Shows and TV

My impression was that the rejection of the devil meant that the events were undone, as old scratch had bent reality in the process. Kind of like a rubber band being stretched until the snapping point, but instead of snapping, someone cuts whatever is pulling on one end.

Had he accepted his role as a servant of satan, claiming his heritage and all it implied, Lomax would have caused the band to snap, and the reality that was being created would become solidified. But until he accepted, the reality was a possibility, just one that was occurring within its own frame of reference.

It wasn't so much an alternate reality as it was a failed reality.

A lot of the film revolves around some of the more loose ideas around satan. One of which is that "he" lacks the power of creation, but can warp the world, influence it, and change it.

Thus, what he does is plant his seed in the world, and move things until reality warps into the image he wants. But, at any point his plans are thwarted, reality snaps back to the state it was before he makes his move.

Iirc, at the end, there's an indication that satan could still try and use Lomax to bend reality again, that the seed he planted that is Lomax could always grow again, starting a new attempt to warp reality to Satan's whims.

I never got the impression it was a vision or temptation only. It would have served a similar role, because if it were a vision, it was obvious that it was a vision that would have overwritten reality to become the new reality rather than a test run that would have to be repeated to reach the same point in space-time.

On the meta level, it seemed like a strong directorial choice so that the stakes were very real. The people involved really did experience the events, but once Satan's power was rejected, he lost his grip on the section of reality he was pulling on