Can you please elaborate more on the plot holes and lack of character development? (Genuinely asking)
(Tbh, I only care about Fiyero)
You have no idea how happy I am to talk about this, but how sad I am that I have to talk about this because Jesus Chirst Jon M. Chu the movie was twice as long as the OG and you couldn't even fix one plot hole arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. Like yeah its about Elphaba and Glinda but them being the main characters doesn't magically absolve the film of having to fix the issues just because the issues are on other characters... very upset. I'm not even writing a fix-it-fic, I'm writing a fix-it-script, as though I was the director (I should have been)
Also, some of these are more like gaps than entire holes, because you can fill it in, but it causes a lack in character development + nuance
So, going in... I think chronological order:
When/how was Fiyero appointed Guard? Did he start from the bottom and work up? Flash his "I'm a prince and dating Glinda" card and call it a day? Did he hurt Animals? Even know about the Animals? If he's brand new (which I think is the case because Morrible says "newly appointed" iirc) then what the hell was he doing before that? Trying and failing to find Elphaba on his own?
How did Fiyero escape the pole? Dorothy left before he was tortured and transformed. Did the other guards run like Officer Earl in CwaCoMB with Fiyero hanging limp in their arms, all the way past Dorothy and then in front of her before beating him up? Or is it like in the TWOO book where Dorothy stayed the night at another Munchkinlander's house, who funnily enough in the book was named Boq while the TinMan was named Nick, iirc. But even then Munchkinland is much more clustered in the Wicked movie, so who would live off grid? And in any case, the TWOO book isn't canon to the Wicked movie, of course, so even if it made perfect sense it isn't canon in any way, shape or form. Also, a movie only making sense if you read the 100 year old book where nothing is the same except the characters
Also, in Broadway, he's never even shown with Dorothy so for all we know he has a god damn teleportation gun in the play
How did he automatically know to talk about wanting to get a brain from the Wizard? Again, when looking at TWOO, we can easily infer that Dorothy spoke about going to the Wizard and returning home first since he 'grants your hearts desires,' before he said anything, but that's not what happened in Wicked, because NOTHING WAS SHOWN in Wicked.
How exactly did he and Dorothy find Tin-Boq? Like, why did he want to join them? Of course his main goal is revenge against Elphaba, and neither Fiyero nor Dorothy wanted to do that yet, unless Wicked!Dorothy is a murderous little girl. Boq certainly doesn't seem to be the "well I'll ask the Wizard for a heart!" type
Similarily, what about the Lion? We know how they find him in TWOO, but TWOO simply isn't canon to Wicked. Especially since it, for a moment, seemed implied that the Lion would have gone with the other Animals in the tunnel beneath Oz, since he was telling them to not fight with Elphaba
Why are Morrible and the Wizard so stupid? Like I'm sorry but Fiyero- the prince, fiance, and head guard traitors body disappeared, and then not a day later a 'random-ass' Scarecrow with a very similar outfit shows up with a girl who was brought in via the tornado not hours before Fiyero was captured, AND a man who is very very public about having once been human and transformed into this monstrous in-human man made of tin.... which is very similar to a man made of straw. And they didn't blink an eye. Like what. Also, why does Morrible and the Wizard genuinely believe water will melt Elphaba? Like it started as a simply rumor in Thank Goodness and spiraled that badly, so what the fuck happened to make them believe that?
How did he hand Chistery the letter? We obviously know he did, but the flying Monkeys seemed to have gone in-and-out pretty damn quickly. Did Chistery recognize Fiyero?
How did Dorothy get home? Again, if we use book knowledge we know that the slippers probably flew her over the Impassable Desert, but this isn't the book!
THE LETTER
Fiyero's letter in Brodway is, "Dearest Elphaba, miraculously I've managed to escape thanks to the spell you've cast on me. I've had to pay a great price, but my love is still strong for you. I only hope that you will still want me when we meet. I have a plan for us and I will come to you and explain it. Tell no one I still am alive! My only hope- OUR ONLY HOPE IS FOR ALL OF OZ TO THINK I'M DEAD."
So, his letter clearly indicates he was the brains behind the operation, right? Yep, because he says he has a plan and he will explain it to her, and based off the text, in person. This also makes sense when considering after he told Elphaba to come out of the trap-door, he says "it worked!" Which again, indicates he had time to tell her the whole plan. But then... why was she so shocked when she saw how he looked? Their interaction regarding his appearance very much so indicates she hasn't seen him since the transformation, but then how the hell did he tell her the plan? For some reason I don't think Kiamo Ko has confession booths like a church so they'd talk to each other without seeing the other. SO IT DON'T MAKE SENSE
And even more so! In the very beginning of 'No One Mourns the Wicked,' we see burnt hay and straw. Which clearly points to Dorothy throwing the water like how it happened in TWOO- Elphaba sets Fiyero on fire, Fiyero is in-between Dorothy and Glinda, so when Dorothy throws the water to save Fiyero, Elphaba is caught in the crossfire (cross-splash?) and consequently "melted." But again- that would mean she saw Fiyero and is aware of what he looks like. Also, there's no explanation for, from what the screen shows, how Fiyero would know exactly where to find Elphaba. If he actually talked to her, then yes, but from what we've seen, he hasn't. So unless he can sniff her out like omega and alpha pheromones, it don't check out.
Anyway, onto the majorly missed character nuance parts...
