Netflix unleashed a post-apocalyptic series this week called Daybreak that brings a John Hughes spin to the genre.
The series involves Josh Wheeler, a teenager from Glendale, California who unites with a group of classmates to survive the end of humanity. He also aims to find his girlfriend Sam Dean who went missing after the world ended in a nuclear blast.
The show also features a mysterious villain named Baron Triumph who rides around on a motorcycle with a gas mask. The character also hunts teenagers who have survived and eats them.
But who is hiding behind the mask of Baron Triumph? Here is an explanation of who the character is and what made them become a cannibal.
As always, Spoilers will follow.
Who is Baron Triumph from Daybreak?
Through much of the series, everyone believes Baron Triumph to actually be the extremely obnoxious jock Jaden Hoyles. The reason for this is because Baron rides the same motorbike that was owned by Hoyles before the world ended.
This is further obscured by the fact that Baron’s hideout is in the factory that makes Goblin Flakes. At the beginning of Episode 4, we find out Hoyle’s father produces the cereal.
But as episode 4 unfolds, much of this begins to unravel as Principal Burr (Matthew Broderick) narrates the episode and describes his long-gestating conflict with handling Hoyle’s problematic issues as a student in flashbacks.
Burr insists at the beginning that he took the job because he wanted to help students. But between the lack of funding from the school board and kids like Hoyle, something about Burr becomes jaded.
What is explained in the flashbacks is Burr has become open to taking bribes from parents to modify grades in order to get a better budget for his school.
But even though he takes a bribe from Hoyle’s parents, he still executes a plan to get their entitled kid expelled, and he does so by catching him having sex with a minor on camera.
Baron Triumph’s identity further explained
In the present day apocalypse, Josh and others get captured by Baron and brought to the Goblin Flakes factory as prisoners. Josh eventually breaks out of his cell with a lockpicking device he has stored inside a mannequin finger but before he can release others the lockpick breaks.
The other prisoners urge him to go find the keys to get them out.
Once he makes his way to where Baron keeps the keys, to Josh’s surprise Hoyle is tied up on like a pig ready to be roasted on an open flame. This means Hoyle was not Baron Triumph the entire time.
And at this moment, Baron rides back into the factory to find Josh trying to rescue Hoyle. Baron takes off the gas mask and bike helmet and it’s revealed to be Principal Burr.
What we find out is Burr is not the man he once was before the world ended. He is a Ghoulie hybrid like Miss Crumble which means he requires blood for survival and he has the intelligence that Ghoulies do not possess. He is also not as kind to students because of his past.
This is a great role for Matthew Broderick for a number of reasons. He rarely gets to play the unlikable bad guy because of his overly soft presence.
Not to mention, the source material definitely seems inspired by Ferris Bueller, so having him brings another meta layer to the series. And while it seems like he did not survive the season, we wouldn’t put it past the showrunners to bring him back somehow for season 2.
Daybreak is now streaming on Netflix.