WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Devs, now streaming on FX on Hulu.
When Alex Garland's Devs commenced its eight-episode run, one of its most immediately striking images was the gigantic statue of a young girl towering over Amaya's wooded campus. As fans would correctly assume in time, she was indeed named Amaya.
This blonde, cherubic kid was the daughter of the tech company's owner, Forest (Nick Offerman). He's trying to reunite with her after a car crash killed her. The statue was unnerving, with its enormous scale and awkward pose. In the final couple episodes, it's revealed exactly what this was all about.
What made the statue's pose feel off was how her hands were extended as if she were holding an imaginary object. Some wondered if this was Forest's way of indicating that family is a concept to be held onto forever, especially as he was so heartbroken over her death. He held himself responsible for his wife and daughter's deaths because he had his wife on the phone, distracting her talking about dinner, which led to them getting smashed by an oncoming vehicle. Their deaths spurred Forest to start Devs to create a temporal project, which seemed to be him about plucking her consciousness from the past.
When Katie (Alison Pill) and Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) speak about the project after all the pain it's brought the latter, Forest has some lighter moments with Jamie (Jin Ha), Lily's ex. The latter was assaulted by Forest's security chief, Kenton (Zach Grenier), but to make their conversation a bit easier, Forest plays a game of frisbee with Jamie. The young man's weirded out but eventually gets into it as he starts to understand why Amaya's loss has inspired Forest to bring her back, even if it means killing. They connect over the idea of love, and while Jamie doesn't forgive the boss, he empathizes.
At this point, it becomes clear through memories of Forest in his lush backyard playing frisbee with Amaya that this statue is a fixed snapshot of happier times with her when she waited to catch the frisbee. Seeing as she loved painting and building blocks, Forest also concocted this monument to remind himself of her artistic side. This adds deeper meaning to his frisbee game with Jamie because later on, he tells Katie he likes the two of them. In a warped sense, you can tell Forest considers them his kids. It's why he's so genuine in his bond with Jamie as they throw the frisbee around in the dead of night. Seeing this is what motivated Kenton to go after Lily and Jamie as he felt this twisted camaraderie was a slap in his face. After all, he's trying to muzzle them only to see Forest reliving happy days with his daughter by understanding Jamie and Lily.
The fact Kenton actually faked Sergei's suicide at the base of the statue makes it creepier, but it's clear this looming entity was Forest's god. The murder could even be construed as a sacrifice to get her back. And so, at the end of the finale, the now-dead Forest is back in the field playing with his wife and daughter in a simulation. He tells an also-dead Lily that being with your loved ones is all that matters in life. It's why in the real world he had the statue overlooking everything, to remind him of those cheerful moments and to ensure he never wavered from his path of getting Amaya back, no matter the cost.
Devs, entirely written, directed and edited by Alex Garland, is streaming on FX on Hulu. It stars Nick Offerman, Alison Pill, Sonoya Mizuno, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Karl Glusman and Cailee Spaeny.