Friendship in reverse and a protagonist named "The Protagonist"? We won't blame you if you left Tenet with more questions than answers!
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00:00Friendship in reverse and a protagonist named the Protagonist?
00:04We won't blame you if you left Tenet with more questions than answers.
00:09The Algorithm is the MacGuffin of Tenet, which in filmic terms means the thing everyone is
00:13after.
00:15Many people died trying to locate it, and we're told it holds the key to Earth's destruction.
00:20But what exactly is the Algorithm?
00:22One, it's a formula created by a scientist in the future that allows time inversion.
00:27And two, it is a physical doomsday device, currently disassembled into multiple parts,
00:32which, when assembled, has enough power to destroy the planet.
00:35That's explained by a scientist named Priya, who believed the Algorithm was so dangerous
00:39that she created a physical copy that was then dismantled and hidden all over the world
00:44in the past.
00:45There are nine nuclear bombs.
00:48Nine bombs.
00:49Nine sets of the most closely guarded materials in the history of the world."
00:52In Tenet, we see the race to locate these dismantled pieces.
00:56The clear villain is Sator, who wants to reassemble the device in order to destroy
00:59the world per instructions by a future source.
01:03The main hero of the film, typically known as the Protagonist in any story, is actually
01:07referred to within this film by that very title, the Protagonist.
01:11"...my part, I'm the Protagonist of this operation."
01:16He wants to retrieve the Algorithm to prevent the use of the device for the destruction
01:20of the world because he trusts that other and better outcomes still remain possible.
01:26The Protagonist meets the character Priya at four points in the story during which he
01:29relays important information to him one piece at a time.
01:33Ultimately, Priya's plan to stop Sator involves allowing the Madman to locate and assemble
01:38all the pieces to the Algorithm, but then to stop him from using it, which is a bold
01:42move to say the least.
01:43Luckily, the gamble pays off.
01:45Sator is defeated, and everyone moves on with their lives.
01:48However, in the film's closing moments, during a final meeting between the Protagonist and
01:53Priya, he kills her.
01:55But why?
01:56Well, it turns out that Priya had made plans to try and kill Kat, evidently believing such
02:00action would preserve and protect the highly confidential actions which had been taken
02:04by Tenet.
02:05However, before she could pull off the stunt, the Protagonist kills her to save Kat and
02:10her son, who may actually be Neil.
02:12As it turns out, the Protagonist hired Priya in the past, and is actually the one responsible
02:17for Tenet, meaning that all along he wasn't working for her, she was working for him.
02:23On a first viewing of Tenet, it's possible to miss the part where Neil dies.
02:26To be fair, the final battle is difficult to follow.
02:29Repeated viewings make it clearer, or so it seems.
02:32So how does he die?
02:33Well, during that giant action finale at Stalsk 12, the Protagonist makes his way to the Hypo
02:38Center, where Sator's man is busy luring the Algorithm into a massive hole next to a corpse,
02:44with a familiar red tag lying on the other side of a locked gate.
02:47Sator's man spots the Protagonist and is about to shoot him when the corpse rises, takes
02:51a bullet, and opens the gate in reverse.
02:55Turns out this was Neil, only we didn't know at the time because the person was wearing
02:58a mask and the scene is intercut with seemingly simultaneous scenes of Neil driving a Jeep
03:03outside.
03:04What we come to realize is that there are multiple Neils performing multiple actions
03:08in multiple directions.
03:10Some Neils are inverted while others are moving forward.
03:13It turns out Neil was also the man who saved the Protagonist at the Kyiv Opera.
03:17If that weren't enough, Neil reveals something more.
03:19You have a future in the past.
03:22Years ago for me, years from now for you.
03:26You've known me for years.
03:28They embarked on a number of grand adventures before Neil finally met his end.
03:32So sad.
03:33So, what happened during the Kyiv Opera siege?
03:36After watching Tenet multiple times, we may have the answer.
03:39Our hero, the Protagonist, arrives at a staged terrorist attack.
03:43Sator's crew are present in the form of disguised SWAT team members and are there to retrieve
03:47a piece of the algorithm after which they plan to destroy any evidence of its existence,
03:52hence the bombs.
