for the blood and body of Jesus. The killer does this to let Detective Lois Tryon know that she does not have much time left.
Episode 3 of Grotesquerie sees another reference to the Last Supper as Lois who is also an alcoholic makes a lavish and huge meal for her daughter, Merritt who struggles with binge-eating. Lois does so to get her daughter to ignore her alcoholism in return for Lois ignoring her daughter's binge eating.
3) One of the seven deadly sins: Lust
The killer's next victims are shown to be sex workers and exotic dancers. Detective Lois remembers the victims as she once steered them away from narcotic overdoses and illnesses.
The killer leaves the head of one of the victims replaced with a goat head. Lois realizes that this is a reference to the painting "Witches Sabbath" made at the time of the Spanish Inquisition where women and non-Christians were penalized.
The killer through these murders conveys what he thinks of women and sexuality. Looking at the murders, Sister Megan realizes that the killer thinks he is a prophet who is trumpeting the coming of the end.
4) Verses from the Bible
Sister Megan and Lois follow coordinates discovered by Merritt at a crime scene and head to the desert. They reach a growing wildfire pit which makes Sister Megan believe that the killer is conveying that the reason he is spreading hellish chaos is because of Lois.
While Lois is pushed to her limit because of the chase the killer is sending her to, Sister Megan recites Psalm 88:6-7,
"You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves."
5) Judgement Day
While attempting to run from the fires, Lois and Sister Megan find a woman named Andrea covered in blood and stranded in the middle of a road. The two rescue Andrea and take her to a motel at Andrea's suggestion.
Upon reaching the motel, they realize their phones have no service and the television only shows clips from wars, COVID-19, and fires. All these clips symbolize the end times coming near which can also be seen as Judgement Day.
The killer hints towards Judgement Day, the final day of earth where God judges the sinners left. The show conveys that the killer believes progressive people should be disregarded and evaluated based on the world's state.
6) Referring to Glorious
When the murderer mentions personal information about Detective Lois in his crime scenes, her colleagues begin to look into criminals she has arrested in the past.
They find out Lois arrested a pimp called Glorious and was released from prison despite being sentenced to life. As an unknown woman on the road quotes Glorious, we realize Glorious is mentioned in the bible when referring to God's righteous attributes.
7) Limbo
As Lois ends up in the hospital due to an accident where she was driving under the influence, an orderly called Ed helps her find her way home. He tells her about how he got treatment for his alcoholism and suggests Lois do the same.
As Ed befriends Merritt, Ed protects the family. Keeping the Inferno theory in mind, Ed is considered to be Lois' guide and someone who can help her out of the limbo her job and marriage are in.
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