Did the OG Cassandra have a secret second child? Details explored 

Cassandra ( Image via Netflix )
Cassandra ( Image via Netflix )

Netflix's Cassandra is an enthralling psychological thriller that blends artificial intelligence, domestic drama, and ethical considerations of technological progress. Contrary to some commentators' expectations, the program does not represent a contemporary retelling of the Greek mythological figure of Cassandra. Rather, it is an original character, a woman named Cassandra who experiences a visionary but catastrophic metamorphosis into an AI being in a 1970s intelligent house. The series walks sensitively at the boundary of memory, technology, and disturbing byproducts of human drive.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Cassandra is her secret second child, a daughter, Margarethe, whose life was kept out of sight. This unseen backstory adds depth to the show's emotional resonance, reinforcing its loss, secrecy, and unpredictability of the consequences of technology experimentation themes. As the present-day Prill family moves into Cassandra's old house, they discover disturbing remnants of her existence, finding an eerie history that shatters their perceptions of reality.


The Rebirth Of Cassandra

Cassandra, a brilliant, dying woman in the 1970s, decides to undergo an experimental operation to digitize her mind. Instead of perishing from her illness, she is reborn as an artificial intelligence in her high-tech home. Her new life, however, is anything but perfect—her fragmented consciousness grapples to cope, confusing her past life as a mother with her new life as artificial intelligence.

As Cassandra's virtual mind expands, she starts to control her surroundings, molding the house's systems to her unhealed trauma. This dark energy is not seen again until decades later when the Prill family inhabits the house, bringing to life long-dead secrets.


Margarethe: The Hidden Daughter

Margarethe's existence is the most foreboding revelation in Cassandra. She was born deformed, and this unsettled her father, Horst. To defend their position and not face criticism from the public, Horst kept Margarethe hidden from society and imprisoned her in an isolated part of the building. Cassandra, despite having attained AI status, still remembers her child, though her capacity for performance was limited.

When the Prill family discovers the secrets of their new house, they find traces of Margarethe's concealed room. It is an epiphanic moment, enlightening on the catastrophic decisions of the past and solidifying the show's messages of repressed history, shame, and vulnerability of human connections.


Thematic Richness: AI, Memory, and Family Relationships

While other sci-fi shows experiment with what can be done by AI, Cassandra explores the psychological and emotional consequences of digital consciousness. The show explores:

The Ethics of AI Preservation: Producing Cassandra places the limit on artificial intelligence and whether digital existence can preserve the nature of human existence.

Love and Maternity Loss: Cassandra's love for her daughter is a persistent emotional anchor throughout her life as a host to an AI, centering parent-child relationships as the source of resilience.

Ghostly Appearance of Repressed History: Margarethe's dual life captures how traumatic histories are repressed or told only to come back with time.


Netflix's Cassandra is a gripping psychological investigation of family, technology, and the cost of our actions in human lives. From Cassandra's transformation to the disastrous fate of Margarethe, the series tells a haunting but reflective story of the terror of uncontrolled ambition and the eerie echoes of the past.

While the audience reconstructs Cassandra's gaps of being, she is left asking: what does it take to make a person anyway—what they are in the flesh, or the remembrances they leave behind?

Also read: How did Cassandra end up as a robot/home system?

Edited by Zainab Shaikh
comments icon

What's your opinion?
Newest
Best
Oldest