We need to talk. Butterfly was already a sneaky show, a family drama masquerading as an espionage thriller, but its ending shifts it into different, more chilling territory right as it’s about to stick the landing in a satisfyingly conventional way. Most of Episode 6 is predictable, but its final scenes are bonkers, casting harsh new light on the season-long arc of a major character and raising many questions for a potential follow-up to answer.
Many shows have a “shocking” climax, but this one takes the cake for genuinely unexpected developments, especially ones that are so brutally harsh in the context of the show’s overall tone. I suspect fans will be incredibly divided about it, since there’s an argument to be made that it undermines a lot of careful character development, but the counter-argument is that the writing was on the wall all along and we have simply been conditioned to not expect it since so many shows lack the gall to make this kind of decision.
But enough waffling. Let’s break all this down.
Juno’s Sales Pitch to Rebecca
After the events of the penultimate episode – I broke down the whole season in depth if you need reminding of anything – Rebecca begins the finale as a prisoner of Juno. And in hindsight, this is likely the most important stretch of the whole finale, since something Juno says resonates with Rebecca enough that she ultimately abandons – or seems to, anyway – her happy ending with her family.
Juno’s angle is that she loves Rebecca like a daughter and wants her to remain just the way she is, whereas David wants to change her. Rebecca confesses to being broken, but claims in a way that is beneficial to Juno, seemingly recognising that she has been utilised as a weapon by Juno, leveraging the very circumstances that she caused by burning David. This speaks to Rebecca seeing through Juno’s nonsense. But perhaps not.
I think the resonant thing here might be the acceptance of Rebecca’s fondness for killing. In an earlier conversation, Rebecca had expressed to David that she didn’t want to give up being an assassin because she liked it and was good at it, and there’s a part of me that thinks that this is fundamentally true, and not just a way to coolly pathologise a character who has suffered trauma. I, and I assume most people watching who’re familiar with mainstream TV’s usual tricks, assumed that Rebecca’s sociopathic tendencies were something that she would “heal” from by defeating the bad guys and reuniting with her father. Butterfly had no intentions of being that simple.
Rebecca MAY Still Be Working With Juno
It isn’t outside the realm of possibility that in some off-screen interaction, Juno and Rebecca formed a plan of some kind to keep working together. There are clues to this effect, but no open confirmation, even if the evidence is compelling.
After David kills Gun and Rebecca is able to escape from Juno’s clutches, David has a chance to kill Juno – but Rebecca talks him out of it. She explains that Juno is a part of her, and while David counters that she wouldn’t give them the same courtesy, Rebecca uses this as evidence that the fact they’re willing to show Juno mercy proves that neither of them is really like her. On the face of it, this seems like logical growth for Rebecca’s character; exactly the kind of conclusion she should be arriving at in the season finale.
Piper Perabo in Butterfly | Image via Prime Video
But a bit later, David asks Rebecca outright if she’s still Juno’s agent, and her response is inconclusive. She also blatantly lies about what Juno said to her when she was still a prisoner. There are plenty of reasons why she might have done this, but in light of what happens at the end, the most compelling one is that she’s working a long con with Juno and doesn’t want to make her father more suspicious than he already is.
If this is the case, it suggests that Rebecca is an extremely high-functioning sociopath to the extent that she simply cannot be classified as anything other than a villain. Of course, she might not be working with Juno, though that isn’t an outcome that says a great many positive things about her either.
We THINK Rebecca Killed Eunju
At the very end of Butterfly, David and his family are enjoying a meal together. He’s pondering moving to the U.S., Rebecca is being kind to Minhee, and she even seems to be coming around to Eunju. Her following her into the bathroom seems like one of those things that women often do, a nice bonding moment. But the vibe is already off because of Rebecca’s demeanour at the table and Minhee’s sudden tiredness. By the time David gets into the bathroom and realises that Eunju’s throat has been cut, and Rebecca is the likely culprit, it isn’t that much of a surprise.
I rewatched this scene to see if there were any clear giveaways, such as Rebecca slipping something into Minhee’s drink or picking up a knife while she was sitting at the table, but I didn’t see anything incriminating. The show’s refusal to commit to us seeing Rebecca’s true heel turn makes me wonder if the door is perhaps being left open for her innocence. Maybe in a second season, David could pursue her, believing she’s guilty, only to realise that she has become the patsy in a larger conspiracy.
But I think that’s unlikely. As I mentioned at the top, I do believe the writing was on the wall in the way other characters spoke about Rebecca’s sicko tendencies, and the way she smilingly reacted to the most extreme situations. We just didn’t want to believe it. But if the final takeaway of Butterfly really is that Rebecca is a full-on maniac serial killer who can’t be redeemed, that’s one hell of a ballsy ending, and the show deserves serious respect for it. This being streaming culture, I’d expect Season 2 to be announced sooner rather than later. But what a note to leave things on if not.
