Cabinet of Curiosities episode 1, “Lot 36”: Recap and ending explained

Netflix’s latest horror series has begun just in time for Halloween. The streamer is taking a unique approach with this release, premiering two episodes of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities a day. The anthology series follows a different cast and story in each episode, exploring all things macabre. As of today, Oct. 25, the first two episodes are out, and we’re here to discuss the premiere.

“Lot 36” tells the story of a greedy man named Nick Appleton, played by Tim Blake Nelson, who finds himself in a series of predicaments. As we see from the first time we meet him, he’s a conservative living in the 1990s during George H. W. Bush’s presidency. He’s racist, rude, and depicted as someone you don’t want to root for right off the bat. It’s always interesting when the main character is a villain.

As we learn more about Nick, we see he makes a living buying old, unused storage units in hopes of finding expensive items to sell. He works for a guy named Eddie, who runs the storage facility. When Eddie shows Nick suspicious footage of a strange man who went into Lot 36 every day for years, Nick’s intrigued. He thinks something valuable must be in there for someone to have checked on the unit so often, so he buys it.

Meanwhile, a woman named Amelia comes to see Eddie, hoping to visit her storage unit. Unfortunately, however, she’d already been evicted but never got the notice in the mail after moving. Eddie already sold her space to Nick, and he suggests she go talk to him to try and see if he still has any of her belongings. But as expected, Nick is not cooperative. He doesn’t think she has the right to any of her things anymore since he bought the space, even when she tells him she has precious family items she doesn’t want to lose. He ends up giving her a lock but no key.

Nick goes to check out Lot 36 and is pleasantly surprised to find vintage items that look to be expensive. He also finds an eerie photo album that includes pictures of nazi soldiers and flags. If he’s creeped out, he doesn’t show it, however, and decides to take a candelabra, a tabletop, and a few chairs to go get appraised. When he leaves the facility, we see that Amelia is still waiting outside.

Eddie recommends a woman named Agatha, and Nick heads there to see how much cash he can score. Though she doesn’t seem interested in the candelabra despite saying it’s gold, she is excited by the tabletop, which she says was used for seances. Together, the two discover drawers in the tabletop that hold three books — all of which look to be used for the occult.

Agatha calls a guy named Roland up to come check out their findings, and just as she expected he’s incredibly impressed by the items. Even the candelabra. He asks if there’s a fourth volume, seeing as there were only three books, and tells Nick that if the collection was complete, it’d be worth $300,000. He confirms that all of these items were used for seances, which seems to make them incredibly valuable. Nick, wanting the money as soon as possible, drives them back to the storage space that night to go find the fourth book.

Roland starts to fill Nick in on the owner of the storage unit, saying he knew of the family. The patriarch was apparently an evil man (that explains the nazi photos) who gambled all of his money away and always wanted more. Apparently, he summoned an evil entity to possess his sister Dottie, who was never found. Roland’s details are super creepy, but all Nick cares about is the money he might be able to earn.

Nick and Roland start ransacking Lot 36 in an attempt to find the fourth book, meanwhile, Amelia is still outside. Roland finds old newspapers with cover stories all about Dottie’s appearance, and soon enough the two men discover there’s a secret door in the unit. Once they open it, Roland tries to warn Nick about what could be ahead. He advises him that if they see a demon, he cannot look it in the eyes nor try and talk to it. Nick doesn’t take him seriously, though, and they walk through the secret hallway together.

Cabinet of Curiosities episode 1: What happens to Nick?

They finally get to a room, where the stench is strong enough to cause alarm. They see there’s a woman’s body pinned down to a circle drawn on the ground, and Roland is quick to say it’s Dottie. Inside a hole where her face should be, there’s a creature in there wiggling around. Roland declares it’s the demon. None of this seems to faze Nick, who sees the fourth book up ahead and wastes no time going to grab it. In the process, he steps over the red circle drawn on the floor and calls attention to the demon.

Despite Roland’s urges to stop, Nick grabs the book but doesn’t have it for long. The demon shows itself to be a creature with multiple tentacles, and it grabs Roland and swallows him. Suddenly, the book is set on flames, causing Nick to drop it and run away. He runs out of the storage unit and is desperate to escape, but the demon’s suddenly there with him in the hallway. When he gets to the door to the outside, he can’t get it open, but he’s relieved to see Amelia standing outside.

But Nick doesn’t realize Amelia is not there to help him. Though he begs for her to open up, she decides to take the lock he gave her and put it on the door, locking him inside the building. The demon comes up behind him and eats him before the lights go off.

Nick is dead, while Amelia is safe, and the demon is on the loose to take whoever crosses its path. It’d be fun to see more from this story, but we’re onto the next creepy tale with episode 2, “Graveyard Rats.”

“Lot 36” is now streaming on Netflix. Don’t miss the rest of the episodes of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities as new ones drop every day through this Friday, Oct. 28.