Summary
- The logistics of the Tethered community's underground existence and how they fit there remain unexplained in the Us movie.
- The movie provides little information about how the Tethered were able to organize a nationwide attack without effective communication.
- The reasons why Adelaide and the other Tethered couldn't escape or return to the above-ground world are left unclear in the film.
While the Us movie explained a little about its strange mythology and shocking twists, the 2019 horror movie still left many unanswered questions. Jordan Peele’s second unnerving horror film, Us portrays a family under attack by masked figures who turn out to be exact clones of themselves. This reveals a hidden society of doppelgängers known as the Tethered, living underground and mindlessly mimicking their counterparts on the surface who are now ready to make their move.
Us director Jordan Peele uses the horrors of the movie as a vehicle to discuss issues of classism, otherness, and gain at the expense of another’s loss. While the larger meaning behind this movie is what makes Us so important and disturbing, the concept of the movie is so intriguing that it is hard not to dive deeper into the idea and explore all the unanswered questions. By the end, the audience only has an idea of the Tethered and their world, with answers still needed for the truth of the Us movie explained in full.
Us is available to stream on Netflix.
12 How Can The Tethered Communities Logically Work?
The Us Movie's Premise Leaves A Lot Of Questions
The only real glimpse at the world of the Tethered as they operated underground is seen as Adelaide recounts the night she and Red met. The flashback shows how the underground mirrored the beach fair with Tethered clones crowded in classrooms and doorways to mimic being on rollercoasters and eating at the food court. It gives the idea that there is truly a Tethered for every person on the surface world, but it doesn't make sense that they could all fit underground.
Us attempts to address the idea with the opening line indicating America has a number of undiscovered underground tunnels across the country. However true that may be, there is not enough underground space to fit the entire population worth of Tethered. Exactly how duplicates of every single human are able to physically fit on Earth still isn't really explained by the ending of Us.
11 How Did The Tethered Organize?
The Tethered's Plan Would Have Required A Lot Of Communication
Along the same lines as the improbable numbers of Tethered fitting underground, the Us movie explained very little about how they were able to organize a nationwide attack so effectively. Though the underground tunnels may stretch far and wide, they wouldn't reach everywhere, which means Adelaide's Tethered community would have had to find a way to communicate with the Tethered in other parts of the country. While they had decades to plan it, it is hard to imagine a way of doing this that doesn't include them coming above ground.
10 Why Couldn't Adelaide Return To The Above Ground World After She Was Kidnapped By Red?
It's Unclear What's Stopping The Tethered Or Adelaide Escaping
At the end of Us, a quintessential plot twist is revealed: the woman thought to be Adelaide was actually kidnapped as a child by her clone, Red, who replaced her in the above-ground world. Adelaide was knocked unconscious and chained to Red’s bed so that she couldn’t follow her back out. However, she isn’t kept in those chains forever. As the only truly sentient being underground, it would seem like Adelaide could figure out a way to get back to the real world.
She is able to funnel all of the Tethered into the real world to enact her revenge, so presumably finding her own way out wouldn't be difficult. It brings up similar questions too, such as what was keeping the rest of the Tethered from following Red's escape — suggesting there might be something keeping them underground. However, it is also possible that, in time, Adelaide felt she couldn't abandon the others.
9 How Was Red Able To Adapt So Well To The Above Ground World?
The Plot Twist In Us Opens A Lot Of Questions About Red
When Red kidnaps Adelaide and takes her place, it is clear that her parents notice that there is something off about her. They take her to a child psychologist, who concludes that her change in character is from the trauma of being "lost" in Santa Cruz. However, considering that Red came from an underground world and had never spoken before, it's a wonder that she was able to adapt at all.
Pluto is a member of the Tethered who comes above ground at around the age Red would have. Yet, his movements are animalistic, he is unable to speak, and it seems unlikely that he could ever learn to blend in with the real world. Still, Red somehow learns to adapt to the above-ground world so seamlessly that no one, other than Jason, suspects a thing.
8 Did Red Forget That She Was One Of The Tethered?
Red Could Have Blocked Memories Of Her Old Life
At the end of Us, Red is able to kill Adelaide, whose life she stole many years ago. As Adelaide dies, she whistles to the tune of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," the exact song she whistled before she was kidnapped in the hall of mirrors. One theory that could explain why Red is so easily able to steal someone else's life is that, through time and extensive psychotherapy, she convinced herself that the Tethered and her life below ground never really happened.
Perhaps, until the moment when Adelaide whistled this familiar tune, Red had convinced herself that her clone, the hall of mirrors, and the underground were all just a bad dream that left her with a terrible sense of unease. The whistle could then have acted as a trigger, reminding Red of all she had done.
