MAJOR SPOILERS for Split and Glass ahead.
The Split ending explained that M. Night Shyamalan was back. The director famously entered a massive slump in the ’00s, following up his success on films like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable with a series of critical duds. After the outright failure of After Earth, however, Shyamalan made some course corrections. The director’s 2015 film The Visit saw him take a step back, making a low-budget movie high on ideas. Shyamalan followed that project up with the well-reviewed Split, his most layered story in well over a decade.
Split is loosely inspired by a true story, and it follows three kidnapped girls locked up by Kevin (James McAvoy), a man with 23 distinct personalities hidden within him. Two of the darker personalities have taken over and hope to use the girls as part of a dark evolutionary plan. Shyamalan’s movies always have twist endings that leave viewers with questions, and Split is complex. There’s a drip-feed of information about the main plot, a frankly haunting background to one of the main characters, and arguably the best M. Night Shyamalan plot twist since The Sixth Sense.
What Was Up With Kevin’s Personalities In Split?
Kevin Suffers From A Fantastical Form Of Dissociative Identity Disorder
McAvoy’s “main” character in Split is Kevin, a regular guy who, due to a series of traumatic childhood events, has created a string of alternative personalities, or alters, most of whom are mentally stronger than he was initially. In this world, dissociative identity disorder doesn’t just lead to a psychological change, but also a physical one; Kevin can actually alter his body with each personality switch, meaning some personalities can have OCD and need glasses, while others need insulin shots.
|
Personality |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Kevin Wendell Crumb |
The original identity |
|
Barry S |
The good personality who tries to keep in control |
|
Dennis |
The sexual predator |
|
Ms. Patricia |
An orderly older woman who keeps everyone in check |
|
Hedwig |
A naive nine-year-old child |
|
Jade |
A teen girl (seen in a video) |
|
Orwell |
A historian (seen in a video) |
|
The Beast |
The supernatural killing machine |
Who Kevin is at any given moment depends on who stepped into “the light” in his mind, something typically controlled by the personality known as Barry. The core personalities shown are Dennis, Patricia, Hedwig, and Barry. Others try and break through to make a cry for help, but the Horde repeatedly pushes them back.
The Horde’s plan is to unleash the Beast, a mythical (at least in Kevin’s psyche) 24th personality.
The Horde’s plan is to unleash the Beast, a mythical (at least in Kevin’s psyche) 24th personality. It’s only alluded to in the film, but the Beast appears to be based on the animals in the zoo above where Kevin lives. The Beast is a godlike personality inside Kevin, and he commands Kevin and his personalities to strike out against anyone who’s impure. Dennis becomes the Beast’s henchman, and the Beast orders him to kidnap the girls. The Beast holds that the sheltered and privileged are impure because they cannot understand pain and suffering, so the Horde abducts Claire and Marcia, whom he regards as inferior creatures.
In the third act, the Beast breaks out thanks to Dennis and kills two of the kidnapped girls, but allows protagonist Casey to live due to her own troubled past, recognizing a bond between them. And, yes, superhero really is the word, as shown in the sequel, Glass.
