Let’s Break Down The Raising Dion Finale’s Creepy Kid Ending

Netflix’s sci-fi family drama Raising Dion seems to have as happy an ending as possible with season 1 finale, “Storm Killer.” Little Dion Warren (Ja'Siah Young) vanquishes “the Crooked Man,” who is actually his superpower-infected godfather Pat (Jason Ritter), with a little help from his mom, Nicole Warren (Alisha Wainwright). Pat disappears, and Dion and Nicole get to talk to Warren patriarch Mark (executive producer Michael B. Jordan), who was previously presumed dead. A ghostlike Mark, who had been absorbed by Pat, assures his family his energy will be out there somewhere, even if they can’t see him. Dion pledges to bring his dad back to full corporeal form with his superpowers. 

The episode supposedly wraps with Nicole preparing to keep Dion safe from any harm that may be heading towards him. Then Raising Dion pulls the rug out from under you with a cliffhanger. A kid named Brayden Mills (Griffin Robert Faulkner), who also has superpowers, is all but assured to be the looming threat Nicole is so worried about. 

It’s a twist that comes down to a surprise button in “Storm Killer.” 

Initially, it appears Raising Dion’s 2019 finale ends with Nicole fixing the covers around a sleeping Dion as his toys float above his head. “I don’t know what’s coming. But I can promise you one thing — whatever it is will have to go through me,” Nicole tells Dion through voiceover. Then the episode cuts to black, only to open up again on a green field that is covered in lightning strike marks. They are the same marks indicative of a visit from the Crooked Man’s storm form. 

Although the series doesn’t tell us what we’re looking at, it is the Mills family’s farm in Clark County, AL. We spot the house we first glimpsed in the fourth episode “Welcome to BIONA. Hope You Survive the Experience,” and then a woman who appears to be dead. That is Joan (Rebecca Harris), aunt of Brayden and sister to the late Walter Mills (Marc Menchaca). The Crooked Man absorbed Walter in the same way he absorbed Mark. For a moment, you worry the dark energy that effectively murdered Walter has now harmed for his young son after it was ejected from Pat’s body. As “Why So Vomity?” confirms, telepath Brayden is a second-generation powered person like Dion. 

However, the dark energy that created the Crooked Man hasn’t killed Brayden. Instead, it has possessed him in the same way it possessed Pat. After taking in Joan’s corpse, we see a possessed Brayden step over his aunt’s body and march outside. A Crooked Man cloud follows him. As Brayden approaches the road, we realize his eyes have gone black. Then the storm fully enters Brayden’s body, completing his transformation into a pint-sized villain. In the final seconds of “Storm Killer,” we watch Brayden stride into the great unknown. 

There is a 100% likelihood Brayden is heading for Dion, his heroic foil. 

This Raising Dion shock makes sense for a number of reasons. “Storm Killer” itself signals we haven’t seen the last of the Crooked Man’s malevolent energy. After Nicole and Dion zap the creature into submission, the camera rests on the black cloud that survives the confrontation. Rather than dissipate, it flies off into the night, seemingly looking for another host following Pat’s demise. Brayden, we now know, is that host. 

Then there are the breadcrumbs Dion leaves for us in earlier episodes. In Brayden’s introductory episode, “BIONA,” he tells his dad he should have murdered two people on their land. Then, when we check back in with Brayden in “Vomity,” he displays a jealous streak similar to the one secret villain Pat had with Dion’s dad, Mark. When Charlotte Tuck (Deirdre Lovejoy) visits the Mills farm, Brayden begs the super-powered woman to take him with her. She refuses since she already has Dion to worry about, but promises to check on him later. “You’re lying!” Brayden yells at her via telepathy. “You’re not coming back! You’re going to Dion! Why are you helping Dion but you won’t help me?” His rage is chilling. 

That means Brayden had a vendetta against Dion before he was possessed by a sci-fi lightning spirit bent on destruction. If Raising Dion does get a season 2, expect to witness an inevitable showdown between Brayden and Dion — and Dion’s mom. We all know Nicole isn’t sitting out of that fight.