Episode 4 of "Uzumaki" kicks off with a harrowing car accident within a tunnel, as media personnel frantically attempt to reach the town amidst the aftermath of a storm. Tragedy strikes, claiming the lives of all except for reporter Chie Maruyama. She crosses paths with Kirie, who urgently persuades her to stay with their group.
The Uzumaki curse gripping the town has intensified to such a degree that even the slightest significant movement triggers the formation of tornadoes, akin to a chaotic butterfly effect. The once-serene pond has metamorphosed into a menacing whirlpool. Despite initial intentions, Kirie and her family are cruelly rejected by the inhabitants of the rescue shelter.
Outside, they encounter ruthless gangsters who have commenced exploiting the dire situation for their gain. The group stumbles upon these gangsters cooking and devouring the snail-like inhabitants. They attempt to coerce the group into joining their grim feast, and due to their abrupt movements, a tornado brutally sweeps Kirie's father away. The gangsters themselves are subsequently engulfed by the whirlpool, while the remaining members of the group narrowly escape its clutches.
Later, the group encounters more volunteers, similarly trapped within the town's sinister embrace. They strive to flee but find the tunnels mocking their efforts, spiraling them back to their starting point. Gradually, some of these volunteers undergo a harrowing transformation, their bodies adorned with Uzumaki spirals as they morph into snail people. Desperate, they attempt to force their way into the rescue shelters, hoping the curse's intensity might diminish within those confines. Instead, they are horrified to discover the inhabitants entangled in a grotesque mass of bodies, the fleshy tangle stretching the houses to their breaking points. In the distance, ships can be glimpsed, but the ocean's voracious appetite swallows them into the whirlpool's depths.
Undeterred, the group persists on their perilous journey, seeking an escape from the town's clutches. Some volunteers, including Shuichi, resort to cannibalism, consuming the flesh of a man who has succumbed to the snail transformation. Kirie and the others return to a makeshift shelter, where Kirie discovers her mother has been whisked away by a tornado, and her brother is undergoing his own transformation. Faced with dwindling options, Kirie, her brother, Shuichi, and Chie resolve to carve a path through the mountains, hoping to uncover a way out of this cursed town.
As they trudged along the path, their realization dawned that the road was a circular loop, an epiphany confirmed when they unexpectedly encountered the volunteers once more. One of them underwent a startling metamorphosis, transforming into a snail, while the remainder devoured raw meat with relentless appetite. Kirie, shielding her brother from harm, pressed on with their journey. Eventually, her brother completed his transformation, and with Kirie's frantic assistance, they managed to descend a treacherous cliff, narrowly escaping becoming a meal for the others. Meanwhile, the volunteers, their bodies slowly mutating into Uzumakis, were driven to madness.
The group wandered aimlessly, as time seemed to elude their grasp, never finding an escape. They eventually stumbled back into the town, their eyes widening in disbelief as they beheld its transformation: the town had been reconstructed into the eerie shape of an Uzumaki. Shuichi proposed a harrowing theory: the original, ancient town must have been an Uzumaki, and the curse resurfaced periodically as the town expanded.
They realized that years had slipped by unnoticed since their departure. With a renewed sense of purpose, the group made their way towards the pond where Kirie believed her parents were held captive. However, their progress was halted when Chie became ensnared within one of the apartments. As the reconstruction reached its zenith, a colossal mass of bodies surged towards the pond. Shuichi and Kirie finally reached the pond, now a vast, gaping hole in the earth, with steps descending into its depths. Shuichi plummeted into the abyss, and Kirie, undeterred, followed suit.
At the heart of the hole, they uncovered mystifying spiral ruins, the very source of the curse revealed. Spirals, with their hypnotic pull, drew everything towards their center, which explained the tangled mess of bodies they found, including Kirie's long-lost parents. In a moment of despair, Shuichi and Kirie surrendered, allowing themselves to become entwined with the others.
With their sacrifice, the curse was lifted, and the town expanded once more. Yet, the cycle was set to begin anew, with two fresh faces stepping into the shoes of Shuichi and Kirie, destined to repeat the same harrowing tale.