03:53Real cops arrive to save the hostages, unaware that Sator's men have infiltrated their SWAT
03:58unit.
03:59The Protagonist, who infiltrated Sator's fake SWAT unit, thinks he's there to steal parts
04:03of a nuclear bomb.
04:04After meeting with a mysterious man in a box seat, he learns the location of a package,
04:09rushes downstairs, and acquires what will ultimately be revealed as a piece of the algorithm.
04:14But for now, he doesn't really know what it is.
04:16Feeling heroic, the Protagonist returns inside to help the hostages, runs into trouble, and
04:20then gets saved by another masked individual, only to end up getting captured and tortured
04:25by Tenet for his troubles.
04:27Turns out, it was all part of a test.
04:29That test you passed?
04:33Not everybody does."
04:35At one point during Tenet, Kat reveals a moment in the past where she witnessed a young woman
04:38jumping from her husband's yacht in Vietnam.
04:41Since the film deals with time travel, most audience members correctly guessed the mysterious
04:45woman's identity as some sort of alternate Kat.
04:48But how did she get there?
04:50Heavily referenced throughout the film, we're told that Sator's happiest memory occurred
04:54some time ago in Vietnam, during which he and Kat enjoyed a relaxing evening together
04:58on his yacht.
04:59Future Sator ventures back to this time period while past Sator is at the Kiev Opera to relive
05:04the memory before killing himself and setting off events that will cause the end of the
05:08world.
05:09Luckily, the Protagonist, Neil, and Kat deduce the time and place Sator will make his last
05:13stand and send Kat backwards through time to arrive at that same point, while also simultaneously
05:19healing her inverted bullet wound.
05:21Now it happens that future Sator is unknowingly speaking with future Kat, unaware that past
05:25Kat has already taken their son to shore.
05:28Past Kat then witnesses future Kat dive off the yacht following Sator's execution at the
05:32hands of future Kat.
05:34Presumably, past Sator comes back from Kiev and continues on with his life, unaware that
05:39his future self just died in the past.
05:42Here's a novel question for you.
05:44How did Sator not know his plan had failed?
05:46He travels back to the past in order to execute his plan.
05:49But since he still exists in the future, shouldn't he know?
05:52If you weren't back in time and killed your own grandfather, how could you have been born
05:56to commit the act?
05:57What's the answer?
05:58There's no answer.
05:59It's a paradox.
06:00Tenet works around this concept by applying a whole new set of time travel rules.
06:04As explained by Esquire, Christopher Nolan utilizes the bootstrap paradox, or a causal
06:10loop in which an event causes another to occur.
06:13In Tenet, the protagonist experiences the events of the film, then relays the acquired
06:17information to Neil, who travels back in time to affect those events with this acquired
06:21knowledge.
06:22Hence, the second event is causal to the first event due to a loop continuum.
06:26Simple, right?
06:28According to The Signpost's Nick Mouenaka and Darren Steed, the characters are stuck
06:32in a time loop, and having already gone back to stop Sator, they are forced to repeat stopping
06:36Sator.
06:38During the 747 heist and crash sequence at Oslo Freeport, the protagonist and Neil come
06:43across two doors with a red and blue marker differentiating them.
06:47Inside, they find what appears to be the scene of a crime.
06:50There are bullet holes in the glass, gun parts scattered on the floor, and smoke hanging
06:54in the air.
06:55Neil asks his partner what's happened, prompting the protagonist to reply that it hasn't happened
06:59yet.
07:00Suddenly, a masked man leaps from both turnstiles.
07:03With all of the mysterious individual's actions being inverted, the protagonist is attacked
07:07while Neil is involved in a chase.
07:09Later, we discover that the inverted masked man is actually a future version of the protagonist.
07:14He and Neil went back to this moment to use the turnstile in order to un-invert themselves
07:18and return to the normal time flow.
07:20Our heroes inverted themselves in order to save Cad from Sator's gunshot wound following
07:25the Tarlan freeway chase.
07:26They also needed to go back to stop Sator at Stalsk 12.
07:30However, in order to keep from disrupting the past and in service to the aforementioned
07:34bootstrap paradox, the protagonist has to use the turnstile without being seen by his
07:38past self.
