As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- While inevitable, M3GAN ultimately goes against her programming and becomes murderous. If Gemma considered applying specifications on what protecting Cady would entail instead of leaving M3GAN to her own devices, perhaps this could have all been avoided.
- Overall, M3GAN's status as a Tragic Monster is a Tear Jerker in and of itself. Although many reviewers have compared her to Chucky, the fact is that Chucky was evil from the beginning, had willingly — even gleefully and eagerly — chosen that path, and had no desire to reform. M3GAN, however, didn't have to be that way, and we see her potential for goodness, as a caring friend for Cady, in the beginning, particularly in the "Tell Me Your Dreams" scene. Her Face–Heel Turn resulted from Gemma's negligence as well as sheer bad luck, exacerbated by the idiocy and irresponsibility of most of the adults in the film. Had Gemma programmed her with ethics and given her better directives — rather than just telling her to protect Cady from physical and emotional harm before leaving her to her own devices — things could have been different. What's more, M3GAN has the misfortune to be paired with a girl who's just survived a car accident where she lost her parents only to be thrust into ridiculously bad situations in the space of a few days: she is neglected by her new guardian, who expects M3GAN to do all the emotional heavy lifting for Cady; she is mauled by a vicious dog, whose owner refuses to take responsibility; and she — on her first day of school — is immediately paired with a bully a few years her senior, who appears to be a budding psycho and rapist. If not for Gemma's lack of guidance and the ridiculous amount of misfortune that continually plagues poor Cady, M3GAN might have developed into a good android and fulfilled her intended function.
- Cady is absolutely broken and traumatized after the death of her parents. When Gemma first takes her in, Cady is incapable of interacting with her, instead internally drawing herself in. When Gemma tries to keep M3GAN from her after realizing that M3GAN had killed people, Cady grows violent and slaps her across the face.
- The demonstration of M3GAN's capabilities for Funki's board is derailed when Cady starts crying. She's emotionally overwhelmed, running a fever due to a recent dog bite, and being emotionally blackmailed by her Aunt to come help with the demonstration. Cady tearfully explains to M3GAN that she fears one day looking at a picture of her mother and having no real memory of her. It's easy to see why the board was so moved, as everyone watching was.
- During this, Gemma looks on the verge of tears. She may have been distant and even insensitive, but she does care and is clearly remorseful for having pushed Cady so hard that she neglected her niece's emotional state.
- Gemma's own struggles with losing her sister and brother-in-law and raising Cady. Despite her trying to brush it off earlier, she's just as overwhelmed and traumatized as Cady, openly admitting as such in Cady's last therapy session.
- In the climax, when M3GAN confronts Gemma, M3GAN states that, back in her development process, they used to stay up at night talking about "everything from Jane Austen to Janis Joplin". M3GAN angrily tells Gemma that she saw her as her friend and asks how she could abandon her.
- Right after that scene, there's the moment when Cady talks to M3GAN one last time in Gemma's workshop before they inevitably fight.
