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0:45

Shieland Brady, No.

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I am the father. What's

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in the barn? You

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blew it up.

1:07

Hi. This is Dana Stevens, movie critic

1:09

here with another Slate's special.

1:12

This week, we're gonna be talking about Meghan

1:14

or M3gan three GAN. The

1:16

much promoted new horror movie from

1:18

Blum House Studios that has made quite

1:20

as price hit in theaters for being a mid

1:22

January release. Joining me today to talk

1:25

about Meghan is Jeffrey Bloomberg, who is the Slate's

1:27

director and longtime

1:28

slate. Writer, contributor. Hi, Jeff.

1:30

Hi. I am glad you're here to talk with me about Meghan.

1:32

I know you have strong feelings about this movie. They're

1:34

positive ones for the most part.

1:35

Right? Yeah. I mean, I should preference this in

1:38

two ways. One, I'm a lover of the killer

1:40

robot over slash doll movie,

1:42

particularly dolls. Like, I even watch There's

1:44

a new Chuck E. V. Show on SciFi, and

1:46

I actually watched that. Like, I love this

1:48

kind of a demented junk, and this is a particularly

1:51

good example. And secondly, I saw

1:53

in a theater filled with people who were very

1:55

much already enormous fans of this character

1:57

as if this existed for like forty years and

1:59

bringing down the house. At the screening

2:02

I was at. So, yes, I very much liked

2:04

the movie and thought it was extremely funny and

2:06

fun. Not as much of a horror movie as

2:08

we'll discuss, I think, but I did think overall,

2:10

it was cleverly executed version

2:12

of the kind of some familiar

2:14

formula. Totally agree. I went and thinking,

2:16

do we really need another killer doll movie?

2:18

I'm gonna know all the the dramatic beats in

2:20

this and also had an audience that absolutely loved

2:22

it. It's a very crowd pleasing movie and

2:24

really surprisingly smart, I think, about AI

2:26

and technology and parenting and the various themes

2:29

that it brings in without being a kind

2:31

of heavy handed. This is not an Arty horror

2:33

movie. Right? This isn't the Babaduke. God

2:35

bless the Babaduke. It's one of my favorite horror movies,

2:37

but this is not one of those thinky

2:39

movies. Right? It's very much about sensation

2:41

and squealing and giggling in the moment. It's

2:44

directed by Gerald Johnston who

2:46

has a little bit of a horror resume and

2:48

who I think does a really good job of keeping it nice

2:50

and compact. And it's written by Akhilah

2:52

Cooper who's sort of the hot new thing

2:54

in cheap horror movies. And she also wrote

2:56

the malignant movies, which were, you know,

2:58

really successful in this similar genre

3:00

of sort of, you know, low budget and slightly

3:02

campy

3:03

horror. And I

3:03

think it's a it's a pretty tight script. Totally.

3:06

And she developed a story along with James

3:08

Wan, who's sort of one of the architects of the

3:10

Blum House it's movies like the

3:12

conferencing. He also did insidious. He

3:14

was a soft person. He luckily has, like,

3:16

come back from the ledge on that level of, like,

3:18

core fest, and he even now makes these, like, really

3:21

well constructed suspense movies.

3:23

But a little bit of a larger DNA of that

3:25

stuff in here

3:25

with, like, definitely distinctive and fond

3:27

new voices. actually

3:29

do a little scariness rating before we get

3:31

into spoiling. Because I think this is an

3:33

important thing for listeners to know who who

3:35

have a strong resistance to horror movies, which I completely

3:37

understand. This movie

3:39

is not that scary. And I have to say that

3:41

I'm not a very hardcore horror viewer,

3:43

and it was perfectly fine

3:46

for me. It is much more of a comedy

3:48

the way it plays on that it is a horror

3:49

film. Yeah. That's definitely true. Although, I

3:52

think it's worth noting that Meghan is

3:54

a particularly sadistic killer when it comes

3:56

time. I don't know where that comes from. In

3:58

Megan's programming, but she's, like, spraying,

4:00

like, lawn chemicals on people and,

4:03

like, ripping their ears off and stuff.

4:05

So the violence is comic because it's Meghan

4:07

doing it, but it's there. If you're like particularly

4:09

squeamish, when we do a scary scale on

4:11

like the tech side Slate's, we break it down

4:13

into the core and spookiness and like

4:15

jump

4:15

scares. And this is pretty low on everything

4:18

but the core medium. Yeah. I mean, I

4:20

think it's it's pretty tolerable. As I as I

4:22

recall, the scary scale, which is a very useful

4:24

feature on the way, that I use all the

4:26

time, ranked it around fuel juice

4:28

in terms of overall scariness. And I think

4:30

that's about right. Like, you could take an older child to this.

