Moonrise’s ending was about saving Mary from the clutches of the L-Zone and also bringing an end to the AI program known as Sapientia. How did things come to this point? What was the point of the whole war between humans on Earth and the people on the Moon? Why the hell was this show so needlessly complicated? I am sure these are the questions circling in your mind if you have endured the 18-episode slog while giving the show your full attention. Well, I think I should assure you that you’re not alone in your state of confusion, because despite earnestly watching all the episodes, I am feeling quite lost. It’s quite difficult to keep track of every single character, every single subplot, and every single plot twist, especially with all the non-linear storytelling. So, I am going to try my best and break it down not just for you, but for myself. If I get anything wrong, feel free to correct me via the comments section below. Here goes nothing.
Spoiler Alert
The SEEDs
As per my understanding of the haphazard events of Moonrise, the artificial intelligence known as Sapientia, which was created by the Shadow Corporation, brought about world peace on Earth. That didn’t solve one problem, though: the depletion of the planet’s natural resources. So, humans looked to the Moon for help and created these orbital elevators to transport chunks of Earth’s population off to the natural satellite and get them to mine the Moon’s resources and send them to Earth. But before doing so, the Shadow Corporation needed to make sure that the trip from the Earth to the Moon and the process of living on the Moon were safe. So, the Sapientia created an alternative species called the SEED, which was looked after by robots like Bob Skylum, and got them to take the risk of the interplanetary trip and lunar analysis. During that time, the SEEDs showed exemplary growth and posed the risk of surpassing humans in terms of, well, everything. So, Sapientia tried to destroy the ships that carried the SEEDs, but it failed, and Skylum, his “children,” and some of the passengers on all the other ships that were traveling to the Moon survived.
Jack (SEED1) was sent off to Earth by Phil (SEED2), and he was adopted by the Shadows, while Phil worked with Skylum and the survivors to revolt against Sapientia. Now, I suppose this is the point where I have to bring up the L-Zone. As far as I can tell (and this is a massive guess because everything about the L-Zone was so frigging confusing), Sapientia used an experimental organism, called the L-Zone, with otherworldly powers to make the SEEDs. Every time this L-Zone and Sapientia tried to create something similar to humans, they gained some kind of superpower. Hence, that idea was scrapped, and the SEED3 were developed, which were mindless drones controlled by a mother robot (this is possibly inspired by Isaac Asimov’s The Bicentennial Man). And the L-Zone was contained and kept in cryostasis. That said, as the war between the humans of Earth (led by the Joint Army) and the Moon (led by the Moon Chains) reached its peak, Sapientia unleashed the L-Zone, which combined to make a sentient sea that destroyed everything in its path. It went wherever Mary (one of the SEEDs or the mother of the L-Zone) went, for reasons I don’t really know. Either the L-Zone wanted to protect Mary, or it drew its power from Mary; take your pick, and maybe that’ll be the correct answer.
The L-Zone Got Aggressive
It was obvious that Jack and Mary, with some help from the bot known as Whiz-B, were key to bringing an end to the L-Zone, because they had these Midi-chlorian-esque particles in them that caused the L-Zone to freeze and crumble. Yet they were never allowed to do that, even though there was videographic proof of how the duo’s combined powers were productive, because bombing the L-Zone seemed like a better option for the Joint Army as well as the Moon Chains. Meanwhile, Rhys, a member of the VC3 squad, thought that putting a bullet in Mary’s head was the ultimate solution. I guess this shows that humans would opt for a violent route even if there was a peaceful way to resolve things. The L-Zone probably underscores the fact that a source of creation can become a weapon of mass destruction if it falls into the wrong hands.
