M3GAN: 10 Things That Don’t Make Sense (Warning: Spoilers Ahead)

The unrated version of the 2022 Sci-Fi/Horror/Thriller “M3GAN” was released to stream on Peacock a few weeks ago and everybody is tuning in.  I’ve seen it twice before it made its way into homes and yes, it’s a good watch.  The story of a life-like, AI (artificially intelligent) doll, built by a robotics engineer (Gemma) at a toy company.  Gemma gives M3gan to her niece Cady (the only survivor of a tragic car accident involving her parents) shortly after unexpectedly taking custody of her.

M3GAN, which stands for Model 3 Generative Android, pairs and immediately bonds with grieving young Cady and, because of her ability to adapt, soon exceeds the parameters of her program.  As a result, anyone who poses any semblance of a threat to Cady finds themself in peril at the hands of this self-aware, ferocious fembot.

Now it’s true, every film has its plot holes, and this is no exception.  What gets my goat are the stupid and oftentimes unrealistic decisions these movie characters make.  And you know I have to talk about them.

That being said, let’s get to it, shall we?

Here is – M3GAN: 10 Things That Don’t Make Sense.  And obviously, the usual warning: Here be spoilers.  If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t read this yet…

1.  Hole In The Fence, Shock Collar Or Not
Dewey, the violently aggressive dog next door, often runs through the hole in the wooden fence, crossing over into Gemma’s yard.  His owner Celia counters Gemma’s complaints of danger and trespassing by informing that Dewey wears a shock collar, and that Gemma should simply fix the hole.  Similarly, a reporting police officer later tells Gemma to fix the fence as a solution to the neighborly tiff.

I’m with the neighbor on this.  Perhaps the dog should be on a chain, but if he’s constantly passing through a hole that you were supposed to repair, why are you angry with me?  It’s not my job to block the hole or fix it.  It’s yours (we never learn what Gemma or Cady did to make the sizable hole, but it’s made clear in conversation that the ownership was on them).  And yes, I could easily block the hole on my side, but you should have done your part a long time ago.

Note: I did have another problem with Celia using a hazardous chemical (that M3GAN later uses to kill her) to treat her lawn.  When she sprays it, the runoff so easily flows from one lawn to another property.  It’s a danger to the family next door and her own dog who runs through it daily.

2. The Home Assessment
Lydia, a court-appointed therapist, reports to Gemma’s home to observe Cady in her new surroundings to make an assessment for “recommendations to the court as to whether or not this is a safe place”.

Early in the visit, Lydia looks on unapprovingly as Cady tells her she can’t touch the “toys” on the family room shelf, after Lydia suggests that Cady play with them.  To appease her, Gemma reluctantly tells Cady it’s ok to open the obviously valuable collectible items to play with them.

What pisses me off the most about this scene is that Lydia has zero respect for Gemma’s property.  She needs to accept the fact that Cady just moved in with her aunt and would undoubtedly have toys of her own, if she didn’t already have them in her bedroom.  She never once asks.  THEN, after Gemma explains that the round so-called “toy on the shelf” serves a different purpose and is not just a ball, Lydia dismisses her clarification, saying she wants to observe them rolling it back and forth to see if a “connection” exists. 

Are you kidding me? Roll a ball with a 9-year-old to prove we’ve got this unbreakable bond? She ain’t had the girl but “x” amount of days!!!!  Is that what you learned when you got your degree in Psychology??? Treat the girl like a preschooler?  Observe a staged scenario? You can’t plan a visit where you can observe them out in the park or something, unbeknownst to either?

3. Using M3gan To Raise Cady
When Gemma’s boss David realizes how extraordinary Cady is, he immediately puts them on a project to prepare for promotion and distribution.  He also instructs Gemma to create a pitch for him for the board of directors to ‘make him look like he knows what he’s talking about’. 

As Gemma reviews the draft version of her pitch (which is used as a narration through a montage of video), her assistant Tess takes note and curiously asks, “I thought we were creating a tool to help support parents, not replace them. If you’re having M3gan tuck Cady in and read her a bedtime story, then when are you ever spending time with her or ever talking to her?” 

Gemma snaps, “I don’t really think this is any of your business. With M3gan around, she’ll take care of the little things, so you can spend more time doing the things that matter”. 

Later in the movie after additional observation, Lydia eventually explains the “Attachment Theory” to Gemma: building emotional connections that she won’t be able to undo.

To me, this is just as bad as leaving children to play video games all day or placing babies in a swing for hours on end.  I understand that we as parents, still need time for other daily responsibilities and certain freedom, but children need a significant amount of attention, care, instruction (and PROTECTION) that is more important coming from the mother and father.  Don’t let artificial devices raise your kids.

4. Why is Cady so nasty?
That’s the only way I can put it.  There are scenes where M3gan teaches Cady by answering those traditional “why is the sky blue” questions.  Included in those scenes are two moments where M3gan stops Cady from running out of the bathroom only to make her return and wash her hands.  At one point, M3gan asks, “Seriously, Cady?” Causing Cady to run back into the bathroom once again.

Do you mean to tell me that in all those years, this child never learned or made it a habit to wash her hands after using the bathroom?

Nasty little-

5. Not Recognizing The Early Warning Signs

M3gan asks how Cady’s parents died and Gemma quickly orders, “M3gan, turn off.”  Instead of obeying the command, M3gan conspicuously accesses the internet in front of the creation team and begins reciting the facts surrounding the death. 

This scene clearly demonstrates, or rather WARNS, that she not only defies instruction at her will, but has access to anything available on the internet, any time she wants.  Shades of Ultron, the supposedly peace-keeping program in “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” and the self-aware Cyberdyne system in the “Terminator” series.