4:32

If you had a kid with a taste for the Macabre, you

4:34

know, and they're like eleven, twelve,

4:35

thirteen, I think they could handle

4:37

I think so too. So let's get

4:39

into this story of Meghan. It begins

4:41

with a a little cold open frame

4:43

story that sets up everything to follow. Do you

4:45

wanna talk through what happens to

4:47

our initial heroin, a little girl named

4:49

Katie played by Violet

4:51

McGraw, who's riding in a car with her parents as the

4:53

movie opens. Yeah. So I believe that we're on,

4:55

like, the outer grounds of a Oregon

4:58

ski resort. When the two parents are sort

5:00

of bickering in the front seat, can't

5:02

remember exactly what it is, but it's typical

5:04

parenting cliche stuff. Like, don't correct me.

5:06

Don't talk to

5:06

me. Like, I'm a kid from the father, that sort of thing.

5:08

And about screen time, which actually becomes important

5:10

later on. Yes. And in the back seat, I

5:12

think Katie is playing with something called a perpetual

5:15

pet, which we don't really know the significance

5:17

of that yet, but she's toying around with

5:19

it and it's becoming part of their argument.

5:21

And then as they're going on, they

5:23

finally stop in the middle of the road, I

5:25

believe. And they're like, let's just wait for someone,

5:27

like, snowpower to come because we can't

5:29

see anything. And they're like, how long is that gonna

5:31

take? And then because it's this

5:33

a killer doll movie, the snow power

5:35

shows up right away and takes out the

5:36

parents. Bakady is in the back so

5:39

she's okay. As far as the perpetual pet,

5:41

something that we should have mentioned is at the very

5:43

beginning before we even I think before the

5:45

credit even. We see an ad, a very

5:47

well done and very funny ad for the perpetual

5:49

pets, which are a sort of furby light

5:51

creature, but that also have an interactive

5:54

online element. Where you take your iPad or some

5:56

kind of app and you feed the perpetual

5:58

pet. And the basic functionality seems to be

6:00

that you feed him virtual food until he poops,

6:02

and then you laugh about it. It's

6:03

well done. And I think you kind

6:06

of are getting the sense that this is also

6:08

like a toy world satire

6:10

in some way. From that. But

6:12

anyway, Katie's parents are dead, and

6:14

she's orphaned. It happens very subtly. And

6:16

with little emotion and then we kind

6:18

of cut

6:18

ahead. Yeah. Well, then the next group

6:21

of people that we learn about. Right? And we only

6:23

gradually learned that this is aunt, but we

6:25

go to Alison Williams will actually become

6:27

sort of the M3gan, although in some ways

6:29

the anti heroin of the movie. Her

6:31

name is Gemma and she's a toy developer.

6:33

She is apparently this super whiz

6:35

AI robotics expert, whose

6:38

job, which he seems to be way overqualified for,

6:40

is creating things like the perpetual pets.

6:43

So we join her in this sort of secret

6:45

room that she's working

6:47

on a new project in with a couple of

6:49

people from the funky toy company, a secret

6:51

project that she is keeping away

6:53

from her boss. We'll learn why

6:56

And that project is what

6:58

will turn out to be at some point. Meghan,

7:00

the first incarnation of Meghan, we see

7:03

Well, since you're the scary doll guy, you wanna

7:05

describe the first way we see Meghan

7:07

in the

7:07

movie?

7:07

Yeah. I'm trying to remember exactly what is she's

7:09

she's partly assembled, basically. Right? And she

7:11

doesn't have her full face

7:12

Right. So you see them put the skin on her

7:14

face, which is really uncanny. Yeah. So

7:16

M3gan is Model three generative

7:19

Android. That's what it stands for. I've been sure

7:21

to write that down because it seemed particularly

7:23

silly to me. And you're sort

7:25

of seeing a crude version of her in her very

7:27

first, like, awakened form. They

7:29

talk about how expensive she is and why they kind of

7:31

had to keep it a secret. And then

7:33

the boss shows up. Right?

7:35

They're in the lab hanging out with this, like,

7:37

crude Megan. You see the face go on and

7:39

starts and audience is already losing it. You really,

7:41

if you can, see this movie in the theater, if you

7:43

intend to see it, do see it with a

7:45

group of people at least. And

7:48

anyway, the boss shows up in the middle of his

7:50

demonstration and they failed to hide M3gan from

7:52

the boss. And Meghan somehow

7:54

has a meltdown. And her face

7:56

becomes droopy and she doesn't really work.

