The protected house of a house turns right into a battleground for psychological warfare on this tense German sci-fi thriller, reaching a fiery inferno within the finale the place the previous is totally unveiled. Netflix’s Cassandra has been cut up between the previous and current all through its eight episodes, following the titular character’s (Lavinia Wilson) human life and her tyrannical reign over a brand new household as a robot and home system. Nevertheless, the previous is represented in a non-linear method, leaping between years and milestones in Cassandra’s life, making it a bit disorienting to piece collectively a timeline. In the meantime, within the current, the Prill household are entrapped by her robotic model’s manipulative methods, the place Samira (Mina Tander) is locked up in a psychiatric facility whereas her household is imprisoned of their home.
Cassandra Had A Secret Daughter
All through the collection, we shortly notice what sort of mom Cassandra is: she has a persevering picture in her thoughts and works to realize it in loving methods, together with hiding our bodies on behalf of her son. This barely twisted mindset of being fiercely protective over her children comes into play along with her daughter. Because it seems, she had a second secret child after her son. Her husband, Horst (Franz Hartwig), needed one other youngster after realizing Peter (Elias Grünthal) did not match the historically masculine mildew. To make sure the infant could be male, throughout her being pregnant, he subjected her to an experimental rendition of an ultrasound that concerned a whole lot of radiation that will yield a particular reply to the infant’s intercourse. To his disappointment, the infant was feminine.
Because of the radiation, the infant was born with abnormalities, and, embarrassed by the infant, he decides to inform everybody she was stillborn and intends to ominously do away with her. Nevertheless, Cassandra covertly raises her daughter, Margrethe, in a hidden room behind a closet. Margrethe would talk with Cassandra by flicking the oven gentle, remaining away from prying eyes, all whereas Cassandra believed she was defending her. We be taught that Cassandra’s chief concern was and is all the time her youngsters — she did not care that Horst was having an affair along with her finest pal, Birgit, however hated that he failed as a father.
How Does Cassandra Turn into a Robotic and Home System?
Samira and David’s (Michael Klammer) early suspicions of the home system being modeled after a human have been barely off the mark. As a substitute, Cassandra’s conscience, together with reminiscences and feelings, was transferred into the system through an experimental, technological course of that Horst had devised in pursuit of immortality however was by no means capable of check. Cassandra ended up turning into the right voluntary candidate as she was terminally sick, brought on by radiation therapy throughout her second being pregnant. Immortality itself was irrelevant to her, however she didn’t want to abandon her children and, as such, insisted on going by way of with the method. On prime of this, she emotionally blackmails Horst’s assistant into making a faux off-switch — the actual one is managed by her alone, giving her complete home energy.
For some time, the digital Cassandra, Horst, and Peter reside collectively uneasily, however they grow to be more and more infuriated by her fixed presence. Horst finally brings Birgit and their new child son Thomas into the home, and certain sufficient, Cassandra is so enraged she pushes them down the steps. Peter is the one who acknowledges how far gone she is to his actual mom, as Cassandra would previously never dare to hurt a child. After listening to his disappointment, she permits them to depart the home, provided that Horst takes Margrethe with him since she can not deal with her by herself. He falsely guarantees that he’ll however escapes with out her, inflicting Peter to leap out of their fleeing automotive in defiance and leading to a crash. Solely Peter and Horst die within the accident, whereas Cassandra switches off, seemingly not having the ability to bear the considered watching Margrethe die of neglect.
Do Samira and Her Household Survive in ‘Cassandra’s Finale?
Within the current timeline, Cassandra is decided to exchange her household with the Prills, particularly the kids, Fynn (Joshua Kantara) and Juno (Mary Tölle). She has efficiently turned them towards Samira, who’s in a psychiatric facility the place she accesses her cellphone and sees suspicious texts from her daughter. Nevertheless, after David’s insistence on not believing her and basically telling her she is “loopy,” she would not belief herself till a hallucination of her sister reveals up and encourages her to reclaim her psychological autonomy. Samira sneaks out of the hospital and arrives on the home, solely to be viciously attacked by David, who’s being threatened by Cassandra. Evading the makes an attempt, Samira hides within the closet and finds Margrethe’s secret room. She additionally, extra ominously, finds Margrethe’s decomposed physique.
Cassandra confronts Samira right here, however the two handle to connect over their motherhood, which is how Samira convinces Cassandra to allow them to go — her youngsters would by no means settle for Cassandra as their mom, so it’s futile to try to achieve this. Cassandra realizes that she will be able to now not cling to the previous; her true self has died alongside her physique, and irrespective of how a lot bodily home management she has now, she can not recreate the sensation of motherhood once more. Cassandra’s remaining acts as a very good mom are letting the household go and finally burning down the home. It virtually feels just like the counter-action of her earlier try at arson on the projected household footage. The primary time, the flames relinquished her connection to the previous, however this second time introduced her nearer to her preliminary maternal nature, particularly because it symbolically gave Margrethe her overdue cremation.
Girls Are Victims to Male Hubris in ‘Cassandra’
After all the pieces that occurs, Samira decides to depart David, and her youngsters completely agree. Making an attempt to kill her was the final straw, as she knew that Cassandra would by no means actually harm the kids, so he solely attacked her to guard himself. Cassandra might “do with out him” in spite of everything, similar to she might do with out her egocentric, dishonest husband. Each Samira and Cassandra are victims of male hubris in this story. Samira was deeply gaslit by her husband, who was additionally simply manipulated by Cassandra, as all she needed to do was stroke or assail his ego. As such, she turns into the paragon of ladies being not taken critically and being labeled as “hysterical.” Her solely assist got here from her sister and her son, whose queerness made him exempt from the normal masculine archetype that’s being dissected by the collection.
Alternatively, Cassandra was basically dismissed by her husband, who solely noticed her as a way to additional his bloodline and deal with his home wants. Whereas Cassandra’s precedence was her youngsters, she was clearly harm and alienated by Horst’s actions, inflicting her to cling tighter to her motherhood. Whereas the present doesn’t condone her actions, it’s evident that Horst’s egocentric character warped her personal motherhood, finally inflicting her to behave out of grief towards the Prills. Her title and the collection’ title lend itself to the Cassandra in Greek mythology, who was gifted with the power to make prophecies however cursed with nobody believing her. In Cassandra, feminine voices both go unheard or are minimized, however the cathartic ending ends the ability imbalances that include these gender roles in these two ladies’s lives.
