'Uglies' movie ending explained, plus what might happen in 'Pretties'
What’s the price of beauty? “Uglies,” a new Netflix movie, asks that question — and, indeed, there is a price.
The movie, starring Joey King, is based on Scott Westerfeld’s 2005 novel of the same name.
A dystopia, "Uglies" unfolds in a world with a unique coming-of-age ritual.
On their 16th birthday, people undergo a surgery that turns them into their “healthy, happy, pretty” selves, as the movie puts it. Until they become Pretties, they are called Uglies and exist at a lower social strata.
At the start of the movie, Tally is about two months away from turning 16. Her best friend, Peris (Chase Stokes), is about to undergo the surgery. They promise not to let the surgery change them, and talk about the identical scars that they both have on their hands.
Online, viewers are saying what comes next is a throwback to the era of dystopias published in the years after "The Hunger Games."
Author Westerfeld told Decider the story is no longer about cosmetic surgery, even though that features into the plot.
“It’s more about online world and social media. It’s about face-tuning and filters, and the way we surgically alter our lives to look like we’re all movie stars, doing amazing things all the time, going on incredible trips," he said.
Director McG echoed that idea in an interview with Variety, saying, "We’re caught up in trying to show the world something false and something we’re not. I thought this film spoke to that idea and allowed me to share with the world that beauty is interior, and what you have is perfect."
Here's what to know about the plot and ending of "Uglies."
What happens in ‘Uglies’?
After Peris leaves, Tally becomes friends with Shay (Brianne Tju), who also has two months until her procedure.
Unlike Tally, Shay does not know if she wants to undergo the surgery and says she might want to live the rest of her days in the Smoke.
Tally always thought the Smoke was an urban legend, but Shay brings her there to show it’s very real, and so is a life without the procedure. Shay wants the freedom that the Smoke would give her even if it means she’ll never be officially “Pretty.”
Tally’s not convinced. While Shay makes her decision to avoid the surgery, Tally says goodbye and commits to Pretty-dom. She wakes up on her 16th birthday excited for her procedure.
However, instead of becoming a Pretty, Tally is whisked away to see Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox), head of a division called Special Circumstances, who gives her an ultimatum: Give up information about Shay or never get the procedure.
According to Cable, the Smoke is developing a weapon that will wipe out the current civilization, and Shay has been brainwashed by David (Keith Powers), whom Cable views as the radical leader of The Smoke. It’s now up to Tally to find this weapon and save the city.
When Tally arrives to the Smoke, Shay quickly figures out her ulterior motives, but lets Tally stay because she is convinced that her mind will change.
Shay's right. While spending time in the Smoke, Tally awakens to the value in loving who you are and not worrying about appearances.
What do the surgeries really do?
Tally starts getting closer with David and meets his parents, Az (DeVon Johnson) and Maddy (Charmin Lee).
Az and Maddy used to work for the city as surgeons. They realized the real point of the surgery was to create lesions in the brain that enabled mind control.
“These lesions in the frontal cortex, they dull you. You don’t care about anything. You can’t think clearly. You’re sedated into a false sense of happiness,” Az says.
In effect, through the procedure, the government can control the entire population.
Cable later explains the rationale: “Freethinking is a cancer... Leave people to choose for themselves, and they’ll destroy the world, they nearly did. Freeing them of choice saved them. Humanity needs to be led, and there are those of us fit to lead. People are so much happier this way."
Director Joseph McGinty Nichol, known professionally as McG, explained Cable's philosophy in an interview with Deadline.
“What new pretty town is offering is wonderful, and what Dr. Cable is offering is wonderful. There’s no cancer in New Pretty Town. There’s no racism, there’s no sexism. All of these things are wonderful points of advancement. Who wouldn’t be in favor of that stuff, but ultimately, the price you pay of losing your humanity, losing your choice, is just too high," he said.
Since avoiding the surgery and beginning to age naturally, Az and Maddy have been working on finding a cure to the lesions — but but they're missing a piece.
“For the last 20 years, we’ve been working on replicating this cure, and Cable knows it. It’s why she’s closing in,” Maddy says, convincing Tally to fully commit to the Smoke’s cause.
Does Peris die?
City officials close in on the Smoke, tracking Tally down through the pendant Cable gave her.
Peris, now fully Pretty and fully brainwashed, kills Az at Cable's orders.
Cable reveals that Peris has been turned into an "upgraded" form of Pretty, called a Special. Shay has also been turned into a Pretty.
Later on, Tally tries to use their emotional bond to try to bring Peris back to himself. David thinks he's about to kill her and swoops in to tackle Peris. The two continue to fight until Peris is left hanging off the building.
Looking up at Tally, Peris' final word is the nickname he called her before surgery, suggesting that he has not been completely brainwashed.
He lets go and falls to his seeming death. As a Special, he may be able to survive, since they are genetically enhanced.
Why does Tally become a Pretty, and what's the future of the cure?
During their showdown, Cable forces Tally, David and Maddy to undergo the procedure.
Then, fighters from the Smoke swarm in, torching the procedure chambers.
As David and Tally run away with Shay, Maddy grabs a capsule from a sealed case. She now has the missing piece she needs to complete the formula for the cure.
Tally is excited about the opportunity to cure her friend Shay, but since she’s already been turned Pretty, Shay refuses the cure.
Maddy does not want to force Shay to take the cure, believing that forcing bodily modifications on anyone not consenting would make her as bad as Cable. As a solution, Tally volunteers to be the test subject.
“They’ll turn me and then you’ll turn me back,” Tally says. “You have the cure, and if it works then maybe we can convince Shay and maybe we can convince everybody else. That’s how we change the world.”
David pushes back, afraid they’ll lose Tally like they lost Shay, but Tally insists that she is strong.
“It took me a long time, but I know who I am now. I’m not going to let them take that away from me,” Tally says to David.
“But how will we know it’s still you?” David asks.
“I’ll leave you a sign,” she responds.
“You are so beautiful,” David says through tears.
In a dramatic fashion, Tally gives herself up and wakes up in her new home as a Pretty. As she looks out the window, she tells the AI voice in her house that she loves being Pretty.
As she looks down, there is clearly still a scar on her hand, suggesting that she did leave a sign of the old her, just as she and Peris promised they would do before their surgeries.
Will 'Uglies' have a sequel?
The movie potentially sets the scene for a sequel. "Uglies" is the first in a trilogy, followed by "Pretties" and "Specials."
In "Pretties," the second installment, Tally no longer remembers her mission. Then, she receives a letter from herself, written in the past, and she learns what she needs to do. She eventually takes the cure and is returned to herself.
The final book follows Tally and a group of Pretties who work for Special Circumstances, called Specials. Rather than just becoming beautiful through surgery, they're turned into genetically modified super humans, with enhanced brain function and reflexes.
Director McG told Deadline there's enough material for a sequel to the movie (and a third, too).
“The audience needs to speak up and say we should finish the book series,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a series of books. The story goes on, but we need to have everybody clamor for it, because it’s tough to get movies made, and it needs to be worth it, and they’re expensive.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
