Universal images
Bad: forever concludes the story of the doomed friendship between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) and turns to a new page in the Grimmerie as the story ends.
The film is an alternative take on an iconic story and shows how the Wicked Witch and Glinda the Good earned their titles in The Wizard of Oz, suggesting that Dorothy had no idea what was really happening behind the scenes.
The twist that ends with Bad: forever reframes Dorothy’s journey through Oz as an opportunity for Elphaba to change her fate and create the legend of the Wicked Witch and Glinda the Good.
What is the plot of ‘Wicked: For Good’?
The film starts some time after the end of Badwhere Elphaba and Glinda had chosen sides and parted ways.
Now an agent of the friendly tyrant, the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), Glinda is given a mechanical, apparently magical bubble that allows her to fly, to fool the Munchkins into thinking she really is a witch – a good witch, no less.
Elphaba is a rebel on the run who tries to free the animals of Oz, who are rounded up and oppressed under the wizard.
Her reputation as the Wicked Witch of the West is firmly established at this point, and the people of Oz have convinced themselves that she can be killed by the purity of water.
Elphaba continues to use her magic to do good deeds, but sees that they backfire horribly.
When Elphaba tries to make her disabled sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), fly by casting a spell on her slippers, Elphaba accidentally scares away her beloved Boq (Ethan Slater), and when Nessa tries to magically win his heart, the spell goes wrong and his heart shrinks.
To save him, Elphaba transforms his flesh into metal, into a creature that can live without a heart: the Tin Man.
Things seem to take a turn for the worse after Elphaba is convinced by the Wizard to join forces, but the union immediately falls apart after discovering his secret animal prison, moments after he promises to stop oppressing the creatures of Oz.
Even worse, Nessa is killed after a tornado summoned by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) drops the house of a girl known as Dorothy Gale into Munchkin Land and her journey begins in Munchkin Land. The Wizard of Oz.
Dorothy receives Glinda’s silver slippers and is instructed to seek the wizard’s advice.
Elphaba, devastated by her sister’s death, feels betrayed by Glinda’s giving away the slippers. The two fight until Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) and a pack of guards break it up.
Fiyero is in the middle of a love triangle between the two, but he firmly chooses Elphaba and threatens Glinda’s life to save his love. As Elphaba flies away, he is grabbed by the guards and beaten half to death.
Elphaba, now joined by the winged monkeys, reads a strange spell from the Grimmerie to protect Fiyero’s body from harm, unknowingly turning him into a Scarecrow.
Grieving, reeling from constant betrayal and malice, Elphaba breaks down and embraces the title of Wicked Witch, vowing to get her sister’s slippers back.
Meanwhile, Dorothy and her friends have been tasked with killing the Wicked Witch, and when they fail, an angry mob awaits Elphaba.
Glinda tries to warn her and enters Elphaba’s castle to find Dorothy being held captive by Elphaba. The two share their final conversation and realize how their friendship has changed them for the better, and Elphaba realizes that her bad reputation is too far gone to come back.
Glinda hides while Elphaba faces Dorothy, who throws a bucket of water, seemingly melting her into a puddle.
Devastated, Glinda is left with only the Grimmerie and a final request from Elphaba to act like a good witch and keep the legend of the Wicked Witch alive.
Glinda receives a mysterious green bottle from a flying monkey, and she suddenly understands why Elphaba was born green.
She confronts the wizard, who remembers giving Elphaba’s mother the potion, and he realizes that he is Elphaba’s father. Glinda sends the wizard away in shame and swears to rule Oz as a good witch.
Unlike Elphaba, Glinda has no magical talent; she’s not really a witch, despite desperately wanting to be one. But she does have the Grimmerie.
What Glinda doesn’t know is that Elphaba is not really dead, as she has relied on the myth of “weakness against water” to fake her own death, hiding under a trapdoor until the Scarecrow, also known as Fiyero, releases her.
She is shocked to see what her spell has done to him, but her love has not diminished. The two escape Oz through a secret tunnel and emerge through the desert that surrounds Oz in search of a new life.
Elphaba watches back as the Grimmerie magically turns the pages and opens them to Glinda, who laughs.
Why does the Grimmerie open for Glinda?
There is a certain ambiguity in the scene, as Elphaba seemed to know what was happening, and perhaps even was responsible for turning the pages.
It’s tempting to think that Elphaba used her magic to open the book, giving Glinda a subtle signal that she is still alive, that Glinda is worthy of being her magical successor.
However, Elphaba complains during her voiceover that she can never let Glinda know the truth.
It seems likely that the book will be opened to Glinda to mark her new role as the magical leader of Oz.
All Glinda ever wanted was to be truly magical, like Elphaba, and the Grimmerie seems to accept her as a witch.
Either way, there’s a new chapter ahead for both characters, with Glinda the Good ruling the Land of Oz and Elphaba fleeing to a new world with Fiyero.
MORE FROM FORBES
#twist #Wicked #Good #explained