‘Alice in Borderland’ Season 2 Ending Explained: Does Arisu and His Friends Go Back to the Real World?
Welcome to the Ending Explained for Netflix‘s Alice in Borderland, Season 2. The success of the first season indicated that a second season was almost a must. Sadly, thanks to the pandemic and other factors, the wait for the second season extended beyond the two-year period. Thankfully, the season is finally here, and we can learn how Arisu and his friends get ready to face the jacks, queens, and kings of the card deck. The new games are bigger and more lethal than ever before.
The second season gives answers to some of the most mysterious elements of the show while also leaving some things up in the air for an expected third season. Only the viewing numbers can tell. However, the series does push the characters into accepting their place in the world. It makes it even more clear that their objective should be getting out of this place, no matter how comfortable this new world is with their personalities and aspirations. The visual flair of the show has also gone to a new level thanks to a well-deserved increase in budget.
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Alice in Borderland, Season 2. Read at your own risk.
Who Are The Jacks, Queens, And Kings In Alice In Borderland Season 2?
In season 1, most of the plot revolved around finding the cards to escape “this world” and go back to the “real world.” This was a gamble designed by a character named “the Hatter.” His initiative, called “The Beach” managed to gather a large number of participants and unite them under one common goal. However, towards the end of that season, everything was brought down. Arisu and his friends also discovered a room from which the games were being monitored. Who were these people watching the games, and who killed them? It was all very mysterious.
However, the promise of answers and an escape came from the mouth of a character named Mira, who was a member of “The Beach” but, in reality, was more than that. She reveals the second stage of the games, where the players need to defeat the face cards; jacks, queens, and kings. This is the focus of the second season. We see how our core players, Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, and Chishiya, managed to defeat the face cards in games that became more and more dangerous.
As our heroes begin to take down the Jacks, Queens, and Kings, something becomes apparent. These characters are normal humans who excel at playing the games, but they are still humans nonetheless. They lack the fear that stops most participants, and they also identify themselves as citizens of “this world.” After gathering all these hints, Arisu concludes that the Jacks, Queens, and Kings are players from the games who decided to stay in “this world” after having been given a choice to leave it.
Arisu concludes that there is indeed an escape from this world, but these people decided to take the offer of staying because, in this world, they felt freer than in the “real world.” These were people who couldn’t live in normal society, and they just decided to live under their own rules. The series near its conclusion when the entire cast of heroes, including Aguni, who survived The Beach massacre, and a new girl named Akane. All of them together begin their plan to take down the King of Spades, a gun expert mercenary.
Does Arisu And His Friends Go Back To The Real World?
The battle against the King of Spades is anything but easy. Before the battle starts, Arisu and Chinshiya find themselves battling Niragi, who has been slowly dying throughout the season and now just wants to be killed, as his will to live doesn’t allow him to take his own life. Niragi shoots Chinshiya, and then he gets shot himself. The pair is left off in the streets, bleeding to death. Meanwhile, Arisu arrives to help the others battle the King of Spades. It is a bloody battle, and the King of Spades seems invincible.
During the battle, the King of Spades kills Ann by shooting her and also stabs Kuina multiple times on her side. Kuina is left on the ground, bleeding, as she tries to keep Ann alive by talking to her. The King also shoots Akane and Aguni, but Arisu manages to throw an explosive at him, disabling him. Aguni, who is still alive, shoots the King, ending his life. Everyone else but Arisu and Usagi are unable to walk. They will most likely die, so they allow Arisu and Usagi to go to the Queen of Hearts, the last of the face cards, who is revealed to be none other than Mira.
When they arrive with Mira, she informs them that her game is to play three rounds of cricket without giving up. However, it is not so easy, as Mira tries to manipulate Arisu’s psychic and make him give up. When asked about the nature of the games, Mira gives several responses. She says that they are actually a thousand years in the future and that they are actually humans playing a VR game, which is the only way humans in the future can feel emotions as everything is perfect.
She gives several more answers in style, but they are all lies. Arisu is about to give up, but Usagi sacrifices his life for him, waking him up and making him finish the game. With all games over, all the participants who are still alive are given the option to remain in this world or leave it. We see how those who are still alive decide to leave this world. They all wake up on the day the fireworks are in the sky, and it is revealed they were not fireworks but a meteor that exploded above Tokyo, destroying Shibuya and killing thousands of people.
It is revealed that Arisu, Chinshiya, and the others who managed to come back, were actually dead for a minute. This implies that the game world was actually a place between life and death, maybe a hell of sorts or heaven. Those who came back still bear the scars they gained in the game world; for example, Niragi is still burned, and Akane still lost her leg. Chota and Daikichi are still dead as well. Chinshiya decides that he will be a better person now that he has the chance. Ann revives while in surgery, and Kuina reconnects with her parents.
Arisu comes back as well, and his younger brother reveals that their father cried for Arisu when he thought he was dead. He then meets Usagi near the vending machines, and he starts a conversation. He says she looks familiar. Usagi asks if he is hitting on her, and Arisu asks if there is something wrong with it. They go to the park for a walk, and on a table, we see an unfinished game of cards. The wind takes all the cards away except for the Joker card, the only card that never appeared in the games. As the camera closes in on the Joker, it cuts to black.
Could this mean there is a third season? The answer could be yes, but the ending of season 2 definitely feels like a complete closure to the story.
