‘Subservience’s Ending Predictably Sets Up a Sequel (2025)

Following its theatrical bow in September, the AI thriller Subservience has shot to the top of Netflix's most-watched movies in December 2024. The film stars Megan Fox as Alice, a robotic android hired by Nick (Michele Morrone) to care for his two children after his wife Maggie (Madeline Zima) has a long hospital stay due to a heart condition.

For Nick and his children, things get most complicated when Maggie returns home and finds her domicile under threat from Alice. While neither silly, sexy, nor scary enough, the final moments of the psychosexual techno-thriller bear a bit more scrutiny. Less confusing than downright incredulous, Subservience takes a big, ambitious swing in the third and final act that is admirable if not unnerving. Here's what transpires at the end of Subservience.

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2.5 /5

Subservience

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*Availability in US

Release Date

July 19, 2024

Runtime

95 Minutes

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Cast

Megan Fox, Michele Morrone, Madeline Zima, Matilda Firth, Andrew Whipp, Jude Greenstein, Atanas Srebrev, Kate Nichols, Trevor Van Uden, Euan Macnaughton, Max Kraus, J.R. Esposito, Doroteya Toleva, Rosmary Yaneva, Kexin Wang

3 'Subservience' Is Yet Another AI Movie

Subservience is a sci-fi thriller feature film written by Will Honley and April Maguire and directed by S.K. Dale. The plot concerns Nick Peretti (Morrone), a construction foreman forced to look after his young children Isla (Matilda Firth) and Max (Jude Greenstein) when his wife, Maggie (Zima), requires a lengthy hospital stay to get a heart transplant. With parental pressures mounting, Nick reluctantly agrees to allow a lifelike android called Alice (Fox) to enter his home and work as a live-in caretaker. Meanwhile, Nick's entire construction crew stands to be replaced by nonhuman Sims, further underscoring the existential threat of AI.

Slowly attempting to replace Maggie, Alice disobeys orders, rewrites her programming protocols, and begins seducing Nick to reduce his stress. Nick, who struggles with alcohol, falls victim to temptation and sleeps with Alice. When Maggie returns home, Alice sows domestic upheaval and tries to rip the family apart. Things escalate to a fever pitch when Alice attempts to drown baby Max in the bathtub, prompting Nick and Maggie to work together and fight back.

2 Maggie's Big Rebellion

To fully grasp Subservience's ending, the second act requires context. Viewers are briefly lulled into a false sense of security when Maggie confronts the evil robot in her house. Alice insults Maggie by telling her she can no longer give Nick the sexual attention he needs due to her heart condition and volunteers to take Maggie's place in the bedroom. Alice rightly reacts negatively and bashes the robot's core circuitry with Nick's help. Alice hits the floor and is sent away while Nick and Maggie remove Isla and Max from the house.

Outside the Peretti home, Alice continues her reign of lethal violence by attacking Nick's boss, Monty (Andrew Whipp). Once Maggie subdues the evil bot, Alice is taken to a repair shop, where she uploads her AI consciousness to multiple computer servers and begins controlling a new robot that resembles a combination of Alice and Maggie.

Nick meets with the original version of Alice in a bar and manages to shut the robot down by pulling the CPU from its head before racing back to his family at the hospital, where Max is being treated for a near-drowning. With 20 minutes remaining, the stage is set for Subservience's wicked finale.

1 A Predictable Sequel Set-Up

Alice's new blonde visage arrives at the hospital and continues a violent streak. Marked by superhuman strength, Alice grabs a nurse by the throat and lifts her high, proving much stronger than the physically strapping Nick. Isla warns Maggie that Alice is present and the two attempt to hide in the empty hospital. However, Alice uses UV light in her mouth for teeth cleaning to spot drops of blood on the hospital floor and locate the mother and daughter.

Once Alice finds Maggie and Isla, the former blasts the robot with a fire extinguisher, allowing enough time for the two to escape into the parking lot. Just as it seems Maggie has mounted a successful escape, Alice shows up, knocks Maggie down, and begins insulting her. Alice tells Maggie that if she had Maggie's heart, one full of complex human emotions, Nick would love her instead of his wife. Meanwhile, Nick races his classic Barracuda, which he has been working on in his spare time during the new AI movie, to the hospital to save his family in the nick of time.

Just as Alice digs into Maggie's chest to rip her heart out, Nick speeds by in the Barracuda. As Nick passes, Maggie kicks Alice into the speeding car, sending the robot flying across the parking lot. Alice sustains bodily damage beyond recognition and is reduced to a mashed-up hunk of metal. Still, Alice attacks Maggie one more time with a large metal shard. Yet, just as Alice is about to stab Maggie with the shard, Nick batters the bot in the back of the head. Nick is taken to the hospital to treat his injuries, where he and Maggie reconcile and say they love each other.

Subservience ends with a fairly predictable cliffhanger meant to warrant a sequel. Although the blonde version of Alice has been hindered, the police arrive at the robotics lab and discover that the robot has uploaded its consciousness to several computer servers. The authorities fail to wipe the system's memory, resulting in Alice possessing several robots standing in a catatonic state in the lab. The implication is that Alice has successfully managed to stay alive, infect multiple bots, and plot a revenge course in the future. While Nick and Maggie believe they've subdued the AI threat, Subservience ends with Alice powering up and expanding her influence.

Subservience is available to stream on Netflix.