After eight episodes, Alex Garland's FX series Devs has come to an end. The Ex Machina and Annihilation director's first TV show, which explored the inner workings of a fictional tech company and the top secret projects within it, was "luxurious comfort food," according to GameSpot's Meg Downey in her Devs review.
Now that it's come to a close, there's a lot to discuss. Revelations were made and choices enacted that, chances are, viewers never saw coming. Warning: The following contains spoilers for the final episode of Devs, "Episode 8." If you've yet to watch the finale, stop reading now.
After seeing her future laid out in front of her thanks to the Devs quantum computer, Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) learned that it was predetermined that she would shoot and kill Forest (Nick Offerman) in the vacuum-sealed transport within the lab, ultimately leading to her own death as the transport fell to the ground and exposed her to an atmosphere with no oxygen to breathe. However, this is not how the actual events play out in the end. Instead, she tosses the gun before the doors of the transport are sealed.
Speaking about that moment to GameSpot at the TV Critics Association press tour, Mizuno explained when she believes Lily decided to go against the machine's predetermination. "In my mind, it was when [Forest] says the thing about 'Deus,' that he's made God. This machine is God," the actress said. "And she says, 'I think our time is up.' For me, in that point, that was when Lily decides that it's not going to go down the way you think it's going to go down. And it's such a simple action."
Still, Mizuno is quick to admit that she feels this act of rebellion was also predetermined, even if it's not the future that the Deus machine was showing them, which is why the simulation could not show anything beyond that moment. "It does become kind of confusing because it's like, was that predetermined too? That she was going to throw the gun? Yes, it was," she said. "She was always going to be the one who broke the rules."
Still, in breaking the rules, Lily paid with her life anyway. Though she didn't shoot Forest, Devs team member Stewart (Stephen McKinley Henderson) activated an emergency protocol that deactivated the electromagnets in the transport and sent it hurtling toward the ground, leading to both Lily and Forest suffocating.
But that wasn't the end. Thanks to the power of Deus, they were both able to digitally live past the moment of their deaths--inside of the computer as part of a simulation. It's certainly a complicated existence, as the only two people in their "world" who know it's not real are Lily and Forest. For Mizuno, it's a happy ending for her character.
"I did feel like it was a happy ending for her because she goes to Jamie and that, for me, was always the main point for her," she said. "We talked a lot about how you have these relationships in your teens and early 20s. And then when you're in your late 20s and early 30s, the kind of relationships, broadly speaking, for a lot of people they change and love means something different."
The actress continued, "She's in her late 20s, and she's made some mistakes and she thinks she loves this guy [Sergei], but she realizes through these circumstances that actually what she really needs and who she really loves on a deeper level is the other guy [Jamie]. And so the machine actually allows her to be with that person after she's made those mistakes, after he died. It's still the opportunity to be with the person."
That's where the story of Lily and Devs comes to an end. With the show's status as a limited series, it is not meant to continue beyond this eight-episode story. Of course, that doesn't mean viewers won't be wondering what happens next. Will Lily tell Jamie they exist in a simulation? What about Forest? Will he one day share that news with his family?
"That that's up to the viewer to decide, basically," Mizuno said.
All eight episodes of Devs are available to stream on Hulu. While you're still processing the final episode, make sure to take a look at creator Alex Garland's explanation of what the ending means.
