‘Alice in Borderland’, the season 2 ending explained: what does the Joker letter mean?

Spoilers for ‘Alice in Borderland’ season 2 ahead

It’s been a journey filled with exploded guts, blood, missing limbs, and literally death-defying challenges, but somehow Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and his friends (most of them at least) have made it to the final round of the games.

In the second season of ‘Alice in Borderland’ (and their deaths), players have become even more focused on finding how to return to the real world, and finally, the possibility seems to be within their grasp. The only one standing in his way is the Queen of Hearts, also known as Mira (Minako Kotobuki).

Unsurprisingly, it’s up to Arisu and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) to defeat their latest and formidable card opponent. However, like many of the tasks you’ve been presented with so far, this challenge is anything but easy and is riddled with twists and surprises. All of which insidiously leads to an ending that leaves our players in a dangerous position. Let’s analyze this ending.

‘Alice in Borderland’ season 2: Ending explained

The finale begins with a bittersweet triumph for Arisu and the gang. Their unified assault on the King of Spades resulted in victory. He is dead, which brings them one step closer to the freedom they seek. But they did not escape unscathed from that battle. Kuina (Aya Asahina) and Ann (Ayaka Miyosh) appear to be fatally injured along with Aguni (Shô Aoyagi) and newcomer Heiya (Yuri Tsunematsu).

Sadly, Chishiya (Nijirô Murakami) began this episode by bleeding to death from a shot by Niragi (Dori Sakurada), who was also shot but, like a cockroach, insists on not dying. Needless to say, the team isn’t in great shape, so when the Queen of Hearts’ blimp looms ominously over her head, Arisu and a knife-ridden Usagi are the ones to face her.

They meet Mira in a pristine-looking garden where the two scruffs are told their homework. They must play three rounds of croquet. Winning is not the goal: you simply need to go through three rounds without quitting to successfully complete the game. Sounds easy enough, which means something much more sinister is afoot.

This becomes apparent when Arisu gets past the first two rounds and Mira starts to stop the game. At this point, Usagi’s injuries need urgent attention: she is weak, but complies when Mira insists they sit down for tea. Mira serves, but the two wisely refuse to drink. This doesn’t stop Arisu from being attracted to Mira’s games.

He continually presses Mira about what happened to the real world and she plays catch. Mira lies at first, giving false accounts of what happened before managing to convince her that the shock of losing her friends Karube (Keita Machida) and Chota (Yūki Morinaga) in a car accident was so traumatic that it led him to imagine the games. .

The delusion served as Arisu’s way of coping with loss and was her way of exploring the fundamental question she has wrestled with all along: what is the purpose of her life? Mira convinces Arisu that he is in a hospital receiving psychiatric treatment from her, her doctor, and that Usagi is a patient with whom he has formed a strong bond. The deeper she sinks into this belief, the more she moves away from ending the game with the final round of croquet.

Usagi tries her best to get to her and persuade her otherwise, but her attempts fall on deaf ears. Only when she is forced to slash her wrist in an attempt to get him to save her does she slowly awaken from this hypnotic state. Just in time too, as Mira was close to getting her to ‘quit the game’ to loosen the illusion’s control over everyone.

Instead, Arisu and Usagi exchange feelings of wanting to be together, to live life together with Arisu, culminating their outpouring of affection with, “I just want you to live, Usagi. I want to protect you,” he says as she bleeds profusely from another cut. This is enough to bring them back to the reality of the virgin gardens and away from the sterile environment of the fake hospital premises.

Mira is moved to tears by their feelings for each other and continues with the game without further delay. There is a sadness in her game. A whimsical sadness that ends with Arisu asking Mira for the last time, where is this place where they ended up?

To which she explains that she will soon find out and of her two options, the one she chooses will reveal what kind of person she really is. Her cryptic words are shortly followed by a laser shot that kills her. With the games now over, all surviving players are asked whether or not they will accept permanent residence on this land, thus becoming citizens making them their peers or else the card game masters’ counterpart replacements as figures.

Arisu and Usagi decline. Just like Kuina, Chishiya, Aguni, and Heiya, who have managed to stay alive until the ninth hour. Even the hideously despicable Niragi turns down the offer, however, Banda (Hayato Isomura) and Yaba (Katsuya Maiguma) accept, suggesting that they could become the next game directors in a possible third season. The rest, however, share a different fate.

Are ‘Alice in Borderland’ players back in the real world?

It certainly seems so. They all wake up in the hospital to find that the fireworks they had witnessed in the first season, the ones that preceded their arrival in game land, was actually a meteorite.

The catastrophic damage claimed many lives, but they survived. They all have several different injuries of varying magnitude, including Ann, who is presumed dead but left fighting for her life in a coma. The only thing they share in common is the fact that each of their hearts stopped for a minute after the disaster.

They also don’t remember the game land or their relationships with each other, so when Arisu and Usagi meet again, they have a feeling that they know each other, but not how. In any case, they decide to walk through the hospital grounds together and the great, uplifting music almost makes you believe they’ve achieved their happy ending. It’s not perfect, but at least they’re home. Almost.

What does the Joker card mean?

As the second season draws to a close, the camera pans to a table in the gardens on which various letters are scattered. A gentle breeze blows them away, leaving one remaining card, the Joker. What does this mean?

Their mere presence implies that the players have not exited the game as they thought, but have entered phase three of the game, made more dangerous by the fact that they are unaware and have no memory. The Joker is meant to represent the wild card and thus suggests even more unpredictability, if we can even imagine it.

In many card games, the Joker can take on the characteristics of other cards, meaning it could present as any of the dangerous challenges you’ve faced before or it could be a whole new hell to deal with.

Either way, it’s probably the hardest, most sinister yet. A deceptive letter that has lured them into this false sense of security by erasing their memories and bringing them ‘home’, when in reality they, like Dorothy, couldn’t be further from Kansas.

Seasons one and two of ‘Alice in Borderland’ are now available on Netflix.