WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Nevers, Episode 4, "Undertaking," which premiered Sunday on HBO.
When Mary was murdered as she was singing during last week's episode of The Nevers, it cut short a message of hope only the Touched could hear. Yet, while Mary's song made the Touched feel like there was a better world out there and gave them a desire to join together, they couldn't understand the actual words -- even Mary was in the dark about the meaning of what she was singing. However, in the latest episode, "Undertaking," it's revealed that one resident of the orphanage could comprehend the song, and with the help of the other orphans, she's able to translate it into English.
When Primrose finds Myrtle crying after Mary's funeral, she naturally believes she's simply mourning the loss. However, Myrtle manages to communicate through drawings that she actually knows what Mary said in her song, and now she needs help translating it. Myrtle's turn has put all the languages of the world in her head, yet the irony is that, while she's able to speak every language, the one that doesn't seem to ever come out of her mouth anymore is her native tongue, English.
Luckily, although it ended in a terrible act of violence, Mary's song still managed to successfully summon dozens of new Touched to the orphanage, and many of the newest residents speak other languages. Primrose, Harriet and Myrtle enlist their help to translate Mary's word as Myrtle recites them, and at the end of the episode, the trio shares what they've discovered with Amalia and Penance.
The most shocking revelation about the meaning behind the song may be that much of it is specifically addressed to Amalia. Harriet reports the song begins with the words, "Amalia, my lonely soldier." Then, after saying something about wearing stripes, it continues, "I didn't leave you. I went inside the city. I was damaged, incomplete. I had to heal. Soon we will all be ready. But it's dark, there's a darkness." The song then speaks to the Touched as a whole with the words, "Gather and protect each other because of the dark. Find me. Let them help, those who will. Come below and find me. Come before the dark and we can save..." It's at that point that Mary's song was tragically cut short.
Halfway through Harriet's recitation, Amalia starts to cry. Meanwhile, Penance and Harriet glean that someone else is using Mary as a vehicle to communicate this message through. And now that it's been translated to English, it seems Amalia might both understand it and know the identity of the individual behind it.
Since The Nevers began, Amalia has repeatedly brought up a mission she's been tasked with carrying out that has something to do with the Touched. And earlier in this episode, she discloses to Penance that she was left alone after the Touched were created with this mission. But the song indicates she wasn't left alone deliberately. Instead, whatever gave Amalia her mysterious mission, was somehow damaged and had to retreat into the city to heal.
Yet, the message seems to indicate that whatever is sending it is not entirely human. If anything, the closest thing we've seen so far to something that needs finding in the dark is the glowing blue object being excavated in Dr. Hague's lair. While we have no idea what that object is, we know Lavinia Bidlow, who's funding Dr. Hague's operation, is determined to uncover it, and it's clear the object bears some resemblance to the glowing blue that emanated from the flying object that crossed the sky three years ago dispersing the particles that created the Touched.
Lucy asked Amalia if she created the Touched in a previous scene in "Undertaking," and while Amalia denied it, that doesn't rule out the possibility she was somehow associated with what did. It's possible everything happening in the world of The Nevers is somehow connected back to the entity behind Mary's song. Given that is asking the Touched to gather and find it, it seems we might soon discover what this entity is -- as well as how Amalia is associated with it -- before the first half of the season comes to a close with Episode 6. However, whether it has the best interests of the Touched at heart remains to be seen.
Created by Joss Whedon, The Nevers stars Laura Donnelly, Olivia Williams, James Norton, Tom Riley, Ann Skelly, Ben Chaplin, Pip Torrens, Zackary Momoh, Amy Manson, Nick Frost, Rochelle Neil, Eleanor Tomlinson and Denis O’Hare. New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.