The Ending of ‘Parallel’ Movie Explained: Was Leena Switched in the End?

‘Parallel’ is a 2018 sci-fi thriller directed by Isaac Ezban and starring Aml Ameen, Martin Wallström, Georgia King, and Mark O’Brien. The main premise of the movie is Multiverse, a rather popular subject in the last several years however instead of focusing on countless and limitless opportunities, ‘Parallel’ focuses on greed and the dangers of finding “unfair” opportunities. The movie also leaves countless questions unanswered not because it’s done good or deep, but because the story isn’t so fleshed out despite its nearly 2-hour runtime. ‘Parallel’ will keep you up at night, but not because it’s so good, it’s because it’s riddled with plot holes, in the end, you will have no idea what the ending is supposed to mean and we are here to analyze this, so let’s go.

Multiverse might be the answer to your romantic and financial troubles

The movie starts with an older married couple lying in bed presumably enjoying their evening. The dog barks downstairs and the wife makes her way downstairs in the middle of the dialogue with her husband to feed the dog. Upon descending downstairs, the wife gives the dog its food but in the reflection of a living room mirror, we can see her being stalked by a masked stranger.

The wife is soon attacked by the stranger and led upstairs at gunpoint, the masked stranger tries to calm the woman down to stop her from screaming and promises to explain everything if she just keeps silent. The wife calms down and at that moment, the stranger shoots her in the head point blank using a pillow as a silencer. The plot twist is obvious when the masked stranger takes down her mask and we can see that the person who killed the older woman is her identical twin. The killer disposes of the body quickly and returns to the husband upstairs. The husband can’t tell the difference between his deceased wife and this “stranger” now snuggling up to him in the bed.

Startup company finds its unfair advantage

We’re now in the present day and we’re introduced to a new set of characters Noel (Martin Wallström) and Devin (Aml Ameen). They are having a business presentation pitching their new parking app to some investors and things are not going well. Not only is Noel’s and Devin’s company already struggling with funds but the investors want them to develop the app in record time, just a few days away from their pitch. Noel and Devin are aware that this can’t be done but the investors say that they have someone who promised to deliver the app by that deadline. This turns out to be their rival and former friend, Seth, who not only stole their idea but also somehow has a way to deliver the app in record time.

Devin and Noel are devastated and they return back to their rented house to the rest of the team Leena, a struggling artist, and Josh, the third software developer working on the app. They break the bad news to the gang and all of them make their way to the local bar to drown their sorrows in cheap liquor. We learn a bit more about the group during this time, Devin has the tendency to crack under pressure and may have a crush on Leena. Leena also has a crush on Devin but she is still in a tense friendship with her ex-boyfriend, Noel who is apparently the “president” of their startup and highly ambitious. Josh is the jokester of the group and has an unrequited crush on their neighbor and the bartender Carmen. The group also learns something about their house, apparently, the house is haunted since the previous owner disappeared years ago without a trace, never to be found after losing her husband to a sudden illness.

The group returns back home ready to plan their next move, but Devin has had it and he plans on looking for a new place of employment, something more stable. They try to stop him and the group gets physical a bit. During the altercations, they accidentally discover a secret stairwell that leads to hidden parts of the house. This part of the house is completely unexplored and seemingly hasn’t been touched since the previous owner left. As they search around they find strange duplicated magazines, and photos of what appear to be identical twins but it seems like one identical twin is stalking the other (it’s those two women from the start of the movie, the killer is the woman who mysteriously disappeared).

They also discover a strange mirror and Josh accidentally pushes his hand through the mirror and instead of colliding with it, he passes right through it. In a moment of bravery, Josh decides to enter the portal completely and he cannot believe what he sees. It’s a world identical to his own and he can see his variant barbequing and having fun.

He returns telling the group that he’s been gone for around 15 minutes while only 3 seconds passed in this world, he tells them stories about their variants, their parallel selves and soon the rest of the group embarks to see it for themselves.

How do we make money off of Multiverse?

The gang correctly guesses the time dilation and as it turns out 3 hours spent in a parallel world equals 1 hour in their own world. Their first order of action in realizing this is to complete the app on time and get the funding they desperately need. The crew works tirelessly and manages to complete the app, they get the funding and on their way back home they stop by Seth’s house to mock him but Seth realizes that something is wrong and it’s impossible that they’ve managed to complete the app in such a short time.

The second order of business is to figure out how to make money by having access to Multiverse. They first start by stealing money from Noel’s variant while he is sleeping, but soon figure that there have to be more reliable ways to do it. They try the lottery, but as it turns out there are just enough small differences between the two Multiverses that the numbers don’t match. They however stop by the local library and see that there are some massive differences when it comes to art and decided to monetize that. It’s also important to mention that not every Multiverse is the same and they cannot choose to which Multiverse they will travel, it’s always random but they always manage to return to the prime Universe.

All four members of the group now have their own plans on how to utilize the Multiverse. Noel uses it to bring the discovered technology back to their own world and sells it to the highest bidder. Leena steals and copies well-known works of art and sells them as her own in the prime Universe. Josh uses the Multiverse to sleep with women, especially Carmen, and Devin doesn’t have an end-game but we do find out that his father committed suicide in this Universe due to some kind of fraud, and now every time he lands in a different Multiverse he performs an internet search on him to figure out whether he is alive in that Universe.

