Extraterrestrial monsters, time travel, and one very long day. "Edge of Tomorrow" has a deceptively complex story and an even more complicated ending. Here's what it all means.
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00:00Extraterrestrial monsters, time travel, and one very long day.
00:05Edge of Tomorrow has a deceptively complex story and an even more complicated ending.
00:10Here's what it all means.
00:13Understanding the ending of Edge of Tomorrow requires you to pay pretty close attention
00:17from the beginning, because what the Mimics are doing gets explained pretty early on,
00:21and it goes by fast.
00:23According to Dr. Carter, a Mimic biologist, the Mimics are really like one, giant, interconnected
00:29organism.
00:30The larger Alpha Mimics act as the central nervous system and command the Mimic drones.
00:35These high-ranking Alphas then return information to be processed by the central Omega Mimic.
00:41Each time an Alpha dies, the Omega rolls the clock back 24 hours, keeping all of their
00:46collective knowledge intact and enabling the Mimics to adjust their strategies in order
00:51to gain a definitive victory.
00:53While the Alphas seem to be the decision-makers of the Mimics, dictating the actions of the
00:58drones and determining their strategy, Carter hypothesizes that since the Omega essentially
01:04functions as the brain of the Mimics, the only way to stop the invasion is to destroy
01:09it.
01:10The problem is that thanks to their powers, the Mimics know about the military's biggest
01:14weakness, and they have a lot more experience than Cage and Vrataski in using their time
01:19loop abilities to their advantage, so they're pretty adept at keeping the Omega safe and
01:24hidden.
01:26There's a whole juicy prequel just waiting to be made in the story of Rita Vrataski and
01:31the Battle of Verdun, which we hear about in bits and pieces but never see.
01:36From what we learn at the beginning of the film, the human battle against the Mimics
01:39dragged on for five years before the United Defense Force finally claimed their first
01:44victory.
01:45The offensive was led by Sergeant Vrataski, who was later nicknamed the Angel of Verdun.
01:50The popular version of the story is that Rita led the UDF troops to victory due to her abilities
01:55as an exceptional soldier, but the truth is, she had another advantage that no one
02:00knew about — she was living in a time loop.
02:03The first time Vrataski fought the Battle of Verdun, she was killed.
02:07But similar to what would later happen to Cage when Rita died, she also managed to take
02:12an alpha with her, and their blood mingled together as they both died.
02:16But instead of staying dead, Rita woke up a day before Verdun.
02:20She lived out that battle over and over, gaining a bit more ground each time before she died.
02:26After several resets, Rita started experiencing visions of the Omega, and she attempted to
02:31interpret them in order to destroy the brain and defeat the Mimics once and for all.
02:36But in the course of finally leading the UDF to victory over the Mimics, she was badly
02:41injured and received a blood transfusion.
02:44Without the Mimic blood, she lost both the looping ability and the visions.
02:49The first time Cage was dropped into the middle of the battle in France, he had no idea what
02:53he was doing.
02:54He didn't even know how to turn off the safety on his gun, yet he managed to survive through
02:59sheer luck.
03:00However, Cage eventually wound up alone and on his back, surrounded by Mimics, including
03:06a giant, blue-tinged alpha.
03:08In desperation, Cage grabbed for a UDF incendiary device lying beside him on the ground and
03:14fired it off right as the alpha lunged for him.
03:18While the resulting explosion was powerful enough to blow up the alpha, it killed him
03:22as well.
03:23As Cage died, the blood of the alpha dripped into his open wounds, passing along its link
03:28to the Omega and giving Cage the same time-traveling ability the alphas have.
03:34As with the alphas, his consciousness was knocked back 24 hours in time.
03:38Since the invasion had taken place in the morning, he woke up on the preceding morning
03:42when he first arrived at the Heathrow military base.
03:45When you killed that alpha, you inadvertently entered the enemy's nervous system."
03:50Once Cage and Vrataski start working together, Rita preps Cage for what to expect.
03:55He'll keep looping over and over, and eventually start experiencing visions of the Omega.
