When the curtain rises for Wicked: Part Two, the world of Oz expands once more, richer, darker, and more emotionally charged than ever before. Where Part One dazzled with spectacle, friendship, and soaring vocals, Part Two digs into heartache, consequence, and the unbreakable bonds that shape Elphaba and Glinda’s destinies.

If Part One was a meteoric rise, Part Two is the glowing aftermath, messy, heartbreaking, and ultimately luminous.

A Journey of Choice and Change

Part Two begins twelve months after the events of Part One, as suggested by Nessa Rose’s remark that “twelve full tide turns” have passed since Elphaba’s rise into the sky. The world has shifted in that time. What once felt bright and hopeful now carries the weight of consequence. The political tensions sharpen. The Wizard’s regime grows more ruthless. And at the centre stands Elphaba, more powerful, more determined, and more isolated than ever before.

Cynthia Erivo delivers a performance that redefines musical theatre on film. Her Elphaba is fierce yet fragile, hardened yet hopeful, and every note she sings feels like it carries the weight of the entire Emerald City. It is a portrayal so commanding it pulls the entire film into her orbit.

Glinda, meanwhile, becomes the emotional counterbalance of Part Two. The glittering charm of her Shiz days is still there, but now it feels like a mask she is desperate to hold together. She wants to be seen as Glinda the Good, the beacon the people expect, yet she is torn by her fierce loyalty to the friend she cannot forget. Grande plays her internal conflict beautifully. Every smile looks a shade too bright, every speech feels practised, every graceful turn hides a flicker of doubt

Together, the two create a chemistry that anchors the film: two women shaped by the same world, pushed apart by forces beyond their control, and bound together by a love that neither time nor tragedy can fully sever.

Jonathan Bailey returns with emotional fire

If Part One introduced a charming, carefree Fiyero, Part Two breaks that illusion wide open. Jonathan Bailey brings a ferocity to the role that elevates the character far beyond his stage iteration. There is yearning stitched into every glance, every whisper, every moment he shares with Elphaba, and it radiates straight through the screen.

His scenes with Erivo crackle with tension and tenderness, especially during “As Long as You’re Mine,” which becomes one of the most breathtaking sequences in the film. Bailey’s Fiyero is torn between duty and desire, courage and fear, and he plays these contradictions with an emotional depth that lingers long after the credits roll.

It is a performance that confirms what fans have always known. When Bailey yearns, he delivers cinema.

Truths Uncovered and Power Reclaimed

Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard gains a different kind of texture in Part Two. His charm tilts toward uncertainty, his attempts at connection feel more like fumbling manipulation, and his desire to win Elphaba to his side is tangled in guilt, confusion, and half-truths. Goldblum plays him with gentle cluelessness rather than outright malice, allowing the character’s flaws to feel rooted in weakness rather than true villainy. When the truth finally lands, it hits him with a quiet shame that feels earned.

Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible, however, stands revealed as the real force behind the corruption in Oz. Her poised elegance hardens into something colder and far more calculating, turning her into the architect of much of the darkness that surrounds Elphaba. Yeoh handles this shift with chilling precision.

The ensemble matches this rising tension, grounding the heightened stakes in performances that feel honest and deeply human.

CultureCues Standout Moment

And then comes “For Good.” The moment you felt building since Part One, the farewell that has echoed through two decades of theatre, finally arrives on screen. Erivo and Grande meet in a quiet space of truth, heartbreak, and acceptance, and the result is nothing short of extraordinary.

Their voices intertwine with a sincerity that feels almost too intimate to witness. Cynthia’s raw ache and Ariana’s trembling warmth wrap around each lyric, turning familiar lines into something newly bruising. When they sing “because I knew you, I have been changed for good,” it lands like a confession, a promise, and a goodbye all at once. Their final embrace is tender and shattering. You feel the loss, the love, and the weight of every moment that brought them here.

It is the kind of scene that lingers long after the screen fades to black. A farewell that feels like a culmination of everything Wicked has been building toward, and a reminder that some relationships change you forever. It is a moment of pure cinema, crafted with such emotional clarity that you leave the theatre changed too — for good.

A finale that earns its legacy

As the story reaches its final turn, Wicked: Part Two pulls together every emotional thread laid across both films. After her encounter with Dorothy, Glinda is left believing that Elphaba has been lost forever. Her grief is quiet but devastating, a young woman carrying the weight of a kingdom and the belief that her closest friend is gone.

Of course, the truth is far more hopeful. Elphaba survives and escapes with Fiyero, whose transformation into the Scarecrow is revealed to be the result of Elphaba’s desperate spell to save his life. Their reunion is soft, tender, and filled with the promise of a future the world tried to deny them.

Back in Oz, the Wizard’s carefully constructed façade falls apart. His long-suspected connection to Elphaba comes to the surface and the shame of what he caused finally forces him to leave the Emerald City. Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible faces her own reckoning, with Glinda taking decisive action to remove her from power once and for all.

And so Glinda rises. Not as a glittering Shiz socialite, or a girl trying to please everyone around her, but as Glinda the Good. A leader forged through loss, love, and impossible choices. Her final moments are quiet, composed, and full of the bittersweet maturity that anchors the entire ending.

A Final Reflection, For Good

Wicked: Part Two completes the story not with spectacle alone but with heart. It brings the story full circle while deepening its emotional centre and giving Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande the space to deliver performances that resonate beyond the final frame. It may not reach the electric, era-defining heights of Defying Gravity, yet it delivers a finale that feels rich, satisfying, and profoundly moving.

The Wicked duology achieves something rare. It expands a beloved stage musical into cinema in a way that respects its roots while still becoming something newly magical.

This is a conclusion that lingers long after the credits. It is, in every sense, for good.