Allegiant Part II Becomes Ascendant

A surprise announcement came from the Divergent movie franchise: that it would break the Deathly Hallows and Mockingjay tradition and bestow a new title on the second Allegiant film: Ascendant. Furthermore, they released two posters with the film taglines: for Allegiant, “Break the boundaries of your world,” and for Ascendant “The end is never what you expect.” The posters are simple:  black with glowing blue faction-style symbols.  Allegiant’s is a wave, reminiscent of the book cover; Ascendant’s is a never-before- seen DNA symbol.

This, of course, leads to some interesting speculation as to what changes this might indicate. Most interesting to me would be if Allegiant did, in fact, turn out to be primarily about the (gasp!) Allegiant, if we see the development of the Johanna/Marcus alliance, more of Evelyn’s slide to the dark side, Caleb’s imprisonment and trial, etc.  Perhaps even more of that than we saw in the book, where much of that storyline was glossed over in our heroes’ haste to escape the fence.  Is it possible the first 100 pages of Allegiant could be expanded into a single film, perhaps with some details filled in that were skipped in the first two (e.g. introducing Cara and George, Four’s payback to his dad for all the beatings); perhaps with entirely new material?  Could the wave actually be the Factionesque symbol of the Allegiant organization itself, rather than, like I always assumed, the “water unleashed” of the Bureau’s dripping rock statue? This will present some challenges. Since everything was so hunky-dory at the end of the Insurgent film, –for everyone except Jeanine, that is–we are going to actually have to see Evelyn and her gun-toting factionless seize control. Still, the tagline certainly makes more sense if the major goal of the movie is to escape the city… and Mommie Dearest.

That, presumably, would leave the final movie to deal with Matthew, David and the rest of the Bureau people, and the DNA symbol would certainly work for them. It’s probably too much to hope for that the scriptwriters would consult actual geneticists and correct some of the grosser errors when it comes to explaining the Chicago experiment. For instance, it was rather foolish to assume that isolating a population and having them interbreed is a good way to get rid of unwanted genes. Nor should Tris, if she is “fully healed” from the damage caused by knocking out her ancestor’s stupidity, cowardice and selfishness genes, have affinity for Erudite, Dauntless and Abnegation; she should have reverted to being a stupid, selfish coward.  But, I certainly will enjoy the third movie more if the faulty science is postponed until the fourth. Hey, they at least got the double helix right on the poster.  I wouldn’t trust the Bureau to know that much.

More intriguing is the tagline, which could have very different meanings depending on whether you have read the book. Certainly few readers expected Tris to die, so the movie may well stick with the original ending. Given Roth’s impassioned defense of her choice, this would certainly fit with her vision. On the other hand, there is a long cinematic tradition of sparing the lives of characters that meet grisly deaths in the book:  Hooper from Jaws and Ariel from The Little Mermaid are two that come to mind. So, it is at least possible that Tris and Four book fans will be the ones to experience the unexpected in the form of the happy ending so many wanted.

Of course, I’d hate to miss Tobias zip-lining off the Hancock tower in the epilogue. Then again, there is not likely to be any shortage of deceased friends’ ashes to spread.

On that note—

The most interesting part of the announcement, for me, came from this MTV article that broke the story. Along with Tris and Four’s love story, the writer is especially looking forward to seeing Peter (Miles Teller) being snarky, which is consistent with the more sympathetic character he is shaping up to be in the films.  Is it possible he will take Tris’s place in the weapons lab, and in the silver urn?  Stay tuned until March.