04:01When that happens, the two of them can use Cage's visions to locate the Omega and destroy
04:05it.
04:06When Cage's visions do start, he's able to use architectural clues to narrow the Omega's
04:11location to a dam in Germany.
04:13Cage and Vrataski spend countless loops attempting to get from the beach in France to the dam
04:18in Germany, but once Cage finally reaches his destination, he's horrified to realize
04:23the Omega isn't there after all.
04:25It turns out that his visions weren't a glimpse into the Omega's consciousness, but rather
04:29a carefully laid trap.
04:31The Omega showed him exactly what it wanted him to see.
04:35Cage is greeted by an alpha and a drone, with the Omega nowhere to be found.
04:39While previous mimics have killed Cage the instant they get a chance, these mimics seem
04:44to have something else in mind.
04:46Instead of ripping him apart, the alpha wounds Cage, giving him a deep gash that bleeds profusely.
04:52Cage realizes that this is the mimic's true plan, to lure him away from his allies and
04:57then steal back the power kept in his blood.
05:00Although the visions of the dam in Germany proved to be a red herring, the Omega was
05:03still hunkered down in Europe, just in a different country.
05:07After Cage and Vrataski stopped relying on his visions to lead them where they needed
05:11to go, they managed to locate the Omega through a different method, using the direct link
05:16between the Omega and alphas to pinpoint its location.
05:19Ultimately, the real Omega is located deep beneath the Louvre in Paris, France.
05:25When Cage, Vrataski, and the rogue J-Squad arrive at the famous museum, they discover
05:31that the area is flooded by the Seine River, with the Omega located underwater.
05:35The entire region is in disarray following the mimic attacks on Paris and the resulting floods.
05:41So while normally there's no water underneath the Louvre, in this decimated world, Cage
05:46has to swim the final distance down to the Omega.
05:50After realizing that the visions are not a roadmap to the mimic's greatest weakness,
05:55Cage and Vrataski are forced to re-evaluate their strategy to destroy the Omega.
05:59They decide instead to resort to a piece of technology Carter started developing when
06:04Rita was the one caught in the loop.
06:06Carter was never able to complete this transponder, since Vrataski lost the ability to loop before
06:11they could test it on her, and Carter subsequently lost his job and had his research confiscated
06:16by the UDF.
06:18After getting fired, it appeared that Carter tried making a new transponder, but he told
06:22Vrataski it didn't work.
06:24So instead, they had to acquire Carter's original device, which was kept in a safe in General
06:30Brigham's office.
06:31While the mechanics of the transponder are left a bit fuzzy, it works by making contact
06:36with the blood of an Alpha, through which it establishes a link to the Omega and determines
06:40the creature's location.
06:42Since Cage's blood has the same properties as that of an Alpha, Vrataski was able to
06:47use the transponder on Cage, which is how they determined that the Omega is in Paris.
06:53According to Vrataski, the only rule Cage must abide by while he loops is that if he's
06:57injured, he has to make sure he dies.
07:00This is the only rule.
07:02You get injured on the field, you better make sure you die."
07:05She tells him that the way she lost the looping ability was through a blood transfusion, causing
07:10her to conclude that blood is the key to the ability.
07:13It's never clear exactly how much blood Cage could afford to lose while still holding onto
07:18his ability to reset.
07:20Based on his other injuries throughout the film, he could definitely spare at least a
07:23pint or two without risking his link with the Omega, and it's unlikely that a transfusion
07:28would have replaced every drop.
07:30So it seems most likely that while some of the Alpha's blood would remain in his body,
07:34a transfusion would dilute it to the point where the mimic link was severed.
07:39After receiving a blood transfusion following his theft of Dr. Carter's transponder from
07:43General Brigham's office, Cage and Vrataski realize they're all out of resets.
07:49That evening is their very last chance to find the Omega and prevent the UDF invasion
07:53in France.
07:54The invasion is in reality a trap set by the Mimics that will result in the ultimate and
07:59absolute defeat of humanity.
08:01Knowing they won't get another opportunity, they enlist the help of J-Squad.
