But Adelaide doesn't seem to know that she's the kidnapper who originally grew up Tethered — that is, until the final moments of Red's life. In the film's climax, Adelaide has fatally wounded Red; Red uses her final moments to do something unexpected: She whistles.
Adelaide was really Red all along. She shares a glance with her son with him seemingly understanding who his mother actually is. After all, he saw the brutal, tether-like behavior she displayed underground.
“How you could have taken me with you,” Red wistfully states to the Adelaide that has taken over her life. All that you have, all that you are, all that you've become — you took from me. Careful planning and preparation have lead to this day and this very moment where she faces the villain of her heroic tale.
To make the switch, Red strangles Adelaide unconscious, permanently damaging her vocal cords. The injury is never referenced outright, but there's plenty of evidence for it, both in the movie and in the medical literature.
In the process, some Tethered are killed but in the final shot of Us, it's revealed that many survived the night and joined hands to create a human chain that runs for quite some distance - perhaps even from coast to coast.
But aboveground, the many Tethers have joined hands together in a mirror of Hands Across America, the 1986 event meant to raise money and awareness of hunger, which stretched a 6.5 million-person chain (almost all the way) across the Lower 48.
They offer some more insight into the psychology of the Tethered, who either share or imitate the characteristics of their aboveground counterparts. Kitty Tyler is insecure, so her doppelgänger cuts her own face in an imitation of plastic surgery.
Adelaide is not a tethered, the ending is just her coping with what happened and a play on how oppressors like to tell themselves they are the victims. They are just made up memories as a coping mechanism. Which is why she is shown making a weird smile as an 8 year old in the made up memory and also in the car.
Since the clones are purposefully tied to their above-ground counterparts — they share a soul, so to speak — the Tethered are forever linked to their originals. Forced to mindlessly mimic their counterparts, the Tethered live empty lives.
So, rather than having been told about his mothers identity or been switched with a Tethered himself, it seems that Jason is smart enough to just see through all of that. According to Peele's explanation, Jason is simply picking up on the subtleties that give away his mother's true identity.
Adelaide could simply be upset because she feels a connection to Pluto and/or is remembering that she is a tethered but there's a chance that she has realised that Pluto is Jason.
The Tethered in Jordan Peele's "Us" are the result of a failed government cloning experiment, meant to control the above-ground population. The Tethered are tied to their above-ground counterparts and live in underground tunnels, forced to mimic their counterparts' lives.
Named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen of King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely-settled British province in Australia. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, designed the city centre and chose its location close to the River Torrens.
Adelaide Thomas, also known as Red, is the real counterpart of Adelaide Wilson as well as the somewhat main antagonist and leader of The Tethered in and out of her group in the 2019 film 'Us'.
In 1836, William Light, the surveyor general selected the area for the capital of the new colony. In 1838, the first governor, Captain John Hindmarsh landed in the area to start the new colony was who landed on 28 December 1838. They used the name Adelaide to honour the wife of King George IV.
JASON EXPLAINED: It's clear that Jason's language issues and want to hide in small places is because he's half Tethered. His sister just takes more after dad. And it didn't matter if Zora's clone was good at running or not, she had to practice just as much as the original.
Fake Adelaide only tells Zora to put her shoes on before the doppelgänger family breaks inside. This suggests she already knows that Zora is going to be asked to run because she knows how they work.
Jason learns he can control Pluto but this could be because both are half tethered or Jason realizing for the first time the connection goes both ways. Pluto is also the only family member and only tethered that does not have a pair of scissors.
He has managed to survive based on how he was raised. He checks his traps regularly and returns home no worse for the wear. Sometimes, however, he hears a horrendous shriek coming from the nearby woods. Solomon lies still and when he hears nothing further, he realizes he is alone and safe.
As Nyong'o previously revealed, she developed Red's affected voice after studying a real-life speech condition. “The voice for Red was inspired by a condition known as spasmodic dysphonia, and it's a condition that comes about from trauma,” she told PEOPLE.
The iconic handwear debuted during a 1983 television performance of "Billy Jean" for Motown's 25th anniversary celebration. The lone white glove would become synonymous with Jackson throughout his career — and ultimately, provide a cryptic image for the Tethered to incorporate during their exodus from the underworld.
At the end of Us, a quintessential plot twist is revealed: the woman thought to be Adelaide was actually kidnapped as a child by her clone, Red, who replaced her in the above-ground world.
Adelaide was extremely concerned when Pluto (her natural son) was backing into the fire and Red was extremely concerned about snatching Jason Red's natural son) and taking him back "home". Red was less concerned about losing Pluto and definitely all about getting Jason.
