Netflix's latest apocalyptic movie, The Great Flood, has a far more emotional twist than its titular deadly disaster, mainly due to the strong bond between the two major protagonists. The Great Flood follows the story of a mother (An-na) and her son (Ja-in) who are facing a dangerous flood (akin to the one fans saw in Alice in Borderlands Season 3 ending) at the end of the world. However, there is a massive twist: all of it was only part of an enhanced simulation designed to replicate a tragic event in the past, in order to create a new future for humanity.
All of this is anchored by the revelation about An-na's past and involvement with the simulation. As it turns out, An-na was a former victim of the tragedy, and she was a former researcher for the Darwin Center tasked with creating the Emotion Machine, a device needed to incorporate human emotions into synthetic babies born out of a womb. The Netflix drama delivers numerous twists and turns, culminating in an impactful ending that no one expected.
The Great Flood Netflix Movie Ending Explained & The Power of Motherly Love
While The Great Flood's premise centered on an apocalyptic flood, the movie explored themes of family, motherhood, and the moral challenges posed by artificial intelligence. An-na was essentially the branded savior of humanity in the movie, and the ultimate goal of creating synthetic babies was more complicated because it was just a mere piece of the big puzzle. It's also worth noting that her son, Ja-in, was not a real boy; he is instead a synthetic recreation of her former son, who died in the real flood that took place in the past.
An-na was thrust into the simulation as a prototype for the eventual mother who would raise the synthetic babies in the new world they were spearheading (the Earth that viewers knew was no more, having been engulfed by natural disasters in the past). To raise the stakes and get the most natural reaction, An-na must complete the simulation by running through her memories with Ja-in as her anchor.
She was essentially stuck in a loop until the program had developed all the mother's instincts necessary for the new world. An-na's goal was to find Ja-in in the apocalyptic simulation, so the company could deem the experiment a success (and ultimately save the world).
After numerous attempts, the truth behind An-na's past was revealed. It turned out that she had been forced to leave Ja-in behind in the past, which explains her desire to enter the simulation and save her son, even if it meant doing so in an alternate world. Another obstacle, though, was the presence of Hee-Jo, a corporate security officer tasked with saving An-na (only her) by any means necessary. Given that this was only a simulation, An-na was able to convince Hee-jo to help her find Ja-in amid the chaos, allowing them to work together.
An-na's strong desire to find Ja-in, combined with Hee-jo's help, allowed her to retrieve her memories in the past and piece everything together. While the U.N. soldiers arrived to take An-na away (similar to what happened in the past), she was able to power through and not abandon Ja-in this time.
In The Great Flood's ending, An-na's motherly love for Ja-in not only completed the simulation but also allowed the Emotion Machine to develop the real human emotions it needed to incorporate into the prototypes, helping to rebuild the new world. If anything, An-na's motherly love essentially saved humanity, as the fact that she completed the simulation allowed the Darwin Center to create other mothers and restart the cycle of life on Earth.
Are An-Na & Ja-In Dead in The Great Flood?
During the first half of the movie, the real bodies of An-na and Ja-in are dead due to the flood that transpired in the past. However, there is a far more complicated revelation in the end. Ja-in died after An-na abandoned him after the U.N. security retrieved her, while An-na later met her demise aboard the ship that took her to space, and her final request was actually to serve as the prototype mother for the Emotion Machine (which explains her predicament with the time loop in the first place.
However, there is a twist, as the ending revealed that the successful completion of the simulation meant that the consciousness of An-na and Ja-in (which includes their memories of the simulation) was transferred to new bodies. Both of them were headed toward Earth to start a new life and restart humanity.
Aside from the lead mother-son pair of The Great Flood, the movie's final moments revealed that other mothers and children were on their way to Earth. All of these were made possible due to An-na's successful simulation progress.
While it was a bittersweet moment that Hee-jo was not with them (he was merely part of a memory in the simulation), An-na's experience with him and the fact that she helped him realize the importance of humanity became an essential tool in assisting the Emotion Machine develop those traits as well. If anything, a part of Hee-jo lived through the renewed bodies of An-na and Ja-in, and it will be up to them to spearhead a new era of humanity on Earth.
