Dead Ringers (2023) follows identical twins Elliot and Beverly, who, as adept gynecologists, dream of revolutionizing how women give birth. The series is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Beverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twins who are successful gynecologists. As close as they are, their personalities differ. Beverly ties her hair up and is more introverted and soft-spoken whereas Elliot likes to keep her hair open and is the life of the party.
As gynecologists, they have witnessed many deliveries that have gone wrong, and they like to believe that the world is yet to figure out better ways to give birth. Keeping that in mind, they aim to start their own independent birthing center someday.
To receive enough funding for the birthing center, Beverly and Elliot meet Rebecca Parker. Unfortunately, their pitch doesn’t impress Parker a bit, but a speech by Beverly right from the heart makes Rebecca want to hear more from her.
Beverly herself had several miscarriages, and she couldn’t understand why. Elliot, for her sister, intended to cross boundaries and see how long a human embryo can grow.
Funding from Rebecca Parker may help the sisters a lot. The only takeaway is that while Beverly wants to start the birthing center to help women, Parker and her firm’s board members are looking for profit from it, and somewhere Elliot agrees with their investors.
Beverly and Elliot are invited for a weekend hangout with Rebecca, her family, and her company’s board members. During the weekend, Elliot and Beverly’s plans are discussed. Beverly fails to leave a mark on them with her pitch, which is all idealistic and about helping pregnant women by providing them with services.
Elliot, on the other hand, makes strong claims about growing the embryo for more than 14 days, delaying the menopause of a woman indefinitely, and increasing their fertility.
Elliot’s claims caught the attention of Rebecca and her board members; they see a lot of money coming out of this. By the end of the weekend, Rebecca makes it clear that she will give them money, create their brand, and help them grow it, and they should earn enough to give it back to her; she is not all that interested in the business of morality.
Beverly and Elliot don’t see eye to eye on this deal. When Elliot confronts Beverly about a claim she made earlier about not wanting a baby and questions if she is serious about her girlfriend, Beverly ends their conversation by accepting Rebecca’s deal. Thus, the Mantle Parker Birth Center is formed.
Amidst all of this, it is also revealed that Elliot and Beverly aren’t exactly ethical as gynecologists. They often switch places and share details about their patients with each other according to their comfort, which violates the trust they have with their patients.
During one of these instances, Beverly finds it hard to treat an actress named Genevieve. Beverly is attracted to her, and she switches places with her sister so that Elliot can do the work.
Elliot later pushes Beverly to date Genevieve. She sparks the fire their chemistry needs by meeting Genevieve at a bar and kissing her. Genevieve assumes it’s Beverly, and she soon starts dating her.
Elliot later struggles to accept the very relationship she pushed Beverly to pursue. More often than not, Elliot tries to interfere in Beverly’s relationship with Genevieve to the point where Genevieve has to remind Elliot that it is their relationship, and she is no one to speak for them.
When Genevieve takes Beverly away for a weekend, Elliot grows lonely and makes several mistakes that also involve pushing a homeless woman off a building. Only Beverly’s return brings her back to her senses.
The fact that Genevieve and Beverly are soon going to have a baby further worries her. At a family dinner, arguments break out. Elliot confesses that she feels abandoned by Beverly after dedicating her entire life to helping her.
Elliot also discloses to Genevieve that she kissed her at the bar and paved the way for Beverly. The revelation makes Genevieve walk away from Beverly.
Despite the imminent fallout, Beverly and Elliot make up with each other and decide to raise Beverly’s babies together.
Dead Ringers (2023) ending explained in detail:
Why does Rebecca kick Elliot out?
Elliot and Beverly, accompanied by an author named Silas Jordan, who is going to write a puff article on them, are sent to Montgomery to treat one of Susan’s family members. Susan was the one who had accompanied Rebecca the first time she met Elliot and Beverly.
Elliot and Beverly see a family full of twins. Susan’s father, Doctor Marion, is the head of the family, and his daughter is having quadruplets. Elliot and Beverly will be operating on her the next day.
During the operation, Elliot gets lost staring at her sister, who is delivering the babies. The words of Silas Jordan about the sisters lying to each other keep circling in Elliot’s mind, and she accidentally cuts Marion’s daughter.
After the operation, Rebecca assures everyone that they should not worry. The mishap took place in their own family; it won’t hurt their business. After hearing everyone’s concerns, Rebecca is left with no option but to kick Elliot out, though she is her favorite.
Why does Beverly abandon Elliot?
With Elliot out of the picture, Beverly gets back together with Genevieve. Beverly is having babies, and she will soon be receiving an award for her work. The only problem is Silas Jordan. The original version of his article that is to be published would have destroyed the careers of Beverly and the ones associated with her.
Rebecca has done her best to give him enough on Elliot; almost everyone has, including Genevieve. Now, to protect their image, Rebecca wants Beverly to disassociate them from Elliot before Silas Jordan can do his job and ruin the reputation of Mantle Parker Center.
Does Elliot kill Beverly?
During the award ceremony, Beverly is reminded by Tom, one of their colleagues, about the hard work Elliot has put in to make this birthing center a success.
Beverly observes that, despite earning everything she ever dreamed of, she isn’t really happy. She is still struggling with the relationship she has with Genevieve and is following what Rebecca is telling her.
Beverly agrees that she will never be content. She finds her sister, Elliot, and after observing her successful experiments, Beverly admits that there should have been only one of them.
Beverly keeps looking for the light, whereas Elliot is the light—the more talented one who is ready to cross boundaries. Beverly no longer wishes to live. Therefore, Beverly and Elliot orchestrate a plan.
Elliot delivers Beverly’s babies. She then cuts herself, picks up the babies, leaves Beverly to die, and runs back to the birthing center, pretending to be Beverly. From that day on, Elliot picks up Beverly’s identity and starts navigating her life with Beverly’s babies and Genevieve.
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