Netflix’s The Platform 2’s Ending Explained

Netflix’s The Platform 2, the follow-up to the equally grim original, is here, and like The Platform, it might leave you scratching your head. So, to clear things up a little, here’s Netflix’s The Platform 2‘s ending explained.

How Does the Platform 2 End?

The Platform 2‘s ending is more or less a repeat of the original’s ending, with protagonist Perempuan sending a child up on the platform, just like Goreng did in the original. However, we discover that the events of this movie take place before The Platform, making it a prequel.

Perempuan and her then-cellmate Zamiatin stick to The Loyalists’ rules, but things go downhill. Zamitatin commits suicide, and she has her arm removed by Anointed One Dagin Babi as a consequence for helping enforce the law when it wasn’t her place. She ultimately starts a revolution against Babi, and while she and nearly all of her conspirators die, so do Babi and his loyalists.

She fakes her death during the “interval” when prisoners are moved and corpses are taken away (we discover the prison switches to zero gravity during these periods). Ultimately, she finds a child on the lower levels and puts him on the platform to send him back up, presumably reasoning that he’d starve. As the child ascends, she wanders into the shadows with the other people who live at the bottom of The Pit.

Shortly after, we see other people sending people up with the platform, and Goreng and Perempuan meet.

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What Does The Platform 2’s Ending Mean?

So, what does The Platform 2‘s ending mean? Well, we know that Perempuan came to The Pit after her negligence at one of her art exhibitions got a child killed. By rescuing a different child, she’s atoning for that sin and is able to forgive herself. Also, since we meet Trimagasi, Goreng’s cellmate in The Platform, we learn this movie takes place before the original.

What about those people down at the bottom of The Pit, though? What are they doing there? There’s a very good chance they’re either hallucinations or are dead. We get a glimpse of Zamiatin, and the way the others reach out to Perempuan seems a little symbolic, possibly suggesting The Pit is either some kind of purgatory or at least a place where the rules of nature don’t apply.

Could it be that the others, Goreng included, who greet Perempuan, are welcoming her to the afterlife, now she’s atoned for her sins? If that’s the case, it may be that the child isn’t real; it’s just some kind of test.

You can also view The Platform 2 as an allegory for society, such as the idea that wealth trickles down. There’s a scene with Barbarians talking about how The Loyalists hate them for being free, one of them adding, “I’m so pleased that we’re all doing something about these awful sectarians and their strict laws,” a sentiment that regularly figures into real-world politics.

So, while it leaves a lot open to interpretation, that’s Netflix’s The Platform 2‘s ending explained.

The Platform 2 is streaming now on Netflix.