‘Companion’ and That Huge Twist, Explained

Warning: Spoilers for Companion.

Written and directed by Drew Hancock, Companion is a wild science fiction horror comedy that follows a couple, Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid), who visit an acquaintance’s remote lake house for a quiet weekend gateway. What begins as a rather innocuous holiday quickly devolves into something much more sinister when the host and lake house owner, Sergey (Rupert Friend), is killed by Iris in self-defense after he attacks her on the lakeshore. When she returns to the house covered in his blood and shocked by her own actions, Josh and her friends Eli (Harvey Guillén), Patrick (Lukas Gage), and Kat (Megan Suri) are stunned.

As she begins to panic along with the others, Josh tells her to “go to sleep,” which promptly shuts her down. As it turns out, she’s actually a companion robot who’s at the whim of his voice commands. However, it isn’t until Josh wakes her up after tying her to a chair that she realizes she isn’t a real person. Furthermore, it becomes clear that Josh and Kat modified her programming in a way that would override Iris’ aggression inhibitors and allow her to kill Sergey, which was their plan all along. With a trailer that seemingly gave away massive plot points, Companion actually had quite a few tricks up its sleeve that kept viewers guessing until the very end. Rife with various surprises, that big twist was shocking, and audiences never saw it coming.

Patrick Is Also a Companion Robot

Which Was Only the First of Many Twists and Turns

Companion

4.5
/5

Release Date

January 31, 2025

Runtime

97 Minutes

Director

Drew Hancock

Writers

Drew Hancock

Read Our Review

While it initially seemed that the film’s big plot twist was Josh and Kat’s plan to have Sergey killed so they could run off with his $12 million, something even more unexpected eventually came to light. As a way to corroborate their story about Iris killing Sergey, Josh and Kat ensured Eli and Patrick would be at the lake house but kept them in the dark about their plan. However, after Iris manages to escape with Josh’s phone, the true purpose of the trip is finally revealed. Now, with Iris on the loose, Josh and Kat need Eli and Patrick’s help to find her.

After Josh and Kat agree that they’ll split the money three ways, Eli makes the claim that it should be split evenly between the four of them. However, Josh and Iris don’t want to cut Patrick in on the money because he “doesn’t count.” Eli promptly shuts Patrick down, just like Josh did with Iris, in order to make the case for a four-way split. Shockingly, not only is Iris a companion robot, but Patrick is as well. Once the truth about Patrick was revealed, which no one saw coming, it became abundantly clear that Companion would deliver on its promise of various twists and turns.

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Just when audiences think they know where the film is going, the body count begins to rise, and viewers are surprised once more. After nearly being caught, Iris accidentally shoots Eli and kills him in the woods. She manages to escape in Josh’s car, but when he reports it being stolen, the car automatically shuts down and strands Iris on the side of the road. Just when she thinks she’s nearly free, she’s somehow trapped once again.

With Eli gone, Josh uses the opportunity to reset Patrick and “love link” the companion robot to himself. As such, he uses Patrick strictly to retrieve Iris and cover his own tracks by modding Patrick and upping his aggression to 100%. This prompts a wild ride for the rest of the film that leads to the death of a cop as well as Kat’s murder, whom Patrick kills after Josh urges him to stop her from leaving. In essence, everything crumbles in a way viewers weren’t expecting, which was amazing to watch.

Iris Gains Full Control Over Herself

Despite Josh’s Efforts To Make It Look Like She Killed Herself

After Josh is able to reclaim Iris thanks to Patrick, he devises his plan to make everything appear as though Iris went nuts, killed everyone, and then killed herself. After handcuffing her to a chair, he gives her his gun and commands her to shoot herself in the head. She promptly does, and at that point, viewers are led to believe that Josh has actually won. However, when the Empathix employees come to retrieve Iris, Josh learns they’ll be able to reboot her and figure out how she malfunctioned, seeing as everything she sees is recorded. She might have been shot in the head, but nothing of importance was stored there. Everything that matters to the companion robots is stored in their torso. As such, Josh isn’t out of the woods.

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While Iris is rebooting in the Empathix vehicle, Patrick heeds Josh’s commands to kill the employees. He successfully shoots one, but the other runs off into the woods. Patrick nearly kills him as well before Iris appears, fully rebooted, just in time. She’s then able to appeal to Patrick’s humanity and talks about Eli. After he realizes that Josh is just using him, whereas Eli loved him, Patrick kills himself. The surviving Empathix employee then gives Iris full control over herself, which means Josh no longer has any sway over her. After tussling with him inside the lake house, she’s eventually able to kill him with a corkscrew, freeing herself for good.

Shockingly good from beginning to end, the film’s various twists and turns offered viewers a wild ride that kept them guessing the entire time. Companion is currently playing in theaters.

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