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Joker: Folie a Deux may have left you a little clown in the dumps, but put on a happy face – director Todd Phillips has broken down the controversial (and much-talked-about) finale, and it might make you appreciate the sequel's subversive twists a little more.
Spoilers for the Joker 2 ending follow. You have been warned.
During Joker: Folie a Deux's third act, Arthur – now defending himself – addresses the courtroom at his own trial and suddenly rejects the Joker persona, while revealing that he and Joker are one and the same, not a result of a split personality.
He even admits to a sixth killing (that of his own mother) in front of the jury – before a bomb rips through the courtroom and a dazed Arthur staggers out to be scooped up by a doppelganger Joker.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Phillips says the moment isn't borne out of nothing, instead pointing to the death of fellow inmate Ricky as the catalyst for the turn.
"When those guards kill that kid in the [hospital] he realizes that dressing up in makeup, putting on this thing, it’s not changing anything," Phillips explains. "In some ways, he’s accepted the fact that he’s always been Arthur Fleck; he’s never been this thing that’s been put upon him, this idea that Gotham people put on him, that he represents. He’s an unwitting icon. This thing was placed on him, and he doesn’t want to live as a fake anymore – he wants to be who he is."
But what he is – Arthur – is something (as Phillips points out) that Lady Gaga's 'Lee' Quinn doesn't call him until their final scene together on those iconic Brooklyn steps. It's there where she fully devolves into the Harley Quinn persona, leaving just a defeated, broken man waiting on the steps.
"[She's] realizing, I’m on a whole other trip, man, you can’t be what I wanted you to be," Phillips says, while also confirming that the scene is "actually, really happening" – which is a valid confirmation in a sequel laced with several surreal sequences and constant questioning of what is real and what isn't.
That rejection of Arthur – by society, by the system, and by someone he thought he loved – makes the cycle that continues in its closing moments, as a copycat Joker stabs him and 'takes over' the mantle, all the more chilling. This time, no one gets the last laugh – or what they deserve.
For more, check this collection of the Joker: Folie a Deux Easter eggs, a look at when Joker 2 could come to streaming, and a guide on how to watch the DC movies in order.
