Cynthia Erivo reflected on the heartbreaking end of Wicked: Too Good.
During a wide-ranging conversation at Elphaba’s Wicked Retreat Airbnb Original Experience event, she weighed in on the conclusion of her character Elphaba’s story in the franchise.
The sequel ends with the Wicked Witch staging her own death by hiding under a trap door. As Dorothy plucks her broom and leaves in triumph, Elphaba’s lover, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), helps get her out of hiding.
Earlier in the film, Fiyero was supposed to marry Glinda (Ariana Grande), but he left her for Elphaba. He has been turned into a straw due to a protective spell and is later seen walking off into the sunset away from Oz.
Before Elphaba leaves, Elphaba gives her Grimmerie spellbook to a newly empowered Glinda, and the two reconcile, singing a final reprise of Too good.
The song features Elphaba singing the moving line, “Just look at me / Not with your eyes, with theirs.”
Touching on the intimate moment between the two characters and the poignant line, Erivo said, “Two things happen in that line. It’s both trying to help Glinda see what’s actually happening, but it’s also a comfort.”
“I think she sees that her friend sees her in a way,” she explained. “And I love between the lines, when you can say something in one sentence, but there’s so much more going on.”
Erivo explained that Elphaba urges Glinda to “Look at me, look at me. Not with your eyes,” reminding her that Glinda sees her differently than the rest of the world.
She added that Elphaba wants Glinda to accept that truth because “that’s the only way we can move forward.”
The actress said she loves the line “because it’s something Elphaba has to record as well.”
“I think it’s the first time she’s settling into what’s going to come next,” Erivo noted.
The film’s final scene flashbacks to Elphaba and Glinda’s school days as the pair sit in a poppy field.
The scene ends as Glinda turns and whispers something into her friend’s ear, a nod to the iconic logo for the Broadway production of Evil.
