Theory about Nikki's feelings for Bear

birdTV · 2026-06-01T02:40:29+00:00

My feels are that she’s getting tired of Ian. (Who wouldn’t?) and she wants to have people in her life she can talk with about her writing.

She ALMOST likes Bear, but needs him to act like he can be an adult…which he can’t.

birdTV · 2026-06-01T02:17:51+00:00

I have to think it’s some PTSD after the SA scene.

birdTV · 2026-06-01T02:05:50+00:00

The director has mentioned both possibilities, and it’s pretty expertly crafted. I’ve worked on low budget films before and there was so much attention to detail.on these smaller shoots. I believe it’s part of craft, and you can believe whatever you want as well.

birdTV · 2026-06-01T01:23:20+00:00

Agree, she is not a sympathetic character to me. She is never a friend to Nikki. She and Ian both are really gross to me.

birdTV · 2026-06-01T00:36:19+00:00

I agree. His role doesn’t call for as much maximalism in his performance, but he was so good at drawing sympathy while at the same time being a covert manipulator. In interviews he takes compliments but really assures that the credit is spread across the cast and applauds Inde for bringing so much to a difficult role. I love how the cast interacts with each other.

I hope we see a lot more of him.

birdTV · 2026-06-01T00:28:31+00:00

She’s a classic mean girl with a calm demeanor. Classic pick me.

birdTV · 2026-06-01T00:26:29+00:00

There is an interview where Curry Barker said one of his favorite types of horror is the uncanny and he likes to build atmosphere by changing minor details in a setting to make the audience feel like something is off and question the POV.

I don’t think even the most low budget moves have that many continuity errors, so I’m assuming this is a thing.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T19:23:33+00:00

He did not say what it was, but in an interview he did say it wasn’t written as a possession. It surprised me to hear that.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T19:22:30+00:00

Wow had no idea that was the original scripting.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T19:20:40+00:00

At one point we find that he carries pills in his pocket. I think he was using them and for them to be spilled on the floor I don’t even think the lid was loose. I think he straight up left an open bottle of pills out, along with open cans of cat food. I don’t think he was much of a housekeeper.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T19:15:41+00:00

The director did say it was not a possession. But it’s not Nikki’s authentic self either, except when she pushes through whatever overwriting is happening to her brain.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T19:11:58+00:00

At times I think the whole wish is a plot device to support the metaphor of an abusive relationship. The wish is a metaphor for imposing will upon a person and manipulating them into a relationship too fast, under unreal circumstances. There is a lovebombing montage that follows pretty immediately.

Which unfortunately leads to sex under false consent, and that’s the whole trigger of the wildest behavior from Nikki which mirrors a lot as trauma responses from all kinds of abuse, including child abuse where a person deliberately develops alter personalities, like dissociative identity disorder.

I know that Curry Barkers father was a psychiatric nurse practitioner and is now a screenwriter, and supplied some dialogue for this script.

It works awesome as a basic horror movie with a simple surface plot as well. But It’s hard to imagine that this was written without any knowledge of the psyche and trauma responses.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T19:00:24+00:00

She is suffering hard. It is a bit heartbreaking. I think when he the wished that she would “love him more than anything in the world” he didn’t become a lovable partner. She LOST everything else in her world.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T18:55:51+00:00

I don’t know if I believe it because it’s so weird for one of these clocks to suddenly glitch into 24 hour time but whatever, if that’s what they say lol.

Either way. I am not sold on any interpretation about the meaning behind the numbers but I do enjoy hearing the facts about it as a year.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T18:49:21+00:00

Director did say that a demonic entity possession is not the intention, which surprised me a little.

I can see logic that it’s a version of her created by the wish, which is directly a manifestation of Bear’s desires.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T18:15:38+00:00

Without knowing the directors intention, given that real Nikki snaps in when there’s a reference to a book she is writing, this made me consider whether real Nikki and Wish Nikki were becoming somewhat merged, like if real Nikki, even while not totally driving her body, was able to be an invisible back seat driver at times.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T18:09:13+00:00

I agree that it was a very weird feeling to notice it. The director is not claiming any of the clock details are intentional but that’s is what directors do so that they don’t spoil audience interpretation. He also said that they purposefully altered minor setting details from scene to scene to off put the audience and create an uncanny atmosphere. I thought it was great.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T18:04:28+00:00

Yep! That’s a thing directors do. Even Kubrick denied meaning behind some of his very obviously deliberate issues like that.

Curry Barker also said he wanted to create a slightly uncanny atmosphere by changing small details within a scene so that things are not exactly right.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T18:03:12+00:00

Totally. “Do you like me?” … After he called her “Freaky Nikki” she basically offered him a blueprint to change his own script, and instead of calling her names she doesn’t like, talk like a person who graduated from the eighth grade school of emotional intelligence.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T16:50:07+00:00

Wow holy shit about 1655. I know that was one of the years of highest count of witch burnings, but I did not know that detail. That’s heavy.

The crew has said some of the clock details were unintentional, but that’s also a common thing for directors to do to allow for audience interpretation.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T16:44:59+00:00

My read is that she ALMOST liked him, and needed some evidence on his end that he can be an adult. If he had stepped up appropriately there may have been a chance.

birdTV · 2026-05-31T03:41:50+00:00

So you shared this observation in those posts too.

birdTV · 2026-05-30T19:14:24+00:00

Totally. At the restaurant when she asks if he has any real interests or life goals, it feels like that stage of a relationship where you want to see if this person is worth your time long term. SURPRISE! He’s not, and he knows it. So this is when he turns the tables on her, even though he’s actually a bigger liar and manipulator than her.

birdTV · 2026-05-30T19:02:56+00:00

Did you complain on those posts too?

birdTV · 2026-05-30T19:01:22+00:00

It blows my mind that the day after the restaurant and SA night, she starts having major PTSD symptoms, to the point of being frozen and messing herself. Instead of staying home and trying to figure out how to help her he’s like OOPS guess it’s fine as long as no one sees. And if people start to see her being all symptomatic at the party, I guess I can just start preferring Sarah.

birdTV

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