M3gan shows other examples of defiance and control when Cady attempts to storm away from the dinner table and Gemma grabs her arm.  A struggle ensues until M3gan interrupts loudly, “Let her GO!”, causing the lights to flicker and reveal that she has control over the home system as well.

There is another moment when Gemma commands, “M3gan, turn off!” to which M3gan so casually responds, “Are you sure?”

If I didn’t let my sons respond to me like that when they were young, what makes y’all think I would let something that isn’t living get away with it?

Late Black History Month fact: In February 2023, Kenny Davis was the first man to put the belt to a robot.  Then turn her into a talking toaster.

6. Leaving Cady Alone With An Older, Incorrigible Boy In The Forest

Cady is taken to an outdoor event with other children.  She is eventually paired off with Brandon, a disrespectful boy who has just had a growth spurt and thinks he is even older than he looks.  When his mother asks if he is warm enough, he rudely snaps, “F*** off, Holly!”

Ok, let’s skip past the problems many parents have with allowing their daughters to go off in the woods with some boy they don’t know.  Let’s get to his response.

#1 Call me by my first name and see what happens.
#2 “F*** off!” (“Hey Kenny, I thought you had four sons.  I’ve only seen three these past years…”)

7. Allowing Cady’s Continuous and Unchecked Temper Tantrums
This ain’t too far from my previous example. I know many of you believe in “time out” when a child acts up.  Some of you go as far as to support your child’s outbursts because you are allowing them to express themselves.  I was raised to get ahold of your child before someone in the streets does later.  You know what I mean?

First, my wife and I froze when Cady was told to eat her hotdog and she took a bite with a conspicuous attitude.

Then we exploded when she kicked the front seat of the car after cursing Gemma out. We shared a collective, “Oh HELL no!”

And we damn-near lost it when she threateningly grabbed a pair of scissors in a fit of rage during her counseling session with Lydia.  Then slapped the gigabytes out of Gemma, who tried to intervene.

If you ask me, this child is worse than M3gan! At least M3gan’s insolence came about as she evolved. Cady has been showing her natural ass the entire film.  As a matter of fact, it was Cady who lied during questioning and then taught M3gan to lie by saying, “Right, M3gan?” to corroborate her story.

Then she had the audacity to apologize to Gemma in private by saying she ‘just gets so crazy without M3gan’.  Am I the only one reminded of that abusive man who tells his girlfriend, “I’m so sorry.  You make me crazy sometimes.  Why do you make me hit you?”

8. Exploiting Cady’s Traumatic Past
The Board of Directors sits in the viewing room, watching Cady cry in the simulation room while M3gan comforts her with comfortingly therapeutic words and a song.  They’re moved to tears and quickly approve mass production of the $10,000 doll when they learn that what they witnessed was not a simulation and Cady is not an actor; that it all happened spontaneously. 

Then later, in the pre-launch promo video, Cady is shown giving testimony to the camera about how her parents died and how M3gan fills the voids created by the loss of her parents.  Insensitive boss David enters the video and concludes with “Look at that face. That kid’s not just surviving, she’s thriving.  Now imagine what a toy like M3gan could do for hundreds of thousands of kids, all across the world.  Even the ones who DON’T have dead parents…“

No further words, your honor.

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9. M3gan Defies The Laws Of Physics

M3gan performs various acts that a 30-50 lb toy should not be able to do. Although her weight is never revealed, various people (Dewey the dog, Brandon the bully, Gemma) pull or lift her with enough ease to indicate she doesn’t weigh very much, even with a computer brain and robotic parts, made with a titanium core. Yet and still, M3gan does things like snatch the dog through the hole before killing him, then later wrapping a cable around a developer’s neck and using the pulley system to raise him up to hang him.

In the final confrontation, M3gan goes as far as to slam Gemma’s head down on the table, out of view of Cady, who approaches the doorway asking what’s going on. The final hilariously unreal moment is when M3gan puts her tiny hand around Gemma’s lips and threatens in the movie’s wildest line, “If she comes in this room, I’ll tear your head right of your f***in’ neck, I swear to God!”

10. Why Would You Think It Was Over?
Ok, yes, it’s just a movie and yes, something of this subject matter screams sequel. In fact, the sequel has already been greenlit by the production studio. But why would you (Gemma and the production team) think the worst was over? Here is a doll/system that accessed the internet to retrieve the data she needed in mere milliseconds. She also took over Gemma’s home security system and hacked into Tess’ phone to place a call and replicated her voice (while supposedly offline). Has no one thought that she might pull an Ultron (there’s that reference again) and not escape into the internet? Also, remember Jobe in Stephen King’s “The Lawnmower Man”?

If she already discovered how easy it is to tap into those resources (and possibly escape), how did they not worry that she might have already done it? Yes, yes, it’s only a movie, but certain powers and abilities should never go ignored in ANY reality.

Well, I guess we got our answer in the final scene when the AI Home Assistant camera on the table rotated to lock on Gemma and Cady after the cops and her co-workers showed up. After the M3gan doll was destroyed.

I guess the only question now is if one of those other models were ever completed so she can upload into one of them…

…if not all.

And let’s not forget. David’s assistant Kurt stole the designs for M3gan before she eventually killed him on the elevator. Who’s to say he didn’t already sell them to the competition.?

And that’s it! 10 things about M3GAN that didn’t make sense to me. What do you think? Have something you’d like to say about my list or add to it? Put it in the comments section below. And feel free to sign up at the bottom for immediate notification of future posts from Kenny’s Camera, Cooking & Crazy Confessions at ZootsBlogSpot!