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‘Blink Twice’ Ending Explained: What Happens in Zoe Kravitz’s Film?
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‘Blink Twice’ Ending Explained: What Happens in Zoe Kravitz’s Film?

“Blink Twice,” a new psychological thriller co-written and directed by Zoë Kravitz, is full of surprises.

Kravitz’s directorial debut stars Naomi Ackie as Frida, a cocktail waitress and aspiring nail technician in desperate need of a vacation. She meets tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) while working at an extravagant gala for his company, King-Tech. Frida charms her way into a trip to his private island with her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat).

The phone is quickly handed in and Frida loses her daily routine as she falls into a vicious cycle of drinking, smoking, drug use and partying with Slater and his gang.

It’s not long before Frida begins noticing disturbing oddities, like unexplained dirt under her fingernails and a maid who kills the island’s poisonous snakes.

Once Frida begins to map out the sinister events on the island, the action kicks into high gear.

Below is a summary of the film’s climax and satisfying ending.

Frida and Sarah join forces to take down Slater and the men who abuse and exploit the women.


Naomi Ackie as Frida and Adria Arjona as Sarah "Blink twice."

Naomi Ackie as Frida and Adria Arjona as Sarah in “Blink Twice.”

Amazon MGM Studios



Slater is initially presented as a charming billionaire who credits therapy with changing his life. But his sadistic behavior becomes more apparent later in the film.

After being bitten by a viper one night, Jess decides she’s had enough of the island. But Frida has no desire to leave, because for the first time in her life, she’s not invisible. The next day, Frida wakes up and goes about her usual routine: she sprays herself with a perfume made from a red desideria flower that’s unique to the island, dresses in the same white outfit, and joins the rest of the group for another day of relaxation.

When a maid gives Frida a green liquid to drink that is actually snake venom, she begins to recover fragments of memories. Another guest on the island, Sarah (Adria Arjona), confides in Frida, saying she’s having a good time but also has a strange feeling that something is off — especially since none of the women except Frida remember Jess, who disappeared without explanation.

Frida and Sarah discover that the perfume erases the women’s memories and that snake venom is the key to remembering. To help the other women regain their memories without arousing suspicion, Frida and Sarah give them tequila shots laced with venom. Stacey (Geena Davis), Slater’s absent-minded assistant, also brings shots of venom.


Naomi Ackie as Frida and Adria Arjona as Sarah "Blink twice."

Ackie as Frida and Arjona as Sarah in “Blink Twice.”

Carlos Somonte/Amazon MGM Studios



Frida regains more of her memories and learns that Jess was murdered by the men because the snakebite prevented her from forgetting. Additionally, Frida and the other women are subjected to varying degrees of sexual violence by Slater and the other men every night.

In another flashback, Slater’s trauma therapist Rich (Kyle MacLachlan), who specializes in repressed memories, wonders how Frida will remember nothing of the terrible things that happen. The more traumatic the experience, the less Frida remembers, Slater tells him.

Back in the present, Slater notices the women acting strangely at dinner, so Frida and Sarah start a dance party to create a distraction. The action immediately begins when Camilla (Liz Caribe) and Heather (Trew Mullen) regain their memories.

Camilla stabs Tom (Haley Joel Osment) to death and Heather hits Vic (Christian Slater) in the head with a chessboard. Stan (Cris Costa), Slater’s guard, shoots Heather and chases Frida into the woods. Just as Stan is about to shoot Frida, Sarah hits him over the head with a huge rock, killing him. Slater then kills Camilla by stepping on her neck.

Stacey, meanwhile, is angry that Frida reminded her and tries to kill her. Frida stabs Stacey to death in defense and Sarah shoots Cody (Simon Rex) dead.

Among Slater’s collection of photos of previous guests, Frida finds an old Polaroid of herself with a completely different hairdo, revealing that she has been to his island before, but that those memories have been erased.


Naomi Ackie as Frida in "Blink twice."

Ackie as Frida in “Blink Twice.”

