If you’re looking for something romantic and also kinda problematic to watch this weekend, Blake Lively’s romance about an abusive relationship, It Ends with Us, is now available to buy and rent on digital platforms.
Directed by Justin Baldoni, with a screenplay by Christy Hall, It Ends with Us is based on the popular—though thorny—2016 Colleen Hoover novel of the same name. Lively stars as the lead character, Lily, while Baldoni stars as a man named Ryle Kincaid (yes, really!). Lily falls into a troubled romantic, and ultimately abusive, relationship with Ryle. C’mon, Ryle. That’s so not cool, Ryle. Why would you hit the person you love, Ryle?
Also starring Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, and Hasan Minhaj, It Ends With Us also drew attention for rumors that Baldoni and Lively were difficult to work with. That didn’t stop the movie from becoming a box office hit, raking in $334.8 million at the worldwide box office. But even box office hits these days are coming to digital platforms after just a month and a half in theaters.
If you watch the movie at home this weekend but don’t want to wait to find out what happens, read on for an analysis of the It Ends with Us ending explained, including who Lily ends up with in It Ends with Us.
It Ends with Us plot summary:
Lily (Blake Lively) has recently lost her father. It’s clear they had a complicated relationship. Lily’s mother (Amy Morton) implores her to say five nice things about the man at his funeral, but she can’t.
After the funeral, Lily sneaks into a fancy apartment building with a nice rooftop to sit and think. She’s interrupted by a man violently throwing a chair in anger. When he sees he’s not alone, he apologizes, and introduces himself as Ryle. Ryle explains he’s a neurosurgeon and just lost a child on the surgery table. Lily and Ryle get to talking, and sparks fly. Lily tells Ryle that the first person she slept with was “a homeless kid,” which is a pretty wild way to phrase it! Especially considering the fact that it’s later revealed that “homeless kid” was actually Lily’s true love. But more on that later. Ryle propositions Lily for sex, explaining that he doesn’t do relationships. Lily turns him down, explaining that she doesn’t do casual.
Months later, Lily is working on her lifelong dream of opening a flower shop. She hires a random but enthusiastic passerby, Allysa (Jenny Slate), to help fix up the space. Allysa calls her husband (Hasan Minhaj) and brother to come help out… and that brother turns out to be none other than Ryle himself.
Despite Lily’s rejection, Ryle continues to pursue Lily until she sleeps with him. He then tells her that he wants to try a serious relationship, for her. At first, this seems to go really well. Sure, there’s one little incident where Ryle burns some eggs, and accidentally clocks Lily in the face when she tries to help him. But accidents happen. Ryle and Lily exchange “I love you’s,” and Ryle invites himself to dinner to come meet Lily’s mother. At the restaurant, Lily recognizes the server. It’s Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), a boy that Lily went to high school with.
In a series of flashbacks, we see that a young Lily extended kindness to a young Atlas when he was living out of an abandoned home. Atlas was kicked out of his house for fighting his mother’s abusive boyfriends. Atlas soon learns that Lily’s father abuses her mother, too. The two kids bond over their abusive parents, and fall in love. After graduation, Atlas says he is going into the marines, and will then move to Boston. The two parted ways, and never saw each other again… until they run into each other as adults in Atlas’s restaurant.
At the restaurant, Atlas sees that Lily has a black eye and that Ryle has an injured hand, from the burned eggs incident. He corners Lily in the bathroom to ask if Ryle is abusing her. She denies it, but he doesn’t believe her. He begs her to leave Ryle. Ryle interrupts them in the bathroom and is enraged. He calls Atlas “the homeless kid that Lily wasted her virginity on.” The two men get in a fight and are kicked out of the restaurant. Ryle makes Lily promise never to see Atlas again.
Later, Atlas comes to Lily’s shop to apologize. He asks if she is happy, and she insists that she is. Atlas is clearly still in love with Lily, but seems to accept this. He leaves her with his number, which he writes on a paper that he puts in her phone case, just in case she needs anything. More time passes. Things seem good, until Ryle finds Atlas’s number in the phone case. He storms out of the apartment, onto the stairs, and Lily rushes to follow him. She reaches for him… and loses her balance and falls down the stairs, seemingly by accident.
But the final straw comes with an article comes out listing Lily’s flower shop as one of the top 10 businesses in Boston. (Weirdly broad list, but ok!) Lily’s shop is in the top 10, but Atlas’s restaurant is the number one slot. In the article, there is a quote from Atlas explaining that he named his restaurant after a heart he once carved for a girl he loved in high school. Ryle sees this interview, and correctly deduces that the heart tattoo on Lily’s shoulder is for Atlas. Fueled by jealous desperation, Ryle attempts to rape Lily.
This is finally Lily’s last straw. She flees the apartment. As she does, we see flashbacks that reveal that the previous incidents were not accidents, despite what Ryle told Lily, and what she made herself believe. He struck her in the face and pushed her down the stairs. Lily goes to Atlas, who takes her to the hospital. There, Lily learns she is pregnant with Ryle’s baby. Atlas takes care of Lily, and when he says goodbye, he says to call him if she’s ever ready to be in love again.
It Ends with Us ending explained:
Over the next few months, Lily allows Ryle to help with the baby preparations, but she does not resume their romantic relationship. Ryle’s sister reveals to Lily that they had another brother, Emerson, who a 5-year-old Ryle accidentally killed. Ever since, he has trauma that manifests in bouts of rage. When their child is born, Lily suggests they name her Emerson, after Ryle’s brother. Ryle begs Lily to give him another chance. She asks him how he would feel if their daughter was with an abusive boyfriend. Ryle finally understands, and agrees to a divorce. Lily tells her baby “it ends with us,” meaning that the cycle of abuse stops here.
In the last scene of the movie, we catch up with Lily and her daughter a few years later, when Emerson is a toddler. Lily is walking through a farmer’s market, and sees Atlas. He asks if she’s still with Ryle, and she says no. She asks if Atlas if he’s seeing anybody, and he tells her, “No. Not yet.” Lily smiles, and the movie ends.
Who does Lily end up with in It Ends with Us?
Lily ends up with Atlas at the end of It Ends With Us. Though we don’t actually see Lily get back together with her high school boyfriend, it’s heavily implied in the final scene of the film that Atlas and Lily will re-start their romantic relationship. After all, why else would Lily so blatantly ask if Atlas was dating anyone? And why would she smile when he answers coyly that he’s not seeing anyone… yet.
It’s cheesy, sure. But this is a romance, people! Someone had to get the girl in the end. At least we know, based on the fact that Lily’s daughter is now a toddler, that she took a few years off from dating to just be on her own. Presumably, she now feels ready to date again. And why not? Atlas’s hot!
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