Pulp Fiction Ending Explained: Pride Comes Before The Fall

In this criminal underworld, one man is king: Marcellus Wallace, whose gravelly voice warns Butch to not let pride ruin his shot at happiness. He pays Butch to fake a loss in his last boxing match, and notes that his pride will sting but that ignoring that sting will be worth it in the end. He also instructs hitman Vincent Vega and his partner Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) to retrieve his briefcase from a cadre of young criminals, and asks Vincent to watch over his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) while he's out of town. Without Marcellus, the rest of the stories never happen. He acts as the devil in this allegory, a man who tempts his underlings with promises of wealth and power. 

In order to maintain his power, Marcellus has to appear impervious to all danger. He has to seem like an unstoppable force that cannot be challenged, which is likely why he threw Tony Rocky Horror out of a window. (This is never shown but discussed at length, and like Mia says, in the end, the whole thing is between Tony and Marcellus.) After Butch fails to throw the fight, kills his opponent, and goes on the run, Marcellus plans to kill him. Instead, the two end up captured by a pair of pawn-shop owning redneck rapists. Butch manages to escape, and instead of fleeing, he goes back to save Marcellus. 

Marcellus has been brought low in almost every way imaginable, but if both he and Butch swallow their pride and go their separate ways, they can still make something good out of a terrible situation. The only witnesses to Marcellus' horrific experience are going to be dead, save Butch, and it would be wrong to kill the man who saved you when he could have run instead. Marcellus lets Butch live as long as he never returns to California, and in return, Marcellus gets to remain an untouched, impervious king of his domain.

The person closest to Marcellus is his wife, Mia Wallace, and she's the second-most mysterious figure in the film. Vincent takes her on a date to Jack Rabbit Slims, a vintage-themed restaurant that Vincent describes as "a wax museum with a pulse." They compete in a twist dancing contest and eventually take home the trophy, though it's entirely possible that they didn't win and Vincent stole it. These are criminals, after all, and Vincent was told to make sure Mia has a good time no matter what. When they return to the Wallace's home, there's clear sexual tension between Vincent and Mia, who is wearing Vincent's jacket. While he goes into the bathroom to freshen up and talk himself out of hooking up with the boss' wife, she finds the high-test heroin that Vincent left in his jacket pocket. Thinking it's cocaine, Mia snorts a big line of the stuff and immediately overdoses.

Her overconfidence (read: her pride) led her to try drugs she found in another person's pockets. Vincent's self-absorption and his own pride kept him talking to himself in the bathroom for far too long. Remember that, because Vincent has a problem with bathrooms and thinking the world stops while he's in them, it comes back to bite him much harder later. Thankfully, he is able to get Mia to his drug dealer's house, and they are able to revive her with an adrenaline shot to the chest, but the whole ordeal is terrifying. At the end of the night, both of them decide to keep the night a secret from Marcellus, because they would both be in tremendous trouble. 

By the time we reach the third vignette in "Pulp Fiction," Vincent has fallen to his pride, Mia nearly fell to hers, and Marcellus and Butch both learned some things about theirs. So where does that leave Jules, the prophetic self-titled "bada** motherf***er" (it's on his wallet!) who is somehow caught up with all of these other characters? 

The final segment takes place before Butch's middle story, so Vincent is still alive. He and Jules are still trying to retrieve the boss's briefcase, and things are going fine until an unknown friend of Brett's comes flying out of the bathroom with a massive handgun and opens fire. Somehow, miraculously, he manages to miss both of his targets, and they quickly blow him away. Jules looks at the bullet holes behind him and starts freaking out, realizing that he could have been dead in that moment and isn't. This leads him to some serious introspection about leaving the criminal life. This is cemented when Vincent accidentally kills Marvin in the back of Jules' car and the two are forced to clean up the resulting mess without getting caught by the police or their friend's wife, due home from work any minute. 

Jules and Vincent end up in a diner to grab some breakfast. While Vincent is in the bathroom (again), two robbers attempt to hold up the restaurant. Fed up with the events of the day, Jules grabs one of the robbers and holds him at gunpoint while explaining his new outlook on life. He plans on leaving the life and walking the Earth, "like Caine in 'Kung Fu.'" He has chosen to give up pride entirely, as he's realized that ego will only lead to death.