By I suppose I’m a bit late to the jump here, since it’s not showing in theaters anymore, but a few weeks ago, I, like apparently everyone else in the world, went to see Obsession. I had for the most part managed to avoid catastrophic spoilers, even with my embarrassing screen time habits, and I enjoyed the movie.
If “enjoyed” is the right word— somehow, it doesn’t seem like the appropriate one. I walked out of the theater feeling very heavy, and my thoughts kept returning to the movie, especially the ending sequence, for the next few days.
For me, it was the ending that cemented the film in my mind. So in this post I will be breaking down the ending of Obsession and some of the fan debates and discussions I have been seeing about it.
Recap of the Movie Prior to the Ending Scene
Totally skip this section if you have just watched it or don’t need a refresher, as I’m just going to be summarizing what happens prior to the last few minutes of the movie.
The main villain/protagonist of the movie, Bear, has found himself in an escalating nightmare scenario after using a magical object, the One-Wish Willow, to grant the wish for his friend and coworker Nikki, to love him “more than anyone in the fucking world.”
Bear does not expect this wish to work, of course, but he finds that Nikki’s behavior abruptly changes after he consummated the wish. Though she is acting erratically, she seems to have a new romantic interest in him, and they start dating.
Over the ensuing days, Bear witnesses several instances where Nikki seems to snap back to her old self, indicating that she has been magically coerced into this obsession with Bear. However, Bear continues to “date” her and sleep with her despite this, making it rape. Who knows whether he would have been fine with this state of affairs if Nikki’s behavior hadn’t started to spiral into horror movie tropes (popping out of corners, smiling creepily, bashing her own face in, etc.).
At any rate, once he starts getting freaked out by the situation he calls up the number on the One-Wish Willow and asks, not to UNDO the wish, but to alter it. (Because apparently he’s fine with her being magically enslaved to him— just not like this.
The One-Wish Willow makers say altering or reversing the wish is impossible, but that Bear can speak to the real Nikki now if he wants. When he assents, what comes through the phone is agonized screaming.
Meanwhile, Bear’s other female coworker, Sarah, is actually into him. Despite the supernatural quandary he has gotten himself into, he goes to meet her in her car at night, where she insinuates her feelings for him. In the most anticipatory jump-scare of the movie, upon hearing this, Nikki pops out from behind the car window and slams Sarah’s face into the steering wheel until she dies.
Now fully in a panic Bear seeks out his friend Ian so that Ian can make a new One-Wish Willow wish to reverse Bear’s. However Ian laughs at the idea of a magical wish granter and throws away the wish on a million dollars, before being shot and killed by Nikki.
The Ending Scene of Obsession
As we approach the film’s close, we are in Bear’s house with Bear, Nikki, and two dead bodies: Ian’s, and Sarah’s, which has been relocated from the car and displayed in the house.
Bear desperately tries to get Nikki to use the last remaining One-Wish Willow to reverse Bear’s original wish, but he isn’t able to get far due to her hysterical and violent behavior.
With no other recourse, Bear remembers the rules of the One-Wish Willow: the wish will only be broken when he dies. He manages to lock himself in his bathroom without Nikki.
While she pleads with him outside of the door, he tries to work up the resolve to shoot himself, but can’t. Finally he downs a bottle of pills. However he immediately changes his mind and is about to make himself throw up when there is the sound of the One-Wish Willow from the other room.
As if in a trance Bear takes his fingers out of his mouth, stands up, leaves the bathroom, and walks towards Nikki. They embrace and kiss as the final broken One-Wish Willow comes into focus on the table, implying that Nikki has used it.
What was Nikki’s wish?
The general consensus seems to be that Nikki used the final One-Wish Willow to wish that Bear loved her. The effects of this wish cause Bear to stop trying to save himself and instead use his last moments to comfort Nikki, knowing that his death will free her from the coercive wish.