7:58

And they realized they forgot to put a partner or

8:00

something like that. And so the boss

8:03

very firmly shuts the whole thing down and really

8:05

wants the next generation of the

8:07

perpetual pet, which is like a cheap juggernaut

8:09

for the company. Not this, like,

8:11

Tesla level, like, Dow

8:13

that costs about the same amount. And so the

8:15

next thing we know Katie

8:17

is coming to stay with Emma.

8:19

Right.

8:19

And there's a really ellipsis there. Like, you never

8:21

find out the moment that M3gan hears

8:23

that her sister died, right, and that she

8:26

now is going to adopt her

8:28

niece. There's some sort of suggestion that

8:30

off

8:30

camera. We never meet these people that the

8:32

the

8:32

dad's parents. Right? Katie's

8:34

grandparents wanted to adopt her, but that Jemmott

8:36

assisted on having her, but you

8:38

never see any of that happen in front of the

8:40

camera, which is somewhat odd because it's not really

8:42

clear why this young single woman who

8:44

has no parenting in sync

8:46

whatsoever that we can see and is working all

8:48

the time would make the

8:50

case for adopting a girl who's supposed to

8:52

be about eight years old.

8:53

I think at some point they reference the

8:55

sister wanting M3gan to have

8:58

Katie, but I don't know why or

9:00

like how that came

9:02

to be. But it becomes very clear

9:04

from the beginning that JAMA has

9:06

not equipped to be taking Katie at

9:07

all. And I think those scenes are actually quite powerful.

9:09

Like, that's the moment when the movie surprised me is

9:11

that, you know, it could easily just sort of

9:14

get the the relationship stuff over with.

9:16

Right? I have to adopt this kid, alright,

9:18

back to killer doll. There's quite a bit of time

9:20

spent and some really good scenes I

9:22

think spent on just

9:24

how alienated Jim is life is. I mean, in

9:26

that, you see that in the decor of her

9:28

apartment even in her wardrobe, you know, that

9:30

she is just this completely functional

9:32

person who's utterly focused on work, has

9:34

no children's books in her house for sure, but doesn't

9:36

even seem to have any books. She has a lot of

9:38

toys, but they're collector's toys that the

9:40

child can't touch. So already, I feel like there's

9:42

some things being put in place in this movie that

9:44

are sort of a critic of modern

9:46

upper middle class parent in all of

9:48

its its

9:48

chili, alienation, and dependence on technology.

9:51

Yeah. Totally. It's time

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11:01

Please subscribe. No.

11:04

So like in this vacuum, I think one

11:06

day, might be skipping around here because I saw

11:08

the movie a little while ago, but Katie

11:10

comes to the office where JAMA's

11:12

working. One night, because JAMA's like, can

11:14

you just sit out here while I work for like

11:16

a few hours and sees all of these

11:18

robots I really excite

11:18

her. And there's one called Bruce, I think

11:21

Slate's a big hulking one that was one of JAMA's first

11:23

projects. Thank you that at home though, and that becomes

11:25

important later. Bruce is in her home labs. And

11:27

he's sort of a more typical, almost like a

11:29

mech suit kind of big robot

11:31

guy who

11:31

was, I guess, the thesis project. Of JAMA back

11:34

when she was studying robotics. Totally. So this is

11:36

at home still, and they're still figuring it out. But

11:38

I think, is it the case that that's what

11:40

gives her the idea to maybe see

11:42

what Katie thinks of Meghan. I think

11:43

so. Well, because that's the moment when Katie's face lights up.

11:46

Right? Obviously, she's depressed. Her parents have just been

11:48

killed. She's living with her weird, alienated

11:50

aunt who's not particularly warm. And and the

11:52

first time she gets a smile on her faces when she

11:54

sees this robot bruce kind of reach

11:56

out to her. And I guess that's what gives Jim a

11:58

idea, oh, kids would actually enjoy

12:00

having some sort of robot

12:02

friend.

12:02

Right. So in a classic,

12:04

like, oh, you really shouldn't have done that move.

12:06

M3gan brings Kaye's a lab and introduces her

12:08

to the prototype again. And

12:10

there's like a scene that there was like a funny

12:13

playroom where they somehow have a viewer set up so they could look

12:15

in like it's a lab. And they have

12:17

Katie Imprint on Meghan.

