Don't Worry Darling ending explained: The reality is a little unnerving

The aptly named Olivia Wilde film is a cowardly way to say, 'Don't Worry Darling,' to someone you love and for whom you cannot, and are not willing to, do anything. Instead, one finds a shortcut that might give the person an illusion of a perfect life, but in reality, it's an unnerving experience when a person becomes aware of it.

It plays out on a common trope, which is, 'it's all in your mind,' and it takes a mental toll when you break free from that mental prison. It's just like Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One (2018), but at least the users there are aware of a virtual world we usually call a metaverse.

In Don't Worry Darling, this metaverse-like place is too real to be true. Florence Pugh's Alice becomes aware of this. She lives quite a luxurious life in a Californian desert, much like Wes Anderson's Asteroid City (2023). But at least Asteroid City is real.

Where is Alice escaping to in that car chase scene at the end?

It's all happening in a simulation. (Image via Warner Bros.)

In the final moments, Florence Pugh's Alice is driving a car while other cars chase her. What's happening here is that she is reaching the Victory Headquarters, a place in this virtual world where people, especially ladies of the city, are prohibited.

In actuality, it's an exit from this virtual world. It's located at the top of the hill, and as Alice now knows that she is in a simulation and the only way to leave here is to reach the Victory Headquarters. She is desperate to get out of there. Her husband, Jack (Harry Styles), has robbed her of her life, which she mentions before getting into a fight with her and killing him.

Alice and, of course, Jack, aren't the only ones in Don't Worry Darling who know about this simulation thing.

Her neighbor Bunny (Olivia Wilde) knows it because she chose to stay there as her child died in reality, but is alive here (seriously, Wanda should have considered this instead of dreamwalking).

Gemma Chan's Shelley knows about the reality, too. That doesn't come as a surprise, as she is the wife of this virtual world's creator, Frank (Chris Pine).

What's the reality of Don't Worry Darling?

A few people know about the simulation. (Image via Warner Bros.)

The reality hits hard in Don't Worry Darling. It's no less than a horror scene. Frank, who seems like a decent gentleman throughout the film, is actually a ragtag with long hair and a spec. He looks like a hacker.

The most disheartening scene comes when we see Alice on a bed, and it looks like she is suspended in a coma. She is actually a hardworking woman in real life, which is what she wanted, and which is why she is angry, as her husband took her life away. While he thinks he is giving her a decent life, he is actually trying to control her, thinking that all this is good for her. Though he clearly is wrong.

Who's the real villain of Don't Worry Darling?

It seems like Chris Pine's Frank is the real villain of the movie, and in a way he is. He created this world, which is no short of a living hell. However, he isn't the real villain. Jack is the real villain in Don't Worry Darling, who chose this way for her wife. He is a coward who avoided hard work like his wife and pulled them into this.

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