Movie Spoilers Ahead! TW: Murder, Self-Harm, Suicide
What do you do when you see a shooting star, or when the time is 11:11, or when a ladybug lands on you? Do you make a wish or do you simply move past it?
But let’s be honest we have all done it. We have always made a wish when we blew out our birthday candles. Wishing for a puppy, or for the dream job, or even financial freedom. Now, whether or not it comes true has always been up for debate.
Nevertheless, whether or not you have had luck in the wish department,
Always remember the saying, “Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.”
Mainstream media has made a wish, a RomCom teen movie trope, that almost every teen can relate to. Like 13 going on 30, 17 Again, 16 Wishes, or Freaky Friday. It is fun, lighthearted, upbeat, but also a nice lesson we learn at the end. But what if the wish comes true exactly the way you want it.
The movie Obsession hit movie theaters in May 2026, intrigued moviegoers and fans. The movie’s low budget and unconventional shooting techniques attracted audiences with its twist on an innocent childish magical toy and myth. The story follows Baron “Bear” Bailey who has a crush on his friend Nikki.
Bear plays the “Nice Guy” role, his innocent act pulls the audience in as we sympathize with him. In the movie, he attempts to ask out his friend Nikki but is too shy and scared to do so.
With no courage from himself, he buys a Wish Willow from a small gift shop, and wishes for Nikki to love him the most in the entire world, in other words. Obsessed!
Quickly after the wish takes effect, Nikki becomes a completely different person. Her independent, sarcastic, outgoing attitude becomes eerily rigid, ruthless, and cold. She only ever wants to be around Bear; she doesn’t want to leave his side and pray for the girl that tries to have a cordial conversation with him.
There is a scene between Nikki and Bear that takes place, Bear tells her he is leaving to go to work, and she tries to convince him to stay. But, Bear is determined to find some space from Nikki. Once Bear leaves, Nikki continues standing at the door and not moving! Her plastered smile stays on her face, and she barely seems to breathe. Once Bear comes back after a long day at work, Nikki is still in the same spot from the morning when Bear left and she had peed on herself!
Evidently, Nikki seems to have lost bodily autonomy, she can no longer take herself to the restroom. While Bear was at work, she didn’t even move to eat!
This wish that Bear made was supposed to be a ‘harmless’wish. Nikki and him were supposed to start a nice, healthy relationship. But were those Bear’s true intentions?
In another scene Bear and Nikki go over to a friend’s house for a party. They play a version of drunk Jenga with a truth or dare statement written on each block. During the scene Nikki sees her reflection in the mirror and she seems to jump out of her trance dazed, confused, and scared. She screams “it’s not me!” over and over, before she falls to the ground. Right after she gets back up and apologizes to the group calmly, almost as if nothing happened. And abruptly starts punching herself in the face, and creating a bloody scene. Everybody is screaming and yelling freaked out at Nikki’s erratic nature. But, the only person who seems calm and unaware is Bear. He doesn’t look at Nikki or the rest of the party, instead he sits in the chair and almost pretends that nothing is happening at all.
All throughout the movie, Nikki is demonstrating behaviors that indicate that it’s not her acting this way, and she needs help. There is even a time when the ‘real’ Nikki is laying in Bear’s bed and she tells Bear to kill her, and to put her out of that agony. Indicating that Nikki has no control over what is happening at all. But in response Bear asks, “What’s so bad about being with me?”
Bear’s persona of a sweet nice guy seems to only cover up his intentions. Bear is refusing to get Nikki any sort of help, because he appreciates the attention. He deeply craves attention regardless if it’s harmful to Nikki.
Nikki doesn’t consent to anything that is happening to her or anything that she is doing to others. At the end of the movie Nikki kills both of her friends Sarah and Ian, after they both attempt to stop the wish. And the ‘fake’ Nikki asks Bear to hide Sarah’s body, and without hesitation Bear helps her. Afterwards, Bear realizes what has happened and that he has let it go on long enough. He realizes that the only way to stop the curse is to commit suicide . And with a tumultuous five minutes of him going back and forth between death and keeping the wish, Bear ends up dying. And Nikki is free!
Sort of. Kinda. Actually not really! Something that we learn at the end is that Nikki doesn’t remember anything at all! She doesn’t remember killing her friends, or killing Bear’s cat, or self-harming herself. She simply wakes up from a nightmare, with Sarah, Ian, and Bear’s dead body surrounding her.
This wish that Bear made was purely for his enjoyment only, he never once understood or thought about Nikki. There were multiple chances where he could have put Nikki in the hospital, called the cops, or even tried to reverse the wish early on. But, Bear liked the attention, he liked the obsession (as freaky as it was). It wasn’t until Bear saw his two friends dead did he realize that something was wrong.
But didn’t Bear realize he basically killed Nikki as well with the wish? I mean she had no autonomy, her body was being used for things she never consented to, and she lacked basic human and bodily function. Nikki was trapped, but Bear didn’t care. Besides this attention is what he has been wanting for such a long time now.
Nikki’s situation delves deep into the male egotistical, self-centered, hubris complex. Nikki shows the constant battle that so many women have gone through to try and create a perfect relationship or marriage. The possessed Nikki tries everything in her power to keep Bear around, she cooks for him, she murders his other female friend, she always accompanies him. Nikki’s actions are a dramatized version of the length that women, not only in the past but, also now have to go through to obtain and keep a male’s attention. And regardless if the woman is comfortable with it, there seems to be an expectation that a level of obsession must be reached for it to be considered an exclusive relationship. Or a relationship that is good enough and fulfilling from the man’s perspective.
Overall, making a wish will always come with its own hidden fees, and next time you wish on a star, blow out a birthday candle, or make a wish on a Wish Willow, remember who it might affect, and who just might die.