As they embrace, Bear falls over and starts to asphyxiate. Nikki sits down on the couch sobbing and repeatedly asking, “Baby, what did you do?” , demanding to know why Bear overdosed as she tries to revive him. As he continues to die, she raises the gun to her mouth. She has nothing to live for, since Bear was her reason for everything.
But when Bear’s breathing stops and the wish releases its hold, Nikki stops crying abruptly. She slowly lowers the gun and shrinks into herself in horror. She starts looking around the room, as if confirming to herself that she is in control of her body again, then breaks into sobbing again, though she sounds slightly different.
She continues to repeat “What did you do?”, but this time she is asking Bear what he has done to her.
Inde Navarette‘s acting in this scene honestly gave me chills.
She conveys the wish releasing its hold horrifically— that is to say, very well.
First, Nikki’s cries and body language are of a twisted Juliet figure (I guess, “more twisted”, since the original Romeo and Juliet is pretty twisted to begin with), someone who has just lost the person who was their only reason to live. When Real-Nikki returns, her crying sounds different but perhaps even more devastated. She is no longer crying for Bear, but for herself, as it sets in that he has permanently destroyed her life.
As the camera pans out and the credits begin, Nikki’s sobbing continues in the background and the viewer is left to consider what is going to happen to her.
This is the real horror of Obsession: Nikki, through no fault or choice of her own, has had her body violated, her autonomy stripped from her, and is now left to deal with the consequences alone, Bear having departed the picture.
Imagine you friend-zone your coworker, but he can’t take “no” for an answer. Then you find yourself a passenger in your own body as you are compelled to do things you never would of your own will, including having sex with this coworker, and escalating all the way to brutally killing multiple of your own friends. Then suddenly the spell breaks and you are back to yourself, but surrounded by your dead friends and the man who did this to you is no longer able to explain what really happened, leaving you to deal with all of the fallout entirely on your own.
Nikki was victimized by a man who felt entitled to her affection and her sexuality, who viewed her as an object to be won, rather than as a person with her own autonomy. This is something that happens to women every single day, and that is the true horror of the movie.
This can happen to anyone of any gender, of course, but it is something that very commonly happens to women. One look into the prevalence of incel culture will make that clear.
What happens to Nikki after the end of the movie?
The most likely events following the movie’s ending would be that Nikki gets arrested for the murder of two, maybe three people. DNA evidence will implicate her in Sarah’s and Ian’s deaths, but I’m not sure if she would go down for Bear’s.
She likely will not be able to make a very successful defense in court based on the truth of what happened, since judges don’t usually admit magical objects as exculpatory evidence. If she tries to explain it, she may well have a chance at an insanity plea, but is a lifetime locked in a facility much better than one in regular prison?
Of course, some of this depends on the number of One-Wish Willows sold and used in the Obsession universe, the prevalence of wishes that lead to consequences like this, and whether the effects of the magic are documented and taken into account legally.
We do see that some people’s wishes come true without ruining the wisher’s life, which implies that the One-Wish Willow does not guarantee a “Monkey’s Paw” outcome and therefore places more culpability on Bear for the incident. However, it doesn’t seem that these objects are extremely common or well-known in the universe, because neither Bear nor Ian believes that the wishes will actually work. So, again, it’s very unlikely that Nikki will be able to defend herself in court.
(However, I have a spinoff idea in which the makers of the One-Wish Willow face a class-action lawsuit. Someone please write that fanfic!)
These crimes will certainly give her one or more life sentences, or even the death penalty, depending on where she lives. In either case, she will probably spend the rest of her life in prison.
On top of that, she has also been left with the immense trauma of everything that Bear caused. She is a victim of rape, which already will leave deep scars, and she also experienced being trapped in her own body with no control over her actions, watching as she committed horrific violence against her own friends.
As the credits roll, you can’t help but shudder at the implications of this ending for Nikki. Honestly, it is one of the most chilling endings I’ve seen or read, and I was left with a deep sense of dread.
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