12:19

It's like her one and only love her her, like,

12:21

soul focus as a caregiving doll

12:23

basically. And it's like pretty funny scene

12:25

where everybody in the theater is just like,

12:27

no. No. Don't do this. And

12:30

it turns out that Megan's really good at

12:32

interacting with Katie, actually, like,

12:34

empathetic and gets her kind of out of her

12:36

shelf for the first time we see in the movie

12:38

before or since her parents have died. She

12:40

has two close coworkers here kinda go along with us

12:42

even though they also think it's a bad idea.

12:44

And then from

12:44

there, we're off to the races with M3gan and

12:46

Katie. Quickly becoming best friends. I

12:48

feel like we have to take just a moment to talk

12:50

about what looks like and moves like

12:52

and sounds like because I think that's one of the

12:54

most effective parts of the movie.

12:56

And in large part, I think it's because and

12:58

I would have to, you know, watch a feature to know if it's

13:00

a hundred percent practical effects, but she's

13:02

not that digital. Right? I mean, she is

13:04

she is a combination of the voice of

13:06

an actress named Jenna Davis and the body

13:09

of a child, dancer

13:11

named Amy Donald. And and she and

13:13

the way she moves I mean, I don't know if it was that

13:15

that that they coached Amy Donald to

13:17

move in this way or if they digitally altered

13:19

the way that she moved, but

13:22

She really is effectively eerie and has

13:24

the actual weight and substance of

13:26

a of a real

13:26

doll, a real creature. And that's a big part. I think

13:29

of what makes her both scary and relatable.

13:31

There's just a way in the way that she looks at

13:33

people on things that she doesn't like throughout

13:35

the movie. That's like also really funny.

13:37

Her eyes are like really like. A

13:40

combination. They look kind of like those fake contacts that

13:42

you see too much on TikTok basically.

13:44

And also if you know anything about this movie at

13:46

all, you know that. M3gan It's

13:48

the whole thing really that M3gan does that people

13:50

are so thrilled about. So Universal's been

13:52

sending like these like dancers

13:54

in Megan outfits to like NFL

13:56

games and early

13:57

screenings. And so in this movie, when she

13:59

starts dancing, you know that things are

14:01

about to go south. Yeah. She sings and

14:03

dances, but We never heard her be

14:05

programmed to do that. And that's sort of one of the the

14:07

moments that you start to get this idea. Wait. M3gan wants

14:09

to have an existence. She wants to enjoy her

14:11

life outside of her programming

14:13

to protect Katie or to

14:14

do, you know, whatever Jemma wants her to

14:16

do. Yeah. Absolutely. And that's when you

14:19

start seeing her M3gan performing

14:21

those kinds of behaviors that probably

14:23

were not part of her official sort

14:25

of programming is when you know things are about to

14:27

go

14:27

sideways. So in a classic

14:30

Frankenstein creating Frankenstein's monster

14:32

mistake, Jema made Katie learn

14:34

and we see her learning, right, sort of

14:36

learning the intricacies of human

14:38

emotion and what it would take to make Katie happy,

14:40

etcetera, fulfilling her prime directive

14:42

making this girl happy in protecting her,

14:44

but she doesn't seem to have had a

14:46

lot of moral qualms built into

14:49

her her setup. So we're

14:51

pretty far into the movie before Meghan commits her first

14:53

act of violence, which is not quite

14:55

a murder, although it does result in

14:57

a death. Do you wanna talk about

14:59

the first person who dies at

15:01

Meghan's hands. Well Oh,

15:02

before there's a person though, there's Yeah. I was

15:05

gonna say in another classic horror

15:07

movie trope. There's a dog next door that's a little

15:09

too aggressive and like bitey under the fence. In the

15:11

second, you see this dog earlier in the movie, you're like, oh,

15:13

boy. And so this dog does snap at

15:15

Katie or perhaps bite, so I can't remember.

15:17

And That's how and that's finally when we

15:19

see M3gan of activate in the

15:21

proposed

15:21

form, and she dispatches the dog and the

15:23

night and the dog just disappears. But we never

15:25

do see her kill the dog. If dog

15:27

death really traumatizes you, it happens

15:29

off screen.

