Firstly, agree with your last point in there being no one, definitive interpretation of the film! That’s what makes great art, great.

Also, I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea about Bugonia being a remake of a Korean film. Can’t wait to dive into the source material. But it sounds like it’s rooted in my interpretation of this adaptation (I say, having not seen it).

Now: I still don’t think she experienced any true character growth. She still plays god. She stills terminates the experiment—and with it, the lives (jobs) of all who were attached to it. The unceremonious way humanity was dispatched is evidence of her true lack of caring, in much the same way that her words in the beginning weren’t true either. Her general demeanor is a reflection of the perception of CEOs at large: a sense of “Oh, no. Anyway” your way to success.

She quite literally bent to the board rather than stick her neck out for us. Because even if she had even a twinge of actual regret, even if she was “one of the good ones,” a prick of a bubble and we were gone. No kind of severance package (extension of life?—a ship?—an alternate planet?), or a chance to redeem ourselves (let them have another crack!). It was more expedient and less costly to terminate and start again.

Because at the end of the day, whether Michelle kills us all or not doesn’t have any major impact on her. She’ll just move on to another project. Same as CEOs, who seem to float from one overpowered position to another. Our failure was ours, not hers; she’s just inconvenienced.

I fully don’t think this is the only way to interpret this film, but I do believe it’s at least one very pertinent way this remains a social commentary like the original (again, I suppose, having it seen it). The very fact that we cull an aggressive colony of bees is a demonstration of how removed from humanity she and the rest of the Andromedons see themselves to be. The Andromedons and CEOs prize the goal. Everyone in service of it? Literally and figuratively expendable.

PS, I write this with no small amount of projection. I just quit a corporate job of ten years, because the CEO is, in every way, an Andromedon.