I think the ending of *In the Blink* is self-explanatory. So why am I writing this? Well, I'm just sharing my thoughts, I guess. Through three thematically connected stories, the Hulu sci-fi drama attempts to talk about life and death and everything in between. Namely, birth, bonding, family, survival, separation, and legacy. I'm sure I missed some because, honestly, there's a lot. That's why I think the movie gets a little overwhelming and repetitive after a while. The first story takes place in 45,000 BC, which marks the end of the Neanderthal Era.
We meet a Neanderthal family of four: father Thorn, mother Hera, daughter Lark, and baby Ebb. They gather shellfish from the shore, know how to make fire to keep warm, and live in a cave. The second story, set in 2025 AD, explores the theme of life and death. The first story focuses on Claire, a PhD candidate in anthropology, and Greg, a statistics professor at the same university. Together, they build a future that propels humanity forward.
Director: Andrew Stanton
Writer: Colby Day
Stars: Kate McKinnon, Rashida Jones, Daveed Diggs
The third story, set in 2417 AD, is about Coakley, a genetically engineered human, and her AI co-pilot, Rosco, who travel in a ship carrying human embryos to a distant planet, Kepler 16b, to restart human civilization. Yes, this story is heavily influenced by the Alien franchise. I'm going to talk a little bit about the three stories and how each one influences the others.
I think this particular symbolism sums up the whole film. Everyone knows the popular saying: even a tiny acorn will one day grow into a mighty oak tree, which signifies potential, preservation, and power. A small seed withstands the forces of nature to one day become one of the strongest pillars of the forest. In short, it is difficult times that strengthen us, so that we can build a better future, not only for ourselves but also for future generations. The film begins with the Big Bang, which, seen from the perspective of the universe, was nothing more than the blink of an eye. Well, the same can be said of human evolution, because on the grand stage, it barely registers. A tiny acorn that doesn't matter.
In the first story, Thorn, the Neanderthal father, broke several ribs and injured himself while hunting to provide for his family. But he didn't give up. He endured the pain because he knew his family might not survive without him. However, as soon as he recovered, he lost his baby, Ebb, to illness, and later his wife, Hera, during childbirth. In short, Thorn and his family endured one hardship after another, but they didn't lose hope and eventually found a group of Homo sapiens who gave them food and took them to their settlement so that Thorn, his daughter, and their newborn could live comfortably. The film made an interesting point.
Thorn was an excellent craftsman, and upon joining the new group, he shared his inventions—fire, the flute, and cave paintings—with his new campmates. So, what the film was trying to suggest is that, in human evolution, every little step counts. It was thanks to community and shared values that we survived for so long, and we will continue to thrive if we remember where we came from. If Thorn and his family hadn't survived, Homo sapiens might not have discovered what a whistle was, at least not for a long time. And so, our little acorn slowly began to sprout. Thorn's daughter, Lark, married a Homo sapiens from the settlement and continued her family's legacy.
After Thorn's death, his daughter and son buried his body near or in the cave where the family lived. Years later, Claire was found investigating the fossils of an early Neanderthal. He was one of Thorn's earliest descendants, bearing the same birthmark as his granddaughter. After his death, a young woman placed an acorn in her hand, an acorn that had been passed down through generations in Thorn's family. And, in the end, it was Claire who found it. The important thing here is that it was through the study of Homo sapiens and Neanderthal genomes that Claire made a breakthrough that helped her son, David, lay the foundation for his futuristic gene-replacement technology, Elixir.
When Claire's mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness, she was left with two choices: abandon her dreams or find a way to make everything work. Well, for a moment, she felt confused. She didn't know what to do. As a researcher, she wanted to find a cure for her mother, but unfortunately, humanity was still unraveling the mystery. In the end, Claire accepted her mother's condition but refused to give up on her dreams. She rejoined the community and published her paper on early humans, which brought humanity one step closer to immortality.
Years later, David, Claire and Greg's son, founded Elixir, a gene-replacement technology that allowed humans to repair and rebuild cellular structures. Using this technology, they created a system that would not only repair damaged cells but also trick the body into continuing to produce new ones. This meant that these modified humans would never die from terminal illnesses like cancer, nor would they age, as their bodies would stop aging. The protagonist of the third story, Coakley, was a synthetic human, which is why she survived over 350 years of space travel without cryosleep. But even though David had somehow immortalized humans, he and his companions failed to save the planet. The film didn't reveal what actually happened on Earth, but it's possible the planet was destroyed by these immortal humans who put too much strain on its resources. I'll explain this later, as it's related to Coakley.
Through Coakley's story, the film explores the theme of sacrifice. The palm samples that created the oxygen to sustain life on the ship had been infected by an unforeseen parasite. Coakley and her AI co-pilot, Rosco, tried to create an antiviral, but it didn't work. It was then that Coakley considered suicide, but Rosco chose to sacrifice herself. She asked it to create another greenhouse in its central computer so that she and the embryos could survive the space journey and have a chance to complete the mission. In a way, Rosco sacrificed itself for the survival of humanity. And since all these stories have a recurring theme, you can see that Hera made the same sacrifice to bring her child into the world, and later Claire almost sacrificed her career for the mother who gave birth to her. I suppose the third story tried to portray the AI as the selfless mother, but it doesn't quite convince me.
However, Coakley managed to grow new plants in Rosco's central chamber, which helped her reach her destination, where she used drones to plant trees on the surface and begin oxygen production, making the planet habitable for humans. Meanwhile, she began creating babies in an artificial womb, which initially failed and killed four embryos, but the fifth eventually survived. One small detail: it was around 5:00 when Claire decided to rejoin the community, and it was the fifth embryo that successfully developed into a baby, V.
I think the number 5 suggests that both incidents were related. How? Perhaps Claire's decision to pursue her career helped humanity in the distant future. Coincidentally, another clock appeared as Claire breathed her last. It was around 5:45, likely the same time Thorn and V died in their respective stories. Returning to the story, Coakley, V, and the other children eventually landed on the new planet and laid the foundation for a new human civilization. Coakley stayed on the planet and helped humans rebuild and thrive, but he left shortly after V's death.
In his speech, Claire's son, David, said that the human lifespan was nothing more than a blink of an eye compared to the universe around us. He believed that time had been our enemy and, through his technology, wanted to conquer it. But Claire had a different perspective. I believed that life only had meaning because it came to an end. But why am I telling you this? Because I think this is where things went wrong. David's technology might have contributed to the planet's destruction, which could explain why Coakley's spaceship wasn't carrying genetically modified embryos.
He later told V that it was actually bad to live too long, so perhaps, after creating an antidote to mortality, humans realized they had created a curse they couldn't exorcise. That's why they sent Coakley with Noah's Ark to a distant planet to rebuild everything from scratch. But you might be wondering, why did Coakley leave the planet? Well, for the same reason she came to find the new planet.
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