‘Alice in Borderland’ Season 3 - What’s Next for Arisu and Friends

‘Alice in Borderland’ was a rollercoaster ride like no other. It’s a unique show that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats in a way that no similar show has been able to. In fact, it’s probably one of a kind with the premise and topics it explores. Season 2 ended on a happy note, but there was one ominous shot at the end that hinted at more troubles to come. So let us tell you how season 2 ended and what we can expect for the next one.

Ending of Alice in Borderland Season 2

The last episode of the season began with Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) meeting Mira (Riisa Naka), the Queen of hearts, and playing a game of croquet with her. The rules are simple- they have to play 3 games of croquet and not forfeit. They don’t even need to win, just complete the games. That seems way too simple and the duo is suspicious. However, they have no choice, so they play. Since Usagi can barely stand, Arisu plays. However, the game is boring and drags along.

Arisu watches Usagi’s leg wound get worse as she continues bleeding. After the second game gets over, he tells Mira that they need to get on to the 3rd one. But the Queen of hearts has other plans. As per tradition, she wants them to take a break and have tea. While sitting down to drink, Arisu asks Mira if they will get to go back to the real world if they complete the game. But Mira asks if he really wants to know the actual answer and the truth about this world. He says yes and presses on.

Mira then gives three convoluted explanations for what’s going on. One is that they are 1000 years into the future where humankind has conquered life and death. Since every life event can be controlled, there's no room for coincidences and fate. However, that made life boring so humankind began building a virtual reality where they could experience the thrill of trying to stay alive. When Mira says this, Arisu is shocked and almost believes her. But Mira laughs and clarifies that she’s joking.

Then she says that actually plants mutated due to an alien invasion and took over the earth. Now extraterrestrial species are making humans compete for their pleasure and also conducting behavioral studies on them. The third one she explains is that everyone there is just androids who are competing in games set up by rich people who went underground after an apocalypse. So even though all of them think they are human, they are actually just machines.

 

This shocks Usagi and Arisu, but Mira again says that she’s again joking. Arisu then calls her out. He says that she actually doesn’t know the reason. But she says that she does. Mira explains that the truth is that she is his therapist and Arisu is in a mental asylum after he saw his friends Chota and Karube get hit by a car on the first day when they were fooling around at the intersection. Watching two of his friends die made him experience survivor’s guilt and that made him shut down mentally and create a fictional world.

Mira says that he should forfeit and end the games to escape from the simulation. However, Usagi intervenes and says that Mira is lying. After all, if everything was made up in his mind, then she and their relationship are too. But she knows that she’s real. To prove her point, she slashes her wrist. As blood pours out, she begs Arisu to snap out. It eventually works and he doesn’t forfeit the game. Instead, he completes and wins it. Mira’s last words to him are that he should enjoy life to the fullest before she gets killed by a laser beam.

The games end and there are fireworks all around. The remaining players are given a choice to either become a citizen of the country or decline it. It’s never said what will happen if they decline, but many like Usagi, Arisu, Hikari, Chisaya and more do so because they want to escape the hellish world. After their decision, we see what actually happened. A meteor landed and took out everything within a 10 km radius of Tokyo. Many were killed.

 

Chota, Karube, and more died. But some were resuscitated back by doctors and first aid givers. It’s not a coincidence that the ones who were brought back to life are the same ones who survived and decided to decline citizenship in the other world. At the hospital, Arisu’s brother specifically says that his heart stopped beating for a minute and he went to the borderlands. This stuns Arisu because he says that he felt like it was more than a minute.

He also tells him to let go of his survivor’s guilt as there’s no set answer to his question. Whether that works or not is not explicitly said, but it’s clear that the ones who returned have no memory of the games or the relationships they formed there. However, Usagi and Arisu feel a connection to each other and decide to take a walk around the hospital. The show ends with a shot of the joker card that remains on the table even after all the cards have been blown away in the wind. Read my ‘Alice in Borderland’ Season 2 Review.

 

What to Expect in Alice In Borderland Season 3

For all intents and purposes, the show has given a satisfactory ending that is the same as the manga it is adapted from. However, the joker card tease at the end can be elaborated upon in the next season. We never saw that card in the two seasons of the show and that’s because the joker is the ferryman. He takes people to and fro from the borderlands.

So in the next season, we could see some of the players return back to that world and compete again. Also, it’s never satisfactorily explained what actually happened. As of now, it seems like the aliens' theory is true to an extent because of the meteor hint given. However, is the borderlands an alternate universe? Then why did the player exactly go there?

Season 3 can help shed light on this matter. However, if there’s no renewal news from Netflix about this show, it’s a great conclusion and almost everything has been satisfactorily answered. In fact, instead of seeing the joker card as a tease for ominous things to come, like them going back to the borderlands, it can be seen as a hint of how all the players were brought back to the real world.

However, season 3 will help expand the world of the brilliant show and give fans something more to look forward to. After all, seeing Arisu, Usagi, and more return back will be fascinating to see again.