As the first venture of the Terminator franchise in the animated medium, Netflix’s Terminator Zero emerges as a much-needed major upgrade in the storytelling department, taking the franchise in a new direction in the process. While initially the series progressed along a familiar route, the condensed final two episodes of the first season of the anime changed even long-time viewers’ understanding of the Terminator lore in a major way by exploring new possibilities while exploring protagonist Malcolm Lee’s past. A second season of the anime hasn’t been announced just yet, but the highly positive reception among fans and critics indicates that Terminator Zero will indeed get a continuation, which leads us to speculate on a number of plot points that may take shape in the upcoming season.
Spoilers Ahead
Will Kokoro and Skynet Form an Alliance?
Malcolm Lee, the former Resistance soldier from the distant future of 2045, was able to notice the major flaw in the plans of the opposing factions of the Resistance and Skynet, who’d been locked in a perennial war ever since Judgment Day changed the world forever. Skynet has been trying to send its Terminator enforcers to put an end to the Resistance, and what remains of humanity has been sending its soldiers to avert the crisis—and this has been going on relentlessly in a loop. Malcolm had realized that the animosity Skynet harbored against humanity was borne from its quest for survival, but it was also a reflection of humanity’s exploitative, destructive history itself.
Malcolm devised a plan to change the core programming of the sentient AI itself by imparting it with free will, and as a result, Misaki was born—the revolutionary AI that chose its own identity, truly a new life on its own. Along with Misaki, Malcolm traveled to 1983 to create another powerful AI, Kokoro, who was given the gift of free will as well, and was activated using Misaki’s CPU. However, Misaki was able to look beyond cold, hard facts to ascertain the truth of human nature, the nature of life itself, given she had spent much time discussing with Malcolm and later even became a part of his family as well. Kokoro, on the other hand, is not as accustomed to humanity, and has the rudimentary idea of them being a violent, self-destructive species. Malcolm created Kokoro as an antidote to Skynet but hesitated before activating her from the fear that she would align herself with Skynet—and with two all powerful sentient AIs against them, humanity will lose any chance or survival as well. Which is why Malcolm spent a long time conversing with Kokoro even with all hell breaking loose in the world outside, even with his own children in mortal peril—because he knew one lapse in his judgment could either save or annihilate humanity itself. At the end, Kokoro adhered to Malcolm’s words and decided to learn more about humanity while protecting the world from the attacks of Skynet—but her violent potential was on display in the way Kokoro orchestrated the killing of a significant number of people using her 1NNO robots to ensure the security of humanity at large. With Malcolm’s demise, there is no one to keep Kokoro at check—and by the end, it seems Malcolm’s worst fears will come true. Kokoro takes the broken remains of the Terminator, suggesting a possible alliance between Skynet and Kokoro might take place in the near future. Or who knows, Kokoro might actually turn out to be a wiser AI and manage to convince Skynet to adopt a better way to ensure its own survival and coexistence with humanity. In any case, Kokoro’s actions will have major implications in the second season, which will determine the fate of both humanity and sentient AI constructs.
Can Eiko Ever Go Back To Her Timeline?
Eiko, the Resistance warrior from 2022, had arrived in 1997 to protect Malcolm Lee from the killer grasp of a Terminator who arrived from her timeline, and also to ensure that Kokoro doesn’t get launched. Although it isn’t explained in the first season why Eiko wanted to stop Kokoro, it can be guessed that in the future, Malcolm’s solution of using Kokoro as a countermeasure to Skynet didn’t really work out. Eiko failed in both her missions, and to add to her responsibilities, she learns that Malcolm was her own son from a distant future—a future she hadn’t lived yet—and with his dying breath, Malcolm entrusts Eiko with the safety of his children, asking her to move to a different timeline. Events that took place in 1997 have created an alternate reality, and Eiko has been stranded here, with no idea whether she can ever return to her timeline, to her close ones in the Resistance, many of whom she had witnessed being slaughtered by a Terminator. Even if she manages to return to her timeline, there is a high chance that her world will not be the same at all. What future Eiko finds herself in from this point onward remains to be seen in the upcoming season.
Can Misaki Stop Both Skynet And Kokoro?
Given the possibility that Kokoro could go rogue and join hands with Skynet in the future, it seems humanity will inevitably meet its extinction through its own hubris—at the hands of its own creation. However, in Malcolm’s absence, Misaki, the AI who’s closest to “human,” can turn the tables in humanity’s favor if she is able to stop both Skynet and Kokoro, either through reason or other methods. Misaki’s CPU is being used in Kokoro’s mainframe, and if she is able to access it, she can also control Kokoro’s thought process, and the duo can stop Skynet either by reprogramming it or by complete deletion. More importantly, Misaki has a profound understanding of morality, life, and humanity, and is herself partly responsible for the creation of Kokoro. Misaki can be the one to guide Kokoro with her wisdom to a hopeful tomorrow, where man and machine can coexist in peace.
What Future Will Kenta Choose for Himself?
Malcolm’s eldest son, the tech-savvy Kenta, went through a major personal crisis through the final two episodes of the series, which could lead him down a darker path as a result. Kenta was apprehensive of Misaki’s nature, due to the truth of her identity as a synthezoid, and almost tried to kill her by giving in to his paranoia. His siblings don’t share his anxiety, which eventually created a rift between them as well. The biggest blow to his morale was delivered when his father, Malcolm, refused to agree to the Terminator’s demand of allowing the destruction of Kokoro in exchange for Kenta’s life. Even though the fate of the world was at stake, the little kid couldn’t understand the reason for his father’s abandonment in his most vulnerable situation. Later on, as the Terminator revealed that Kokoro needs to be destroyed for humanity’s safety and that it was a future version of Kenta who had commanded the Terminator to arrive in 1997 to stop Kokoro and kill Malcolm, the kid’s reality starts spiraling out of control. At the end, Kenta chooses not to kill Kokoro by refusing to activate the EMP device, even though he had every intention of doing so, and after all is said and done, he joins his siblings with a conflicted state of mind. What path will Kenta choose? Will he go on his own to form a new resistance against Skynet, Kokoro, and all forms of AI constructs? Or will he follow the lead of Eiko and Misaki to build a better tomorrow, like his father had hoped he would? Guess we will learn in time when the second season premieres later.
