Ok, so Alice in Borderland Season 2 ends on a big cliffhanger and us getting focus on a major card. If you’ve read the manga that the series is based on, then you’ll know this actually holds a lot of significance. Not only does it explain who really runs the game, but it also basically tells us why the entire thing was set up in the first place.
Throughout this video I wanna go through what the Joker card is, how it can close off the season and how it can also be used to set up a season 3 if they decide to go that route.
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What are the Borderlands in Alice in Borderland?
Now in order to talk about the card itself we first have to talk about what Borderlands are. In the finale we discover that Tokyo was actually hit by a meteorite, and this had a massive impact explosion that destroyed the centre of the city. Several people were killed during this and in the source material we discover that a lot of chunks from the meteor came off and they hit people. This is what sent them into the alternate world though here they just simplify it and make it so that it’s just one big event.
Now this was a massive loss of life over a seemingly random event.
This is where the Joker comes into it. First introduced in chapter 63 this is fittingly called Joker. Though we don’t learn too much about him as he only appears for a couple of pages, there is enough there to piece together exactly what he is. Now he appears right after the Queen is killed like what we see in the show. This happens after the croquet game which is beautifully recaptured in the series.
The fireworks go off and then all the players are given the choice to return to the real world or they can remain behind in Borderland and go through the games once more. At this point Arisu sits down at the Queen’s table and he sees a dark figure sitting opposite him. There is a joker card in front and the pair have a conversation that reveals everything.
Arisu asks who he is, and he assumes that he’s the ruler over all of Borderland. The Joker replies by saying ‘do I look like a devil or do I look like a God.’
Now the following page has one quick panel that pretty much reveals everything though you do kinda have to piece it together.
In it we see a ferryman escorting people through a river and on the shore, we can see decrepit looking humans and also skulls surrounding the bottom of the panel.
This is the Joker, and this is also a metaphor for what Borderland is.
Greek Mythology used to tell us about the Ferryman Charon…which I always pronounce wrong so apologies on that.
This was a figure that would take the dead across the river Styx, and he’d transport damned souls between the land of the living and Hades. People were even buried with money on their eyes so that they could pay him, and he’s seen as someone who basically rules over the state between life and death.
Now that’s basically what’s going on in the show and Borderland itself is a game set up by him.
In the Manga the meteorite killed hundreds of thousands of people and The Joker saw this as being a colossal waste of life. He thought this was unfair especially because so many of those that died were young kids who were yet to really get the chance to do anything with their lives.
So, in order to give everyone a chance he set up the games so that players could battle it out for the right to return back to the land of the living.
The entirety of Borderland is basically a limbo between the living world and death where the victims of the meteor strike have been assembled so they can get a chance to live once more. This borderland is a literal border…land between the two stages where the souls of those are gathered for the games.
Now Charon wanted people to sort of be in a situation that they were comfortable in, and this is why Borderland also looks like Tokyo.
If say the meteor had struck Constantinople or somewhere…dunno why that was the first place that came to…. we’ll say Rome…we’ll say ancient Rome.
If the meteor had struck ancient Rome, then the players brought in would have saw that instead rather than seeing the futuristic city of Tokyo that would’ve blown their minds even without the loss.
So, it’s basically a recreation of their world so that they can at least have some attachment to their home and also what they’re fighting for. So, the games play out and the best players emerge out on top.
Time moves differently in Borderland and a minute in the real world is months down there.
There are also characters that arrive before others and several cycles which allow the citizens to be put in place.
For example, the Face Card holders that we see in the game all arrived months and months before the characters that we get behind.
In the manga we discover that Kyuma arrived there five months before Arisu, and this is because the meteor struck where he was at first.
He technically died before Arisu did and though the explosion would’ve been about a second difference between the pair, the time dilation meant that he arrived months before in Borderland.
This allowed him and the others to play through their own cycle of games and when they won, they were given the choice to either return back to the surface or remain behind.
Those that chose to go back survived the blast and they would’ve likely have been found by the rescue crews.
Those that chose to stay were given the position of being face cards and citizens that then played the games against the next lot of players.
There were a lot of players that just didn’t want to go back home because they had either miserable lives or because they preferred the rules of the games and the time in between. These people probably would be killed eventually, and they’d end up journeying into the land of the dead, possibly escorted by the joker.
So that’s the basic explanation of it in the source material with this being something that’s hinted towards in the finale.
Alice in Borderland Joker Card Explained
Now the joker card at the end could have a number of different meanings.
The first one is that this is just a nod to the ending of the manga, and it’s used to show us what’s going on. A lot of people who haven’t read it probably are confused but I kinda see this as being a tease to who was behind it all and it also being like ‘go read the Manga, go f**king read it.’
If that’s the case then it closes of the series and that’s it, the characters made it out and the Joker oversaw this and left behind his calling card to let us know what was really happening.
The manga ends at this point too and it is possible that they don’t really wanna go beyond this because they’ve ran out of book story at this point. Game Of Thrones showed us what happens when you let show writers come up with their own ideas and they might just not wanna touch it beyond this point.
However, it might also be a case of them teasing what could come and they may be saying f**k it, let’s tell the story beyond the books.
The finale did leave some things out such as Arisu going off to college and we had had 731 days of restitution pass between the meteor strike and the ending.
So plenty of time for other games and the Joker itself could represent a number of things going on.
Firstly, the Joker is a wildcard, and the figure is often thought of as being a trickster. Therefore, this entire ending could be a trick and they may still be stuck in the game. Borderland of course looks identical to Tokyo, and they could pull the rug out from under our feet.
Joker is still the last card that they need to beat, and they might have just entered a new cycle like they had at the end of Season 1.
I kinda hope that’s not the case because then if they beat that it really could be like ‘well how do you know this isn’t a trick.’
There’s also their loss of memory too which is in the manga as well. They have their memories of Borderland removed so they can’t be like ‘here’s what happens when you die mate’ upon returning to the surface.
Now if they do decide to do a third season, I think they will most likely go that route with the Joker being revealed as the boss that has pulled the wool over their eyes.
They can also use these games to explore their memories of borderland and bring them back.
The books did talk about how they could re-access them with a certain key but whether they go that route or not remains to be seen.
Anyway, that’s everything you need to know about the mysterious ending and the joker card.
Honestly, I kinda hope they do end at this point because I think both the series were perfect adaptations and I don’t know if another one would spoil it.
Obviously, that’s my opinion and there may be some of you who can’t wait to get back. If we do get a third season, I don’t think it’ll take as long to develop as this one due to the pandemic not holding it back.
Let us know what you think in the comments below as there’s a lot to talk about.
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If you want something else to watch, then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect scene in Spider-Man Homecoming. We break down the entire thing so it’s definitely worth checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll see you next time. Take care, Peace.
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