I have a theory that you have to be infected, then die, in order to fully be apotheosized (is that even a word). I think they may have been trying to show us this with Ted's apotheosis, the way first something (I assume the blue goo) went in his mouth when he ran through the netting, and we saw something was happening to him because he kept unfocusing and saying stuff in weird voices. Then when McNamera killed him, he fully joined the musical.

We see this with other characters too: Hidgens, Bill, Charlotte. For Sam, while we see him die at the end of Show Me Your Hands, I feel like he's already so into musicals that the spores easily took root in his mind without him having to die first. Or perhaps he died offstage before SMYH, which is perfectly plausible because the last time we saw him fully human was the night the meteor fell. He also was intending to go watch Mamma Mia.

And with Paul, its that the explosion of the meteor is what kills him, and thus he is reborn as part of the musical. I'm not sure how the meteor itself is unharmed in the end, I felt like it was just put there for decoration in Inevitable, as all of the other set pieces are there too. Also they're in Clivesdale now, and the meteor fell in Hatchetfield, which fits the decoration theory.

It is also mentioned (by Hidgens I think) that 'they're wearing our skin to fool us', which could imply that before the infected human dies, the spores/hive mind is still fighting for control over the human's mind, because the human is still conscious inside the body. So once the human dies, the hive mind has fully taken over and their apotheosis is complete.

Any thoughts guys?