Bear is in short, an asshole. He shows his true colors in the little details throughout the film. We see pill bottles from a woman that is no longer alive haunting his home. We see holes in his bedsheets while he assaults the woman he supposedly loves. We see that he left cans of open cat food on the ground instead of throwing them away. We see his plants dead in the background. The house is covered in things that aren't his own because he never bothered making it his own. He just took it because he doesn't have any life to put into it.
We start the film meeting Bear role playing a confession to the girl he has a crush on. During his confession several things stood out to me. Bear talks about things Nikki has done for him. She befriended him. She called when his grandmom passed. He doesn't really talk about her personality or things that are unique to her. She's just someone that's done nice things for him. He never mentions anything about who she is.
"I realized who you are"- Bear
Let's talk about Sandy. Sandy was the cat I assume he inherited from his grandmother. At this point it's no secret Bear was a terrible pet owner. There were open cans of pet food around her. Bear left open pills out that she had access to. We also never see a litter box? If there is one, was Bear even cleaning it? Bear never cared about Sandy; he saw her as a possession he no longer has control over. Sandy's fate is a mirror to Nikki's.
Nikki is a victim. She had her autonomy completely stripped from her all because Bear was a coward. I think even if Bear had confessed, Nikki would have ultimately rejected him. I say that because she appears disappointed in him when she realizes he likes her. Bear talks at Nikki not to her at any point. He talks with an expectation that she will fall in love with him. "What is so bad about being with me?" Bear asked real Nikki this question when she was able to overpower the being for a short period of time. He cared more about this image he had of her being his than her happiness. If he really cared about Nikki as a person, he would know she never wanted this and would honor her wishes.
Obviously, Bear didn't think the One Wish Willow would actually work. Prior to snapping it, I'm sure he viewed it similar to someone making a wish by blowing dandelion seeds. He didn't think of the potential consequences of his wish. Even if he had truly known it would work, would he have cared? He wanted it so badly to be true and to be real. He knows Nikki would never act like this, he even said so to the being. He wanted the idea of Nikki he had created and he couldn't get that. He doesn't even love the being that inhabits Nikki purely to love him.
The being is a fascinating subject in part because of how it learns. I think it's also fascinating because it cannot exist outside of Bear. In the mornings it gets up and prepares food for Bear, but we never see it feed itself. It pretends to read because it assumes that is what Bear would expect to walk into. It literally cannot move and exist as a person would without Bear being there because he said, "no moving weird." The being follows Bear's commands without question. Not only does Nikki herself no longer have autonomy, but the being doesn't have any either.
The being that takes over Nikki couldn't completely control her at first. It had to let pieces of her slip out so Bear could teach it how to exist for him. It only got stronger with time, we see Nikki appear less and less. We see it learn from Bear even going as far as to take his stories and regurgitate them back to him in a new form to relate more to Nikki. The being claimed Nikki's dad had cancer, he didn't, but Bear's grandmother did. Bear spoke earlier about how Nikki was there for him when his grandmother passed, so the being is trying to get Bear to be there in return.
Ian described Nikki as "infatuated" with Bear out of nowhere. I can't think of any better description for what it must have appeared as an outsider to the whole situation. Even as the audience, knowing what Bear did the being doesn't really love Bear. Yes, the being exists to live for him, serve him, and please him, but it can't really love. Love doesn't mean being inseparable from someone, it means co-existing and being happy with each other's presence. The being was incapable of true love, but so was Bear.
What about Sarah? Sarah was by far the kindest character in the film, and I feel sorry she ended up as collateral for Bear's stupidity. She was the first to attempt to share the burden of Bear's loss of Sandy. She relied on Bear for emotional support but also let him lean on her to. She was authentic with him and cared about him as a person. She also never put him in a position where he felt uncomfortable with her perception of him. She truly cared about Bear as a person and wanted him to care about her to.
The party is one of the most important scenes of the whole film. There's an insane amount to unpack. The short story that the being recites to the group is actually insane. The only note I took during that scene was, this is a threat to Bear. She spoke of an incestuous relationship in which one held power over the other. A relationship that was doomed to fail, one that would end in death just like hers and Bears.
The ending will go down as a memorable that is for certain. One of the biggest tragedies of it is that Nikki will have to face it all alone. I know some have pointed out she could use the billion dollars Ian wished for. She actually can't though, the one wish willow set clear rules. we learned during Bear's conversation with the call line that if he dies, his wish ends. Ian died, his wish died with him. Nikki has no support whether that be financial or emotional once she regains control. Besides, she almost didn't regain control at all. Bear tried to vomit up the pills he swallowed to kill himself. He was so afraid to die, he almost didn't. Nikki was almost condemned to her fate with Bear alongside her. Thankfully his cowardice failed, even if Nikki isn't entirely thankful for it.
Nikki didn't feel love at the beginning, and Bear didn't get to feel love at the end. I think that was the best ending we could have possibly gotten out of this tragedy.
Lucy
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