Accusedseason 2, episode 8, “Megan’s Story” in the finale ofAccusedseason 2, and it’s a surprising glimpse into the near future with an ending that you might not guess.A 2020 anthology TV show,Accusedfeatures a new story and casts every episode, with each episode opening in a courthouse to introduce a defendant, the eponymous “accused”. The rest of the episode follows the leadup to the court case, where it’s finally revealed what crime the defendant is being accused of and what the verdict is.
AnAmerican adaptation of the original British series,Accusedfirst came to Fox in 2023, with season 2 premiering in October 2024.The season 2 finale features Sonequa Martin-Green as Megan Neumann, a generative AI music producer who is on trial for murdering her husband, John (Mike Colter). Set in the not-too-distant future, “Megan’s Story” sees Megan and her husband at odds, with much of the frustration stemming from his job as a musician going counter to her industry-changing job. When a sex robot is brought into the equation, things get worse.
The Audience Learns Megan Is Guilty Of Killing Her Husband
Megan Was Jealous Of Eve And John’s Relationship
After AI took off, Megan became increasingly successful for the same reasons her husband became increasingly professionally ineffectual. As her career began to dominate her life, Megan started to neglect her marriage with John, who wanted children, or at the very least, a relationship with his wife. Instead, Megan contacted her sister, Lila (Jade Eshete), an AI robot engineer, and pressured her into developing a prototype humanoid sex robot for John to keep him company. The result of Lila’s work was Eve (Kiara Barnes). At first disturbed,John grew to like Eve’s company.
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Soon, it wasn’t just a physical relationship with Eve, John was enjoying her company on a personal level. He shared his music with her, talked to Eve like an equal, and seemed to be actually falling in love with her. Megan began to grow jealous and her attempts to woo John away from Eve fell on deaf ears. Desperate, Megan impregnated herself with John’s frozen embryos, getting herself pregnant with twins. She failed to ask John about this though, and when Megan told him, he said he was leaving Megan to live with Eve.
Furious and heartbroken,Megan lashed out at John, striking him on the head with a vase, accidentally killing him. This is the series of events that brings us to the present, with Megan in court. It’s clear from everything we’ve witnessed that Megan should now be held accountable for the murder of her husband, but you may be surprised to learn just what happens to her.
Megan Is Acquitted Thanks To Help From Her Sister
Lila Reprogrammed Eve’s Recording
At the trial, Megan says that Eve malfunctioned and killed John, though we as the audience know the truth. So when the prosecution demands to see Eve’s recorded footage on her hard drive, I expected Megan to be sent to jail. However, the video Eve shows is of Eve killing John, proving Megan’s “malfunction” story. It’s revealed that after Megan killed John, she called her sister in a panic. With her skill at manipulation,Megan managed to convince Lila to alter Eve’s code and change the footage so it appears like Eve killed John.
However, this also destroys Lila’s professional reputation as now it’s believed she engineered a murderous robot, and she’s fired from her job at her impressive robotics company.
Lila reluctantly goes along with the plan and when the footage is presented to the jury, there’s little doubt in their eyes that the malfunctioning robot was the cause of the murder. They acquit Megan and she gets off scot-free. However, this also destroys Lila’s professional reputation as now it’s believed she engineered a murderous robot, and she’s fired from her job at her impressive robotics company. Megan has a solution for this as well. Her music company needs a new chief technology officer, and if it happens to be someone Megan now trusts completely, all the better.
Accused’s Season 2 Finale Is The Most Ambitious Episode In An Already Bold Season
“Megan’s Story” Is The Only Accused Episode To Take Place In The Future
Accusedwas never an anthology series that dealt with questions about the future in the way of asimilar series likeBlack Mirror. The philosophical questions inAccusedare much more contemporary, andthe series is a bit more interested in mystery and drama than it is in considering higher-level questions about technology. That’s whyAccusedseason 2, episode 8, stands out among the 23 episodes in the entire series. It’s the only one to be set in the future, and while it’s not far into the future, it’s enough to pose some questions the series usually does not consider.
When it came to season 2 in general, showrunner Daniel Pearle said (viaTheWrap),
“We were bolder this year in terms of pushing genre of different episodes.”
Season 2 ofAccusedis bolder than season 1 in a lot of ways. Episode 2, “April’s Story”, is much more action-packed than anything that has come before in the normally subdued series. Episode 1, “Lorraine’s Story”, features a psychic and considers the question of when it is OK to lie to ease someone’s pain. Episode 7, “Eugene’s Story”, starscomedy actor Ken Jeongin an uncharacteristically dramatic role. Season 2 is absolutely bolder. When it came to the season finale, Pearle said,
“It’s set in the near, kind of parallel future, five seconds in the future, and deals with AI and our reliance on machines. We think this is a really flexible, appropriate form to explore everything from AI to bioengineering to all the technological frontiers we’re making without catching up to the morality and the law of it all.”
Episode 8 ponders these questions, asking if artificial intelligence can replace a human being. The episode makes a point to compare Megan’s music and Eve as two types of AI that disrupt life. AI music seems to be a boon for Megan, but a disaster for John, who loses his job because of it. However, other types of AI present a danger for Megan and a gift for John, such as Eve.Accusedseason 2, episode 8, asks where the line is when it comes to artificial intelligenceand whose job it really is to decide where that line is.
Accusedseason 2, episode 8, is not set very far in the future at all, with almost everything similar to our modern world save for the advances in AI. Even some of those advances, such as the ones with music, are indeed already happening in today’s world. It makes for an interesting twist onAccused’s classic formula: crime and court in a world that is just, as Pearle says, “five seconds in the future”. If “Megan’s Story” is to be believed, the implications of this near-future society are troubling.