15:30

Yeah. That's true. Figure it's happened. I

15:32

I'll admit, I'll out myself as someone who finds

15:34

that kind of thing hard. But in this movie, it's so

15:36

silly, and the dog really is a jerk. So, anyway,

15:39

so the first person basically, at

15:41

some point, JAMA is, like, JAMA

15:44

says, Katie, we gotta go to school,

15:47

and Katie doesn't wanna go. She finds her

15:49

this, like,

15:49

like, kind of woo woo school Slate's, where they

15:52

just, like, hang out outside all day. I don't

15:54

exactly remember the details. Because she was homeschooled

15:56

previously. Right? I mean, there's that's a little bit

15:58

more, I think, poke fun at parenting trends. Right? Because

16:00

Katie has never been to a proper school. She

16:02

was homeschooled by her parents. And so, yeah, they

16:04

find her this very crunchy let's go to

16:06

the woods and, I don't

16:06

know, hunt mushrooms together kind of

16:09

school. Yeah. And so Katie insists

16:11

on bringing me again over Demba's protest

16:13

because at this point, I think JAMA's already

16:15

starting to get a little wary. People like the

16:17

psychiatrist that's involved in the situation starting

16:19

to say to her, like, I don't know if this

16:21

doll is great for Katie's grief, blah blah blah.

16:23

They end up bringing M3gan to the and they put her

16:25

into the toy pile. But then Katie

16:27

starts playing with a little boy there. The little

16:29

boy is just a classic shithead look at to him

16:31

and you just know that he's going to end up

16:33

being. Like, bad to Katie in some

16:35

way and they end up out in the woods

16:37

and he starts saying really awful

16:39

things to

16:39

her. I can't remember exactly what, but, like,

16:41

like, violent, like, fantasies

16:43

basically that the kid is playing out if I recall. It

16:45

was harsher than I was expecting. And

16:47

then, of course, Meghan shows up. And Meghan

16:49

is, like, not into it. Oh, and the boy goes

16:51

up to Meghan and he's, like, what is that? And, like, maybe

16:54

strikes her or that does something to Meghan that you

16:56

shouldn't have on. And then

16:58

Meghan responds by grabbing his ear

17:00

and literally pulling his earlobe open and

17:02

off of his face. And it's this

17:04

moment where It sounds disgusting and

17:06

horrific, but of course everybody loved it

17:08

in a movie and it's it's pretty funny. And

17:10

then Meghan sort of looks at the kid and

17:12

he's like, you should probably And so the kid

17:14

starts running away and starts chasing

17:16

him like a wild animal. Somehow she gets on

17:18

all fours. And

17:20

runs faster that way for some reason. And

17:22

then as they get to the edge of, like, the

17:24

forest where there's a road, Megan, I

17:26

don't know pushes the kid or just runs M3gan

17:28

to the edge, but he goes out directly in front

17:30

of a car and they totally take out

17:32

this little boy. It's like pretty brutal,

17:34

but still within the realm of dark comedy. And

17:36

then no one really saw Meghan do this

17:38

though. They're all just very shaken up that this boy

17:40

is dead, but like the next thing you see they're back at home

17:42

and she's like, what a horrible thing,

17:45

Jenna, is. And Katie's

17:46

like, Mhmm. Yeah.

17:48

Like, what actually happened? You don't know. She

17:50

does she does not mention that Meghan came

17:52

out to interact with the

17:54

boy. And

17:55

the cops, I think, if I remember right, are starting to

17:57

get some sense that something weird is going

17:59

on because Jemma and Katie show

18:01

up. Well, they're there both when the boy is

18:03

hit by a car and dies. And they were

18:05

also questioned earlier about the dog's disappearance because

18:07

the neighbor has been complaining about that. So they're

18:09

sort of wondering you know, what's going on here.

