Exploring the Climax of Alice in Borderland Season 2: Did They Escape or Enter a New Nightmare?

Posted by Fernande Dalal on Saturday, May 4, 2024

There’s a trump card in this deck.

As entertaining as it was to spend a few hours with Arisu (Kento Yamazaki), Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), and Chishiya (Nijiro Murakami) in Season 2 of Alice in Borderland, viewers were eagerly anticipating something more than the show’s signature life-or-death games: resolution.

Season 2 of the Japanese series was tasked with explaining everything that had been going on in the first season, which had given us almost no information about the game’s creators, Borderland itself, or the laws. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. You could say that.

Season 2 of Alice in Borderland is a lot of fun, especially with the new games, but you can’t deny that creator Shinsuke Sato kept us in the dark for a long time. But now we know for sure: What exactly are these games and Borderland?

As you may have anticipated, there is no easy answer. First, Season 2’s answers could shift if the show is renewed for a third season, and there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that could happen. But if the Season 2 finale is meant to serve as the series finale, then we have most of the answers we’re looking for, whether we like them or not.

Show Your Hand… Or Don’t

Season 1’s Mira Kano, the Queen of Hearts, is the final “boss” (or “citizen”) of Borderland, and Arisu and Usagi finally reach her in Episode 8. (Riisa Naka). She says that, unlike the other games, they don’t have to kill anyone to win, and that all they have to do is make it to the conclusion of a game of croquet.

Mira is able to snap out of her delusion (more on that later) as Arisu and Usagi continue to press her for an explanation while they wrap up their game of croquet. As she is being vaporized by a laser, the Queen tells Arisu that she “will find out soon” what the game is about. She also tells him that he’ll be offered a choice between two options; either way, he’ll get the answer.

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As fireworks light up the Borderland sky, a booming voice announces that all games have been cleared and the remaining players are requested to declare aloud whether or not they accept “permanent residency in our country.” Our favorite players from Season 2 go down, and then they’re suddenly whisked back to Tokyo, where they learn that only a few minutes have gone. Two distinct interpretations of the games and Borderland are now possible.

What Is Borderland?

Borderland could have been a form of purgatory, or even hell, according to the earliest and most straightforward interpretation. People were taken there because they were unhappy with their lives and lacked the support systems they needed to carry on. A meteorite explosion over central Tokyo killed everyone, and they all went to the afterlife.

As a result of their time in Borderland and the ordeal of fighting for their lives, they have learned to appreciate life more, and as they are returned to the “real” world, they are able to recover from the calamity without any recollection of what transpired there.

It’s a cliche to say that “they were dead the whole time” (or “they were only half alive”), but that’s the message many films and TV shows ultimately send us every time we put them on. I hope you find the one you love, find your bliss, take pleasure in each day, and learn to appreciate the purpose of life. This brings us to a close.

However…

The clues that Alice in Borderland provides that something else is happening are too obvious to dismiss. Season 2 concludes in a way that resolves the arc of the citizens and provides resolution for most of the characters, notably the key ones. Season 3 is our best hope for discovering Borderland’s true significance and learning its backstory. The threads that could derail the second season finale are listed below.

Queen of Hearts Does Not Make a Reliable Witness

Once Mira was outed as Season 1’s Big Bad in the penultimate game, she quickly became someone you couldn’t put your trust in. And so, when in the Season 2 finale she goes on a long rant suggesting that they are actually in the year 1000 and within a virtual reality game, you have to take it with a grain of salt.

Especially considering how casually she admits she lied. Then, she plunges Arisu into an illusion in which he plays the role of a patient who, unable to cope with the loss of his two closest friends, created another universe within his own mind. With Usagi’s assistance, he breaks free from the illusion.

Therefore, the Season 2 joyful ending becomes suspect as we find that the citizens, or this citizen, in particular, may create a completely different world for whoever is playing with them, and Arisu and his pals may awaken from it when they recognize that something doesn’t feel right. If that occurs, the episode’s climactic moments were for naught, and we’ll be right back where we started.

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Conclusion Climax of Alice in Borderland Season 2

When discussing the game master, it’s worth noting that The Joker is introduced in the final scene of Season 2. The Joker is a wild card in card games, and in the Alice in Borderland universe, he would fit in perfectly because he frequently breaks the rules.

If everything is an illusion, then it stands to reason that the card would be presented in the “true” universe where Arisu receives his happy ending. If Season 3 is ordered by Netflix (Netflix, you have one task), then we will finally get to uncover the game’s next layer and learn the truth behind everything.

The entire series of Alice in Borderland is currently available on Netflix.

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