Aahana Swrup
In ‘Unchosen,’ Isaac’s days in the Fellowship of the Divine are numbered from the very beginning. The Christian cult has created an isolated community for its church, where the general public is discouraged from having any contact with the outside world. As a result, smartphones and other technology are strictly forbidden. However, Isaac, Adam’s brother, secretly carries a phone with him. In fact, he has a whole other life outside of the community, where he’s a beloved husband and father.
Adam, who works with him in the community’s sawmill company, knows all about his brother’s secrets, but agrees to keep them if he promises to surrender these vices. Nonetheless, eventually, the older brother ends up choosing his loyalty to the church and reports his own flesh and blood to the cult leader, Mr. Phillips. When this devolves into grueling punishment for Isaac, he inevitably ends up fleeing from the Fellowship. Nonetheless, leaving his old life behind isn’t as easy as he would’ve thought. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Isaac Dies in a Tragic Car Crash
Initially, Isaac manages to escape the clutches of the cult with the help of Rosie, his sister-in-law. As a part of his punishment, he is kept isolated in a room inside his house. Therefore, when the rest of the community gathers at the church for their evening prayers, Rosie sneaks away and supplies her brother-in-law with the car keys he needs to drive into the nearby town. Furthermore, when it becomes clear that he himself can’t drive the car due to his condition, she agrees to drive him into town, risking her own safety to ensure his. In the end, even though Isaac has to leave his kids behind, he gets to escape the community’s tyranny and condemnation of him for his extramarital affair. Yet, although he manages to leave his old life behind physically, his emotional ties continue to bring him back in one way or another.
This is why Isaac becomes concerned about his family’s safety once he realizes that Sam, the outsider who has assimilated himself into the community, is the convicted murderer currently at large in the city. On multiple occasions, he tries to reach out to Hannah, his wife, or his brother to warn them against Sam. Nonetheless, since his departure, which is considered to be a great betrayal, no one is willing to hear him out. That is, until Rosie, who has been secretly sustaining a romantic affair with Sam, begins to doubt his motives and his past. Rosie has been feeling unsafe in her house and her marriage for some time now. Initially, she thinks that Sam, her lover, can help her make her escape.
Nevertheless, Sam’s dubious behavior, namely his desire to become a part of the Fellowship, makes her suspicious of his character. Thus, when she reaches out to Isaac and learns the details about his criminal past, pieces begin to fall into place. At first, Rosie decides to fast-track her escape plan by grabbing her daughter, Grace, and meeting her brother-in-law at a park in town. She knows that once she puts enough physical distance between herself and the community, an escape would be all the easier. Yet, her plan never comes to fruition. Although Isaac makes the journey to the park, he ends up dying in a brutal car crash before he can arrive at his destination.
Isaac’s Killer Walks Free and Cements Himself as a Leader of the Fellowship
When Rosie makes the call to Isaac, Sam’s brother, Mason, also happens to be at the house with her. As a result, he’s able to alert the convict about the conversation and his lover’s plans of learning more about his past and eventually escaping the cult. As a result, Sam decides to follow Isaac on the car ride to the park. However, when this chase happens, he isn’t the only one in the car. He’s meant to be driving Mr. Phillip, the cult leader, back home. Since the latter is significantly inebriated, Sam gets to do his bidding and chase after Isaac fairly easily. Yet, trouble stirs as Philips begins to gain consciousness. In the end, Sam knocks the cult leader out and causes the Isaac that ultimately kills Rosie’s brother-in-law.
Nevertheless, Sam manages to escape from the scene, unscathed, leaving Mr. Phillips behind at the scene of the car crash to bear the brunt of the blame. Although the cult leader eventually tries to prove his innocence, his reputation has fallen enough by then to lose him his credibility. On the other hand, Sam manages to use every dirty trick in the book to climb his own way to power. After Phillips, the church shifts the leadership role to his protege, Adam, who is struggling with inner conflicts of his own. Sam figures out this conflict, Adam’s homosexuality, early enough and stages a sexual encounter between them, which he secretly films. Therefore, by the end, he has the right kind of leverage needed to use Adam’s proximity to power to establish his own. Ultimately, a year after Isaac’s death, his real killer remains free and in fact becomes the leader of his former cult.
Read More: Is Adam Gay or Bisexual in Unchosen?
