Sadly, school shootings have become a common event in the U.S. in recent decades. Too many teenagers are afraid of being killed by a gunman along with their classmates every time they go to school. After each tragic shooting, news teams cover the event for a week or so, but once they leave, the students and their families are left to cope with the emotional effects.
It’s this emotional impact that writer/director Megan Park explores in her new movie The Fallout, which started streaming on HBO Max today.
The movie stars Jenna Ortega as a high school student named Vada Cavell, who, although not physically hurt, deals with the emotional trauma of a shooting at her school. Even with such a serious topic, the film includes moments of unexpected humor. However, when it comes to the ending of The Fallout, the movie delivers a powerful emotional blow that will leave viewers shocked.
The Fallout Plot Summary
Vada Cavell (Jenna Ortega) is a high school student living a relaxed life. She goes to Starbucks with her best friend Nick (Will Ropp) before school, helps her younger sister Amelia (Lumi Pollack) through her first period, and teases her school’s Instagram influencer Mia (Maddie Ziegler) for contouring on picture day.
Then something terrible happens that changes everything for Vada: a shooting at her school kills an unknown number of her classmates. Vada is stuck in the school bathroom during the attack, hiding in a stall with Mia, and later a student named Quinton (Niles Fitch), who is covered in blood. They try to stay quiet as they hear gunshots and screams, wondering if they’ll survive the day.
Everyone in the bathroom survives, but Vada is deeply affected. After the shooting, she has nightmares and feels numb. While her best friend Nick becomes very active in trying to make changes, Vada doesn’t feel like doing anything like that.
Instead, she becomes closer to Mia, and the two of them form an unexpected friendship because of what they both experienced. Mia’s parents are very wealthy and always away, so the girls spend their time drinking wine and smoking weed in Mia’s large, empty house.
Vada doesn’t want to return to school, but eventually, after her mom pressures her, she does. However, she can’t bring herself to go back to the bathroom where she hid from the shooter, so she tries to hold it in. She makes it through the day, but while walking home, she steps on a can and wets herself.
What Is The Fallout About and Ending Explained?The next day, she takes Ecstasy at school to try to cope and ends up with ink all over her face after falling down the stairs. It’s clear that she’s struggling, even though she tries to act like everything is fine. She tells her parents she’s okay, and when talking to her therapist (Shailene Woodley), she says she’s just “a very low-key person.”
However, Vada starts pulling away from her family, snapping at her sister, and spending more time with Mia—eventually sleeping with her. She stays out all night, which worries her mom. Her usual excuse, that she is at Nick’s house, doesn’t work when Nick calls her mom asking where she is. Vada tries to kiss Quinton, but he turns her down. She feels like everyone in her life is turning away from her.
The Fallout Ending Explained
Vada’s sister, Amelia, wakes her up in the middle of the night and apologizes through tears. Amelia feels that Vada is angry with her because Amelia called Vada just before the shooting, which caused her to leave the classroom and put her in more danger. Vada realizes how much she has hurt her sister by pulling away, and this is a turning point for her.
After a somewhat cheesy, emotional moment with her dad, Vada goes to visit Mia. She’s been avoiding Mia since they slept together, and Mia thinks she’s upset with her. Vada finds Mia asleep in her sauna, surrounded by empty wine bottles. Mia admits that she’s scared to leave her house, but she plans to return to dance class because she knows it will help her feel better.
Vada works on fixing her relationship with her mom and has an important session with her therapist. In the final scene, Vada waits for Mia outside her dance class, and they have a light, somewhat playful text conversation. Vada appears happy.
Then, she gets a news notification on her phone: A school shooting in another state has killed 12 students. Vada stares at her phone in disbelief, and then she begins to hyperventilate. The screen goes white, and we hear the sounds of Vada having a panic attack.
It’s a tough ending that shows while Vada is starting to heal from her trauma, she’s still struggling and will probably always carry this pain with her. It’s likely that she will need treatment for PTSD because this is not something that heals quickly. But, she has her family and friends to support her, and hopefully, Vada will be okay. Someday.