7 Will Jason Let Slip Red's Secret?
The Youngest Wilson May Know About Adelaide's Fate
After the plot twist is revealed, the final scene in Us depicts Red’s son Jason giving her a knowing look before pulling his mask down over his face. It is implied from this scene that Jason knows that Red is one of the Tethered.
Jason’s silence and the act of pulling the mask over his face implies that he is choosing to remain silent about Red’s secret, but it leaves a very important lingering question. Jason could be accepting of who his mother was and the implications of what she had done, or he could remain quiet out of fear. The moment Red comes to rescue him, it takes him a moment to accept that it is his mother and not her doppelgänger, suggesting he remains suspicious now.
6 Was Jason Actually One Of The Tethered?
The Movie Keeps Jason's True Origins Vague
On that note, a popular fan theory exists that Jason, like his mother, was originally one of the Tethered and at some point made the switch to living above ground. This theory is used to explain Jason's knowing look towards Red at the end of the film. If this were the case, it would explain why Jason is complicit with the knowledge that Red is one of the Tethered. The theory adds another element to the movie, as Jason is seen as an outsider and has trouble fitting in. However, rather than being a clue to his true nature as a Tethered, it could speak to the movie's overall theme of otherness.
5 What Happened To Pluto's Face?
The Us Movie Explained Little About The Youngest Tethered's Mask
Jason's Tethered counterpart, Pluto, is first seen wearing a leather mask, which he later removes to reveal that the lower part of his face is severely scarred from burns. It is unclear exactly how or why this happened to Pluto.
Early in the film, Jason is frequently seen playing with fire, so, presumably, Pluto would have had to mimic this habit. Yet, if Jason was never injured, it leaves the question of why Pluto was. It is possible that, since the humans reap the benefits of life while the Tethered suffer, this could have applied to Jason and Pluto. Jason plays with fire and avoids injury, while Pluto gets burned. Still, the true nature of the accident is never explained.
4 Why Was Red So Upset When Umbrae and Pluto Died?
Red May Still Have Maternal Feelings For The Tethered Children
The Wilsons are the only family in Us that is able to defeat their Tethered counterparts. Gabe Kills Abraham, Zora throws Umbrae off of the car, and Jason tricks Pluto into walking into a fire. In the scenes where Umbrae and Pluto die, Red is visibly upset. She consoles Umbrae while she is dying and screams when Pluto walks into the fire. Red made the switch with Adelaide at a very young age, so it stands to reason that Zora and Jason are her real children.
Perhaps it was just too painful to watch the deaths of children who looked so much like her own. However, it could also be a sense of guilt that implies Red does remember her time as a Tethered and sees these Tethered children as the ones she was meant to have, but found a new life.
3 Why Exactly Did The Government Create The Tethered?
The Purpose Of The Murderous Clones Remains Unclear
Adelaide explains that the Tethered were created by the government in order to control their human counterparts, but they'd abandoned their creation underground when the experiment failed. While Jordan Peele's Us movie explained how the Tethered were created, it does not give a complete explanation as to why. There is the vague idea of the government attempting to use the program to control what people do only for the opposite to happen, but it leaves a further question of why they would knowingly leave all these Tethered people around when the project failed, knowing it worked to some degree.
2 Can The Tethered Only Kill The Original Versions Of Themselves?
The Tethered May Need To Kill Their Counterparts Themselves
There is no real reason that the Tethered could not kill indiscriminately. Yet, each time, the Tethered only deliver the final blow to their counterparts. Kitty's Tethered, Dahlia, even has the opportunity to kill Red when she handcuffs her in the Tyler's home. Dahlia brings her pair of scissors to Red's face but hesitates and turns away angrily. However, there is also a moment in which Umbrae attacks a man who approaches her in the street, but it is unclear if she kills him or just injures him. Killing their own counterpart may be seen as a necessary part of taking their place on the surface world.
1 What Will The Tethered Do Now?
The Us Movie Explained Little About The Tethered's Next Steps
Us ends with a final iconic shot of the Tethered, now above ground, holding hands across the country to form a giant human chain after killing their original counterparts. Adelaide has revealed that she was the one to train the Tethered as soldiers to kill their counterparts and that she used “Hands Across America” as a symbolic statement for the Tethered.
However, after Adelaide is killed the mindless Tethered are left without a leader, holding hands for no real reason in a world in which the people they used to mimic are dead. It is possible that they never had a plan afterward and simply wanted to free themselves of their life underground, what what happens for the Tethered next is perhaps the biggest unanswered question in Us.