The ending of “Joker 2” explained: the joke is on us

Note: There are full spoilers below for “Joker: Folie à Deux”

The highly anticipated and long-awaited billion-dollar-grossing sequel to “Joker” (2019) has finally arrived with “Joker: Folie à Deux” now in theaters. Joaquin Phoenix reprises his Oscar-winning role, this time joined by Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in this universe. And this time, it’s a musical.

This “Joker” is a lot – it’s a courtroom drama, a prison story and a full-bodied musical, with Joker and Harley singing along to old standards. But how does it end? This is what we are here to talk about.

Massive spoiler warning before going any further. If you haven’t seen “Joker: Folie à Deux,” go watch it and come back later. This article will always be there. We promise.

How does “Joker: Folie à Deux” end?

It ends with Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), in prison and alone, having just been fatally stabbed by another inmate, looking toward the camera and bleeding to death. In the background, his attacker takes a knife and cuts himself into a new smile, in a manner similar to how he is depicted in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” played by Heath Ledger, suggesting he might s act as the new Joker, someone who is ready to take on the role created by Arthur but that he could not embody.

God, how does he get Arthur alone to kill him?

A prison guard, probably in cahoots with the murderer, tells Arthur that he has a visitor. This appears at first glance to be the build-up to a big reveal. Is it someone from his past? Harley Quinn? Harvey Dent? Person? But no, Arthur follows him into an unprotected corridor and is stabbed several times in the stomach.

What happens just before that?

A few things.

The final hour – and we mean a full hour – of “Joker: Folie à Deux” is a dark legal drama. At one point, Arthur fires his lawyer (Catherine Keener) and begins representing himself. For an entire scene, he speaks with a southern accent, which, admittedly, is kind of amusing (and more than a little confusing).

As the jury reads its verdict, a car bomb explodes outside the courtroom. Arthur briefly escapes, helped by a few henchmen, and meets Harley Quinn, who believes that his confession in court that the Joker is not his real personality but something he acts out, assuming taking full responsibility for six murders, was treason. of himself and their love. She leaves him on the “Joker Stairs” from the first film, where he is arrested again and sent back to prison.

Harvey Dent is in this movie, right?

He is, although he’s played by Harry Lawtey, a twenty-something actor who looks even younger than that. Not only does he lack the gravitas of Billy Dee Williams, Tommy Lee Jones or Aaron Eckhart, but you kind of wonder how he rose through the ranks so quickly that he’s already Gotham’s district attorney before he turns 30.

Does he become Two-Face in the film?

Well, that’s an interesting question. After the car bomb explodes, you expect to see the carnage it caused. And you expect to see Harvey’s face half ripped off. After all, it’s an R-rated movie. But as the camera moves to examine the damage, you see him with cuts (or something like that) on one side of his face. But we don’t really see it well, and it could have been much more explicit that the bombing had taken off half of his face. Like much of “Joker: Folie à Deux,” it fails to fully engage with the track. Maybe he was transformed into Two-Face. Maybe he wasn’t. Who knows.

Is there anything else we should know?

The prison guards with whom Arthur had a good relationship (led by Brendan Gleeson’s Jackie Sullivan) also feel betrayed by Arthur. They attack him in the shower before the verdict is read, possibly sexually assaulting him (as in the case of Harvey Dent, it’s unclear). They also murder one of his friends; Arthur is in his cell listening to them kill this guy.

But nothing really comes of it; Arthur doesn’t talk about the abuse he received or the fact that his friend in prison was killed. No charges have been brought against the guards, and no one else admits to it either. It’s just a thing that happens for no real reason, isn’t explored further by the film, and is then completely abandoned.

Damn.

Yeah.

Anything else?

Yeah, at one point, Harley tells Arthur that she’s pregnant with his child, after a brief tryst in prison. He comes back later. But we don’t really know if they had sex or if she told him the truth about her pregnancy. Honestly, it’s a weird wrinkle to add, especially if they don’t explore it in a meaningful way – or in any way, really.

So there probably won’t be a “Joker 3?”

We can’t imagine that happening, although there are certainly things still in play – perhaps Harley’s daughter (if there is a daughter) can become this universe’s main line, Harley Quinn, and the guy who killed Arthur will become the Joker of this universe. There’s also the Harvey Dent/Two-Face in all this and the question of whether or not Brendan Gleeson’s character will continue to rape and kill inmates (you know, something that interests all “Joker” viewers: Folie à Deux”). But this movie is so unpleasant that it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to come back for thirds.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” is now in theaters.

The article ‘Joker 2’ Ending Explained: The Joke’s On Us appeared first on TheWrap.