18:11

There's also some mention of another little girl who

18:14

lives in the house, which is, of course, Meghan

18:16

who can be seen through the window. But there's

18:18

this this whole kind of mystery

18:20

throughout as

18:20

to, you know, whether there's another kid there. Jeff,

18:22

I'm gonna stop you for just a moment for a word from

18:24

our sponsor this

18:25

week. Alright,

18:28

back to Megan. Alright, Jeff. So as of

18:30

now, Megan has been responsible only

18:32

for the death of a dog which happens off

18:34

screen and the sort

18:36

of murder, but really just pulling off the ear

18:39

of this boy who subsequently is

18:41

killed. But now we're getting to the good

18:43

stuff. Meghan's actual murder

18:45

of a human happens fairly late in

18:47

the movie. I would say about two thirds of

18:49

the way through or

18:50

so. Do you wanna take it away and

18:52

describe that one? The neighbor who won the

18:54

dog, really is not letting the dogs to go. She's sort

18:56

of a very sour woman who seems like a terrible

18:59

neighbor. And Megan kind of like has her

19:01

eye on her, I of the movie. I think at one

19:03

point, the neighbor comes up to them

19:05

and really, like, sort of violently

19:07

accuses them of taking the dog. Maybe gets a

19:09

little grabby. Definitely a queasy and

19:11

sort of involves the girl. And Meghan does

19:13

not abide anyone threatening Katie

19:15

directly. Later that night, Meghan

19:17

comes out and starts making dog

19:19

noise the noises of the dog who she

19:21

must have recorded previously to lure the woman

19:23

outside. The woman eventually follows the

19:25

sounds back into her garden shed where Meghan

19:27

meets her and has like charming confrontation

19:29

where she's like, is like, hi,

19:31

I'm M3gan, and then immediately

19:34

sprays her with like a really intense

19:36

garden poison hose and

19:38

then, like, maybe staple guns her a bunch or

19:41

something. Like M3gan really does is a creative

19:43

killer. And then she goes home,

19:46

obviously, the next morning or very soon

19:48

after, I believe, their cops are

19:50

back, and there's another dead body. Now they're

19:52

really starting to get suspicious because they people

19:54

keep dying in dogs. Around these people.

19:56

And I think this is when JAMA starts

19:58

to get real actually

19:59

suspicious. Right. And she actually does some

20:02

investigating of of Meghan's interior. Right?

20:04

She goes and looks at her at the logs,

20:06

the video logs that she's supposed to be, I

20:08

guess, recording of everything she sees. So there's this

20:10

actual spot in the cloud where she can go

20:12

look at different days and what was filmed on

20:14

almost like her body cam. Right? Meghan's body

20:17

cam. But that's when it it starts to become clear

20:19

that Meghan is becoming sentient and getting her

20:21

own ideas about what she wants to do because

20:23

she's erased the video logs from the the

20:25

key days of the boys

20:26

death, the dogs disappearance, etcetera.

20:28

Right. And M3gan, like, can also tell the

20:30

grandma's up to something because she shows when

20:32

JAMA's looking for these logs being like, hi,

20:34

JAMA. What's going on? And

20:36

JAMA's like, what do you want? And she's like,

20:38

oh, I can't sleep, occupational hazard.

20:41

And they caught in this, like, weird back and forth where, like, they obviously

20:43

know about each other's

20:44

intentions, and that's when the sort

20:47

of climax comes

20:49

into motion. Because M3gan basically

20:51

decides it's not safe for Katie to be around this

20:53

doll anymore. She then breaks

20:55

Katie's heart by taking the doll away and,

20:57

you know, wrapping her up in class STICKING

20:59

HER BACK TO FUNKEY HADCOURS.

21:02

BUT STILL, THE PRODUCT LUNCH IS BEING

21:04

PLANNED AND THE BOSS WHO HAS NOW HAS dollar signs

21:06

in his eyeballs because he realizes what a

21:08

hit is gonna be. It's really pushing

21:10

them to get ready in time for this this

21:12

big launch. So that is what's gonna set

21:14

up the the big sequence at

21:16

funky headquarters, which by the way

21:18

everything about the the design and the

21:20

sort of the imagining of that toy company, I think it's

21:22

just a great, again, sort of a satire

21:24

of the modern tech company the way it's

21:26

laid out.

21:27

So around this time, they are headed toward this

21:29

final launch, and JAMA is, like, at

21:31

the headquarters and sees Katie in a video

21:33

up on this screen talking about the

21:36

death of her parents and how

21:38

Meghan helped her get through it. And she realizes

21:40

that she kind of fucked up. Right? Like,

21:42

so she starts to feel bad about that.

21:45

And Katie is there for this corporate launch because

21:47

she wants, you know, they want everyone to see her

21:49

interact with Meghan. And Jim was like, no.

21:51

So she takes the doll upstairs the dolls

21:53

supposedly decommissioned, but you can imagine that

21:55

that's not actually the case and takes

21:57

Katie out of there. It's like, I'm gonna be your

21:59

parent. I'm taking you out of this

22:01

corporate situation. And starts

22:03

getting her out of there. But

22:04

of course, has not actually turned

22:06

off. So then begins the rampage

22:08

at funky headquarters, which was one of the

22:11

biggest squeal filled parts of the movie when when I was

22:13

watching it. I mean, I don't we need to get into every

22:15

detail of what happens, but essentially has

22:17

acquired Sentience to the point where you can't really

22:19

shut her down AND SO SHE

22:22

BREAKS OUT OF HER PLASTIC RAPING.

22:24

SHE FIRST ATTEMPS BUT FAILS TO KILL

22:26

THE TWO ASSISTANCE THAT JEMEA HAS BEEN WORKING WITH WHO

22:28

ARE THESE fairly minor characters, but, you know,

22:30

they're good guys. We don't wanna see them completely

22:32

bite it. And then goes

22:34

on a rampage through funky headquarters.

