The following contains spoilers for Season 2 ofAlice in Borderland.
One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the storyline ofAlice in Borderlandis who created the games that the characters are forced to play, and why they chose to do it. This is the central question that the plot revolves around, and the two seasons spend significant time teasing the answer to the question. Even by the end, some of those answers still seem a bit murky. However, having this mystery as the hook is a great way to keep the viewer engaged. Fans keep tuning into new episodes to see how the story would progress.
There are no real answers untilthe end of Season 2. The last episode takes its time teasing out the solutions until both the viewer and the characters are left questioning what’s real and what’s not. For that reason, it can be a bit confusing to puzzle out who is really behind the games. Sometimes, the show itself is reluctant to give up its secrets until the very last moment.
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What Is Alice in Borderland About?
The world ofAlice in Borderlandis an alternate version of Tokyo to which a bunch of seemingly normal citizens have been mysteriously transported to. In this new world, they must compete inviolent and deadly gamesto extend their “visa,” which is how long they have left to live. If their visa runs out, they are killed with lasers from the sky.
The games vary in difficulty and type, indicated by what playing card (specifically what suit and number) represent each of them. The story follows Arisu, a young man who is obsessed with video games but doesn’t seem to have many other ambitions in life. He and his friends arrive in this new world and he must figure out how to navigate it, as well as find the answers to how they got there in the first place.
What Happens in Alice in Borderland Season 2?
The second season ofAlice in Borderlandfollows Arisu, Usagi, and the other members of their crew as they compete in a second round of games that up the ante. This round is about the face cards, and every game is run by a specific figurehead (e.g. the King of Spades orthe Jack of Hearts). That person must be defeated in their own game for the game to be over. The players are instructed that they must beat all of these games, with the implication that they will learn more information or perhaps even be set free from this world if they manage to do so.
The characters manage to clear almost all the games, both together and separately. Arisu and Usagi have been sticking together the whole time,despite losing friends along the way. The whole gang goes through a harrowing experience while trying to defeat the King of Spades in the second-to-last episode, where the King causes most of them to take on life-threatening injuries before they finally manage to take him out. Arisu and Usagi make their way to the final game, where the Queen of Hearts waits for them and apparently has some answers to their questions.
Who Is Behind the Games in Alice in Borderland?
The players and the viewers find out in the final episode that Mira (aka the Queen of Hearts) was behind the design of the games. Mira was initially presented as an average game player who was one of the members of the Beach, but her role became more sinister as the series went on. As the gamemaster, she was the onepulling the strings and manipulating everyone, and even designed a lot of the individual games themselves (including the Seven of Hearts game that led to the deaths of Arisu’s friends Karube and Chota in Season 1). It’s never clear if she is the person at the very top or if there’s someone else above her, though there are others that have helped her create and set up the games.
In her final game with Arisu and Usagi, Mira teases that the goal is simply to finish the game of croquet. Even if they don’t win, they still defeat her if they finish. If this seems a bit too easy, that’s because it is. Mira uses a tactic of manipulation and gaslighting to try and break them mentally so that they don’t want to complete the game. It almost works on Arisu before Usagi manages to pull him back to reality, but it’s clear that Mira isn’t above a bit of cheating and lying to win. When Usagi and Arisu ask for answers, she gives them fabricated stories about why they’re inthis alternate version of Tokyo. She claims that everyone is an alien, or that they’re in a simulation video game, none of which turns out to be true.
The series ends with Mira’s defeat, after which players are given the choice to go back to the real world or become “permanent residents” of the game world. The players who chose to go back wake up in a hospital to learn that they survived a meteorite falling on Tokyo. They don’t seem to remember their time in the other world, but they seem to vaguely recognize each other. The last shot of Season 2 is of a Joker playing card on the table, which has fans wondering if it’s teasing another season.
The series ends with a few questions still unanswered. Many viewers were left wondering if the meteorite crash was real, or just another trick in the games. It remains to be seenwhether these questions will ever be answered, and whether Mira was the only gamemaster controlling things behind the scenes.
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