Summary
Episode 4 is a brilliant ending to the anime series, which questions the purpose of humans and raises the importance of looking after their own planet.
This recap of Netflix anime series Eden season 1, episode 4 — the ending explained — contains major spoilers.
What a beautiful series this has been, and the ending is magical as well.
The finale begins with a flashback — Dr. Weston Fields is worried that the world is getting too polluted, and he believes his project Eden will help greatly. Ashley tells him that she hopes he and Liz can get into a cryogenic pod and that AI will develop medicines and technology while they are asleep. Further scenes show the beginnings of Eden — it was called Eden Zero. It then flits forward, and the world is ruined by pollution and ruin. Liz wishes she could play outside of Eden Zero one day, and her condition is getting worse — Ashley tells her she needs to go into cryogenic sleep, but it’s too late. The daughter asks her father what Eden will be like, and he tells her the air will be clear, and they will not need masks. Liz tells him that she wants to be able to laugh in a world where everyone is laughing. Liz then dies — a tragic beginning to episode four.
Dr. Weston Field’s demise
Further footage shows Dr. Weston Field wondering what he can do without Liz and Ashley. Sara (voiced by Marika Kôno) is watching the painful footage from the past. This is the context she needed. Zurich, the AI, tells her that humans have reached the limit of cryogenic sleep, and the survival rate will drop below three percent if they are not woken up soon — Zero has the password. The AI then reveals that Dr. Weston Field is her creator. Sara concludes that the doctor is Zero, and he has eliminated everything that humans made. She questions whether humans are harmful and if the world needs them. Zurich then says her name and says there is security footage of when she entered a pod.
Sara watches footage of her parents putting her into a pod and hoping she enjoys a new, fixed world. Sara’s eyes well up, and she cries.
Zero sends out the demolition robot
In a flashback, Dr. Weston Field concludes that Eden is a success, and the world is no longer polluted. He asks if his neural network can be transferred to a robot. Zurich asks if his network is transferred to a robot, how will they wake humans up from cryogenic sleep as it is her duty to protect them. He tells her not to worry about it and gets angry. He claims the world does not need humans, and it is best to preserve nature. It then flits to Zero (Dr. Field) in the present day, who is still trying to find Sara. He sends out the demolition robot to destroy all robots that are pro-human.
The story is a sad imagining of a man who did not grieve the loss of his daughter and became bitter against humans.
Facing Zero
Zero’s robots find Sara, but she learns that robots cannot harm her directly because they are programmed not to hurt humans. So Sara heads to where she was first found. She wants to stop Zero — she heads into a large robot and gets into the command room. She faces Zero, who is also in a large robot, and it becomes a Pacific Rim type scenario.
As Sara fights Zero, the good robots fight the bad robots below them. It’s an all-out war. Eventually, Sara has to leave her robot, and she shouts up to Zero, calling him Dr. Fields. She clambers on Zero’s robot and faces him directly. She reminds him of his daughter Liz, and Zero becomes confused as memories rush back. He remembers Liz bringing him a flower, and they smell it together. He remembers his daughter’s words about wanting a world where everyone is laughing.
Dr. Fields saves Sara
Zero becomes frustrated and hits Sara off his robot, and then he saves her. And then Zero remembers his wife’s words, “I love you.” As the robot collapses, it crushes Zero, and his functions will soon die. Sara asks Dr. Fields for the password to awaken the humans from cryogenic sleep, but he asks what kind of world she will create with humans. She tells him she will create the world Liz wanted.
The ending
Zero/Dr. Fields asks Sara to smile for him one last time and then gives the password. Then, she activates the pods along with Fields’s rules of co-existing between humans and robots, including how they will treat the world. Sara heads to one of the pods, and there’s a baby inside, and she smiles.
Eden season 1, episode 4 is a brilliant ending to the anime series, which questions the purpose of humans and raises the importance of looking after their own planet.