Amazon MGM Studios



Frida and Sarah then walk to Slater’s compound — where he has barricaded himself, Vic, and Lucas (Levon Hawke) — armed with a knife and a gun. As Frida enters the building, Sarah shoots Lucas from a distance, killing him instantly.

As she fights Slater, Frida begins to recall more memories. She reveals that the scar on the side of her face (which Slater had asked her about earlier) came from an incident in the woods with Slater during her previous visit to the island.

Slater ties Frida up and tells her that there is no such thing as forgiveness, only forgetting—and Frida is great at forgetting, having forgotten the island completely after her last visit. He also says that the world would be a better place if people were freed from remembering things.

Slater also suggests that he and his sister were abused by an older man. This is presumably the traumatic event that happened to him before he was 10 and which left him with few memories of that period, as he tells Frida earlier in the film.

Slater is interrupted by Sarah entering the grounds. He runs after her, leaving Frida on the ground.

Slater drags Sarah into the room where Frida, who has cut herself with a shard of glass, is holding the knife. Slater grabs her knife and Frida thinks he is going to kill her, but he says he won’t because she is his best friend.

As Slater is about to slit Sarah’s throat, he takes a drag on his vape pen and suddenly becomes disoriented. It turns out that when Frida freed herself from the ropes, she also laced his vape with the memory-erasing perfume he had been using on the women.

Slater trips and falls, knocking over several candles and starting a fire. Before the complex is completely engulfed in flames, presumably finishing off a seriously injured Vic, Frida and Sarah pull Slater out.

“I need a vacation,” Frida says to Sarah.

Frida eventually gets what she wants.


Alia Shawkat as Jess and Naomi Ackie as Frida "Blink twice."

Shawkat as Jess and Ackie as Frida in “Blink Twice.”

Amazon MGM Studios



Frida, Sarah and Slater are the only survivors of the journey. It is unclear what exactly happened after the big fight, but Frida’s life has changed drastically and she has successfully climbed the social ladder.

The film concludes with another King-Tech gala, presumably the following year.

At the event, Rich approaches Slater and asks if they can continue their conversation. But Slater seems confused by what the man is talking about. Frida, who is now married to Slater and has a longer haircut, interrupts the doctor and tells him that they will be in Beijing next week, so he will not be available.

Frida then hands Slater his vape fluid, which most likely contains the memory-erasing substance desideria, and tells him to eat his steak. Her comment is a callback to earlier in the film, during the first dinner on the island, when Slater tells Frida that he doesn’t eat red meat and she chooses not to eat it either in solidarity with him.

Now the dynamic has been reversed; it appears that Frida is regularly manipulating Slater’s memories through his vape fluid and controlling him.

Then a man on stage calls her Frida King, the CEO of King-Tech. Everyone at the gala applauds her and the film ends with Frida having her champagne glass refilled by a cocktail waitress.

The final scene emphasizes the way the film explores the power and dynamics between men and women.


Naomi Ackie as Frida and Channing Tatum as Slater King in "Blink twice."

Ackie as Frida and Tatum as Slater King in “Blink Twice.”

Amazon MGM Studios



The final scene is a full circle moment for Frida, who is no longer invisible. Instead, she is in a position of power and not subordinate to a man.

“I wanted to see a story that explored what could happen when women broke the rules,” Kravitz wrote in a statement included with the production notes for “Blink Twice.”

Kravitz, who grew up in Hollywood with parents Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, said she saw, experienced and heard things that inspired her to make a film about the dynamics between men and women. Kravitz added that the film is not about any one person.

“This is about people“, she wrote. “Women are told to smile all the time, every day. We are expected to ‘forget’ moments of discomfort, fear, and abuse and continue to pretend we are having a good time. We are expected to play the game.”

The film ends on a well-deserved note for Frida, who is completely in control and calls the shots, while Slater has become her empty-headed puppet.

“This is not a story about empowerment,” Kravitz said. “This is a story about power.”

“Blink Twice” is in theaters now.