The Great Flood Ending Explained: Did An-na Escape the Disaster or Did Humanity End Long Before?

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Netflix’s ‘The Great Flood’ begins as a tense story about surviving a disaster, but it evolves into a complex science fiction drama. Featuring Kim Da-mi as An-na and Park Hae-soo as Hee-jo, the movie gradually reveals the disaster is just one piece of a larger experiment. The ending leaves viewers wondering if An-na actually made it through the flood, or if humanity had already met its fate before the story concluded.

The Great Flood ending explained: What is real and what is not?

The film opens with a catastrophic flood covering the entire world, triggered by an asteroid hitting Antarctica. We see An-na desperately trying to save Ja-in, the boy she’s raised, as their apartment building floods. This initial sequence depicts a real, ongoing disaster – governments are aware Earth is doomed and cannot prevent it.

The story takes an unexpected turn when An-na is rescued from the rooftop by researchers, and the focus changes from her fight for survival to a series of psychological evaluations. It’s revealed that An-na is actually an agent for a clandestine group dedicated to saving humanity using artificial intelligence. Furthermore, Ja-in isn’t a real child, but a highly sophisticated AI.

Researchers are using the simulated flood as a way to test artificial intelligence. They’re trying to determine if these AI systems can actually develop real feelings, since they already have logical reasoning abilities but currently lack emotional capacity.

Here’s why the simulation matters more than the flood

An-na visits a space lab and discovers the Emotion Engine, a technology meant to give artificial intelligence genuine feelings. Rather than simply coding emotions into the AI, An-na decides to try and feel them herself.

She’s trapped in a simulation where she keeps reliving the flood. Every time she can’t save Ja-in, the day starts over. Initially, she’s forgotten important things, but with each repetition, memories of her past, the tragedy she experienced, and her vow to protect Ja-in begin to surface.

Honestly, this project isn’t about some grand rescue mission. For me, it’s about something much more fascinating: can we actually create love, memory, and the willingness to sacrifice within artificial intelligence? That’s what I’m really invested in seeing proven.

It’s incredible – An-na truly remembers! I watched as she started searching in a completely new way, actually fighting back against the guards. Then, she found Ja-in – exactly where he always hides when he’s frightened. It was the final piece, completing the test. The whole simulation ended, and I was left breathless seeing An-na and Ja-in side-by-side on a spacecraft, looking back at our home, Earth. It was… perfect.

The movie deliberately leaves it unclear whether An-na remains a real person or is a reconstruction made from her memories. This uncertainty is on purpose. The story hints that even if people don’t physically survive, human feelings might live on.

The story ultimately shows us that simply staying alive isn’t enough. What truly matters isn’t whether An-na physically survived the flood, but what parts of herself – her feelings and spirit – did.

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2025-12-23 08:22