Wicked: For Good (2025, PG)

*Premise spoilers (which include spoilers for Part 1)*

It’s here!!! You’d best believe I’ve been flailing and hand-flapping every time I’ve watched the trailer. I had too much other stuff going on to get to this movie opening weekend, but I was able to run out and catch it this week, and it was absolutely lovely.

Five years after the events of Wicked: Part 1, Elphaba fights to liberate oppressed Animals by day and lives in hiding by night. She’s searching for a way to expose the Wizard as a fraud. However, Glinda is helping to prop up that fraud—now known as Glinda the Good Witch (despite having no real power herself,) she’s the Wizard’s right-hand woman, reeling at the anti-Elphaba propaganda she’s made to spout. She’s engaged to Fiyero and on the verge of getting everything she’s supposed to want, but things aren’t over yet between the two old friends.

Personally, while I loved the film, I think it’s a little weaker than Part 1, if only because the first act of the musical is stronger than the second. The plot meanders at times, there are moments that get a little too silly, and although I enjoy both the brand-new songs in the movie (one written for Elphaba, the other for Glinda,) neither of them have completely grabbed me yet—we’ll see if the new songs win me over on repeat listens. Like the first film, this one is pretty beholden to the source material but also expands on it in interesting ways. Here, I like some added interactions between Elphaba and Glinda, I enjoy the role that Animals play in the story, and the climactic sequence leading to “For Good” is simply gorgeous.

As with the first film, the costumes are a delight and the score is exquisite—not just the singing performances, which we’ll get to in a moment, but the orchestral score and the way various musical themes are woven in where you may not expect them. It’s so nice to return to this world, and it’s interesting to see how, five years along, the police-state aspects of Oz are much more out in the open, with press secretary Madame Morrible printing propaganda posters to maintain the fear of Elphaba and Animal refugees attempting to flee from Oz.

The cast remains exquisite. While Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh are still the weakest singers in the group, they’re both stellar as the Wizard and Madame Morrible. Marissa Bode and Ethan Slater continue to turn in fine work as Nessarose and Boq, with their story coming to a head. As the plot of The Wizard of Oz gets folded into the film, those characters are kept largely out-of-focus for various reasons, but I enjoyed Colman Domingo’s brief appearance as the Cowardly Lion. Jonathan Bailey is just so damn good as Fiyero—his acting and singing are both excellent, and he’s consistently great in scenes with Glinda and Elphaba alike.

But of course, in the end, it’s all about the witches. Ariana Grande-Butera gives such a beautiful performance as Glinda, who’s getting everything she wants at the cost of what she really needs. Even as Glinda makes stunningly bad choices—out of ambition, desperation, or hurt/anger—she remains comprehensible. I’ve always loved Glinda’s part in “Thank Goodness,” and she doesn’t disappoint. And Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba…my god! She’s just a knockout: fierce, flawed, and principled. “No Good Deed” near about blew the roof off the theater! Because they’re on opposite sides of the Wizard’s fascist regime, we don’t see Elphaba and Glinda together as often in this film, but whenever Erivo and Grande-Butera share the screen, it’s simply electric.

Warnings

Thematic elements, violence, and mild sexual content.

Joel Fry-days: White Van Man: Series 2, Episode 6 – “Crime and Punishment” (2012)

*Episode premise spoilers. Also, I won’t be spoiling any particulars of the ending, but I will be discussing my personal thoughts about the ending*

This is it: the last episode of White Van Man! What an excellent show this turned out to be. The makeshift series finale is one last great episode!

When Ollie and Emma stumble upon a robbery at the coffee house where she works, Ollie chases after the robbers and is both shocked and disgusted to discover that one of them is Darren. For the second time this season, Ollie makes a break with Darren, who’s heartbroken to have let Ollie down but more immediately concerned with the debt hanging over his head with Joanne’s dodgy Uncle Reggie.