Devin also warns all of them that there has to be a catch to this all and that they perhaps shouldn’t make so many changes to the Universes but the group doesn’t listen. In fact, they don’t listen even when Leena reads through the journals of the previous owner, Marissa who got so consumed by the prospect of her husband being alive in the alternate universe that she killed her variant to take her place.

The first tragedy strikes

Over the course of several weeks, almost every member of the group became incredibly rich. Noel is now the up-and-coming inventor with several projects with millions under his belt, Leena is an established artist who sells out shows in no time. During one celebratory party, Seth appears and accuses them of somehow cheating. Before being ushered out Seth also insults Devin by mentioning “like father like son” which implies that Devin isn’t capable of creating anything without ripping someone off, just like his father.

Noel, following this takes Devin to the alternate Universe where they basically beat up the innocent Seth variant. Devin tells him that this is not normal behavior and that Noel should get a hold of himself, as this Multiverse stuff is clearly messing with his mind but Noel is so consumed with “higher purpose” that he doesn’t care. Devin is messed up at this point and it’s clear that he wants to walk away from this Multiverse stuff but he also wants to find his father. Josh notices that Devin is feeling down and invites him on one of his Multiversal Trips he promises him that they will have fun but instead Josh plans on hooking up with variant Carmen while Devin is supposed to keep watch in case her boyfriend shows up home.

The plan goes as success and Josh and Carmen proceed to have sex while Devin is in the living room searching the internet for his father and listening to music. While Devin was focused on other things, Carmen’s boyfriend returned home and managed to sneak past Devin, realizing that something was wrong. Carmen’s boyfriend shoots Josh in the leg presumably severing his thigh artery which causes Josh to rapidly bleed.

Devin carries Josh through the portal and the rest of the gang starts panicking, Noel secretly refuses to call 911 and instead watches as Josh inevitably dies. Instead of alerting the police, the gang figures that they can’t be investigated for murder if Josh isn’t dead. They take the body of Josh and dispose of it in an alternate universe while they proceed to kidnap the variant Josh. They are successful and when variant Josh wakes up he can see that something is wrong but can’t quite put a finger on it.

They sell him the story of how he got drunk last night and this is why everything is a bit fuzzy to him and how he was actually celebrating that he got a new job. Variant Josh finds this highly suspicious but goes along with it.

Things start to unravel

Following Josh’s death, the three remaining friends are a total mess. Noel hardly ever sleeps these days and spends all of his time in other Universes, looking for tech and ideas to steal and sell in his own world. Devin manages to find his father alive in one of the Universes and he goes to visit him in prison, we learn that the thing that pushed Devin’s father over the edge in this Universe is Devin who told him that he hated him and his father proceeded to take his own life following criminal charges.

Noel also started spying on Leena and Devin, but Devin in particular and he is getting increasingly paranoid that Devin wants to harm him. At this new job, Josh realizes that the guy who previously held his position had a meltdown and apparently posted some threatening videos online which caused him to get fired. Josh also noticed that some things that he clearly remembers are now different.

At this point, Leena starts to unravel and she almost ruins her show with a drunken meltdown until Devin pulls her back to safety. Devin comforts Leena and shows her a laminated old ticket to one of her first shows. Devin also admits that he always had a crush on her but Noel started dating her first and after that, he just decided to move on. The two have sex, not realizing that Noel is spying on them.

Noel is putting into motion the next part of his plan

Leena wakes up but only to find Devin gone, Noel is luckily by her side and explains that Devin bounced on her, but this is something that he does, when things get too serious Devin leaves them all hanging because he is incapable of making serious commitments unlike Noel who plans to close a $40 million deal, and buy the whole block to secure forever access to the mirror that leads to other universes.

Leena cannot believe what she is hearing but judging by how drastically Noel has changed, she notices that he is a bit unhinged. She has a coffee date with Josh and he tells her how he is feeling mentally unwell over the course of the last few weeks. Leena tries to explain that it’s most likely due to his new job, the stress is getting to him but instead of calming down Josh it just infuriates him further. Josh explains that he had a friend in high school who dyed his hair red, and now looking at the photos all of them are green which is impossible since he clearly remembers it was red.

He also shows Leena a cover of the children’s book ‘The Callaghan Cats’ telling her that he used to stare at this every single night since his mother was reading this to him and there never was the “G” in Callaghan and now there is. Leena is looking at Josh like he is insane and he mentioned that he randomly found a gun in his backpack that he cannot remember putting there. He mentioned going insane and feeling like things are off, everything is off.

Leena feels sorry for him and goes to see Noel, Noel explains that Josh will adapt after some time and that they should just leave him alone. Leena also mentions the guy whose place Josh took at StanleyTech and asks Noel whether he had anything to do with his YouTube meltdowns and bomb threats Noel confirms that a variant is behind this since he had to have a job for Josh that he was excited to start so he could adjust more easily. Hearing this Leena decides to dig up a bit more regarding Devin’s whereabouts because there exists a very real possibility that Noel did something to him.

