Jurassic World Dominion premiered on June 10, 2022, and marks the final film in the Jurassic World trilogy. The trilogy first began in 2015 and served as the long-awaited sequel to the Jurassic Park film series. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have led the franchise, starring as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, respectively. In Jurassic World Dominion, they are joined by the original Jurassic Park trio—Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).
In Jurassic World, it almost seems as if John Hammond’s dream of a dinosaur theme park has come to fruition. However, of course, the vision is shattered as dinosaurs escape their enclosures and wreak havoc as they did in the previous Jurassic Park films. Grady and Howard survive and the dinosaurs remain on the abandoned Isla Nublar. In the sequel, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, the dinosaurs’ home of Isla Nublar is destroyed. Efforts to the move the dinosaurs to a different, secure location fail.
In the end, Grady and Dearing have no choice but to set the dinosaurs free. Now, Jurassic World Dominion is exploring the aftermath of this decision. Four years have passed since Isla Nublar was destroyed and humans and dinosaurs began their co-existence. Of course, it is a very shaky alliance as humans are subject to dinosaur attacks and dinosaurs are being hunted by humans. So, how does Jurassic World Dominion tie up this uneasy situation?
Spoilers ahead for Jurassic World Dominion
How does Jurassic World Dominion end?
As said above, Jurassic World Dominion takes place about 4-years after the co-existence started. During this gap, we see that Grady, Dearing, and their adoptive daughter, Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), have retreated to the woods to live a quiet, secluded life and to protect Lockwood. However, Lockwood has become the target of Biosyn, a corrupt bio-engineering corporation, and they kidnap her, along with Blue’s offspring, Beta, forcing Grady and Dearing to travel to the corporation. Geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) has migrated over to Biosyn and seeks to study Lockwood.
Meanwhile, Grant and Sattler are investigating a previously extinct species of locusts that have reappeared and are wrecking havoc on crop production. The culprit, once again, is Biosyn, who seems to have reproduced the species. Conveniently, Dr. Malcolm works at Biosyn and helps get Grant and Settler into the headquarters. The two ultimately end up rescuing Lockwood and Beta, as well as stealing a locust sample from the lab. When Biosyn CEO Dr. Dodgson (Campbell Scott) realizes the intrusion, he attempts to hide his evidence by setting fire to the locust lab. However, when he attempts to escape the facility with dinosaur embryos, he is killed by a Dilophosaurus.
Meanwhile, after surviving a plane crash, Dearing and Grady meet up with Grant, Sattler, Malcolm, and Lockwood. As they hatch an escape plan and evade a Giganotosaurus, Dr. Wu attempts to redeem himself by revealing he could alter the locusts’ DNA and resolve the locust issue altogether, thus, saving the world’s food supply. The group rescues him and escape Biosyn. In the aftermath, Grant and Sattler renew their romance and prepare to testify against Biosyn. Meanwhile, Grady and Dearing return home with Lockwood and Beta. In the end, humans and dinosaurs continue to learn to co-exist together effectively.
Lockwood’s cloning conclusion, explained
A large portion of Jurassic World Dominion‘s plot centers around Lockwood. As viewers will recall from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Lockwood discovered that she was a clone of Benjamin Lockwood’s daughter, Charlotte. In Jurassic World Dominion, it is further revealed that Charlotte reproduced Lockwood using her own DNA, because she desperately wanted a child. This is the same process Blue used to give birth to Beta. It is also this same process that was used to clone the dinosaurs in the first place. Lockwood’s unique genetic cloning is why she is a target of Biosyn, but what exactly do they want with her?
Biosyn’s plot and Wu’s redemption
To understand Lockwood’s storyline, we need to examine Biosyn’s goals. Essentially, Biosyn created these locusts so that they would destroy all crops except their own. This would give Biosyn-produced crops a huge competitive edge over their rivals. It turns out Wu was the one who created these locusts for Biosyn. However, he actually regrets his decision and that’s why he wants Lockwood.
After Charlotte cloned Lockwood, she passed away of a genetic disease. However, she cloned Lockwood in a way that made Lockwood immune to that same disease. Wu wanted to study Lockwood’s altered DNA because if he could understand how Charlotte altered Lockwood’s genome to make her immune to the disease, he could alter the DNA of the locusts species so that they would die out in a short period of time. Hence, Wu was the true figure behind Lockwood and Beta’s kidnapping. In the end, he does manage to release a modified locust that ends the locust problem.
His redemption arc was a bit unexpected, as he doesn’t have a great reputation. He was the individual behind the Indominus Rex‘s creation and he has always cared more about proving his scientific genius than about the consequences of unfettered experimentation. For him to recognize the errors of his ways was a nice touch, but kidnapping a little girl probably wasn’t the right way to go about fixing his mistakes.
Malcolm, Grant & Sattler take down Biosyn
While Biosyn’s CEO tried to destroy evidence of the locusts, Grant and Sattler are too smart for him. They have a locust sample from Biosyn’s lab and they’re ready to testify against Biosyn. While the trial isn’t shown, it’s pretty much a given that Grant and Sattler win. After all, it’s a shady corporation up against a world renowned paleontologist and an expert paleobotanist who survived Jurassic Park twice. Meanwhile, they also have Dr. Malcolm backing them up, considering he was a firsthand witness at Biosyn.
Of course, Malcolm was fired from Biosyn for helping Grant and Sattler. Malcolm’s true stance has always been a bit difficult to interpret as he previously had wanted the dinosaurs to perish in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Still, he chose his friends over a corrupt corporation, showing he does have good characteristics within him. Like the rest of humanity, though, he is likely still learning and studying how to co-exist with dinosaurs.
While we’re pleased that Grant and Sattler took down Biosyn, we’re even more excited that they rekindled their romance. The two were in a relationship in Jurassic Park, but by Jurassic Park III they had broken up and Sattler married another man. Their relationship failed because Grant chose his love of dinosaurs and his career over Sattler. In Jurassic World Dominion, Sattler is now divorced and the romantic tension between them is practically unbearable for the entire film. Finally, Grant chooses Sattler over his paleontology, and the two get back together. For those of us who are suckers for second-chance romances, Grant and Sattler’s reconnection is everything we hoped for.
Grady, Dearing, and the Dinosaurs ending, explained
As for Grady and Dearing, their story continues much as it started. They return to their quiet life, happily reunited with Lockwood. They reunite Blue with her offspring, as well, and continue to raise Lockwood as their daughter. The two will also, naturally, continue to advocate for the dinosaurs that they first brought into society. Plus, with Biosyn meeting its unfortunate end, they may live a more peaceful life not worrying for Lockwood’s safety.
The last component of the Jurassic World trilogy is the dinosaurs. Ultimately, they do continue to co-exist with humanity. After all, it was a T-Rex that ended up saving the crew from the Giganotosaurus. Honestly, as long as humans aren’t conducting their shady experiments, the dinosaurs themselves aren’t that huge of a problem. With Biosyn out of the way, the dinosaurs can continue their existence without interference. Of course, it’s not a perfect arrangement and never will be (since dinosaurs were never meant to co-exist with modern society). However, with good people like Dearing and Grady advocating for them, the dinosaurs stand a good chance at co-existing peacefully with humans, permanently.
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
Published: Jun 11, 2022 01:38 pm