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Diverge Movie Ending Explanation & Walkthrough

Taylor Holmes
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Diverge Movie Ending Explanation & Walkthrough - or how I am certain 95% of people didn't understand this ending.
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I literally only decided I’d talk with you guys about the movie Diverge at T Minus 5 seconds before the credits rolled. Yes, it’s a time travel movie, and I am a total sucker for even the simplest of time travel movies. And yes it’s basically a rewrite of the 12 Monkeys from an upside down angle. So it would make perfect sense that I would adore Diverge. But, it took me a solid week to get through it. 

Night 1: 12 minutes – iPad smacks face
Night 2: 20 minutes! – iPad smacks face
Night 3: 4 minutes – iPad out of battery
Night 4: 25 minutes – took 2 notes
Night 5:… oh you get the idea.

But in the last five seconds of this movie my eyeballs popped when this image finally hit the screen…

Simple enough. Not even worth throwing up a spoiler alert warning for. But it was at this moment I knew I had to talk to you guys about this movie. And if you just wandered up to the Google, and asked it to explain Diverge to you, you’ve come to the right place.

But if you are just looking for a movie to watch, please do so here first —> first. And then, come and join us – because I just really don’t want ruining really great movies for people near and far, on my résumé. No thank you. Right? So watch this trailer, then swing on back in order to talk through the ending and figure out what the heck happened in those last five seconds.

Ok. Let’s go after it, everyone here that is supposed to be here? Perfect. Haven’t seen the movie yet? You can watch it right here:

Diverge Timeline Walkthrough

As I said before, I wasn’t an enormous fan of the overall movie. And though it redeemed itself ultimately, it really was tough to make it through. So instead of doing a deep dive walkthrough, I’m just going to throw a timeline at you, in order to make certain we are all on the same page. And it will serve a second purpose in that we’ll be able to reuse the timeline once we hit the end of the movie. Ok? Thanks for being so amenable. As a note, the man that invents time travel, his credited name is “Leader.” And I note each character 1 & 2 based on order in which we see them, not chronologically.

  1. Chris1 is trying to keep Anna1 alive but she dies
  2. Leader1 appears and offers to take Chris1 to be with Anna again
  3. Eventually Leader1 traps Chris1 and sends him into the past
  4. Chris1 stumbles upon his past self, Chris2 and his wife Anna2
  5. Leader2 tells Chris1 not to interact with Anna2
  6. We learn that two companies were struggling over Chris2‘s antidote
  7. Leader2 is killed by Leader1 as he attempts to get his daughter back
  8. Leader1 tells Chris1 to take his wife forcibly from Chris2
  9. Chris1 gives the antidote to Anna2 and saves her
  10. Jim Eldon & Whitmore interrupt, Jim is giving Whitmore the antidote
  11. In a shoot out, Chris1 kills Jim and Whitmore and Chris2 walks in
  12. Chris1 and Chris2 stand off, Chris1 considering whether to kill Chris2 
  13. Anna2 stabs Chris1 in the side with scissors
  14. Chris1 lets Chris2 know its ok to shoot him, but he doesn’t
  15. Chris1 walks off, and down to the beach
  16. Chris1 finds a shell on the beach
  17. The outbreak happens and the world is ravaged
  18. Chris1 dies on the beach of the infection
  19. Chris2 & Anna2 wander through the desert
  20. They find Chris1 dead, take his gun, and find the shell 

In order to Keep the primes, and the secundes straight, I had to flip some of the beginning to the end. But hopefully that makes sense. Which, should point out a really significant epiphanic moment. The moment in the last 5 seconds that made me revisit the entirety of the movie. And, after having a hard time getting through the movie, I watched it over again without stopping. Why? Because Leader1 was wrong. Why? Because their understanding of how it all worked was 100% wrong. 

Diverge Time Glitch Explanation

So, I’m not certain if you get this or not. But Chris and Anna? They are totally stuck. Well, not them, but Chris3, Chris4, Chris5, ChrisN, AnnaN, were stuck. Leader1 declared that the moment that Chris1 first went back in time, he cemented a new timeline different from the last. This idea, timeline divergence, is the polar opposite of the idea thrown out in the great time travel movie, 12 Monkeys by Terry Gilliam. In 12 Monkeys the timeline is locked down and unchangeable. The time traveler can go back to that time, but he can do nothing to change it. But in this particular movie, Leader here is saying, time travel, and boom! New timeline! New opportunities. New diverging eventuality. And the entirety of this movie presumes this assumption.

But that isn’t how this movie works. Not even a little bit. Leader1 is completely mistaken. By traveling back in time, Chris1 has caused a glitch in the fabric of time. It’s as if someone has chucked a big rock into a river. And what happens? The river hits it, pivots and then flips back on course again. And the rock? Is the anomaly of the events of this movie. And while it did cause time to change, somewhat, it also chinked right back into place again. And here we have the continuing rumble of the events of this time travel, repeating over and over again.

