The Terminator franchise, which started in 1984, has recently received an anime titled ‘Terminator Zero’ on Netflix. Despite being a standalone eight-episodic series, it has several aspects that connect it to the Terminator movies. For instance, both in the anime and the films, we learn how big of a threat Skynet is, and we also get to hear the term ‘Judgement Day’ in the anime, which enthusiasts who have watched the Terminator films must be familiar with.
Terminator Zero featured time travel in a very unique way, but like every other show or film, time travel often complicates things. The same happened with the anime, specifically in the end, so if you are perplexed about the Terminator Zero ending, we have your back.
Spoiler Warning: This article includes spoilers for the new Terminator Zero anime released on Netflix.
Malcolm Lee’s True Identity Gets Revealed
Malcolm Lee has a very complicated story in Terminator Zero. Lee is a brilliant engineer who works on building a world where AI and humans can co-exist without interfering in each other’s business. That’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t want to hold Kokoro in his clutches.
From the beginning, we saw him living a life in 1997 with his three children and a housekeeper named Misaki. However, with the story moving forward, we learn that Malcolm and Misaki aren’t from 1997, as the former was born in 2024. Malcolm created Misaki in 2045, but to protect the android from humans, he had to travel back to 1980.
Even though we learned about Malcolm being a time traveler in Episode 7, the engineer’s true identity remained a mystery until the final episode.
The terminator that came from the future to hunt Malcolm manages to bring him out of his lab using his oldest son Kenta. While protecting Kenta from the killing machine, Malcolm takes all the damage. However, he doesn’t die before revealing who he really is.
Eiko, the fighter who arrived from 2022 back in time to 1997 to protect Malcolm from getting assassinated by the Terminator, was none other than Malcolm’s mother. This revelation indeed came as the biggest twist of the story.
Malcolm’s Death; Misaki Tasked with a Huge Responsibility
In the beginning, I believed Misaki only to be a young girl whom Malcolm hired to be the housekeeper and take care of his children in his absence. However, later, I was shocked to see wires coming off her arm when a terminator broke it.
Misaki never really gave us clarity about her life. In fact, nothing was known about her until Episode 7, in which Malcolm admitted that Misaki is an AI. In fact, Kokoro was a plan in which Misaki was equally involved, but as per her request, Malcolm altered her memories and helped her live the life of a human.
When Malcolm dies, Misaki starts crying and asks him, ‘Where do I go now?’ To this, Malcolm replies, ‘Take the children out of here as it’s unsafe.’ He also says that Misaki should keep his three children alive, so he wants her to take Kenta, Reika, and Hiro to a different timeline so that the assassins from the future don’t find them.
Kenta Chooses the Right Path
After killing Malcolm Lee, the Terminator takes Kenta near EMP and says that he must detonate it to wipe out every machine in its radius and stop Kokoro. The Terminator also tells Kenta that he was the one who sent him back in time to stop Malcolm and Kokoro.
Kenta, who was angry with his father for betraying him, was also slowly getting convinced by the Terminator. However, before he can detonate the EMP, Kokoro arrives and says that if he presses the button, Kokoro will be eradicated, and Skynet will win.
She also says that if this happens, no human would survive as Skynet will not let them. On the other hand, if Kenta doesn’t press the button, Kokoro will fight against Skynet and protect him, his family, and humanity. Even though Kenta holds rage against Malcolm, he agrees with Kokoro and joins his siblings and Misaki at the end.
