Look Both Ways follows college-graduate Natalie as a pregnancy scare leads to forking pathways in her model five-year plan.
Starring Lili Reinhart as protagonist Natalie, the Netflix-original Look Both Ways offers a glimpse into parallel realities as Natalie’s graduation night leads to two possible futures playing out simultaneously. While the negative pregnancy test leads Natalie to her pre-planned future of animation in LA, the positive test beckons to an alternate reality where Natalie stays back in Texas to raise her daughter.
Look Both Ways Story and Summary
Student of the University of Texas, Austin, Natalie (Lili Reinhart) absent-mindedly ponders upon her 5-year plan as graduation looms close.
An aspiring animation artist leading life by the motto “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, Natalie realizes that her carefully detailed life plan is disrupted when a night with her friend Gabe (Danny Ramirez) leads to a pregnancy scare on her graduation party.
With her best friend Cara (Aisha Dee) by her side, a stressed-out Natalie waits for the pregnancy test result with bated breath. From there, the plot unravels into two simultaneously-running parallel realities- one where Natalie is pregnant and one where the test reports negative.
While Natalie is relieved with the negative test and soon, excitedly, makes for LA with Cara, a pregnant and distraught Natalie in her alternate reality deals with the ramifications, deciding to have the baby and head back to her parents in Texas with Gabe.
An emotional and pregnant Natalie deals with OBGYN appointments and preparations for motherhood, being helped by her loving parents and a very supportive Gabe. A torrent of emotions courses through her as she stares longingly at Cara’s life in LA, feeling depressed at her unproductivity at a time she was supposed to be setting her 5-year plan into motion.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, Cara and Natalie excitedly reach LA and settle into the new phase of their lives. Natalie applies to become the assistant to her idol and favourite character designer Lucy Galloway at Tall Story Animation. Natalie jumps at an opportunity to make an impression on Galloway by attending her event, where she meets Jake (David Conrenswet) and to her dismay realizes Galloway’s absence at the party.
Finally receiving a call-back and interview from Tall Story Animations, Natalie realizes Jake is an employee and uses his advice to course through the interview to get the job.
In the meantime, pregnant Natalie’s nine months of gestation elapse as she gives birth to a baby girl “Ro”, short for Rosie. While Gabe is a comforting presence extending his help with the newborn baby, Natalie faces postpartum depression as her mother reassures and comforts her.
Parallelly in LA, Natalie begins her new job as things heat up with Jake. Finding a kindred soul in Jake, the two enter into a relationship and shortly decide to move in together.
Meanwhile, Gabe buys a house and asks Natalie and Ro to stay with him as a family after they kiss. However, Natalie voices her concerns about risking their current arrangement, effectively squashing Gabe’s hopes of co-parenting when she decides to continue to live with her parents for Ro’s convenience.
Back in LA, Jake’s “Sable Island” project at his new documentary production company gets funding from investors, thus sending Jake to Nova Scotia for 6-12 months. With apartment-hunting plans temporarily suspended, Natalie and Jake continue their relationship but long-distance brings with it communication difficulties. Natalie finally musters enough courage to show Lucy her portfolio with hopes of joining her new project.
As time passes and Ro grows up, Gabe brings his new girlfriend Miranda to Ro’s birthday, making Natalie realize what she passed on. Natalie finally catches a break as she visits Cara in LA, leaving Gabe to look after Ro in her absence. Bumping into Jake in her reality, she comments on how overwhelming her life would have been if she had moved to LA.
When she receives a phone call from Ro, who reveals Gabe has left her with a sitter overnight, a concerned Natalie immediately returns home, much to Cara’s disappointment. When an indignant Natalie confronts Gabe on his irresponsibility with Ro, he reveals his engagement to Miranda which necessitated Miranda’s sister looking after Ro, leaving things more awkward between the two and Natalie disheartened.
Meanwhile, in LA, when Lucy finally calls an eager Natalie to discuss her portfolio, Natalie’s hopes are shattered as Lucy calls her work derivative.
Critiquing the lack of her original voice in her creations, she indirectly asks Natalie to quit her job and devote her time to developing her art. Distraught and disconsolate, an already emotional Natalie subsequently ends things with Jake when she fails to receive the support she expects from him.
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Look Both Ways Ending Explained
Facing heartbreak and disappointment, both Natalies return home as they begin to focus on their art and find their artistic voice. Freshly returning from LA, Natalie finds an opportunity in the SXSW film submissions as she tries to overcome her despondency and hopelessness with productivity.
Parallelly, Natalie, the mother, resumes her career in animation while balancing her parental life as she begins to develop a comic inspired by Ro’s nickname “Night Owl” arising from her stubborn refusal to sleep nights as an infant. As she completes her animated short and publishes it on her blog, Natalie in the parallel reality concurrently submits her original “Indigo” to SXSW films.
Realities begin to synchronize as “Night Owl” ranks third in a PopSugar post “Top Comics to Watch For”, subsequently getting Natalie selected on a panel at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Parallelly, “Indigo” is selected for the New Voices competition of the same South by Southwest Film Festival.
Which scenario works out better for Natalie?
As the day of the festival arrives, both Natalies attend with their promising animations opening up new avenues.
Natalie proudly attends the panel with her family looking on as she speaks of her Ro-inspired original short “Night Owl” with an impressed Lucy Galloway as a co-panellist.
Similarly, the other Natalie’s screening of “Indigo” receives a full house and a tremendous round of applause from the audience.
Meanwhile, both Natalies find Gabe performing with his old band at the fest.
In one reality, reconciling after five long years, Gabe reveals he is already married and is expecting a baby with his wife as Natalie finally reveals her false pregnancy scare on graduation night. After leaving Jake a voicemail about her break-through with the film festival, she subsequently finds him desperately scraping for tickets.
Jake reveals his plan to surprise her at the festival, expressing his love for her and promising to be there for her from thereon. As the couple reconciles, another surprise waits for Natalie as Lucy Galloway approaches her. Offering words of praise and pride after watching the screening of her original short, Lucy offers Natalie a job back with her studio in LA which Lucy gladly accepts.
In the parallel reality, after his band performance, Gabe reveals to Natalie that Miranda and he are no longer together, confessing to Natalie that Miranda wasn’t anything like her. Returning to the bridge where it all began, Natalie thanks him for all his support throughout the years as they finally unite to make a happy family consisting of Natalie, Gabe, and Ro.
In a concluding scene, both Natalies revisit the site of their graduation party one last time. As both realities pan out to satisfactorily resolved futures, the two Natalies confirm that the future will turn out just fine irrespective of the pregnancy test results.
Look Both Ways is now streaming on Netflix.
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