I’m guessing that the show didn’t know it was going to be canceled when this episode was made, so they didn’t know it was going to serve as the series finale. Early on, I had a, “Wait, they didn’t plan on this being the ending!” realization and wondered what kind of resolution we were going to get—after all, the series 1 finale ends with some big cliffhangers. But it looks like this show works out a bit like Our Flag Means Death, which also would’ve been awful to get canceled after season 1. But with both shows, even though I certainly wouldn’t have wanted them to get canceled after season 2, their last episode winds up serving pretty well as a finale.

There are some great jokes here that I’m not going to mention, since they’d spoil a major plot development in the second half of the episode. But there’s some delightful stuff involving a Peak Extra costume, fantastic funny details, and a perfectly timed character entrance leading up to the climax. And for things I can talk about, there’s a silly back-and-forth over the expression “how d’ya like them apples?”, and a romantic exchange between Olie and Emma ends with Emma remarking, “Oh good, you think of me in the same context as a van.” Plus, Tony admits to being “bit addicted to [the children’s show] Rastamouse.” Hee!

Okay, let’s talk about Joel Fry’s final appearance as Darren. Obviously, this isn’t his finest hour, both for participating in the robbery (he maintains that it wasn’t his idea) and then trying to shirk his way out of culpability. Darren is sharper and more observant than he often gets credit for, but he can absolutely be a complete dumbass sometimes, especially if he’s feeling panicked. His actions here come back to bite him in multiple ways.

Although, side note: this all traces back to some credit card debt that was revealed in the series 2 premiere—Darren maxed out the company card buying baby stuff and has been trying to pay Ollie back. This is the same reason he was moonlighting with Andrzej in episode 2. After the robbery, Ollie berates Darren for getting a loan from Reggie instead of going to a bank, but when he found out about the moonlighting, he flipped out and forced Darren to “choose” between him and Andrzej. Borrowing from Reggie to pay off the credit cards is clearly a bad idea, and robbing a cafe to pay back Reggie is even worse. But Darren did try to earn extra money legitimately first.

Ollie cutting Darren out is a bit of a retread from episode 2, which I suppose is why we don’t focus on it as much this time. Instead, Ollie’s plot is more about helping Emma with the fallout from the robbery (without revealing that he caught Darren and let him get away,) while Darren’s plot is more about dealing with Reggie. But the brief scenes we get between Ollie and Darren are still really good. Even if it’s something of a retread, it’s not an exact repeat, which makes a big difference. Ollie’s grievances are much more valid this time around, and Darren definitely knows that he’s in the wrong. His face crumbles as Ollie tells him, “You ripped off Emma. You robbed her. I don’t ever wanna see you again.” He follows after Ollie, stammering and trying to fix things and making excuses, and then he simply admits, “I didn’t mean to hurt you, man! I’m sorry.” We know that Darren is a pretty good liar, but I don’t doubt his sincerity here.

Like I said, though, we spend most of Darren’s screentime dealing with Reggie, who’s threatening to break Darren’s legs if he doesn’t pay up. While there’s plenty of great stuff here that I also don’t want to spoil, Fry does a great job with Darren’s terrified reactions.

• When Reggie shows up at the pub, Darren gives this nervous high-pitched “hiya!”
• When Tony’s efforts to help fall flat, Darren pleads, “Noooooo!!!” as he realizes Tony’s about to make it even worse
• When Reggie offers Darren an ultimatum, he’s silent for a beat, then responds with a stunned, “...Sorry, I missed that. What’d you say?”

I also just really enjoy that, because Ollie’s washed his hands of him, Darren is mostly interacting with Tony and Liz here. For most of the series, I’ve been curious about what Darren and Tony’s working dynamic was like. Obviously, Darren’s not working with Tony in this episode, but it’s still neat to see them together. Tony and Liz come across Darren at the pub, depressed and hopeless as he waits for Reggie. Tony is surprisingly gentle at coaxing what’s wrong out of Darren, though he’s still appropriately exasperated when he learns the particulars of the situation. This is a great exchange between them:

TONY: “You sure you’re not gonna tell me why you’ve got this face on?”

DARREN: “...I’ve really messed up, Tony.” 

TONY: “Ollie says something like that, I don’t worry, ‘cause I know he’s just being a girl. You say it, you get my attention, ‘cause we’re talking a different scale of problems with you, aren’t we?” 

