The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes explores one of the most pivotal story arcs in the Hunger Games Universe: how and why President Coriolanus Snow became the ruthless dictator that tormented Katniss Everdeen and nearly destroyed Panem.
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To the credit of Hunger Games movie director Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, Mockingjay 1&2) and lead actor Tom Blyth, they manage to thread the needle in conveying a story of tragic choices, wrapped in a complicated thematic arc of self-identity vs. self-delusion. It’s no secret that the entire story of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hinges on the turns of the Third Act, and a lot of viewers may come away feeling a bit stressed and confused by the outcome.
No Simple Life For Snow
The Third Act of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a surprising epilogue, set after the events of the 10th Annual Hunger Games. Star tribute from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) emerges as the unlikely winner of the games – but only because her mentor Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) cheats to give her an edge. Snow had learned a secret of the deadly nest of rainbow-colored snakes developed by head game maker Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) – namely that they were docile around those whose scents they were familiar with. Snow snuck a handkerchief with some of Lucy’s tears and sweat into the vat of snakes, protecting her against them.
Unfortunately, “Coryo’s” brazen act of care and support isn’t that well thought-out. The Captial quickly discovers Snow’s treachery; Coryo is conscripted into the Peacekeepers and sent away from the Capital for twenty years of service. Through some bribery, Snow serves his term in District 12, where he formally starts a romantic relationship with Lucy.
For a moment, it looks like a simple, lakeside life of love will be Coryo’s future – but then things take a turn. Personal life and duty collide when Coryo’s rebellious friend Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andrés Rivera) gets mixed up with Lucy’s former lover Billy (Dakota Shapiro) and some local rebels. One of the people involved is Lucy’s romantic rival Mayfair Lipp (Isobel Jesper), whose jealousy finally boils over as she threatens to expose the plot just to spit Lucy. In a split-second decision, Coryo kills Mayfair and her boyfriend in cold blood, forcing him and Lucy to make plans to leave District 12 forever.
The climactic sequence of the film sees Coryo and Lucy head to their private lakeside cabin hideaway, to gather supplies for their escape. In the cabin, Coryo discovers that one of the fellow conspirators, Spruce, hid the guns that could incriminate them in the cabin. Coryo thinks he’s found a way out of the noose tightening around his neck – until Lucy reminds him that she is truly the last loose end that could bury him. When Lucy senses Coryo weighing his option to kill her or not, she flees into the woods, with Snow running after her.
In the woods, Lucy sets a trap for Coryo using his mother’s scarf, which he gave to her as a gift. The scarf conceals a snake that then bites Coryo, causing him to have disorienting visions. In one moment, Coryo takes a shot with his rifle when he thinks he hears Lucy running, and we think we might see her fall down dead from the shot – but when Snow tries to confirm the kill, there’s nothing there. Snow never sees Lucy again, hearing nothing but rumors about what became of her, afterward. As Casca HIghbottom (Peter Dinklage) teases, such unanswered questions are likely to drive Snow mad (as we know they did, based on his reaction to Katniss Everdeen years later).
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Ending Explained – Did Lucy Die?
While a lot of viewers will be obsessed over the question of whether or not Lucy Gray Baird dies at the end of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – but that’s not really the point, which is why it’s left unanswered.
The point of the ending sequence is Coriolanus Snow having to come to terms with what kind of person he really is. Despite all the noble bonds of friendship or even love he fights for throughout the film, a very different person emerges when push comes to shove. Coryo sells out his best friend Sejanus just to keep his own name clean – and doesn’t even protest when Sejanus is hung to death. It’s that dark side of Coryo that Lucy sees both in the cabin and when he kills Mayfair and Billy – especially when she connects the dots that he betrayed Sejanus. More importantly, when she runs, it’s the moment that Snow has to confront the truth about himself and who he is in the world – which is the actual thematic point of the story.
As Snow tells Gaul in the end, The Hunger Games are a method of keeping people in touch with the true savage nature in the heart of humanity – a lesson that will stick with Snow all the way to his presidency.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is now in theaters.