The whole war between the Moon Chains and the Joint Army, specifically the panic that the SEEDs would make humans irrelevant, highlights the ego and insecurity that Homo sapiens suffer from and how that never leads to anything good. And Sapientia and the Joint Army’s decision to go for genocide, instead of some kind of intellectual and amicable solution, shows that humans are inherently self-destructive, which wouldn’t have been a particularly sad trait if some parts of our species weren’t creative and kind. Anyway, coming back to the plot, Rhys and Georg, another member of the VC3 squad, managed to corner Mary and Jack. And when Rhys failed to pull the trigger on Mary, Sapientia took over her Engrave tech (some kind of software developed by Sapientia to turn anything made of this magical material called E2 into a weapon) and completed the task. This caused the L-Zone to go hog wild, and it took Mary to the top of a tower to put her in suspended animation so as to keep her from dying, I suppose, while killing all the humans in Copernicus City and those orbiting the Moon as well. The humans, the SEEDs, the Joint Army, and the Moon Chains all kept wondering what the L-Zone wanted till the end of Moonrise, and all of them drew a blank. So, how the heck am I supposed to give you all a sensible and logical answer? My best guess is that the L-Zone was a physical manifestation of humanity and the SEEDs’ greatest flaws, and since their shortcomings had led to the apparent death of its mother, Mary (yes, biblical, I know), total annihilation was what everyone deserved.
Phil probably died
It’s normal to assume that the resolution to all of the aforementioned complicated and heady issues would be somewhat satisfying. But it wasn’t. Jack, Phil, Osma, Duan, Inanna, Zowan, Rhys, Wise Crowne, Dr. Salamandra, Windy Sylph, Novice Harbinger, and various other members of the Joint Army and the Moon Chains joined forces to take on the rogue SEED3 as well as the L-Zone. Jack got to Mary and politely asked her to come out of her comatose state, which she did, and that miraculously killed the L-Zone. Phil was arrested and sent to Earth to stand trial for allegedly causing the destruction of the orbital elevators, which led to the death of millions of people, even though he wasn’t the one responsible; Sapientia was. In case it’s not clear already, Sapientia destroyed the orbital elevators to aggravate the conflict between the humans and the Moon people so that the SEEDs could be destroyed in the chaos of war before they attempted to take Sapientia down. Phil and the members of the Joint Army, especially Landry, got into a bit of a philosophical debate about Sapientia’s ways of dealing with any kind of issue, thereby underscoring that it wasn’t the epitome of intellectual prowess that humans claimed it was. Phil showed that Sapientia saw everything in terms of data and efficiency. Even if it had a statistical idea of the repercussions of its actions, the deaths caused by it were nothing but numbers to it. It didn’t feel anything, and since the Joint Army saw Sapientia as their god, even they didn’t feel any remorse for casually terming a genocide as “collateral damage.”
In the Joint Army’s arrogance and villainy, they failed to notice that Phil had gotten himself arrested to get close to Sapientia, activate the butterfly-like SEEDs in him, and destroy the AI once and for all. As Sapientia retaliated, it killed Phil and the entirety of the council of the Joint Army before being erased from every database on Earth. How’s that possible? It’s sci-fi, man. If the show says that a bunch of holographic butterflies can kill an AI program, that’s possible. If you want to assume that the AI just “died” in front of everyone but continues to live on in some corner of the internet, that’s possible as well. Which one’s the truth? Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway, at the end of Moonrise, democracy prevailed on Earth as well as on the Moon. Some members of the VC3 squad became residents of the Moon, befriending the Moon Chains. Rhys roamed the Earth, endlessly atoning for her sin of trying to kill Mary. And, while visiting the graveyard, Jack got a message on his favorite gaming app from Phil. Is Phil actually alive and in hiding? Is Phil dead and communicating with Jack from the afterlife? Since the SEEDs kind of function like Midi-chlorians, is this some Jedi Force spirit situation, and some version of Phil’s consciousness exists on the internet? Or is it some random gamer who is pretending to be Phil? I have no clue. But for the sake of our sanity, I’ll pick the Force spirit option. However, those are just my thoughts on the ending of Moonrise. What are your opinions on it? Please, let me know in the comments section below.