So, at the expense of over explaining  this concept, I’m going to over explain. The first time Chris was asked to steal the plants and his solution to the pandemic, Chris did it. Then Leader came to him and time-traveled his sorry butt back into the fray. And when Chris gets a second shot at it, he refuses, and then kills the two guys intent on taking the plants regardless. Then, Chris’s younger self walks in… and the stand off ends with Anna stabbing the older Chris. Older Chris then heads off and leaves them to be. But still the baby dies, and Anna gets sick. Better yet? Older Chris manages to get sick and die as well, only to have his doppelgänger find him dead, take his gun and have his younger wife take his shell that he found.

Do you understand why Chris smiled like he did at the end when he found the shell? It’s because he realized that he was meant to die. He realized he would die, and that he’d be found. He realized that this was all for absolutely nothing. And in that respect, this movie really is similar to 12 Monkeys… deterministic to the core. 

Final Thoughts on Diverge

Diverge isn’t a low key sci-fi primer that you’d send your unwitting friend or mother into. It just wouldn’t pan out well. “So, there were two Chris’s on the screen. And one of them… uh, his wife stabbed one? Why? But I thought the wife was already dead? While camping in the desert? And what’s the deal with the shell?!?” It just wouldn’t be worth it.

But I have to admit, I wasn’t even sold on the movie for the first 40 minutes. And even when I did get quasi-interested, I didn’t really get sold on the film until the last five seconds and the shell hit the screen. Which is probably the only reason I’ll be adding this movie to my THiNC. WRECKOMENDATIONS list. (Yeah, I do all my own marketing. Pretty great right? hahahah. Which, is one of the best places to find more movies that you might like if you enjoyed this one.) At the end of the day though, the movie worked out even though I’m thinking 90% of the people that watched it didn’t understand the ending. It was still a clever mindjob of a movie. What did you think of it?

Edited by, CY

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20 Responses

  1. Your explanation of the ending scene is leaving out the fact that Leader1 replaced Leader2. So if Chris2 and Anna2 really did find Chris1 on the beach then Leader1 is right there with them again and would know about everything that happened during the movie. Infact he would probably think that Chris2 was Chris1 and start talking to him about everything they went through together rather than creeping him and Anna2 out.

  2. And therefore… not happen again? So you are of the mind that it would happen a total of one time? I’m confused. I get what you are saying, but I am not understanding what the result would be.

  3. I agree with your timeline and explanation of the closed loop for Chris(1). My issue is: what of the wooden doll? How did Chris (dead) on the beach come to have the wooden doll in his black backpack or… was the doll not even relevant? Because we saw the doll in the hands of the kid on the street when Chris(1) returned to the pre-pandemic timeline I had assumed that there was some significance to the doll. But, I am not seeing it. Ideas?

  4. I don’t think Chris(1) died as he stood on the beach as the movie ends, because he was not seen carrying a backpack then. But while Chris(2) and Anna(2) found him dead at the beginning of the film, he was shown to have some belongings kept in a backpack, including the doll and pistol. So I guess he must have picked up the backpack and the doll before he died.

    In a way, the doll works more or less the same way as the shell, except the second time Chris(1) saw it in the hands of the little girl, he must have just felt a little apprehensive, because things had not progressed that far out as when he saw the shell on the beach at movie end for him to realise the futility of his time-travelling quest.

  5. I don’t think Chris(1) died as he stood on the beach as the movie ends, because he was not seen carrying a backpack then. But while Chris(2) and Anna(2) found him dead at the beginning of the film, he was shown to have some belongings kept in a backpack, including the doll and pistol. So I guess he must have picked up the backpack and the doll before he died.

    In a way, the wooden doll works more or less the same way as the shell, except the second time Chris(1) saw it in the hands of the little girl, he must have just felt just a little apprehensive. But things had not progressed that far out as when he saw the shell on the beach at movie end for him to realise the futility of his time-travelling quest.

  6. I don’t know what really did happen at the end. But how can he be the persoon who was dead in the beginning of movie? He didn’t have the doll. A girl had it. And he also didn’t have the gun. Because Chris2 had it. But the shell means something. I really want to know what did happen at the end.. Maybie the shell reminded him his wife. But still it would be a strange ending.

  8. Just watched this film and had similar interpretation of the end. Alternatively, I’m wondering if the shell represents a change to the future. If Chris2 isn’t the same dead guy with the shell, doll, and gun, yet he’s just found the same shell – perhaps this is validation for him and the viewers that he succeeded in his mission?

    Contrary to the reviewer, I actually was hooked by the slow, languid pace of the movie. I felt it set the stage well for a post apocalyptic movie. I liked the protagonist actor as Chris2, but he was a really weird, almost creepy Chris1. I didn’t feel the devotion for his wife from 2, like we saw of Chris 1. Not a bad movie. The evil drug company dude was mildly comical.

