We’ve seen evil: forever and there’s only one word to describe it

Earlier this week, I watched the theater fill with “Wicked” fans of all ages, genders and races: kids dressed in pink and green, men in sparkly shoes and themed shirts, women in matching black merchandise, tiaras or hats.

The second part of “Wicked,” the musical adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name that reinvents “The Wizard of Oz” and humanizes the story’s iconic witches, Elphaba and Glinda, is finally in theaters.

When the lights dimmed and a pre-recorded video of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo welcomed us to the world of Oz, everyone applauded, filling the theater with palpable anticipation. However, a lingering question hung in the space between its message and the opening sequence: Would Part 2 do justice to this beloved story?

The answer is yes. The film is nothing short of spectacular in scope and theme. It’s obvious that it was intentionally crafted to continue telling the story while celebrating both the legacy of the Stephen Schwartz-composed musical and the impact it has had on fans since Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked: Part 1” was released last November.democratizing the story for a broader, global audience.

“Part 1” is the first act of the musical and explains the backstories of Elphaba (Erivo) and Glinda (Grande). It shows how the green girl, who will become the Wicked Witch of the West, befriends the blonde girl, who will become the Good Witch of the North.

The first film ends on a cliffhanger as Elphaba is scapegoated by the infamous Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) as an evil witch whose green skin is an “outward manifestation of her twisted nature.” She becomes a common enemy to distract from the wizard’s subjugation of the animals he has caged and his tactics to control the Ozians, namely his plan for the Yellow Brick Road, which will allow him to spy on and track the movements of their citizens.

The film ends with Elphaba rising into the sky above the city, proclaiming that she is “limitless” and refusing to allow the wizard to punish her. Erivo leaves the audience with her iconic riff on “Defying Gravity” as Glinda turns around and is led back to the safety of the Emerald City, cementing the dichotomy between good and evil.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Over the past year, fans have been forced to “hold space” for Elphaba’s powerful act of defiance, but one can only fight gravity for so long. Fall is where “Wicked: For Good” begins. It reveals the consequences of each character’s actions and how each deals with the reality of their choices.

Elphaba has built a hideout in the forest and lives in exile, determined to uncover the wizard’s destructive lies single-handedly. The wizard and Madame Morrible have placed Glinda on a pedestal, and she has brought Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) up with her, so that their wedding can give people something to celebrate. To further complicate the plot, Fiyero is in love with Elphaba; Nessarose (Marissa Bode), Elphaba’s sister, has stepped into her late father’s shoes to rule Munchkinland with the help of Boq (Ethan Slater). Also, a girl and her dog are about to fall from the sky.

Despite these difficulties, it would be easy for “For Good” to come off as anticlimactic and overwhelmingly dark. After all, it is about Elphaba’s descent or, in other words, her melting. The first act of the musical, when Glinda and Elphaba become friends, is the easiest part of the story to tell. It can be summarized as “pink goes well with green,” and the opposites-attract nature of the story is summed up in clever scenes like “What is this feeling?” “Dancing for life” and “Popular”.

The second act doesn’t have as many catchy musical numbers, but “For Good” does an incredible job of circumventing this potential disappointment by revamping the soundtrack. According to Schwartz, who co-produced it, at least half of the music is new in some way. “Every Day More Wicked,” a new song, serves as the film’s opening. It’s a well-executed medley that weaves together memorable pieces of songs from the first film to situate viewers in the story. There are also two brand new songs: “No Place Like Home” sung by Erivo as Elphaba and “The Girl in the Bubble” sung by Grande as Glinda, and “Wonderful” was revised to include Glinda.

Ultimately, the music unifies the plot. Unlike the first film, in which the characters spend most of their time together at Shiz University, in “For Good” they primarily undertake individual journeys that intersect at key moments. The music is what ties these threads together and keeps the plot from becoming choppy.

The coherence it creates also gives the story more room to explore the different places and people of Oz, showing the true magnitude of Nathan Crowley’s production design. From Elphaba’s forest hideout and ruined castle to Glinda’s chambers in the Emerald City, the level of detail in every scene is hyper-realistic, surpassing what most films achieve using CGI or AI. This realism is enhanced by Paul Tazewell’s impressively detailed costumes and Frances Hannon’s hair and makeup design.

The result is that everything in “For Good” seems exceptionally realistic, and the cinematic scope heightens the stakes of the story. It’s bigger than Elphaba accepting who she is. Now it’s about what will happen to every person and animal in Oz.

There are obvious political parallels between the fascism taking over Oz and what is happening in America today under the Trump administration. That was true in “Part 1” and it’s even easier to make those connections in “For Good.” Last spring, News contributor Jake Kleinman proposed that “Perhaps the curse of ‘Wicked’ is that its fascist allegory only grows more potent as time goes on, and the film is no exception.”

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

While this rings eerily true, it also feels like a byproduct of any story that pits good against evil because books, like all art, have always offered societies the opportunity to look in the mirror, to see a reflection of themselves that can reveal injustice, foster empathy, and incite change.

Where “Wicked: For Good” really stands out, however, is not in its depressingly accurate allegory of a society falling to the manipulative whims of a despot, but in its depiction of the capacity each individual has, of the multitudes we all contain.

This is easiest to see in Elphaba and Glinda’s character arcs. While most current adaptations of books and musicals tend to simplify or dilute the original story, “Wicked: For Good” develops and enhances it. This complexity is unique to see in a blockbuster, but it’s the scale that being a big-budget film offers that makes this doubling even more effective than on stage.

“Part 1” is about Elphaba redefining what it means to be “evil.” What the second film has done for Glinda is give her the same space. “For Good” is her chance to be more than a girl who is given a bubble in which she is forced to float. Rather, it’s about her learning to direct it, to use it, to exploit it, to get out of it, and to redefine the munchkins’ perceptions of goodness because of it.

This is only possible because of what Elphaba and Glinda have learned from each other and how they have shaped each other “for the better.” Without spoiling the film for those who haven’t seen a stage production, the ending is not a happy one, but its imperfections are what make it so impactful.

“Seeing things differently” becomes a common refrain on “For Good.” Maybe I’m just an overly sentimental fan like those who sat next to me in the theater, but it seems to me that seeing a representation of the complex way our relationships change us, of the ways we adapt to our limits and inabilities to defy gravity, is what has made the musical “Wicked” resonate for more than 20 years.

That’s why “Wicked” (in both parts) has changed so many people, for lack of a less cliché phrase, “forever.”

“Wicked: For Good” is now showing in theaters.