Netflix’s latest romantic comedy has dropped and here we bring you the Happiness for Beginners Ending Explained. The movie stars Ellie Kemper as Helen, Luke Grimes as Jake, along with Nico Santos as Hugh, Shayvawn Webster as Wendy, Gus Birney as Kaylee, Julia Shiplett as Sue, Esteban Benito as Mason, Ben Cook as Beckett and Alexander Koch as Duncan. It has been both written and directed by Vicky Wight.

A romantic comedy despite being termed as light-hearted carries a lot of baggage. In this movie, that baggage comes in the form of Helen’s hurting past and how she is able to come to terms with it and move on at the end. We will discuss these aspects in this article.

Happiness for Beginners Ending Explained Contains Spoilers

Happiness for Beginners Synopsis

After undergoing a rather weird divorce that resulted from a goofy husband who is in many ways yet to be a grown-up, Helen decides to go on a hike to come out of her past and restart her life afresh. But things don’t turn out as expected when she comes across Jake, her brother Duncan’s friend whom she had found annoying during her wedding many years ago.

During the trip, however, things start to change and she realizes that Jake is a nice guy. A tiring trek and many conversations later and after she has even returned from the trip, she realizes that Jake loves her, thanks to a poem that he shared with her on a piece of paper. This allows her to come to terms with the fact that she loves him too. The movie ends with the two of them kissing each other.

Happiness for Beginners Ending Explained

Did Helen Have Feelings for Jake At the Beginning of the Trip?

Probably not. But Jake is the only person who tells her to her face how her marriage changed her (for the worse). This is when he trespasses into Helen’s emotional territory which is unacceptable because he doesn’t know her and has no right to comment on her life. However, what he tells her is the truth and she knows it but doesn’t like it. That’s how it usually is. We do not like it when people tell us a truth that we have been trying hard to not tell ourselves and rather deny.

This might have been the point where she starts to stop hating him because he is the only around who understands how she has been. So she may not have had feelings for him at the beginning of the trip but she did stop disliking him. Then slowly, she starts to grow feelings for him although she doesn’t make it clear at all.

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Maybe she was scared of how things would turn out in a way other than that which she expected. She has been through a lot already and she doesn’t want to add any more sorrows. This is also something we do. We do not take the chance to see the good that’s there around us because of the pain that’s already there; thinking that the pain will only increase if things don’t work out. Thankfully for Helen, the answer comes from the other side.

Did Jake Confess His Feelings to Helen?

Yes but not directly. He hands her a piece of paper which she, after returning home, finds out has a poem written on it. Although he didn’t write it (as we later find out), he did mean every word that’s there and it turns out that he has been in love with her for a long time. Whether he fell for her when he saw her at her wedding or even before that, we do not know.

But he sure did come for the hiking trip for her. At the end of the movie, we realize that Helen too had fallen for him, maybe during the trip itself, but just waited for a sign that came in the form of the poem. What if the sign didn’t come? Well, that would’ve been a romantic tragedy.

Happiness for Beginners is now streaming on Netflix.

Did you like the movie? Do let us know in the comments below.

Read Also: Happiness for Beginners Review: A Nice Hike that Stumbles Upon Predictable Plot and Failed Chemistry