While there’s still a long way to go until the end of 2024, “Joker 2” stands out as one of the year’s most talked-about films, and not necessarily for its quality, but for the conversations it has sparked. Opinions are sharply divided between those who loved it and those who hated it, while the picture continues to climb in box office sales after a rocky opening.
In this sequel, we follow Arthur Fleck as he spends his monotonous days in jail, grappling with the consequences of the crimes he committed in the first installment. His life takes a turn when he falls in love with Lee Quinzel, a patient at Arkham State Hospital, who promises him her affection but harbors secrets of her own.
Although Lady Gaga‘s character doesn’t appear on screen as much, she plays a crucial role in Arthur’s journey, and the production’s nail-biting ending has many viewers questioning whether she survives the final scenes. Here, we delve into what Todd Phillips has answered, but be warned—spoilers lie ahead!
What happens to Lee in the final scenes of ‘Joker 2’?
If you’ve watched the last thirty minutes of “Joker 2,” it’s understandable to feel puzzled by Lee’s fate. In the final scenes, Arthur renounces his Joker persona and takes full responsibility for his actions, leading Lee to reject him and leave him alone to be captured by the police.
At first glance, their split appears typical, but a significant detail precedes this moment: Lady Gaga’s character is shown pointing a gun to her own head while Arthur serenades her with a love song over an unanswered phone call.
This has led many to speculate that Lee may have taken her own life before her final encounter with Arthur, suggesting that their meeting might have been a hallucination. Such conclusion would be echoing a theme from the first picture, where Fleck imagines an entire relationship with his neighbor Sophie, only for it to be revealed as completely fictional.
While this would have made for an entertaining conclusion, Phillips clarified to Entertainment Weekly that the final scenes between the lovers in “Joker 2” are entirely real, with both characters present in body and spirit, despite the dreamlike tone of the sequence. It appears that her act of pointing a gun at herself was actually a failed suicide attempt triggered by Arthur’s heartfelt declaration of love.
Another heavily discussed aspect of the ending is the suggestion that Joaquin Phoenix’s character’s killer is, in fact, Heath Ledger’s Joker from Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” films. The inmate who ultimately ends Fleck’s life carves a smile on his face and laughs in a manner reminiscent of Ledger’s iconic portrayal. We will have to wait for Phillips’s comments on this connection!
