After watching Butterfly season 1, I can’t stop thinking about Rebecca’s shocking twist at the end

As David’s voice echoed over a b-roll shot of the restaurant and the credits rolled on Butterfly season 1, which premiered on August 15, 2025, my hands stayed frozen, stunned by the ending. Was everything David and Rebecca had learned and endured all for nothing? It didn’t feel like the end of a season; it felt something akin to the ultimate betrayal of trust, especially after promising such a positive note before going in the opposite direction.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers and reflects the author’s opinions. Reader’s discretion is advised.

Butterfly season 1 had methodically built a complicated web of moral ambiguity and fractured family bonds, all wrapped up in a thrilling espionage series. Yet it ended by seemingly discarding all of Rebecca's progress and character growth.

Very little prepared me for that final scene in the restaurant. With Juno spared and Caddis dismantled, the full Jung family was back together and now having a peaceful family reunion at a restaurant somewhere in Korea. But in the Butterfly season 1 finale, she didn’t just disappear; she left us questioning everything we thought we knew about her journey toward healing.

Enju was left bleeding on the floor, the bathroom soaked in her blood, while Rebecca was nowhere to be found as David desperately tried to save his wife. In the end, it was everything Butterfly season 1 had been building toward, a devastating reminder that in the world of spycraft, trust is conditional and the past never truly stays buried.

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Butterfly season 1: Was Rebecca’s character arc all for nothing?

A still from Butterfly episode 6 (Image via Amazon Prime Video)

The journey Rebecca Sung took us on throughout Butterfly season 1 feels like an exercise in beautiful deception after the finale. From the moment she appeared on screen, the prodigal daughter returning to confront and kill her estranged father, we were led to believe this was a story about redemption, about healing from past wounds and reconciliation.

And while episodes 1 to 5 proved that well, after that cliffhanger finale, I’m left wondering if what we were watching instead was a masterclass in self-delusion. Rebecca’s character arc was developed beautifully, if slightly forced and clumsy, as each episode peeled back another layer of her conditioning that Caddis and Juno had forced upon her.

Each episode showed us a future where she repaired that broken relationship with her father and glimpses of the woman she could become. Her moments with Enju and Minhee gave us hope that she’s taking steps toward reclaiming her humanity. And then, that final scene takes place, and it changes everything.

Rebecca vanished, and Eunju was left bleeding in that restaurant bathroom, and David rushed in, immediately believing that his daughter had some role to play. And while Butterfly season 1 had given us plenty of reasons to believe otherwise, there’s some part of me that just can’t hesitate to blame her.

But the brilliance and cruelty of season 1's storytelling is that it never definitively answers the looming questions. Was Rebecca’s apparent growth just another cover identity? Was this entire season nothing more than a sham for her to put a final dagger into her father’s heart? Or is there more at play?

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Butterfly season 1’s ending was a part of Daniel Dae Kim's plans

A still from Butterfly episode 6 (Image via Prime Video)

The Butterfly season 1 finale turned everything audiences thought they knew about the Jung family's reconciliation upside down. Throughout the season, David's determination to reconnect with his daughter felt like the emotional anchor of the series, a father desperately trying to make amends for past abandonment.

In an interview with TIME, Daniel Dae Kim explained that they wanted to challenge everything audiences thought they knew and end on something big.

"We wanted to end on an event that called into question all of the bonds that had been built over season one," Kim said.

Ultimately, the cliffhanger in Butterfly season 1 forces viewers to reconsider every emotional breakthrough between father and daughter. That was something Kim was going for, while also paving the way for a potential season 2.

"David is trying to bring his family back together, and we want to see him succeed in that attempt. And the end of Season 1 shows us that it’s not as easy as he thinks it’s going to be,” he added.

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Interested viewers can watch Butterfly season 1 on Amazon Prime Video.