SPOILERS for Ju-On: Origins ahead

Ju-On: Origins, the newest entry in the popular The Grudge horror franchise is a satisfying return to form, but it’s also got a very busy timeline that can leave audiences puzzled more than frightened.

The Ju-On and Grudge movies are incredibly influential to the horror genre, but they all weave together an interconnected continuity that shows just how destructive and far-reaching this curse really is. It begins with the Saeki family in Japan, but eventually spans across the globe and over the course of decades. The Grudge movies all may be relatively similar in terms of plot, but it remains entertaining to see how the latest exploits of Kayako and Toshio connect to the growing puzzle that’s been put together. There’s a lot to The Grudge series to unpack, but the new Netflix series, Ju-On: Origins, consciously chooses to rid itself of this baggage and build its own timeline independent of the film franchise.

Related: The Grudge: How 2020 Remake Connects To Original Movies

The way in which Ju-On: Origins is able to justify this unique timeline is by the claim that the events depicted in Ju-On: Origins are the “true events” that would then go on to inspire the Ju-On and Grudge films. This is a reasonably clever angle that allows the Netflix series to approach similar territory, but in an entirely new way that goes about building its own ghosts and set pieces instead of relying on all of the franchise’s previous bags of tricks. Accordingly, Ju-On: Origins once again examines a cursed house that takes the lives of many victims due to the rage-filled murders that originated there, but the timeline for Ju-On: Origins 6 episodes covers a surprising amount of ground.

1952: The Curse Begins

Ju-On Origins Woman In White Baby

As is always the case with the Grudge series, Ju-On: Origins begins with the death of a person who has a deep rage inside of them that goes on to birth an extraordinary—and confusing—curse. The son of a building’s landlords goes on to take a woman hostage in the house and sexually abuses her during her captivity. The woman eventually becomes pregnant and dies and it’s also assumed that the baby that she was pregnant with also passed away with her. In reality, she does give birth to the baby, who disappears along with her abuser. It’s this disturbing series of events that triggers the curse and the victim takes on the form of the ghostly Woman in White. Due to the circumstances of this crime, the Woman in White has a higher likelihood to attack pregnant women or inflict sexual abuse on the victims. The curse seems to specifically target these figures rather than attacking all families.

1960: The Odajima Family Moves Into The Cursed House

Ju-On Origins Yasuo Worried

Yaduo Odajima (Yosiyosi Arakawa) is one of the central protagonists in Ju-On: Origins. He’s a paranormal researcher and author who becomes obsessed with the cursed house. However, after Yasuo digs deeper he learns that he actually briefly lived in the house, but forgot about the traumatic event since he was only five at the time. In 1960, 8 years after the original attacks, Yasuo moves into the same home with his sister, Kazuha, and their father. The Woman in White attacks them for invading her territory and she seems to steal Kazuha away from Yasuo. These events also result in his father’s death and Yasuo being left all alone.

Yasuo is confused as to why the ghostly Woman in White spares him, when the rest of his family perishes, but he believes it ultimately has to do with his connection to the paranormal. Yasuo thinks that he was spared as a child because he’ll grow up to be the one who’s actually willing to tell the Woman in White’s story when so many others have ignored it. It brings some interesting ideas about fate and responsibility into the equation.

Related: Ju-On: White Ghost Replaced Kayako As The Grudge's Main Villain

1988: Kiyomi’s Assault And Possession

Ju-On Origins Possessed Kiyomi

1988 is where Ju-On: Origins starts to tell its story when Haruka Honjo (Yuina Kuroshima) experiences supernatural activity in the house and records the phenomenon on an audiocassette. Haruka is freaked out and the bizarre event is what connects her with Yasuo, but she’s able to remain unharmed. The first real victim during all of this is Kiyomi (Ririka), a girl who’s new to town and gets sexually abused by her classmates in the cursed house. It’s an awful display of manipulation, but it results in Kiyomi’s possession. Kiyomi immediately begins to strike out vengeance and carry out the curse’s bidding. She goes home with Yudai, a fellow student, who also succumbs to her manipulation. The bleak scene ends with Kiyomi free to carry on with her impassioned killing spree.

1994: The Curse Spreads

Ju-On Origins Scared Couple

After Ju-On: Origins establishes Kiyomi’s possession, the series jumps ahead to 1994 where she’s now a young mother. Kiyomi has built a life together with, Katsuji, an unsuspecting soul that she’s roped into this mess. Kiyomi is far from normal, but her husband seems to be even more aggressive in many ways, as if the curse has moved on to also infect him. Kiyomi and Katsuji are incredibly destructive towards each other and it’s really their child, Toshiki, who suffers the most here. Kiyomi and her husband both act out in different ways and are pulled apart from each other with Toshiki abandoned in the process. While Toshiki remains innocent through all of this, he also appears to have something supernatural affecting him and he repeatedly appears to Katsuji like a ghost, even though he’s still alive.

1995: The Curse Attacks The Masaki Family

Ju-On Origins Evil Spirit Woman At Window

1995 sees a reunion between Kiyomi and Katsuji, with both of them at their very worst. They commiserate over Toshiki, but Kiyomi ultimately ends Katsuji’s pain by killing him. She tries to exorcise her own demons by returning to the scene of her abuse, but remains tortured. As Ju-On: Origins ends, Kiyomi’s fate is uncertain, but the cryptic nature of her hallucinations and her desire to return to her high school days could mean that the pain becomes too much and she ends her life.

Related: The Grudge: The Differences Between Japanese & American Versions

1995 also features a much more brutal massacre as the Woman in White’s curse spreads to the Masaki family, who are merely neighbors to the cursed house. Revelations about infidelity ignite the spark between Keiichi Masaki and his very pregnant wife, Chie. They both turn violent and the curse causes Keiichi to recreate the events of the original 1952 murder. Keiichi attacks his pregnant wife and gruesomely removes their infant child as a sacrifice. Keiichi buries the baby at the cursed house because the spirits tell him that his baby belongs at this location. The Woman in White still feels that she’s owed the child that was taken from her.

1997: Tomoko And Her Husband Move Into The Cursed House

Ju-On Origins Haruka Scared

A new family moves into the cursed house in 1997, a husband and a wife named Tomoko who is once again very pregnant. Tomoko is haunted by the Woman in White and she’s nearly able to steal her child, but she’s able to survive the situation and actually goes into labor, escaping to the safety of the hospital. Tomoko may be safe, but Yasuo and Haruka are still determined to end this curse once and for all.

Haruka takes the “bury together” clue that she learns from both the psychic, Michiko, and Yasuo. She decides to bury her audio recording at the cursed house, alongside the Woman in White’s infant sacrifice. For a moment, it seems as if this strategy works, but Haruka is eventually consumed by the spirit of the original kidnapper and rapist from 1952. It’s implied that this curse goes on and cannot be stopped, at which point it inevitably inspires the original Ju-on. If more Ju-On: Origins gets made, then this 1997 timeline may be continued, but this feels like a neat conclusion that nicely sets up the rest of The Grudge universe.

Next: The Grudge Movies Ranked, Worst To Best