Welcome to whatever this is!

this fucking movie

oh and another thing that devastates me about Obsession is how much nikki is judged and blamed by those around her. sarah and ian repeatedly telling bear that he shouldn’t have to deal with her, that she’s not his responsibility, that they’re worried she’s taking advantage of him. as if they aren’t also her friends, as if they shouldn’t know her well enough to notice something is off. there’s no concern for why nikki is behaving the way she is, there’s just distain towards it. she starts acting out of character and so it must all be intentional. but bear doesn’t get questioned. bear isn’t gossiped about. nikki loses all her agency and autonomy, and all she gets for it is judgment

And I’m so happy you did

One thing about Obsession (2026) that I enjoyed was that it almost asks you to feel empathy for the entity possessing Nikki as well as the real one. Like, obviously the things she's doing are horrific and fucked up, but I think the scene where Bear is asking her to "just be Nikki!" and she eventually just desperatly screams "I can't be Nikki!" does a really good job of showcasing the entity's inner feelings. She's been created with the sole purpose of loving this guy more than anyone else but no matter how perfect it is or how much he claims to love her, its not her that he loves, its Nikki. And any time she stops pretending to be Nikki, he reacts (albeit rightfully) with disgust and horror. She can't be Nikki because Nikki would never love Bear, and so Bear will never love her.

Just saw the interview where Curry Barker explained that it's totally possible to get a normal wish from the One Wish Willow, and I love the way they did that so much. The reason Obsession happened isn't because it's trying to twist Bear's desires into something evil. It's not even because he phrased his want wrong. Obsession happened because Bear got his hands on a magic item that could do anything in existence, and chose to force someone to fall in love with him, which is an inherently evil thing to do.

nikki begging bear to kill her and all he does is ask whats so bad about being with him. one of the most nauseating scenes ive ever witnessed

there’s something so gutwrenching about the fact that the female characters in obsession have real dreams and wishes but never get the chance to see them realized, while both male characters waste their wishes on short-term selfish satisfaction. they were complex, free-spirited young women who just wanted to create art, and they were destroyed by a man determined to confine them to his superficial perception of them. nikki wanted to be a writer, sarah wanted to be a tattoo artist and now neither of them will get to be anything at all

I actually love the Louis and Regina subplot because it really is a continuation of the way Louis has always treated women, as a source of emotional labour that he can throw money at and have them make him feel better. It’s Miss Lily all over again, it’s “paying a whore to sit in a room and talk with him”. Making Claudia was always about Louis’ feelings under the pretence of saving her from the fire. He wants to save Regina from poverty but it’s all to make himself feel better. She sees through him but she’s so broke that she can’t afford to say no

Can I just say that I am soooo relieved that Claudia called out Louis and Lestat for treating Madeleine as an afterthought? Because the fact that they go on and on endlessly about Claudia (understandably) but NEVER spare a thought for Madeleine even though one of them was her MAKER has always rubbed me up the wrong way so I’m glad to see that Claudia is fucking enraged by it as well. And I HOPE that time with their heads detached might inspire something in them to try and help Claudia reunite with Madeleine wherever she is to give her the peace she and Madeleine deserve.