something i’ve been thinking about after seeing wicked: for good is what would have happened after “wonderful” if elphaba never found the locked up animals? they made it seem like it was such an easy fix, that elphaba would just be accepted after however many years of being villainized by these people. like, you expect me to believe the wizard would just show up with elphaba and say “oh we’re good now?” and that would be that? no. it would have been played in the wizard’s favor, because that’s the crux of every decision he’s made.
something different from the musical in the film — at the end of the song, the wizard tells elphaba that with her by his side the people “don’t need an enemy” referring to the animals. but in act one, he says nothing unites people better than a common enemy. he’s not contradicting himself; there will still be an enemy. it’s still her. there’s absolutely no way elphaba’s “rehabilitation” into oz would be played as anything but the wizard “taming” her with his “power”. he tells elphaba that if he tells oz the truth that he has no power, they just won’t believe him. and even if they would, he will never do that.
and the addition of glinda in the song just furthers the point that when you stand by the wizard, you really have no voice. everything glinda is in act two is by the wizard’s design. she knows the same things elphaba does, but she doesn’t say it because, like the people of oz, she doesn’t want to believe it. glinda has no authority, whether she is aware of that or not. she sees this as an easy fix — she marries her love, gets her best friend back; and on paper, yes, this is such a happy ending, but she doesn’t realize that she puts elphaba (and fiyero) in a position that limits them. and that doesn’t make her evil or vindictive, it just drives home the point that the wizard is a very convincing con artist.
and what will happen when elphaba tries to advocate for something that is against the wizards vision? they’ll try to silence her, say that she’s still “recovering from her wicked ways” or some bullshit. by the wizard’s side, she will never be taken seriously. and the wizard knows that. so yeah, he’ll let the monkeys go because it’s a small price to pay for having elphaba, someone with immense power, under his control.
when chistery led elphaba to the secret passage where the animals were locked up, it was because he saw through the wizard. he’s been silenced so he can’t warn her verbally, so he does the next best thing. i don’t think the monkeys ever really blamed elphaba the way she blamed herself — they just became what she was bound to become if she agreed to be with the wizard. and so, when elphaba freed the locked up animals from their cages, she was also freeing herself. wicked was never going to have a happy ending.
"If Movie 1 [of Wicked] is about choices, then Movie 2 is about the consequences." -- Jon M. Chu, interviewed by @/mayaegbo on tiktok
Here's the thing: there's a pivotal choice that is presented to each of the main three (Elphaba, Fiyero, and Glinda) at least once in every configuration within the two acts (of the musical, presuming this transfers to the movie):
Character A asks Character B to run away with them.
Often this is talked about in the context of Defying Gravity, but it actually happens TWO TIMES before that! And it all starts with...
Now, this is the movie's rough draft, so the scene does change slightly on screen, but it's for dramatic emphasis and the important part's fairly consistent through both the musical and movie. Same for the rest of these :)
Fiyero asks Elphaba to run away with him, albeit temporarily, to do a criminal or socially unacceptable act. Elphaba accepts this, which jumpstarts their relationship in earnest (in contrast with him asking her to ride with him and Feldspur in the forest, where she denies what would be an understandable request).
The next example of this situation, interestingly enough, shows to be the exception to the rule.
Elphaba asks Glinda to come with her, and Glinda accepts. What makes this different from the other times? There is a) no loss if she accepts, and b) active gain. Even though she can't expect to get her heart's desire, meeting The Wizard and even going to the Emerald City is huge for anyone, especially someone like Glinda!
The heartbreaking effect of this being the first time someone asks Glinda to come with her is that the audience may be prepped to think she will say yes in the future. Maybe she's just adventurous; maybe she'll follow Elphie anywhere, or can't bear to miss out on excitement. The rug pull is that she won't always say yes, and you deliberately are able to mischaracterize this choice until she makes a different one in Defying Gravity. Speaking of which...
Elphaba asks Glinda to come with her again, this time to truly become a criminal, wanted and unwanted, to cast herself out from society irrevocably... and she can't. Glinda refuses.
Some people like to talk about the tragedy that by the time Glinda would have come with her-- at the end of the story, maybe-- it's too late. And I agree that if she ever reaches that point, that's true. But I want to make it clear that this isn't just an Act 1, pre-time jump way of thinking.
I don't have script for this one, because the second movie isn't out yet, and it's not included in the musical script provided in The Grimmerie, but Fiyero asks Glinda to run away with him to find Elphaba in the middle of Thank Goodness after Glinda says that she hates staying and listening to the slander about her. Not only does Glinda refuse, she admits that it's because of the glamor and love she's grown used to. Crucially, she asks who could give it all up, and Fiyero answers, "you know who could, and did." (Pretty certain that's the wording.)
Fast forwarding, we get to the Wizard's Throne Room. There's no way that Elphaba would ask Fiyero to come with her-- but he decides he's coming anyway, and she accepts.
Now we get to Fiyero's only denial of Elphaba-- in Munchkinland, when it's obvious that he is going to die either way. If he tries to run, they will both be caught and killed. If he stays and dies, she has a chance, so of course he's yelling at her to go without him.
(And maybe, just maybe, he's paralyzed with fear and guilt, staring down the barrel at Glinda as he yells to Elphaba, unseen behind him. Despite it all, he can't seem to turn his back on his fiancée. He won't leave her again.)
Finally, Fiyero and Elphaba run away together in the finale. That's not an ask, is it? But Elphaba wants Glinda to know. She's hesitating. Fiyero starts walking, but she holds back, and he reaches out a hand to her and says "come". After a pause, she follows him, and he puts her hat on as they leave together. So as it started, Fiyero asks Elphaba to come with him, and she accepts.
But wait, you might be saying, what about Glinda? When does she ask either of them to come with her? And the answer is that she doesn't, not explicitly, because that's not who she is.
Glinda wouldn't ask someone to come with her, because she'd never be caught doing something that needed persuasion. The other two are the revolutionaries, who inspire the best in her, but just like she doesn't go through with following any serious rebellion, she doesn't incite it, even as a joke.
That being said, she does tell Elphaba to do something big one time: when Glinda asks Elphaba to listen to the Wizard and Madame Morrible at the end of Act 1. Then, during Defying Gravity, she says, "Listen to me. Just say you're sorry." Even when she is finally trying to convince someone to do something rebellious, it's rebelling against what Elphaba knows is right, her sense of justice. The audience should have known by the time Elphaba asks Glinda to come with her that it wouldn't work; the Glinda that begged Elphaba to let go of Animal rights for her own comfort would never fly away from a life in the Wizard's Palace.
Some loose ends with Glinda:
Glinda similarly asks Elphaba to come with everybody else to the Ozdust, but she leaves without her and we know where that motivation came from.
I can't think of Glinda directly asking Fiyero to come with her anywhere, besides discouraging him from leaving with Elphaba in Act 2, which I don't feel like counts.
So yes, Jon M. Chu, choices and consequences. The two best words to describe this incredible story :)
Yesterday I was dealing with chronic pain (I couldn’t really walk WHOOOH fucking hate my doctors!!!) Anyway as the normal person I am I drew my girl getting traumatized!!! It could be spoilers for act two so be careful!!
