‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ Season 1 Episode 2 ‘Graveyard Rats’ Ending Explained

Here is the ending explained to Graveyard Rats of Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities.

Jacob Robinson What's on Netflix Avatar
·

graveyard rats cabinet of curiosities netflix 1

David Hewlett as Masson in episode “Graveyard Rats” of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities. Cr. Ken Woroner/Netflix © 2022

For anyone confused about the ending to the second episode of Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities then allow us to try and help! We’ll also be covering the remaining episodes of Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, but here is the ending explained to Graveyard Rats.

Graveyard Robber is the second episode of Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, and was directed by Vincenzo Natali, and based on the short story written by Henry Kuttner.

Masson, a grave robber eyes up the riches of a wealthy new arrival to the cemetery, but to secure the loot, he must face a labyrinth of tunnels and legions of rodents.

What happened in Graveyard Rats?

Masson, a desperate graverobber, was after the body of Winston in order to steal an extremely valuable saber that had been gifted by the King. Inches away from robbing his prize, Masson was forced to enter the rat’s labyrinth of tunnels, as he chased after the rats dragging away the body. Upon getting lost inside the tunnel, Masson came face to face with a giant monstrous rat, received an injury to his arm, and was chased through the tunnel.

After escaping by falling extremely deep into the tunnels, Masson found himself at the center of where the rats had been taken corpses too. To Masson’s delight, he found a number of jewels amongst the skeletons, including the priceless saber he was after. After looting, Masson noticed the statue of a monstrous creature (extremely similar to the creature from Lot 36), mumbling “Black Church” to himself. Masson then noticed a curious corpse to the side, with an exquisite necklace and pendant around its neck. However, after looting the corpse, it awoke, attempting to steal back the necklace Masson had taken from it.

Masson escaped through a nearby tunnel, with the corpse crawling in pursuit. In his attempt to stop the corpse from chasing him, he once again came face to face with the giant rat, finding himself trapped between the two. His fight with the rat resulted in the collapse of the tunnel, killing it, and blocking the undead corpse from reaching him.

Noticing a light in the tunnel above his head, Masson makes a desperate bid for freedom. Unfortunately for Masson, he found himself back where he started, but trapped within the coffin of Winston. With nowhere to go, the rats of the labyrinth swarm him, leaving him to a grizzly end.

Later, the grave of Winston is found by the two graverobbers that Masson had chased off in the beginning. Recognizing him, their thoughts of how Masson ended up in someone else’s coffin were put to rest when they noticed the jewels on him, in particular, the necklace Masson had stolen. But before the men can loot him, rats surface from his body and swarm around him.

Was everything in Masson’s head?

The night before Masson attempted to rob the grave of Winston, he hallucinated that an entire horde of rats was in his ceiling, which collapsed, and the horde fell on top of him. He also envisioned himself being put six feet under by Hans, which led to his desperate attempt to chase after the rodents.

There was a brief moment at the end where we were left to think Masson had died of a heart attack after finding himself trapped inside the coffin of Winston. But the graverobbers witnessed the overwhelming number of rats that swarmed Masson’s body.

graveyard rats cabinet of curiosities netflix

Cr. Ken Woroner/Netflix © 2022

What is the Black Church?

Little is known about the Black Church, but gazing upon the statue of an eldritch horror Masson appeared to know instantly what church the idol belonged to. The necklace on the corpse also shared a likeness to the statue, and was cursed, dooming the wearer to crave it, even in death.

The idol shares a likeness to the monster seen in Lot 36, so in future episodes, we may see even more of the religion.


What did you think of the ending to Graveyard Rats? Let us know in the comments below!

Written by

Jacob joined What's on Netflix in 2018 as a fulltime writer having worked in numerous other industries until that point. Jacob covers all things Netflix whether that's TV or movies but specializes in covering new anime and K-dramas. Resides in Norwich in the United Kingdom.