This article contains major spoilers for the Still Out of My League ending.
Netflix’s Italian rom-com Still Out of League, a sequel to Out of My League, is another entry in the storied canon of films in which one or both leading characters are terminally ill. Marta has Mucoviscidosis, a genetic disease that causes her lungs to fill up with sticky mucus. It’ll kill her eventually if she can’t find a transplant, which in this film functions as a kind of last-minute narrative curveball designed to upend the central romance, which had already been through a few ups and downs by the third act. For the most part, though, it plays out like a conventional teen-focused romantic comedy, for better and for worse.
The film’s secret weapon is Marta’s relationship with her friends Federica and Jacopo, who fulfill multiple roles in her life thanks to the absence of her parents. Both get subplots in Still Out of My League which are folded into Marta’s relationship with Gabriele in ways that don’t feel worthless but don’t always feel entirely natural either. Gabriele, by the way, is Marta’s new man, since she broke up with Arturo off-screen between films. He’s a handsome guy but a bit of a nonentity, and spends most of the runtime in Paris while both he and Marta try to navigate their newly long-distance relationship.
These subplots involve Federica trying to take down her abusive new boss (she does, thanks to teaming up with a couple of other neglected employees and recording his smug confession), Jacopo trying to work out if a very handsome local deliveryman is gay (they share a kiss, but also a farewell, as Tommaso is leaving Turin), and hoity-toity social media influencer Rebecca learning to love her off-brand boyfriend Giacomo. Most of these things come together in a flurry in a late third-act party scene.
Still Out of My League ending explained
But, ultimately, everything comes back to Marta. After waiting all movie for word on a potential transplant, she finally gets notice that she has some new lungs. But the news doesn’t come at an ideal time. She and Gabriele aren’t on speaking terms after his paranoia led him to violate her privacy, and she’s too stubborn to walk back her decision to ghost him, despite Federica and Jacopo’s advice. On the night before her surgery, the weight of the situation finally gets to Marta, and she breaks down, tired of fighting this debilitating illness and being forced to navigate life with it and without her parents. In a neat touch of friendship, though, Jacopo goes against Marta’s wishes for the very first time, contacting Gabriele privately so he can be there to support Marta during this difficult time.
The problem, though, is that Gabriele is in Paris, his phone is broken, and he doesn’t have much time to get back to Turin. While the first film was content to find a happy ending despite its typically morbid premise, this one leaves things on a more ambiguous note. We see Gabriele rushing back, driving all night, doing everything he can to be there for Marta, as she wakes up on the day of the surgery and prepares to go under the knife. But he goes to the wrong hospital! As the film ends, Marta is alone, heading for a potentially life-altering surgery without knowing that her love was there for her. Will the new lungs take? Will Gabriele get to see her? I suppose we’ll have to wait for the inevitable sequel to find out.
You can stream Still Out of My League exclusively on Netflix. Do you have any thoughts on the Still Out of My League ending? Let us know in the comments.
