Recursion

Back in his New Jersey house, Barry finds Julia in their bedroom. He lies next to her, remembering their divorce in the other timeline. He starts to panic that this timeline might vanish, but he forces himself to relax.

In the morning, Barry wakes up next to Julia. He goes to Meghan’s doorway and watches her sleep. He begins to feel like the other reality was a nightmare, and this one is real. Later, he wanders around the house. He throws out his cigarettes, does chores, and tries not to panic. He begs the world not to take this reality away. 

Helena has been feeling very strange about what they’re doing, but she has gone back to working, exercising, and socializing on the rig. They’re about to run their ninth test on Reed, but Slade announces the test is off. He says they already ran the test today, trying to send Reed back to the memory of getting his tattoo, but Reed died in the process. Slade pulled them back in time, before they completed the test, with a memory of cutting himself shaving that morning.

Helena realizes that Reed died because the tattoo memory wasn’t from this timeline. He couldn’t return to that moment because it had never happened. She guesses that Slade did this intentionally. He shrugs it off, saying he’s curious about dead timelines.

They catch up to that timeline. Everyone gets headaches and nosebleeds, remembering the failed test. Reed remembers dying. He saw his whole life, including a very loving memory of being an infant with his family on the Jersey Shore. He begins crying and says they shouldn’t have brought him back. 

Barry is integrating into his prior life. He talks to Meghan about college and boys. He cries a lot but blames it on quitting smoking. Every day, he’s afraid it will all dissolve, but it never does.

Slade visits Helena after dinner and tells her Reed has hung himself. He says he will “get him back” by traveling back to another memory. Helena says they should respect Reed’s choice to die, but Slade says, “Not while he’s still under my employ” (121).

That night, Helena thinks about her distrust for Slade. She realizes she’ll never use the chair to help her mom, but she can’t just leave. If she did, Slade could travel back in time and imprison her. She reflects that there’s only one way off the rig.

Barry is working hard, exercising, drinking less, and spending more time with his family. He is trying to be in love with Julia again.

He sees his mother, who he knows will die in the coming years. He is grateful to know this will happen, because he is able to say goodbye. He wonders if Déjà vu is the shadow of alternate timelines.

Helena is sitting at her old desk in Palo Alto across from Jee-woon, who is offering her the job on the rig. At 3am that morning, she had used the memory chair to return to this moment. Jee-woon offers Helena the job for the second time, and she accepts.

Barry’s life continues, and he starts to feel normal.

After accepting the job, Helena gets into her Jeep, drives home, packs her possessions, and closes her bank accounts. She gets on the highway, throwing out her credit card, and she flips a coin to decide where to go. She stays the night at a motel, thinking about calling her parents, but she decides against it in case Slade uses them against her. She crushes her phone.

A few weeks later, she makes it to northern Canada. Using a fake name, she rents a room over a tavern in Haines Junction. She considers killing Slade, but she concludes she doesn’t have it in her.

Two years later, she gets a fake ID and moves to Anchorage, where she volunteers as a neuroscience research assistant working with Alzheimer's patients. She keeps potassium chloride tablets with her in case Slade captures her and she needs to kill herself.

Three years after going into hiding, Helena visits her mom in her elder care facility. She’s sure Slade is looking for her by now, and he likely has spies in the facility. She’s prepared to take the tablets if she’s found.

Helena enters Dorothy’s room. It smells like cleaning products, pee, and cafeteria food. Dorothy doesn’t recognize Helena, even when Helena explains who she is. Helena tells Dorothy that she built her chair, but she apologizes for failing in her work. They talk a little more, although Dorothy still doesn’t understand who Helena is. Suddenly, Dorothy appears lucid. She says she’s always been proud of Helena. Helena hugs her mom. When she pulls back, the moment of lucidity is over.

Meghan graduates high school and goes to college. Julia and Barry separate. Barry’s mother dies. Years later, Barry is driving home and finds the street is closed due to an FMS-related suicide. Barry discovers the woman who committed suicide was Ann Voss Peters.

On Meghan’s 26th birthday, Barry is very conscious he’s reliving the day. At 3am, Julia bangs on Barry’s door, crying, convinced she has FMS. Barry realizes they’ve caught up with the original timeline, and now Julia, Meghan, all their friends have gained the memories of Meghan’s death.

They rush to Meghan’s apartment. She’s collapsed on the floor. Barry tells her and Julia about Hotel Memory.

Barry skips work, waking to numerous messages asking about Meghan. He meets Julia and Meghan at a bar. Meghan’s nose starts bleeding, and Julia and Barry get headaches. On TV, the newscaster’s nose bleeds. The TV cuts to footage of a huge building that has suddenly appeared in Manhattan.

They drive to the building—which, they remember, is called the Big Bend. Barry discovers an alternate memory of taking Meghan for dinner in the Big Bend after she finished her degree.

Two hours later, Barry meets Gwen and explains everything. On TV, a reporter announces Amor Towles, the Big Bend’s architect, has been murdered. Meghan sends Barry an alarming text saying she doesn’t know who she is. Barry rushes out.

Meghan’s building is on fire. A firefighter tells Barry that Meghan committed suicide with pills and accidentally started the fire. Barry sees her body under a sheet and collapses.

Two hours later, at the entrance of Hotel Memory, Barry is considering calling Gwen and forcing their way in. A short, red-headed woman calls him by name, shouting not to call Gwen. She says she’s Helena Smith and that storming the hotel would be disastrous.