SHOW HOW FIYERO GOT THE GUARD. Obviously, the theme in both TWOO and with Fiyero is that he, despite labeling himself as thoughtless, is the brains behind several operations. He's the one who infiltrates the Wizard's rank to help Elphaba escape each time, and this is significantly more prevalent in the movie since we see him become clearly aware of where Elphaba is when hiding in the tree (he did a brief side eye), and then telling everyone there's nothing there. Additionally, he figures out to tell all the other guards to go fetch as much water as they can carry, effectively getting rid of them so its just him, Elphaba, and the Wizard. Then, like I said with the letter- he's singlehandedly the reason he and Elphaba can live in peace. In exile, yes, but at least not being hunted and terrorized. And of course in TWOO, the Scarecrow is the one who suggests making the Trees mad to get apples, and I think in the OG book he rallied the little poppy flower mice to carry the Cowardly Lion? But I'm not 100% sure on that. But the point is: a major theme in TWOO and Fiyero's character is that he does have brains. And this is somewhat shown in the movie, but imagine how much better it would be if, maybe, he talked to Morrible and was like, "well, as a prince, I have experience in guns and all that other princely shit, and also I'm dating Glinda, imagine how good that would look and how much people would really against Elphaba if that were the case," and such. Even more so, if he had to hurt Animals to maintain position (which I still think he didn't because of the diff. guard uniforms but whatever), it could show him allowing most of them to escape, and only capturing a few. This way he saves more Animals than he harms, perhaps he can even try to have them give messages to Elphaba (but since the Cowardly Lion be slandering my girl it wouldn't work, sad face) and such. So he can try to give hope to the Animals more than Glinda ever would (until the end) while still showcasing his grief over having to hurt even one. Additionally, imagine how juicy it would be if Feldspur either lost his voice or had to pretend to be voiceless due to the proximity with the Wizard? Juicy. But Fiyero knows he has no choice because it's either retreat and help Feldspur in the moment but have someone else capture all the Animals he helped escape, and someone else will kill Elphaba, or get his hands dirty.
SHOW HIS GRIEF OVER HIS APPEARANCE. The entire tragedy of Fiyeraba is that Fiyero is a dude who is loved almost exclusively for his appearance and status, so he learned how to act up being a careless playboy to hide his grief over it all. He's convinced nobody would ever love his insides. Whereas Elphaba is universally hated for her appearance, but she knows everyone would love her insides! And then they meet eachoher- right off the bat, Fiyero doesn't belittle Elphaba's greenness. He makes the foliage comment because she genuinely did blend in and then the rest of their argument is filled with Fiyero making himself the brunt of jokes and teasing about Elphaba's defensiveness. Her personality. Likewise, Fiyero realizes that Elphaba doesn't care for his looks, his status, his swagger. Based on his line to Feldspur (well, Feldspur, we have just been spurned by a girl), he's literally never been rejected ever before. So he goes, "hey now... if she rejected me, then that must mean that if I can make friends with her, she'll like the ME me, not the persona me!" I mean he probably realizes this more subconsciously but I digress. Then blah blah blah some torture and whatnot, and when he wakes up (unless he was conscious for the transformation, in which case oof ouch my heart) he realizes he has nothing of what he thought made him loveable. He no longer has his appearance. He must abandon his family, his title, any riches he had. He can't even move properly- which, also, they really could have gone several miles with him being magically disabled, so to speak. I know they were very aware when rewriting Nessa's scene to eliminate any abeilist tropes, so I really don't understand why they couldn't have gone one step extra and put detail on Fiyero being, by all means, a newly disabled man? I mean, he has no bones. He can't walk properly. His ankle rolls in every few steps and hay falls out. He doesn't have the same strength as before. He is, in terms of physical capability, really like a newborn deer. Wobbly, not able to carry much. In short, he has lost every single thing he's convinced makes him lovable. That's why, even in the letter like I mentioned, he says " I only hope that you will still want me when we meet." He is literally fully convinced she will leave him, because even though his brain knows it's illogical, all his past experiences and crippling self doubt consume him anyway. He thinks, bottom line, that he is now unlovable. And to show this, as well as the aforementioned disability, really would have gone a long way to build up both his character, Fiyeraba, parallels of him and Elphaba, everything he is willing to sacrifice for Elphaba, and the entire tragedy of Wicked as a whole.
Also, since Wicked is ultimately about morals, politics, and consequences to your actions, showing Fiyero have to deliberately manipulate the situation and continuously lie about his identity to Dorothy's (a child) face, that would have added a tremendous amount of nuance and guilt to his character. And in the same vein, showing Boq's relationship with Dorothy as his hatred for Elphaba increases and he vocalizes his past of being human while Fiyero has to pretend to have always been a scarecrow makes me sad
SHOW HIM ENGAGING WITH BOQ. Like, I'm sorry, but seeing Fiyero have to suck up to Boq's constant slander against Elphaba would have been so god-damn juicy. Seeing him have to say nothing about it and if someone asks him what he thinks he just has to play dumb, and he can't defend Elphaba either because then Boq would be like
Also, just like. His reaction during MOTWH would have been priceless with how devastated he would be, but knowing he can’t physically protect Elphaba anymore, and can only lie to help her versus fight.
Anyway I'm sure there's more but I'm at the point of tired where I slouch to the side and wake up two minutes later with black spots so Im gonna go sleep weepy now bye bye
