Netflix’s Brick serves up a genre-blending psychological thriller that’s part escape room, part survival drama, with a tech-induced nightmare ending. So, here’s a breakdown of what exactly is going on with that mysterious wall, and whether the couple, Tim and Olivia, make it out alive.
What is the wall in Netflix’s Brick?
The wall that encloses Tim and Olivia’s apartment isn’t a supernatural force – it’s nanotech.
Built by a private tech company as a defense mechanism against major threats like atomic or biological warfare, this “smart wall” activates during what’s perceived to be a crisis. It’s explained by Yuri, a building resident, who reveals his friend Anton helped design the system.
But the reason behind the wall’s sudden appearance is murky. Anton believed a fire near the tech company triggered a glitch. Meanwhile, Yuri was convinced it responded to a legitimate external emergency. Anton had discovered a way to bypass the wall using an app based on flashing light patterns, a digital code that could open it. However, Yuri, in his paranoia, killed Anton before he could escape.
Although Yuri destroys the original phone, Tim, being a programmer, manages to recover the app. But there’s a deadly catch: enter the wrong code, and the wall becomes a portal that devours anything in its path before re-solidifying.
Do Tim and Olivia survive in Brick’s ending
After a series of deaths leaves them as the only survivors, Tim and Olivia discover the correct code by reviewing Anton’s security footage in the Netflix film Brick’s ending.
But before they can act on it, Yuri reappears – still alive and just as paranoid. He attacks them, forcing Tim to hold him off while Olivia rushes to open the air raid shelter. Rather than abandon Tim, she returns and kills Yuri with a sledgehammer. Together, they flee through a subway tunnel into what they hope is freedom.
However, when they emerge, they see every building in the city wrapped in the same nanotech wall. A radio broadcast confirms Anton’s theory that a fire caused a system malfunction, triggering the defense tech. Whether it was sabotage or an accident is never answered.
