Garden State ending explained: Did Andrew return to LA?

Natalie Portman and Zach Braff in "Garden Stated" (Image via Camelot Pictures)
Natalie Portman and Zach Braff in "Garden Stated" (Image via Camelot Pictures)

It's been two decades since Zach Braff released his directorial debut, the 2004 indie cult classic Garden State, but the plot has remained "fresh" with its 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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It follows the 20-something Andrew Largeman (played by Braff) who leaves his New Jersey hometown for Los Angeles and after having stayed away for almost a decade returns home for his mother's funeral and gets confronted by the life he had left behind.

He reunites with his old buddies and relives a life of fun, something that was missing from his medication-addled life in LA and confronts old demons with his estranged father. Andrew also meets a compulsive liar, who, like him, doesn't seem to have her life figured out.

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When all is said and done, Andrew is ready to go back to his life in LA. Before the credits roll, he is on an airplane ready to go back to his life. But, as the plane gets ready for takeoff, Andrew, who seems to have figured out what he wants out of his life, forgoes LA and decides to stay in small-town, New Jersey.

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The romantic dramedy stars Braff himself and Natalie Portman as his leading lady, donning the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" archetype and is famous for its cult classic soundtrack, but there is plenty to unpack from this indie breakout hit.

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Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Garden State. Reader's discretion is advised.


Does Andrew return to his "sad" life in LA at the end of Garden State?

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The ending scene of Braff's indie classic sees the lead taking control of his life and making his own choices, something that he wasn't able to do while he was on heavy medication. Whether viewers agree with his choices or not, it doesn't matter in the end because Andrew finally realizes that he can make choices for himself.

Since he can remember, Andrew has been on Lithium, which was given to him by his "psychiatrist" slash father Gideon (played by Ian Holm), essentially causing him to become an over-medicated twenty-something who feels almost nothing. The moment he left LA for his mother's funeral, leaving his pills neatly arranged on his bathroom cabinet, was the first time he was off his medication.

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Without the pills, Andrew starts getting a glimpse of life on the other side—sad, sometimes bored, but at least he starts to feel again.

Armed with new realizations in life and freed from the guilt of being the reason why his mother became paraplegic, he's ready to move forward with his life, and part of that is returning to LA. He packs his bag, gets his ticket, and has a conversation with his girlfriend Sam (played by Natalie Portman) in the airport, saying that it's not a goodbye and that he will return.

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In the next scene, Andrew is on the plane staring off into space as the plane gets ready for takeoff. But in the end, he doesn't return to his mundane life in LA. While Andrew getting out of the plane isn't a featured scene in Garden State, the ending sequence shows him finding Sam in a payphone booth, crying.

Throughout the movie, Andrew is depicted as a confused twenty-something, but the Garden State's ending shows that there's one thing he's not confused about—his love for Sam. In his words:

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"I think that's the only thing I've ever been really sure of in my entire life. And I'm really messed up right now, and I've got a lot of stuff to work out, but I don't want to waste any more of my life without you in it, OK?"

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Why did he try to go back to Los Angeles in the first place?

The second half of the Garden State shows a lot of positive things happening for Andrew. He's almost settling into his life in his hometown, he has his friends around, and he has a new girl in his life. Andrew also has a talk with his father where he tells him that he has forgiven him for making him feel "so numb" with all the medication he's given him since he was a child.

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"Garden State" airport scene between Andrew and Sam (Image via Camelot Pictures)
"Garden State" airport scene between Andrew and Sam (Image via Camelot Pictures)

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With all of this going for him, he still decides to make true to his words earlier in the movie that he's only staying in the area for "a few days." And, in the airport scene, where he and the crying Sam are sitting on the stairs saying goodbye to each other, he explains the reason why he needs to go back to LA. He says:

"I'm worried that if I don't go figure myself out, if I don't go land on my own two feet, then I'm just gonna f*ck this whole thing up, and this is too important."
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The end of Garden State marks the first time in his life that Andrew feels like he's not too numb from medication and that he's finally got a hold of his life. And while he's going away to try and figure out his life, he promises Sam that he's going to return to her once he does.

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Are there lessons to be learned from Garden State?

At first glance, Garden State feels like any feel-good, cliched storyline about a depressed young man meeting a vibrant, beautiful young woman and they fall in love and live happily ever after. But while that aspect is also true in the movie, many other in-betweens leave viewers with lasting lessons.

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Moreover, it's worth noting that Garden State is mostly based on a true story—Braff's own experiences and upbringing.

As for lessons from the movie, one that's at the forefront of its storyline is that everyone doesn't have everything, or even anything, figured out. Andrew is essentially numb from anything that he can't even cry during his mom's funeral even if he wants to and Sam is a compulsive liar who doesn't know why she is the way she is and how to change. Andrew's old buddies are as confused about life and their future as he is.

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That said, Andrew's character arc serves as the best lesson from the film. From being numb and essentially dead inside earlier in the movie, he chooses to "vacation" from his pills and stop numbing his emotions. While he's become more open to getting hurt because of it, it has also given him the chance to feel alive.

For Andrew, feeling emotions, whether it's happy or sad, is better than feeling nothing inside. And as he says to his father near the end of Garden State:

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"We may not be as happy as you always dreamed we would be, but for the first time, let's just allow ourselves to be whatever it is that we are."

Revisit Zack Braff's 2004 indie classic Garden State now streaming on Max (formerly HBO Max), given that viewers have a subscription or rent or purchase it via Apple TV or Prime Video.

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Edited by Sreerupa Das
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