22:37

And I think maybe the

22:39

biggest slasher movie kind of moment

22:41

in Meghan occurs when she

22:43

finally runs into the corporate

22:45

spy, the boss's right hand man, and

22:47

the boss himself who by now we really have

22:49

learned is kind of a soulless creep.

22:51

Right? So we're perfectly happy

22:53

for him to get slaughtered. And if you've seen

22:55

the ubiquitous marketing campaign for Meghan, you

22:57

know the scene where she's sort of

23:00

dancing in a in a hallway with

23:02

I believe a knife or some of

23:03

weapon. That's the moment when she's busting

23:05

out and it's about to kill that boss

23:07

and his assistant. Yeah. So it's an awesome dance. I

23:09

think that she uses the like,

23:11

the edge of a paper cutter, like one of those

23:13

big corporate paper cutters and rips it

23:16

off. And so I was just chasing him around

23:18

with it. It's pretty amazing. Can't remember

23:20

exactly remember the sequence of events,

23:22

but she, at one

23:24

point, she she kills him definitely. He

23:26

almost gets away maybe in an elevator.

23:28

She really lets him have M3gan. And then the assistant

23:30

is also gets involved somehow. She

23:32

lets the assistant have it. It's a bloody mess

23:34

in the elevator. Meghan wants to get back

23:36

to Kate. Kate, so she, like, takes the elevator

23:39

down where the big launch is happening, and they're

23:41

waiting for them to arrive and they open up the

23:43

elevator and there's just carnage

23:45

everywhere, and Meghan just, like, slips out,

23:47

everyone's screaming, and she's just, like, party

23:49

down, like, leaves. And gets in a car,

23:51

I love that moment because Meghan's really

23:54

small. Right? I mean, she's probably about as big as a

23:56

six year old kid or something like that. But there

23:58

just happens to be this fancy sports

24:00

car. It's probably the boss's car. Parked

24:02

outside, and in her sort of omnipotent way, I guess she can

24:04

somehow start this car, but somehow watching

24:06

the doll get in the car and drive away back

24:08

to Jemma's house was just that was a

24:10

big moment for the crowd I

24:11

saw. Oh, classic. So we're back at the house, then she

24:14

goes to the house to, like, where

24:16

JAMA and Katie are sort of making

24:18

up. Katie's maybe realizing that

24:20

she that

24:22

Jemma was right about Megan who because she's

24:24

been trying to explain to her that Megan did

24:26

some bad

24:27

things. Well, there's a big part where she sort

24:29

keeping M3gan hostage. Right? I mean, she's

24:31

making it really clear that if

24:33

JAMA lets Katie know that she's there in

24:35

the house, that she will probably do away with both of

24:37

them. So as a result, she's kind of gets her to

24:40

tell Katie that everything's okay and tell

24:42

her just stay in your

24:42

room, you know, It's perfectly

24:44

fine that there's a doll out here threatening

24:47

me. There's like long exchanges that are

24:49

funny in this part and maybe Meghan's playing the

24:51

piano at one point. But

24:53

in any case, they end up back

24:55

in the robot lab at home. Like she has

24:57

got a little workshop, basically. And

24:59

I think that it's this point that

25:01

Megan is trying Megan is decided that, okay.

25:03

Now, Gemma has to go. And she's

25:05

trying to convince Katie that

25:08

it's okay. And Meghan has this

25:10

like way of being able to read people's

25:12

emotions, like, if they're feeling fear

25:14

or if they're feeling anxious, or

25:16

what? And all of a sudden, the emotions look less like

25:18

they're afraid of making it more like they're,

25:21

like, feeling guilty because,

25:23

obviously, she want well, they

25:25

play where that maybe Katie

25:27

wants Meghan to kill JAMA, and so she

25:29

can go off into the sunset with

25:32

Meghan. But there's a

25:33

reversal, and I

25:36

think somehow there's some commotion,

25:38

but they end up exposing Meghan's

25:41

Well,

25:41

Bruce gets involved. Right. And that's and that's

25:43

Katie's move. There's a moment when Jemma is

25:45

pinned underneath something. Right? Meghan

25:48

is threatening to either kill her or paralyze her, which is a creepy

25:50

moment when she says, you know, I can I can

25:52

make you just kind of a vegetable, so

25:54

you'll be unable to to care for

25:57

your niece. And at this point,

25:59

there's there's a real bond between the two. So

26:01

Meghan is also playing on that, you know, and playing on

26:03

her fear of not being able to take

26:05

care of Katie. But The person who's able to save

26:07

her from this thing she's pinned underneath is

26:09

good old Bruce, the robot that she made back

26:11

in robotics school, which Katie

26:13

managed to get gloves, these virtual gloves

26:15

that you use to remotely order

26:17

Bruce around. And and

26:19

Bruce comes in, I think he frees

26:21

Gemma, and then he tries

26:23

to do away with Meghan, but he doesn't succeed.

