The Great Flood: Netflix's Ambitious Disaster Movie Drowns In Its Own Simulation - Time Loop To Ending Explained

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Great Flood seemed promising when Netflix dropped its trailer. It could've been that one disaster movie we all had been waiting to see. But, it misses the opportunity. Infact it gets lost in genres and drowns in its own waters. The Great Flood released on the OTT platform on December 19. Starring two of the most remarkable actors of South Korea: Kim Da-Mi (Our Beloved Summer) and Park Hae-Soo (Squid Game), it soon grabbed attention due to its intriguing plot. This was after it had its world premiere at the 30th Busan International Film Festival in September 2025. But all of this for nothing!

About The Great Flood

The Great Flood is a South Korean disaster film that follows An-na, a scientist trying to survive a sudden global flood triggered by an asteroid impact in Antarctica. As water submerges her apartment floor-by-floor, she fights her way upward with her son Ja-in, an adopted child she has raised.

Where does The Great Flood go wrong?

The Great Flood has a thrilling start. Infact the disaster sets in within minutes, forcing you to get on the edge of your seats. The fear is real and the visuals are breathtaking, if not scary. Kim Da-Mi is at her performance best, and so is Park Hae-Soo as the mysterious man who appears to help her survive. But just when you believe that a strong catastrophe film is on offer, it leads to a heartbreaking end, and you get caught up in a time loop!

Time loop and its disappointing turn

All seems fine until the film gets into some conceptual complications around an organisation forcefully trying to use An-na's skills as an AI scientist, to push her into getting the "Emotional Engine" working. Confused? Exhausted? Well, that's what happens with the viewers in the second half.The metaphysical references become too burdensome, and the overcomplicated script loses ground. On the surface it tries to build on a mother-son bond, but the emotional thrust just doesn't seep in.After escaping the flood that ends in her losing her son to the experiments, she is sent to a space laboratory since she holds the key to the final missing piece in humanity's survival plan: the Emotion Engine. It is a technology capable of giving AI real emotional depth. They have logic and intelligence, all they need is emotions with the help on An-na.

What happens in time loop?

In the space facility, instead of programming emotions, An-na proposes to live it. She volunteers to become the test subject inside a simulation built around the worst day of her life. This means she needs to relive the flood again and again to find Ja-in, until extinction becomes permanent. At first, she lacks key memories, doesn't remember small things about Ja-in, and keeps failing as the day keeps resetting. But when fragments of memory begin to return, along with a memory of her husband's drowning, she finds her answers.

The Great Flood conflict, ending explained

An-na surrends to be the test mother out to find her son created through the memories of Ja-in. Her desperate fight to survive a world-ending flood turns into a sci-fi story about memory, motherhood, and artificial emotion. The unsettling ending isn't simple. After a lot to understand as an audience, An-na finally remembers everything in the final loop. She searches the building differently, fights the guards and succeeds in finding Ja-in hiding in a closet.

What the disaster real or a simulation?

The film ends with some heavy question. Was the catastrophe real? Is An-na still a human or becomes a simulation? Can love and emotions be engineered? We do not get a clear reply about An-na returning to her original form whose memories were restored after the experiment. She could also turn into a synthetic being created from her memories, just like Ja-in.The Great Flood intends to explore human emotions amid a disaster and whether survival without love is meaningless. But, its imbalanced, sloppy, too ambitious plot turns a disaster movie into a real disaster.