Warning! Spoilers for Netflix’s Uglies movie and the Uglies book series ahead!
Netflix’sUgliesended with a rather ambiguous scene—so what does it mean? The movie, based on the popular YA sci-fi novel by Scott Westerfeld, follows Tally Youngblood, a teenager living in a dystopian future where everyone is required to get an operation when they turn 16. After they are beautiful from head to toe, they are moved to a section of the city called New Pretty Town—a party center for only Pretties. However, The Uglies, those 15 and under, must remain in Uglyville across the river, dreaming of the day they will finally be beautiful.
Tally’s best friend Peris turned 16 before her inUglies, so she was forced to wait the summer before she could finally get the operation and join him. During this period, Tally met Shay, a fellow Ugly celebrating the same birthday. However, just before they were both set to go under the knife, Shay ran away to a wild community calledthe Smoke, populated entirely by Uglies escaping the operation. Tally is forced to follow her friend by the city leader, Dr. Cable, with a pendant she would set off once she had found a weapon held by someone named David. Of course, nothing turned out as Tally had expected.
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Why Tally Gets The Pretty Operation & What That Last Shot Of Her Scar Means
Tally’s Operation Changed Her Mind - Or Did it?
At the end ofUglies, after Dr. Cable had used Tally’s pendant to track her and sack the Smoke, Tally and David set out for the city to free their friends. Unfortunately, they got there too late to save everyone. Shay had already been turned into a Pretty by the time Tally and David arrived and set the Smokies free. Of course, David’s mother, Maddy, had grabbed the cure for the Pretty lesions in the city so they could return Shay’s mind to how it had been. However, she wouldn’t consent, andMaddy refused to experiment with an untested drug on an unwilling subject.
Tally had a solution to this dilemma, however. She volunteered to become Pretty herself, surrending herself to Dr. Cable to undergo the operation.The final scene ofUgliessaw Tally walking through her new, beautiful apartment, with much longer hair and a perfectly symmetrical, glowing face.She seemed content in her environment, enthralled by the lovely view of New Pretty Town from the window and cheerfully telling her room’s interface that she felt great. However,the final shot is of Tally’s hand, which still has the scarshe had dedicated to her friendship with Peris.
Earlier in the movie, Peris had his scar removed afterbecoming Pretty, even though he had genuinely promised his friend that he would keep it forever. This was Tally’s first clue that Pretties weren’t what they seemed—that the operation didn’t just make their bodies beautiful but gave them pretty little minds as well. The fact that Tallystill had her scar even after becoming Pretty meant that she hadn’t entirely lost her Ugly self. She was still Tally, and she was ready for David to bring the cure to New Pretty Town.
How The Cure Works In Uglies & David’s Plan Explained
Tally Being Pretty Is Only The First Step
The cure inUglieswas developed by David’s mother, Maddy, who had been one of the surgeons in Tally’s city responsible for performing the cosmetic portion of the operation. While researching ways to make the operation safer, Maddy and her husband, Az, discovered the lesions, and the knowledge that the city was exercising total control over the minds of its citizens inspired them to run away and find the Smoke. Over the decades,they developed half of the cure, but the other half was only obtained when the Smokies escaped the city.
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Maddy’s cure is meant to eat away the Pretty brain lesions—but it’s risky. She can’t know for sure that it works until she tests it on an actual Pretty, but any subject would need to provide informed consent before Maddy could ethically experiment on them. Shay demonstrated how impossible a task this would be. As feisty as she had been as an Ugly, the very nature of the lesions meant she was entirely content to be beautiful and mindless. This is why Tally’s sacrifice was necessary. She gave Maddy consent before going under the knife.
David’s plan at the end of Uglies is to come find Tally in New Pretty town after her operation, bring her back to the Smokies, and give her the cure.
David’s plan at the end ofUgliesis to come find Tally in New Pretty town after her operation, bring her back to the Smokies, and give her the cure. However, this would be nearly impossible if therealTally was entirely gone. So,he asked her to provide a sign that she had broken at least somewhat free of her Pretty mind(like Peris had), which is where Tally’s scar comes in.