Did Noel kill Devin?

Leena finds Devin’s phone in the kitchen trash can and decides to use it to track down Devin. She finds him in a remote cabin but Devin is confused and doesn’t remember that they had sex last night. He claims that Noel filed a patent lawsuit against him, but Leena knows that this Devin is actually a variant and that Noel killed the old Devin and disposed of him. Leena shows the variant Devin the ticket to one of her first shows as evidence of everything that she is about to tell him about the Multiverse. She leaves old Devin’s phone with him.

At the same time, Josh and Seth are looking into Noel’s unusual business activities, he is rapidly filing patents for things yet to be invited and collecting patent fees from inventors. Josh is parked in front of the house and swears that he will find out what Noel is doing. Josh goes inside the house but it’s empty at the moment, he discovers the upstairs where the Multiverse portal is and explores it when out of nowhere Noel returns from one of his Multiversal heists.

Josh has a gun and tells Noel to put the bag back on the ground, Noel is silent but decides to go with it. He asks Josh whether he wants to talk about it but Josh gets even angrier and orders Noel to unhook the mirror from its pedestal. Noel has no plans of doing that and the two get into a fight with the gun going off and mortally wounding Noel in the stomach. Josh is shocked that he just killed his friend when the real Noel walks out from the portal and uses some kind of a futuristic gun to kill both Josh and variant Noel.

At that moment, Leena bursts upstairs and sees Noel holding the gun over the two bodies.

What happened to Noel?

Leena is shocked but to keep Noel calm and from killing her she decides to listen to him. Noel takes her to his room where he shows her all the various important inventions that he got from parallel universes and explains how he has been using his variants to do all the legwork for him. He also explains that it’s not about the money it’s about being the Thomas Edison of their time.

Leena is rightfully terrified as Noel tells her his plan, he also explains that he desperately wants to make up with her, and he explains that he has been searching the Universes in search of a perfect replacement for her but couldn’t find it. Leena plays along with his idea and the two start kissing when somebody rings the doorbell. Noel leaves and Leena searches around the room for something to harm Noel with.

Noel walks to the door and realizes that it’s Carmen outside, frustrated he returns to Leena but she ambushes him and attacks him. Noel realizes that Leena is not so keen on getting back together with him, but refuses to kill her as he believes that she will come around. Leena runs upstairs and attempts to use the portal to escape to another Universe but Noel pulls her at the last second.

Noel is about to choke Leena when variant Devin shows up, holding a gun. Noel tells Devin that Leena has gone insane and she is talking about time travel, Multiverse, and stuff. But since Leena already convinced variant Devin that she is telling the truth with the gallery ticket he shoots Noel in the shoulder and Noel quickly escapes through the portal.

Leena knows that Noel will find a way in the future to survive this and he will promptly return at the last second, she tilts the mirror into the upright position which closes the portal, turning the mirror into an ordinary mirror which causes Noel, who was just leaving the portal to be sliced in half. One of his halves falls to the floor, organs, blood, and bones visible, while the other half is presumably still in the alternative universe.

Leena destroyed the portal

Following Noel’s demise, Devin shows Leena a video on the phone that she left with him, the primary Devin’s phone, in which he starts talking about Multiverse in case something happens to him. Leena tells Devin that the mirror has to be destroyed and smashes it with an axe.

Leena and Devin decided to donate all the things that Noel stole from alternate realities to science anonymously and they decided to go away somewhere, perhaps for a road trip. They stop at the gas station and Leena goes to the bathroom, we can see a telltale flash of someone using a multiversal portal and hear the electricity buzzing. We don’t see that the variant has exited the portal but we do know it.

Leena returns to the car, and Devin asks her what she would like to listen to STAN, Black Swan, or Dead Pixels. Leena says to Devin that she hasn’t heard Dead Pixels in ages while Devin reminds her that they listened to them an hour ago, revealing that this Leena that sat in his car is a variant who killed the original Leen in the gas station bathroom.

How did Leena’s variant arrive to the Prime Universe?

The ending doesn’t make sense for several reasons. First, why the hell didn’t Devin return to his native universe now that he was aware of the truth? Leena could have easily smashed the mirror after he returned to his native universe. But this is the minor plot hole, the biggest plot hole is the arrival of Lena’s variant.

According to the mirror’s rules that we’ve learned over the course of the movie, the mirror always sends you to a random universe and it’s likely that you will never return to the same parallel universe twice, except when you’re going back while going back you will always end up in your prime reality.

Let’s ignore for a moment that Leena smashed the original mirror and that it’s possible to Multiverse hop through just about any mirror, Leena’s variant could have no way of knowing that Leena and Devin would be at that same gas station at that same moment since she would be sent to a completely random universe and it’s impossible to target events such as these.

The ending definitely calls for a sequel and leaves a bitter aftertaste of things not exactly being over, but it would go down better if Leena’s murder and replacement could be logically explained. This way, it just seems like the movie had to have that plot twist in the end no matter the fact that it goes against every Multiversal principle that we’ve seen over the course of the entire movie.

What do you think? How did Leena’s variant arrive? Let us know in the comments below!