Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘They Cloned Tyrone’ is a sci-fi mystery drama that follows the story of a drug dealer named Fontaine, who discovers a shocking conspiracy that his entire neighborhood is a part of. Starring John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx, the film is a genre-bending adventure that keeps the audience till the end. As Fontaine and his friends try to figure out the truth, they find themselves sinking deeper into the rabbit hole of lies and secrets spread farther than they’d imagined. The ending shows that Fontaine, Yo-yo, and Slick are nowhere near finishing what they started. Here we break down that ending and see what it means for the characters. SPOILERS AHEAD
They Cloned Tyrone Plot Synopsis
Fontaine is a drug dealer who wants to protect his turf against another dealer, Issac. He is also frustrated by Slick Charles, a pimp who owes him a lot of money and is always out of reach. One day, after breaking the leg of one of Issac’s men, Fontaine tracks down Slick, whose employee, Yo-yo, walks out on him after an argument. Fontaine gets his money’s worth, but while leaving the premise, he is confronted by Issac, who shoots him several times before fleeing the scene. Fontaine should be dead, but he wakes up the following day with no bullet wounds and no memory of ever meeting Yo-yo and Slick and getting shot.
They, however, remember exactly what happened. Fontaine is confused by this turn of events and decides to investigate it. The trio tracks down a mysterious black car, which Fontaine saw earlier that morning, and ends up in the basement of a house. It turns out to be an elaborate lab where they find a lab technician, a white man with an afro. The most shocking thing Fontaine discovers is the dead body of a man who looks exactly like him and has bullet wounds, which Fontaine should have had, according to his friends.
They Cloned Tyrone Ending: Who is the Real Fontaine? What was the Experiment?
By the end of the film, it’s clear to Fontaine that he is a clone. Not just him but many other people, including Slick Charles, are clones that are replaced when they meet an untimely end. The use of white powder in everything from the chicken to the hair dye shows that whoever is running this project is working on mind control. They already have songs rolled out that control the emotions of the people. One song can make you sleepy, while the other can make you violent. It’s a secret government conspiracy, but mind control is not the most messed up thing about it.
After Fontaine, Slick, Issac and his men storm the lab, Fontaine comes face to face with the one running the experiment. It turns out to be an older man who looks like him. This is the real Fontaine, the one who created all the clones and is working for the government to help them achieve a goal to ensure unity in a country otherwise divided by race and other factors. Old Fontaine reveals that he became a part of this project after the death of his brother Ronnie, the memory of whose death he passed on to the clones.
Ronnie was just a boy when he was mercilessly killed. The trauma of his death haunted Old Fontaine, and he vowed to change the world so that no one else would have to die like Ronnie. When he found out about the secret government project, they’d already been working on the Got Damn Chicken Fries, the hair dye, and the songs that could control a person’s mind. However, none of these things helped them make things better in the country. This was when Old Fontaine came up with another solution.
His study led him to identify specific factors in the DNA that made people different from each other. He knew that the differences in the country were mainly because of how people looked different from each other. The color of one’s skin was the reason behind the prejudice they suffered. He surmised if everyone looked the same, then there would be no problems. There can be no racism if everyone looks the same and belongs to the same race. His idea was to turn people of color white.
Old Fontaine knew that this wasn’t something that could be achieved overnight. He had cracked the formula, but some creases still needed to be ironed out. The most important of which was the hair. He could change everything else, but the hair was more stubborn than other things. This resulted in the white people with afros that Fontaine, Yo-yo, and Slick had met previously. However, having come this far, Old Fontaine knew that the hair thing could be resolved too. It was only a matter of time, and over generations, Black people would slowly be turned white and become assimilated into a society that would be unified because there would be no place like racism anymore.
What Happens to Fontaine, Yo-yo, and Slick Charles?
After discovering what’s going on in their neighborhood and several other places in the country and being able to do nothing about it, Yo-yo decides to expose it all by sending the story to the press. However, she is intercepted and held captive, where Nixon (Kiefer Sutherland) plans to use her as a lab rat. The hair dye is forcibly put on her hair, which they don’t realize is actually a wig. Yo-yo pretends to fall unconscious, and when she gets the chance, she frees herself and runs. It coincides with Fontaine, Slick, and Issac’s arrival.
While the others destroy everything at the lab, Yo-yo and Slick are chased by Nixon. He corners them to the place where they keep all the clones. Slick comes up with a plan where he decants one of his clones and sends him in front of Nixon, who believes he has found Slick. Using him as bait, Nixon lures out Yo-yo, but she realizes what Slick has done when she sees the clone without rings. Before Nixon can figure it out, he is shot dead by Slick. Meanwhile, Fontaine finds the real Fontaine and uses the codeword to control Chester, another clone, and kills Old Fontaine.
All the clones are freed from the lab, and as they come out one by one, the media rushes in to cover the story. There is no way this can be contained now; the story is out for the whole world to see. This would make it difficult for those shady people to continue their work now, but it won’t stop them. Yo-yo plans to leave her life in the Glen and move to Memphis like she was planning to. However, she doesn’t intend to start anew anymore. She knows that several other labs are spread all over the country, and she means to locate and destroy all of them.
Slick and Fontaine agree that this is not the end of the road for them or the people who came up with this nefarious plot. With the media covering the story, the shady people will have to recede farther into the darkness, but they will still continue their work. Having talked to Old Fontaine, Fontaine knows what’s at stake here, and he doesn’t want another clone of his, which he is sure is out there, to live their entire lives in a trap. He and Slick join hands with Yo-yo, and they decide to go on a road trip to kill the problem at the root.
Who is Tyrone?
The movie’s title is ‘They Cloned Tyrone,’ but the eponymous character doesn’t appear until the final scene. It was revealed before that the clone project is spread throughout the country, and specific neighborhoods are being used as control groups to test the success of the experiment. The final scene reveals another location where the same thing is taking place. We meet another clone in LA that looks like Fontaine and lives a life quite similar to his. He has the same backstory as Fontaine, right down to the mother, who never comes out of her room. However, this clone is named Tyrone.
Unlike Fontaine, Tyrone and the people around him are completely unaware of the clone conspiracy. It’s just another day for them, sitting around the TV and smoking weed. But then the news breaks out, and they discover what happened in the Glen. What’s shocking is when the interviewer on the TV moves about trying to interview the clones, who are barely clothed and unaware of what’s happening to them, who they are, and where they are. One of those clones is a man who looks exactly like Tyrone.
The final scene is the beginning of Tyrone’s journey, where he finds out about the clones. This will lead him down the path Fontaine, Slick, and Yo-yo have already taken. He will question his identity, investigate the case, and discover the conspiracy he has been a part of. He may cross paths with Fontaine and the others and join them in their crusade.
Read More: Will There Be They Cloned Tyrone Sequel?