What Happened To Peris – Is He Dead?
Peris' Fall Looked Pretty Serious
When Tally refuses to help Dr. Cable bring Shay back from the Smoke, the woman pulls out the best weapon she has: Peris. Tally’s best friend was the one person who could convince her to betray Shay. However, while he was successful,talking to Tally made Peris come out of his pretty-mindedness ever so slightly. Dr. Cable told him that this sometimes happened for some new Pretties—that he is among the exceptional few whose mind is capable of more. So, she put him back under the knife, turning him into a superhuman soldier called a Special.
Rather than passive and content, the Special operation makes a person more aggressive.
Netflix’sUgliesdidn’t get too into describing what a Special is, and Peris becoming one of them never happened in Westerfeld’s book. However, this twist allowed Tally the unique opportunity to see just how far her city would go to keep control. Like Pretties, Specials' minds are altered, but in the opposite way. Rather than passive and content, the Special operation makes a person more aggressive.It’s for this reason, at the end ofUglies,that Peris fought David even after Tally had nearly gotten through to him.
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Ultimately, Peris' big fight with David led to him falling off the dam, and survival didn’t look likely. However,Specials are made to be almost indestructible. Their skeletons are reinforced and nearly unbreakable, and they heal at an alarming rate. Hopefully, a potentialUgliessequel will reveal that Peris survived the fall after all, which would be incredibly heartwarming since he had just remembered himself before the edge broke under his fingers.
What David’s “Beautiful” Line To Tally Really Means
It Was Exactly What Tally Needed
Before Tally headed back to the city to become Pretty at the end ofUglies, David told her she was beautiful. This is meaningful because this would have been entirely unthinkable to Tally before her experience at the Smoke. The operation made every citizen so beautiful thateven the most attractive natural people would have been consideredugly inUglies. People like Tally were conditioned to believe anything short of perfection was hideous. Even without the lesions, the people inUglieswere already brainwashed.
Even without the lesions, the people in Uglies were already brainwashed.
David, on the other hand, was raised outside the city surrounded by natural faces. He wasn’t conditioned to be used to perfection, so he was able to see the natural beauty in Tally. The fact that Tally believed him demonstrated that she had begun to undo her brainwashing. Of course, there’s some poetic irony to the fact thatTally only embraced her natural beauty just before finally getting her old dream of becoming a Pretty.
How Uglies' Ending Sets Up Uglies 2
There’s Room For A Pretties Movie Down The Line
Netflix handledUglies’ending in a way that it doesn’t necessarily have to have a sequel. By showing Tally as a Pretty with her scar, it’s implied that she will get the cure and that a revolution will begin. However,Westerfeld’sUglieswas part of a book trilogy, with a sequel calledPrettiesand a threequel titledSpecials. Tally’s story takes many more big twists and turns after she surrenders herself to become a Pretty, and it can certainly be hoped that Netflix will keep the ball rolling with a second movie to bring all this action to the screen.
Scott Westerfeld later published a fourth book in theUgliesseries,Extras, in 2007, and a four-book spinoff series (Imposters,Shatter City,Mirror’s Edge, andYoungbloods) between 2018 and 2022.
The big question at the end ofUgliesis how much of the real Tally is still there. While she has the scar on her hand, she has still received the brain lesions, and that won’t change until she eventually gets the cure. Of course, Maddy wasn’t entirely sure that the cure would work and warned Tally that the risk was permanent, devastating brain damage. A potentialPrettiesmovie adaptation would explore this, as well as Tally’s new life in New Pretty Town.There’s a lot left to the storyand many more invasive operations to be had.
Uglies
Cast
In a futuristic society where everyone undergoes compulsory cosmetic surgery at 16 to become “pretty,” Tally eagerly awaits her transformation. However, when her friend goes missing, she embarks on a journey that challenges her beliefs about beauty, conformity, and rebellion, ultimately questioning the foundations of their world.
