Trilogies are a tricky thing. Not only do filmmakers have to craft a series of films that serve as the beginning, middle, and end of a story but they must also make sure the third and final film sticks the landing when it comes to that ending. Sometimes it pays off — see Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and it's great character arcs. Other times it doesn't — the Divergent series suffered diminishing returns to the point where the final movie, Ascendant, was never put on the screen. Thankfully Men in Black 3 fits into the former category, as its clever use of time travel and the casting of Josh Brolin as a younger Agent K are some of the film's many highlights. The final act even reveals a hidden truth about the partnership between K and Agent J (Will Smith) which casts the trilogy in a new light.

Men in Black 3 finds J traveling back into the past to save K (Tommy Lee Jones) from the alien criminal Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement), as Boris seeks to kill K before the ArcNet - a device that prevented the invasion of Earth by his fellow Boglodites - is deployed Throughout his journey, J gets to know the younger K and Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), an alien who has the ability to see multiple futures. Eventually, J and K confront both the past and present Boris at Cape Canaveral, with the help of an unnamed military colonel (Mike Colter) who agrees to help them when Griffin shows him his future. Though J is able to defeat the present Boris and launch, past Boris kills the colonel - which leads K to kill him in return and stop the threat of the Boglodites.

RELATED: How 'Men In Black’ Takes on Unconscious Bias

men-in-black-3-movie-image-josh-brolin-will-smith

It's then that the film delivers a shocking reveal. K meets a young boy who calls himself James and asks where his father is. K can only reply, "Your daddy is a hero." Watching from a distance, J puts the pieces together: the colonel was his father, and K has been watching over him for his whole life. Earlier in the film, J said that he didn't know much about his father and that the only memory he had of him was an antique watch; James was carrying the same watch. It also sheds light on another exchange between the partners, as K immediately tells J not to speak ill of his father. How else could K know about J's father, unless he'd met him at some point in the past?

This also gives even more dimension to the previous Men in Black films, particularly how J comes to join the MIB. In the first Men in Black, he starts off as NYPD officer James Edwards, who manages to chase down and corner an alien criminal. K seems to be impressed with Edwards' work, and extends the offer to join MIB, even vouching for him in a discussion with MIB head Zed (Rip Torn). Given the events of Men in Black III, viewers now know that K is fulfilling his promise to watch over James - and what better way to do that than by working as his partner. Eventually, K decides to retire after their battle with the Bug Edgar (Vincent D'Onofrio), and gives his neuralyzer to J. That moment plays less like two partners saying goodbye and more like a father bidding goodbye to his son, thanks to the skillful work of director Barry Sonnefield and Danny Elfman's score. And once again, Men in Black 3 adds emotional weight to this moment as K feels he's fulfilled his promise now that J is an adult.

review-men-in-black-3-josh-brolin-will-smith

Men in Black 3 wasn't the only Men in Black film to give K a fatherly role. Men in Black II found the former partners reuniting after an alien warlord named Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) comes to Earth looking for something called "The Light of Zartha." It turns out that K knows where the Light of Zartha is - however, due to the fact that J neutralized him, that knowledge is lost. And then there's the matter of Laura Vasquez (Rosario Dawson), a waitress who J starts growing attracted to. Laura's boss, Ben, was a Zarthan that fell prey to Serleena - and it turns out that Laura herself is the Light that Serleena's been chasing. Though she and J clearly want to be together, Laura ends up traveling to Zartha to save it and Earth from destruction.

Prior to her departure, K reveals that he knows some things about Laura that no one else would - including the fact that she gets sad when it rains. When she points out that that's a common thing, he replies, "It rains because you're sad, baby." That bit of dialogue, combined with the fact that K had a romantic relationship with the Zarthan princess Lauranna, strongly hints at K being Laura's father. Not only does this explain his advice to J about not "going soft" on the job, but it also means that K is a literal father as well as a surrogate one. Simply put, the Men in Black films are about fatherhood, and all its ups and downs whether you're someone's biological father or you made a promise to look after someone as if they were your own child. Not bad for a trilogy of films that features gunfights with aliens.