26:25

Right? She's got one of the classic monster

26:27

pop back moments when we think she's dead,

26:29

but she's actually not. Yeah. And

26:31

I think that somehow, M3gan managed

26:33

to expose the chip in the back of her head.

26:35

And this is like the double moment when you realize

26:37

that Katie has chosen JAMA because she stabs her

26:39

on the chip in her head. And now

26:41

Meghan has finally officially turned off.

26:43

And then sort of, I think the cops are

26:45

on their way. And then there's an

26:48

important moment in horror movie, particularly a

26:50

killer doll movie where there's a hint of

26:52

a

26:52

sequel. And what is that?

26:54

Well, I guess it's a hint of a sequel. I thought maybe it was

26:57

just comment on technology Because throughout this movie,

26:59

remember we were saying that that Jemma's apartment

27:01

is this very wired, you know, very much

27:03

of a techie's apartment. She's

27:05

got device in her house called LC that

27:07

she's been talking to the whole time, you know,

27:09

to turn on lights and do this and that.

27:12

And it's sort of before has just sort of been

27:14

a satire of, you know, what a what a yuppie

27:16

home she has. But at the end, you're

27:18

right. The very last thing you see as

27:20

they're leaving the house but the

27:22

cops is the globe shaped

27:24

center of LC is turning to

27:26

look at them, which

27:28

guess some people interpreted maybe you did too

27:30

as the idea that Meghan is now as

27:32

as because he's everywhere. I thought it

27:34

was just more like whether is there or

27:36

not, whether or not you have a killer doll,

27:39

you're already living in this surveillance state

27:41

where technology

27:41

is, you know, observing you all the time.

27:43

I think that is very very generous to this movie,

27:45

but maybe it's both. Maybe it's both.

27:48

But throughout the movie, there's been little moments where

27:50

Meghan will, like, walk electric box that's not

27:52

connected to her and just make it blow up. Like, she's

27:54

obviously, like, had her WiFi really shooting off

27:56

and, like, infecting various

27:58

things. I think that they were implying that M3gan

28:00

won't be back for more carnage, but I think that you're

28:02

right. This movie does make some fairly

28:05

smart, satirical points about home

28:07

technology and things like that, the bigger picture

28:09

around parents and screens. And I

28:11

think that, like, it's above average

28:13

intelligence for a movie like

28:13

this, I'd say. Yeah. It does it does more

28:16

than it needs to do in terms of,

28:18

you know, thinking about things besides am I am I not

28:20

gonna be killed by Meghan? While

28:22

making that a very, you know,

28:24

an important question at at all

28:26

times. would watch a a sequel to

28:28

this for sure. It was tons more fun than I expected it

28:30

to be. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that,

28:32

like, as far as the killer

28:34

doll fans among us go. This is, like, sort of, like, the

28:36

ultimate synthesis of, like, Chuckie

28:39

becoming a comedic figure as opposed to the

28:41

original child's player who was actually

28:43

very Gary. At some point, I think these movies just became so

28:46

undergirded with humor that this is like the natural

28:48

endpoint of that. I don't think they're ever

28:50

going to make a fun air. Movie

28:52

about a murderous life-sized

28:54

doll than M3gan. Well,

28:55

Jeffrey, I would say when m four gang comes

28:58

out, will you come spoil it with me? But very

29:00

sadly, this is perhaps the last

29:02

spoiler special. At at the very least, it's the

29:04

last one for some time because the show is going

29:06

on indefinite hiatus. Maybe it won't

29:08

come back. It's been on hiatus before and come

29:09

back. But If and when it does, please

29:12

come back and spoil another movie with me. I'll

29:13

be here. Thank you, Dana. You're

29:15

as loyal as Megan,

29:18

but not quite as creepy.

29:20

And that's it for this spoiler

29:22

special and for now for the

29:24

slate spoiler special I hope

29:26

that we'll be back. If not, you can listen to us and read us elsewhere

29:29

onslate. So thanks for being listener and I

29:31

hope to talk to you again soon. Our

29:33

producer today is Christy Tayo McEnjula. Ben Richmond

29:35

is our engineer and Alicia Montgomery is

29:37

the Vice President of Audio at SLAIT.

29:39

For Jeffrey Bloomberg, I'm Dana Stevens.

29:42

Thanks. So much for listening. And we'll talk to you

29:44

again Sunday.