'Selah and The Spades' Ending Explained: Here's why Selah sabotages Paloma and spikes her drink
Spoilers for Amazon Prime Video's 'Selah and The Spades'
At Haldwell, the elite Pennsylvania boarding school, the student body is divided into five factions. Each faction is responsible for providing something or the other to one another — from leaking examination papers to bribing corrupt teachers who sell their ethics for any price.
Selah runs the most powerful of the five factions — The Spades, who look after the supply of the vilest of vices on campus. Be it potent drugs, pills or illegal alcohol — The Spades have you covered.
After reigning over the student body during her run at the high school, Selah is now looking for a protege — someone she can pass on the crown to.
Along with her friend and right hand Maxxie (Jharrel Jerome), Selah spends a while looking for the best person to pass on to the responsibilities of the most powerful of all the factions.
Paloma, a sophomore, seems to be the perfect choice. There is just something about the girl that has Selah thinking that there is no one but Paloma who can do this.
So Selah takes Paloma under her wings — teaching her bit by bit how about she controls power among the other factions and in the school as well as how she runs the school in her own covert ways unknown to authorities.
A mob boss in the making, Paloma quickly takes on the responsibilities of Selah — although not completely. Paloma seems to have gained Selah's trust and a distracted Maxxie works in her favor, but only so much.
Even as Selah admits that she can no longer hold the power, she is reluctant to give it away. Although she has found her replacement, Selah is unwilling to give away the throne, reluctant to fully accept that it is now time for her exit.
Paloma is not Selah's first choice. A few years ago — and this is a saga that almost no one speaks of — Selah had recruited another girl. But when Selah thought that she was flying higher than she is supposed to, she brutally cuts off her wings. The school eventually expels her and the tale is never spoken of again.
When the school management cancels the prom, the factions decide to throw their own prom. Here, a highly insecure Selah, delusional of her power being snatched away from her, sabotages Paloma by spiking her drink.
Paloma quickly loses consciousness but spends some time floating in and out of consciousness. When she finds out that she has been drugged, Paloma flees the clearing in the woods where they were hosting their prom, with Maxxie and Selah shortly following her.
When they reach another clearing, Paloma loses her balance against some railings and almost falls onto the other side, presumably to her death. But Maxxie and Selah manage to pull her out.
As the camera zooms in on the three walking away from the learning, it focuses on Selah, who knows now that her game is over. The ending to 'Selah and The Spades' is a tad bit vague. That is because the movie is a lot more style than it is plot.
It is an exploration of power, high school politics immersed with friendships. Selah's obsession with her legacy and succession gnaws at her but so does the loss of that power.
Written and directed by Tayarisha Poe, the movie is her feature debut immerses viewers in a saga of teenage politics like you have never seen before. 'Selah and The Spades' is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
