WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Don't Look Up, now in theaters and streaming on Netflix.
In Adam McKay's Don't Look Up, it's safe to say that an unhappy ending was indeed an indictment on humanity. The director pulled no punches with the comet due to destroy the Earth, making it clear it crashing and wiping out most life was the planet's karma due to mankind's wicked ways over centuries. However, while it might have been just comeuppance for a society driven by greed and superficiality, it was a massive injustice toward Kate (Jennifer Lawrence).
She was one of the scientists who found the comet and led the media charge to wake the public up, despite the U.S. government trying to use it to its advantage. She and Dr. Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) went their separate ways, though, as the latter fell for Brie (Cate Blanchett) and loved being a celebrity, going as far as to cheat on his wife and leave his family with the apocalypse impending.
However, Kate stayed the course, only to be vilified online and end up stuck in a small Illinois town. There, the social pariah met another outcast in Yule (Timothée Chalamet), and while he was a skate-punk much younger than her, she found his innocence charming. They were both anarchists at heart, but he taught her so much, because despite being a rebel, he was an Evangelist who preached the word of God. He even proposed to her when they reconnected with Mindy and had their last dinner. The fact Yule prayed with them to assuage their fears in the final moments painted him as a genuinely kind soul in the presence of so many flawed people.
In this scene, it was all about second chances, forgiveness and being unafraid in the face of death. Sadly, the comet struck and killed them all in the shockwave, which felt like a disservice to Kate, who was the true blue of the movie. She wasn't selfish, and like Yule, she just wanted society to improve. Thanks to her, the government almost nuked the comet earlier on, so she did come close to saving humanity, and that alone should have given her room for some sort of saving grace.
The couple should have survived because the world needed kind people like Kate and Yule, an anti-fascist who hated the system but tried hard to heal through love. Kate especially deserved better as, on top of doing everything in her power to save the planet, she was ridiculed by the public, and her ex even broke up with her because of this, writing books to profit off her pain. Yule and Kate being part of the rebuild together would have been serendipitous as well, as it felt like they were soul mates meant to save each other and the world.
The end already killed Oglethorpe, an ally from the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, so he could have represented how even good people die as collateral damage. Thus, it didn't need any more virtuous folk to perish. What made this sting more was that Jason, the corrupt son of President Orlean, survived. He escaped from the White House bunker, proving evil folks do luck out per the real world, which ultimately robbed Kate of her happy ending.
To see how Kate got screwed over, Don't Look Up is in theaters now and on Netflix.