The Electric State Ending Explained: Christopher Is He Really Alive? What Happened to Michelle and Keats?
Based on Simon Stålenhag’s eponymous graphic novel, The Electric State is a Netflix science fiction movie in an alternative version of the 90s that deals with the consequences of a failed robot rebellion. The science fiction drama comedy directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (“Avengers: End Game”) follows Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), an orphan teenager who sets out on a journey through the American West alongside a Cosmo robot, a smuggler, and his partner, to find his younger brother. Do they achieve their goal? What happened to Christopher (Woody Norman)? Next, I will tell you the main moments of the film. In 1990, as the United States prepares for an impending war against the rights-demanding robot faction, Michelle accompanies her brother to a special test for college. Christopher is a genius, so he agrees to prepare to change the world in the future. However, a car accident ends his life. Her parents run the same fate, but her sister manages to survive. Humans manage to win the war thanks to the invention of Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci): Neurocasters, networks that allow people to transmit their ideas and feelings without human interaction.
In that new world, where everyone uses that technology and the surviving robots were confined in a special area, Michelle stays in foster homes and leads a life without motivation until she receives a visit from a Cosmo robot (Alan Tudyk) that she claims to contain part of Christopher’s consciousness, who is locked up somewhere. The Electric State, directed by the Russo brothers and starring Millie Bobby Brown, transports us to a dystopian future where technology has led humanity to completely depend on a virtual neural network controlled by the Sentre megacorporation. Michelle, a young woman looking for her missing brother, Christopher, embarks on a journey through a world collapsed by the war between humans and robots. With the help of Cosmo, a drone with a special connection to Christopher, and a group of robotic allies, Michelle discovers that her brother is the key to everything: Sentre has made him the nucleus that feeds his network. To liberate humanity, Michelle will have to make an impossible decision: save Christopher or destroy the network that keeps the world under Sentre’s control.
The Electric State Ending Explained: Christopher Is He Really Alive? What Happened to Michelle and Keats?
After escaping from her caregiver, the protagonist of “The Electric State” sees in action Keats (Chris Pratt), a former military man who decides to smuggle some robots and other implements along with his robot Herman (Anthony Mackie). Hearing that he can take her to the Zone, where the doctor who knows her brother’s location is located, he infiltrates his truck and reaches his hiding place. Of course, they discover it, but before they can reach an agreement, Colonel Bradbury (Giancarlo Esposito) appears, a former hero of the uprising who is now a kind of robot bounty hunter who uses a walking drone to kill machines that cross the border, to destroy Cosmo. Keats and Herman help newcomers and get rid of Bradbury. However, they are trapped in the Zone. The new team must deal with junk robots before reaching Rancho Cielo Azul, the robot shelter led by Mr. Peanuts (Woody Harrelson). Although they don’t hurt them, the robots refuse to help them and ask visitors to leave the shelter to avoid an attack by Sentre, Skate’s company. However, the robot Penny Pal (Jenny Slate) delivers a letter that Dr. Amherst (Ke Huy Quan) left for Christopher and changes the course of things.
What Really Happened to Christopher?
When they arrive at Dr. Amherst’s shelter, the protagonists of “The Electric State” discover that Amherst is not only the doctor who treated Michelle and her family after the accident. He was the brain behind Sentre’s entire global network. When he described that Christopher, who was in a coma, had a large brain, he decided to use it to create a link that would serve to link humans to machines. Amherst agreed to continue the experiment for the good of humanity, but when Christopher showed signs of regaining consciousness, he decided to disconnect it. However, Ethan Skate prevented him and fired him. Before leaving, the scientist left a door open in the system for Christopher’s consciousness to escape.
What Happened to Michelle and Her Brother Christopher?
After Christopher’s flight of consciousness, Sentre’s systems begin to fail. Skate refuses to give up his invention and requests Colonel Bradbury’s help to capture the Cosmo robot and retrieve the “information” he needs. Without imagining that he is a teenager, Bradbury uses his drone to chase Michelle, Keats, and the robots. When he locates them, he attacks them without mercy. Michelle and the rest struggle with everything they have; even Amherst sacrifices herself so that she and her brother can escape, but Skate sends reinforcements and manages to capture Cosmo. In addition, he orders the destruction of the Blue Sky Ranch. A devastated Mr. Peanuts refuses to continue fighting, but the survivors motivate him to continue and join forces with Michelle’s group. Thanks to the computer that contains part of Amherst’s consciousness, Michelle and the rest can reach Sentre’s headquarters in Seattle. As Keats and the robots create a distraction, Michelle sneaks into the facility with the help of P.C. He manages to reach his brother, but the only way to communicate with him is with neuroconnection technology.
When he manages to speak to Christopher, he explains that there is no way to escape Sentre and that the only way to help him is to disconnect him so he can die, just like Skate technology. On the battlefield, the robots are losing, but Colonel Bradbury, upon learning of Skate’s true intentions, lets Mr. Peanuts live and tells him how to get to Ethan’s office. Although he confronts him, he lets him live so that he pays for his guilt. At the end of “The Electric State”, Michelle says goodbye to her brother and disconnects him. Robots win, and Keats celebrates that he did not lose his friend. The world collapses without the technology of Skate, who is arrested but has the opportunity to re-create a connection between humans.
Is Christopher Still Alive? The Final Turn of the Film?
Although everything indicates that Christopher has died with the destruction of the system, the last scene of the film suggests otherwise. In a junk dump, among the remains of deactivated robots, Cosmo mysteriously reactivates. This leaves in the air the possibility that Christopher had managed to transfer part of his consciousness to Cosmo before Michelle disconnected him. This open ending hints that Christopher might still be alive in some way, but it also undermines the emotional impact of his sacrifice. While the film is built around Michelle’s difficult decision to sacrifice her brother for the common good, the possibility that Christopher has survived in a robotic body detracts from that crucial moment.
Will there Be The Electric State 2?
Despite Netflix’s clear intention to leave the door open for a sequel, the possibilities are uncertain. The Electric State has been one of the most expensive productions on the platform, with a budget of 320 million dollars, and although the ending suggests that the story could continue, it is not clear if Netflix will be willing to invest in a second part. If the sequel were to materialize, chances are you’ll explore Christopher’s possible “resurrection” and how the world adapts to a reality without Sentre.