DARREN (with a small nod, tearing up slightly): “Yeah.”

I love their interactions in this episode, which just make me even more curious about what Darren was like as Tony’s assistant. It’s so good!

All right—that’s all for White Van Man! Final thoughts.

Accent Watch

London.

Recommend?

In General – Absolutely. It’s honestly a little wild that I was so lukewarm on the series after the pilot (although I do maintain that the pilot isn’t nearly up to the show’s usual quality.) After that shaky start, it’s consistently hilarious, offbeat, and fun! The writing is great, and the whole cast is terrific!

Joel Fry – Yes!!! Again, It’s wild to think that my first impression of this role was “undemanding but funny.” Not only is Fry fantastically funny in this show, he plays Darren with a wonderful amount of nuance that I never would’ve expected. This is such a spectacular performance from him—100% watch it!

Warnings

Language, occasional violence (mostly comedic,) sexual references/content, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements.

Y tu Luna también: 3Below: Season 2, Episode 11 – “Race to Trollmarket” (2019)

*Season arc spoilers.*

Honestly, the whole final chunk of episodes is a great ride. This one, which calls back to Trollhunters in key ways, combines neat action with strong character moments, and it’s a great episode for Krel/Diego Luna.

After their journey through their parents’ memories in the last episode, Aja and Krel have discovered the location of Gaylen’s Core: it’s hidden somewhere in Trollmarket, which has been deserted since the events of the Trollhunters finale. Our heroes search the underground Troll city with the help of their friends, once again locked in a dangerous race with Morando to find the Core first.

Like I said, this episode deals with stuff related to Trollhunters—it obviously helps if you’ve seen that show, but the important elements are introduced well enough that I think you can understand what you need to know without it. Basically, if you’ve seen Trollhunters, you’re coming into the episode like Toby and AAARRRGGHH!!!, who guide the Akiridions through Trollmarket. If you haven’t, you’re more like Aja and Krel, who are visiting this place for the first time.

Our character of the week is also a callback from Trollhunters: Kanjigar, voiced by James Purefoy (although in his very first appearance in the pilot for the mother show, he was voiced by Tom Hiddleston!) Kanjigar was the Trollhunter before Jim, and though Jim only took up the call after his death, he remained an occasional spirit guide on the show. That’s the purpose he serves here, as Team Akiridion comes to Trollmarket looking for answers.

As with the last episode, this one has a greater focus on the action and the dramatic content, but there’s always got to be a little humor sprinkled in there. As Varvatos looks around Trollmarket, he proclaims, “There’s an aura of death and decay. I like it.” Later on, Varvatos also prompts this exchange between Toby and Aja:

TOBY: “How many times has he thrown you off a cliff?!?”

AJA: “More often than I’d like.”

I really like what the show does with Krel here. He steps up a lot in Trollmarket. It’s sad for Toby, and especially AAARRRGGHH!!!, to look around the deserted city, but Krel reassures them, reminding them that the place might be abandoned, but their Troll friends are safe and have a new home now. We don’t often see that level of consideration from Krel toward anyone other than Aja, and I love watching him show such care and sensitivity to his friends. He can still be blunt and cranky, of course, but he’s also grown and changed during his time on Earth.

Another demonstration of his growth? When they realize that one of them will have to enter the Deep, a mysterious pit that forces you to confront your greatest fears, to search for Gaylen’s Core, Krel volunteers. He tells Aja, “I’ll go. You and Varvatos need to fight whatever’s coming.” This is a major step for him, being the one to venture into the darkness without anybody backing him up. When Krel is in scary situations, he almost always has Aja or Varvatos there to protect him, but this time, he pragmatically realizes that he has to go it alone, because their warrior skills are needed elsewhere.

I won’t spoil what Krel’s worst fear is, but his experience in the Deep is yet another show of his growth. He handles it in a very real way, gripped by utter devastation and panic at what he’s seeing, but also gathering the strength he needs to stand up and fight any way he can. Luna is fantastic in this scene, playing Krel’s alternating desperation and determination to a tee.