07:39So, although he desperately tries to flee his counterpart, he must engage in combat
07:43to escape.
07:45Neil and the protagonist have a long and complicated history.
07:48When they first meet up, Neil seems to know a great deal about his new partner, right
07:52down to the type of soda he prefers, Diet Coke.
07:55He's also quick to trust the protagonist despite a relatively brief introductory period.
08:00Turns out the pair have actually worked together for some time, just not in normal terms.
08:04At the end of the film, Neil explains that this moment marks the beginning of their relationship.
08:09Except we know in order to save his friend, Neil is about to head off to certain death
08:13following this exchange.
08:14What gives?
08:15If one were looking at their relationship from a chronological perspective, the protagonist
08:19we see at the end of the film presumably travels back in time to begin Tenet and recruit Neil.
08:24Future protagonists have passed Neil then enjoy a series of adventures before the former
08:28passes Neil off to his younger self.
08:30This is why Neil was able to save the protagonist at the Kiev Opera siege, and during the Stolzk-12
08:35battle, because he already knew it was going to happen based on information relayed to
08:39him by his partner from the future.
08:41As explained by Insider, Neil is stuck in a closed loop, doomed to repeat the events
08:46of Tenet over and over, always leading to his death.
08:50As Neil states,
08:51"...what's happened, happened."
08:54In the climactic battle at Stolzk-12, much is happening — explosions, gunfire, helicopters,
09:00collapsing buildings, most of which is inverted.
09:03Visually, Christopher Nolan doesn't do enough to differentiate the good guys from the bad,
09:07which sometimes leaves us more confused than elated.
09:10After repeated viewings, here's what we know is happening during the grand finale.
09:14Two private armies in league with Tenet run through separate time periods in an attempt
09:18to create a diversion so that the protagonist, Neil, and Ives can secure the Algorithm.
09:24The Red Team moves normally through time, while the Blue Team waits for the battle to
09:27result in the big explosion, which is designed to bury the Algorithm.
09:31The Blue Team then participates in the madness in reverse.
09:34Both teams unleash some serious firepower, and incur plenty of artillery themselves.
09:39We see people die, but we don't ever get a good look at the enemy.
09:42The CIA handler at the beginning of the film does admit he's not exactly sure who Sata
09:46is hiring to do his bidding.
09:48However, he does allude to the possibility of them being Russian mercenaries, which makes
09:52sense considering Stalsk-12 is part of a collection of closed Russian cities.
09:57In the end, all that matters is that Neil and the protagonist succeed, which they do
10:01after supposedly slaughtering hundreds of unseen bad guys, so you can let your imagination
10:06fill in all the bloody details.
10:09Tenet comes packed with a bunch of scientific jargon that may be too hard to understand
10:12on the initial viewing, but here's a hint that may help you.
10:16Turn on the subtitles.
10:17One such bit of mumbo-jumbo involves something called a Temporal Pinsir, which is just a
10:21fancy way of describing a mission that utilizes inversion.
10:24We get a good look at a Temporal Pinsir in the action-packed finale, during which two
10:28teams tackle the same battle from different directions and time.
10:32The Red Team executes their mission by moving forward, while the Blue Team waits for the
10:36mission to end before inverting and fighting the same battle backwards.
10:40We see smaller Temporal Pinsirs occur throughout the film, such as during the freeway chase
10:44and the 747 heist.
10:46But did you know the entirety of Tenet is actually one large Temporal Pinsir operation?
10:50We learn as much during the closing scenes where it's revealed the protagonist is the
10:54one behind everything, and we mean everything.
10:56Tenet, the operation, Neil, all of it.
11:00After experiencing the events of the film, he goes back in time and sets up much of the
11:04film's actions in order to fulfill the time loop.
11:06The protagonist instructs people to execute specific events, for example, Neil saving
11:11him at the Kiev Opera and later allowing himself to be kidnapped, tortured, and recruited
11:16by the Tenet organization.
11:18He's not altering the past, per se, but executing it the way it's supposed to be executed, as
11:22previously established.
11:24As in the film, perhaps the best way to understand is to go back and watch it again, with the
11:28benefit of having been there before.