Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Uglies.The dystopian teen drama Uglies, adapted from Scott Westerfeld's 2005 novel of the same name, currently sits atop the Netflix movie charts. It presents a post-apocalyptic future after humans have squandered the Earth's natural resources and society collapses into chaos. A group of scientists was able to come up with a renewable energy source in the form of a genetically modified flower, and to prevent humans from dividing themselves into groups based on their differences, at age 16 everyone undergoes surgery that makes them "pretty." Enter Tally (Joey King), who can't wait to join her best friend Peris (Chase Stokes) in the City after her surgery, until her new friend Shay (Brianne Tju) introduces her to a life beyond the City in the Smoke, which is home to a group of rebels who reject the surgery and live in a small, self-sustainable community in the woods.
On Tally’s 16th birthday, instead of undergoing her long-awaited surgery, Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox) tasks her with infiltrating the Smoke to save Shay and find the weapon the Smokies are supposedly building to destroy the City. After spending some time in the Smoke, Tally soon learns the things she'd been told by Dr. Cable aren't what they seem, falling for Smokies' leader David (Keith Powers) and ready to leave her old life behind until Cable tracks her down and captures them. The Smokies are able to escape in the end, but Tally stays behind, becoming Pretty as she'd previously always wanted to be, but why is her scar still there?
Surgery Is Used To Control the City’s Population
Image via Netflix
Image via Netflix
Image via Netflix
Image via Netflix
Image via Netflix
Image via Netflix
Tally has spent her entire young life dreaming of the day she'll become a Pretty, planning exactly how she'd like to look after her surgery — long legs, a more symmetrical face, and golden eyes to match her new hair color. Since Peris turns 16 two months before her, they agree to meet up on the bridge so he can tell her all about his life as a Pretty, but when Peris doesn't show, Tally tracks him down in the City to discover the surgery changed both his appearance and personality. He doesn't even recognize her at first, but promises they'll continue being friends only after she becomes a Pretty. Tally is most disappointed to learn that Peris broke his promise and didn't keep the scar on his hand that matches the one on hers, a symbol of their friendship erased by the surgery.
Unbeknownst to Tally (and the rest of the population), the surgery not only alters their physical appearance but causes brain lesions, leaving the patients docile and content with their perfect lives as Pretties. After infiltrating the Smokies at Dr. Cable's request, Tally starts to warm up to life outside the City and bonds with David, who was born in the Smoke and doesn't prioritize prettiness as Tally has been raised to. It's only when David introduces Tally to his parents, Az (Jay DeVon Johnson) and Maddy (Charmin Lee), that she finds out the truth about the operation she's always looked forward to.
Years ago, Az and Maddy were both scientists who discovered how dangerous these surgeries really were, causing brain lesions that dull the patients' emotions, preventing them from thinking clearly and lulling them into a false sense of happiness. Some are even given additional surgeries to turn them into mindless soldiers. After their discovery, Az and Maddy fled the City to live in the Smoke and work on creating a cure for the lesions, but they're missing a synthetic component that can only be found in the City. They were able to create a base serum, but only when it's combined with this synthetic component will it be able to heal the lesions. After learning the horrifying truth about the surgery, Tally tosses the tracker necklace Dr. Cable gave her into the fire, intent on abandoning her old life and staying in the Smoke for good. The destruction of the tracker, however, sends a signal back to Dr. Cable, who soon arrives with her troops. They round up and capture all the rebels to bring them back to the City and force them to undergo the mind-altering operation, starting with Shay.
Tally Is Turned Pretty at the End of 'Uglies'
Before they're captured and hauled back to the City, Maddy sneaks a vial of the serum into David's pocket. Tally and David are able to escape Dr. Cable and her troops, but return to the City to rescue the rest of the Smokies. With help from the Uglies, they're able to infiltrate the City and bust Maddy and the rest of the Smokies out of their cell, but it's too late for Shay, who has already been turned into a Pretty. Just as Tally, David, and Maddy are about to be subjected to the surgery themselves, one of the Smokies shows up in a helicopter, setting the lab ablaze and allowing them to escape with Shay. Only Peris, who was turned into one of Dr. Cable's mindless soldiers, stands in their way. The explosion caused a piece of glass to get lodged in Peris' hand in the same place his old scar used to be when he was still an Ugly. Tally shows him her own scar in an attempt to get him to remember their past friendship, but he attacks her anyway, and David comes to her rescue. Peris only starts to recognize Tally as he's dangling from the edge of the building, remembering her nickname Squint right before he falls into the water below.
They escape to the ruins at the edge of the city, and Maddy reveals that she was able to snag a vial of the synthetic component she needed to complete the formula and create the cure for the brain lesions. Since the procedure has already altered Shay's mind, she doesn't want to be cured, and Maddy refuses to perform a medical experiment on an unwilling subject. Instead, it's Tally who offers to test the cure, choosing to undergo the surgery and become a Pretty so that Maddy can administer the cure afterward. Now having discovered who she really is, Tally is confident in her ability to come out of the procedure with her real identity intact, and promises to leave David a sign that the real her is still there.
Uglies ends with Tally showing off her perfect new life as a Pretty, but, before the credits roll, we see that the scar on Tally's palm is still there, suggesting her mind hasn't been totally altered by the surgery and some part of the old Tally remains. When Paris had his surgery, he had no knowledge of life beyond the City and was totally brainwashed, and only when he got a new cut on his hand did he start to remember his old life. Tally, however, knows the ugly truth about the world she was raised in, and her remaining scar is a symbol of her resistance and potential to return to her true self after receiving the cure.
There are four books in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, and this ending definitely leaves room for a potential sequel, Pretties, which still hasn't been confirmed.
Uglies is available to stream on Netflix in the US.