  9. I, too, disagree with the reviewer. Let’s take it further. If the leader character replaces himself he’d have a memory of these events. Why then- would he try to send Chris1 to the past again? He knows it will fail. Also the actor that plays the deadman on the beach does not resemble Chris apart from owning a beard. (I went back for a look-see)

  10. I imagine watching this movie when it came out and maybe I too would be bored by the 1st act. Considering where we are now, in 2021 though, I was hooked on every scene.
    Peculiar how the movies show such specific predictions and yet we write it all off.

    Does anyone believe in predictive programming?

    As for the end of the film, Anna 2 not being completely scared when confronted with clone husbands and then stabbing one of them took me completely out of the film. Everything after that didn’t make sense.
    If your theory is correct, when the couple finds the dead man in the beginning- his corpse would be but mere bones due to decaying of the body. . .plus the bookbag/doll/gun don’t fit the narrative either as others have stated
    Looking forward to going through your wreckamendations for thinc movies. .be well

  11. Let me know if I let you down mortally… or if you find one or two that you enjoyed. Always love finding out if I’m heading in the right direction.

  12. I enjoyed your review and agree mostly. I think the events would happen regardless- the virus had already been unleashed. It is very strange watching this movie post-2020. Started in China!?
    It is weird that Anna2 didn’t totally freak out at seeing double of her husband, but after all the crazy movies we’ve seen, would we flinch anymore? I mean, UFOs are real and no one is discussing that!!
    Gonna check out that list now…

  13. Many good comments and insights already made. If the dead person at the beginning of the movie was not Chris 2 (as one person noted) it would imply that the shell in the dead man’s possession represents a different future than anything that was shown in the movie, i.e., the past and future are completely unknown. This is further underscored by the doll in the backpack. But then again, would that scene even be accurate.
    After finding the dead man and Anna dies, Leader1 captures Chris1 and gets to change the past. In so doing, he kills Leader2. This may seem simplistic, but if Leader1 travels into the past and kills Leader2, Leader1 would no longer exist because his existence is obviously tied to the past. This understanding would be similar to Back to the Future.

  14. Not a bad interpretation overall, at first I thought something similar about the end, but after giving it more thought I realized it isn’t Chris dead on the beach. He changed everything. It is a new timeline. He found the shell and he’ll keep it, to continually prove to himself that he changed everything. Because now Dead Backpack Man can’t find the shell. And the girl with the doll will not die (allowing Dead Backpack Man to take her doll). Dead Backpack Man will not be a dead guy with a backpack full of collected items. He will be living a non-pandemic-related life. This is why Chris smiles a smile of actual happiness upon finding the shell. It’s not a wry smile like this is all a cosmic joke. It’s a satisfied smile. The world will not end.

  15. I think your ending seems better, because he did come back to change the future and he did. The flowers did not get into the wrong hands.There was a cure. And world was saved.

  16. Taylor, I like the breakdown but have yet to see any of the really BIG issue discussed. Yes! Worldwide pandemic. People die. But why the lakes/oceans dried up. The Sun blocked by fallout. ??
    Remember Leader 2/Chris 1 had conversation about time travel? The amount of energy required and if something went wrong ? Apocalyptic event? I’ve not sat still long enough to totally wrap my head around it but does anyone see this ?

    The irony?

    Did the initial time travel required to save the world also cause a nuclear event?

    And the loop repeats! The Alpha and the Omega!

    Thoughts?

  17. Chris1, heals Anna2 so why would she be sick on the beach, again? How could it be a time loop if he cured her?

  18. Well, internet stranger, the googles did not let me down bringing me to this link. Thank you. I watched the movie last night, and like you, I wasn’t *super* in love with it. I’d say a definitely strong “like.” Especially with how some things turned out, Like Leader1 killing Leader2 and then encouraging Chris1 to do the same. I liked those twists more than you did, I think.

    But.

    The seashell scene was genius, and that last knowing half-smile on his face that it was all for nothing….that’s what made this movie. I really wanted to read a detailed analysis of it, and here it is, years after you wrote it. hahaha. Awesome. Thanks for all the great comments everyone…I have been pondering all these things too, wooden doll, backpack, if Anna2

  19. Love this theory, Kevin. I didn’t find it a stretch that the future was unrecognizable for a dozen reasons…Corona pandemic almost led to wars here. Still could. But I like your theory. People never calculate the risk of just doing the time travel in movies. The damage they could do just by traveling. So…I like this possibility.

  20. I like Dead Backpack Man’s explanation of the end. It’s a happy ending for all (except for perhaps Leader) and better explanations the incongruent aspect of the doll. Great Film and great explnations.

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