08:06They fly to Paris, where the area around the Louvre is completely overrun with Mimics,
08:11and all of J-Squad winds up sacrificing themselves in their quest to get Cage and Vrataski inside.
08:16Once they've finally made it in, Vrataski offers to provide a distraction that will
08:21allow Cage to cover the remaining distance to the Omega.
08:24They both know that neither one of them has any hope of making it out alive.
08:28As an Alpha kills Vrataski, Cage gets to the edge of the water covering the Omega and begins
08:33to swim down to it, holding a belt of grenades.
08:37The Alpha follows him and stabs him through the chest, but before Cage dies, he pulls
08:41the pins of the grenades and drops them down to the Omega.
08:45As the Omega dies, it attempts to restart the day again, but it would seem that the
08:49Omega can't reset itself, and instead of giving the Mimics a do-over, it transmits a
08:54it's own death back 24 hours.
08:56This has the effect of killing all of the Mimics a day before the Omega itself was killed.
09:03Throughout the movie, Cage and Vrataski know that if he receives a blood transfusion, he'll
09:07lose the reset ability, which is why they ensure that he dies each time they don't complete
09:12their goal.
09:13So when he and Rita get into a car accident following their theft of the transponder from
09:17Brigham's office and Cage is given a transfusion, they both realize they're on their last life.
09:23But after the destruction of the Omega, Cage wakes up again.
09:27Apparently, Cage held on to life just long enough to get bathed in the Omega's blood
09:31when the grenades went off, giving him the reset ability again.
09:35Having that blood in his system when he died meant that when the Omega attempted to reset
09:39the day, Cage was reset, too.
09:41However, unlike the Mimics, Cage's life wasn't dependent on the Omega.
09:46So while the Omega's attempted reset resulted in the deaths of all Mimics, Cage wasn't affected,
09:51and got one last life.
09:53By the end of Edge of Tomorrow, we've seen Cage reset countless times, always at Heathrow
09:58military base on the morning before the invasion.
10:01But at the end of the film, Cage wakes up in a helicopter on his way to his meeting
10:05with Brigham, before he was ever sent to Heathrow.
10:08The different reset points can be confusing after watching Cage always return to the same
10:13time previously, but it makes sense as long as you understand that Cage lost the reset
10:17ability before the end and then regained it.
10:20The first time Cage died, he reset 24 hours into the past, at Heathrow the morning before
10:25the invasion.
10:26Think of that moment in time at Heathrow as a video game save point.
10:30Every subsequent time Cage died, no matter how much time passed between his waking up
10:34and that particular death, he always reverted to that original point.
10:37Extending the video game analogy, when he lost the reset ability, the saved game was
10:41deleted.
10:42So the second time he gained the Mimic ability, he had to spin up a new game.
10:46This established its own unique save point, 24 hours before he killed the Omega.
10:51Since the Omega died in the early hours of the morning before the France invasion, Cage
10:56reset to the previous morning, right before he met with Brigham, earlier than his arrival
11:00at Heathrow.
11:02It would be easy to finish Edge of Tomorrow wondering if Cage still has the ability to
11:06reset again if he died, since that's what he does after defeating the Omega.
11:10Of course, without the Mimics to fight, Cage hopefully wouldn't find himself facing death
11:14every day, but it could still be a handy ability to have in case he were to, for example, accidentally
11:20get himself run over by another truck.
11:27However, there's no need to speculate about Cage's powers, since chances are, by the end
11:31of the film, he doesn't have it anymore.
11:34The way that Dr. Carter explains the Mimic's ability to cage is that when an Alpha dies,
11:39the Omega resets it back to the day before.
11:41The Alpha isn't resetting itself, and it seems to have no special abilities without
11:45the guidance of the Omega.
11:47Since Cage essentially stepped into the role of an Alpha when he died, the time looping
11:51isn't his power.
11:53Without an Omega around to fling Cage's consciousness back in time whenever he dies, Cage is fated
11:58to live and die, with no repeat, just like the rest of us.