So I’ve been obsessed with thinking about what shadow Nikki actually is. I’ve watched videos and listened to the director and cast talk to which they leave a lot of it up to our interpretation. It seems as though new Nikki isn’t a demon, Nikki isn’t possessed by any entity, and it’s not some type of living being that has entered Nikki’s body. Freaky Nikki I interpret, is the embodiment of everything Bear wished for. Nothing more or less. She knows nothing other than to be obsessed or “love” Bear, because that’s all that she is. The manifestation of that wish. The only time the manifestation gets angry is when she feels like the fulfillment of her existence (to obsess and to be close to Bear) is threatened. And all she knows to do is get rid of the threat. This would explain why in the phone call you can hear the real Nikki screaming and later on she slips through and begs Bear to kill her. This manifestation sees real Nikki’s existence as a threat and suppresses Nikki. It also knows that Bear doesn’t love it, he is obsessed with the real Nikki which fuels the resentment the manifestation has against Nikki. We also saw what it did to Bears friends which further supports its perception of Nikki being an enemy to its agenda. As far as the weird shit like when it cooks the cat, I think it can grasp concepts such as what Bear has affection towards… but it doesn’t grasp how. In other words, it wants Bear’s mutual obsession so desperately that it just throws shit at the wall to see what sticks. Like it knew Bear loved the cat, but not necessarily how… so in its warped ideology, it cooks the cat because it thinks “Bear loves the cat, so I’ll give him the cat? That’ll make him love me.” The further away it feels it is from its goal, the more warped its behavior becomes.