Netflix’s The School for Good and Evil premiered on Oct. 19, changing what I thought I knew about conventional fairytale stories I’ve known and loved for years. After watching the film, I fell in love with the storyline, and let’s just say I was more than caught off guard by the unexpected development that erupted in the last 45 minutes or so. I’m here to dish all on what The School for Good and Evil plot twist means, plus that cliffhanger ending that left me *shook* and wanting more. Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for The School for Good and Evil.
The School for Good and Evil is an adaptation of Soman Chainani’s series of books by the same name. The plot follows the enchanted School for Good and Evil: an institution that houses the future of heroes and villains as they’re trained to learn the ins and outs of harnessing their powers, but most of all, maintaining the balance between Good and Evil. The beginning of the film showcases the founders and brothers, Rafal and Rhian, dueling it out. From the side of Evil, Rafal challenges his Good brother Rhian with the use of Blood Magic, a forbidden practice. The two brothers fight to the death, and we’re left believing that Good brother Rhian has won, leaving Rafal dead.
Fast forward to modern day, we find ourselves in the town of Gavaldon with two childhood best friends, Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie). Sophie finds herself extremely unhappy in their hometown of Gavaldon and learns about the alleged story of the School for Good and Evil. As alover of fairy tales, Sophie writes a note that she leaves under the town’s wishing tree in hopes that she will be taken away to the School. Agatha tries to urge Sophie to stay in Gavaldon with her, but Sophie ignores her wishes and is swept away by a large mysterious bird creature, Agatha clinging to her side. The two BFFs are then transported to the School for Good and Evil, met with conflict when Sophie is dropped off at Evil and Agatha at Good.
Both Sophie and Agatha believe that there must have been a mistake made, and that Sophie truly belongs at Good. The story takes a turn when Evil brother Rafal makes a surprise appearance to warn Agatha to stay away from Sophie. Still confused and worried for her friend, Agatha and Sophie urge the School Master that something is wrong, to which he tells the friends that the Storian (a pen and paper that writes out their story in real time) doesn’t make errors. He does, however, tell the two girls that if Evil were to win true love’s kiss, this could alter the story that the Storian has written, reversing Sophie’s status to Good.
From this point forward, both friends work together to find a true love’s kiss for Sophie. Sophie quickly sets her sights on a prince from the Good school, Tedros, and Agatha works to bring the opposing sides together. The first plot twist creeps in as Agatha and Tedros share small romantic moments, with Agatha opening up Tedros’ eyes to the harsh realities that were taking place at the school. Rafal continues to make surprise visits throughout the duration of the movie, urging Sophie to tap into her true Evil powers, using her to fulfill his destiny of overtaking his living Good brother.
Struck by jealousy for the Good students and hungry for power, Sophie succumbs to Rafal’s wishes and utilizes his Blood Magic to turn into a forceful villain. Meanwhile, Tedros proclaims his love for Agatha, to which Sophie walks in on and becomes extremely angry. Sophie then uses her Blood Magic to switch the roles of the Good and Evil students, igniting a war between the two schools. Retreating to the School Master to finish what Rafal started, Sophie quickly realizes that Rafal was the School Master all along.
Yes, this is the first major plot twist in the film: Rafal did not die like the movie portrays in the beginning of the story. He was simply posing as his brother for years, plotting against the School for years. Rafal tries to convince Sophie that he is her true love, that he wants her to join him in his reign to rule the world. Sophie agrees, giving Rafal a true love’s kiss, immediately regretting her decision to come.
Both schools begin to fall, leaving Sophie shocked and uncertain. In a rush of events, Agatha storms in to find Rafal and Sophie, leading to a battle between Rafal and Agatha. In a swift moment, Rafal accidentally strikes Sophie instead of Agatha, leaving her wounded and vulnerable. Agatha rushes to her friend’s aid, and they use Sophie’s final powers to work together to strike Rafal and leave him dead once and for all.
In what seems to be Sophie’s final moments, Agatha holds her friend close, both letting each other know how much they love each other. As Sophie breathes her last breath, the falling of the schools reverse, and students from Good and Evil come together. Agatha gives Sophie a final goodbye kiss to her lifeless friend, and suddenly, Sophie breathes another breath, brought back to life by true love’s kiss: Because who’s to say friendship isn’t the truest love of all?
The key plot twists of the film challenge preconceived notions that society often pushes onto people. The audience was misled from the initial fight scene between the brothers, leading to the fact that everything is not always as it seems. Sophie’s reluctance to label herself as Evil mirrors the idea that as humans, we often don’t like to be placed into boxes with specific titles. Though I saw the romance between Agatha and Tedros blooming from the moment they met in the film, this reinforces the fact that people won’t always fit into the roles that society tries to inflict upon them.
My favorite plot twist from The School for Good and Evil stems from Agatha’s saving of Sophie with true love’s kiss. In film and media especially, women in particular are urged to find a man to save them, to give their stories some sort of meaning. Throughout the film, both Sophie and Agatha search for a man to relieve them of their conflict, failing to recall the fact that they held the key to resolution within themselves. It’s often pushed upon women in film that romantic love will be the saving grace in any and all situations, and The School for Good and Evil challenges this, showing that platonic love between two best friends is just as, if not, more powerful than their counterparts.
In the final moments of the film, Sophie and Agatha retreat back to their hometown, and we’re left with a mind-boggling plot twist that leaves the fate of The School for Good and Evil up in the air. The narrator mentions the girls returning home could have been the end of the story, but we’re met with an audio recording of Tedros continuing to proclaim his love for Agatha. It’s alluded that Tedros will do whatever it takes to be with Agatha, and suddenly, a portal seemingly opens with a flying knife striking a tree in Gavaldon. So… What is going on?! I mean, the movie was adapted from a series of novels, so we may have not seen the last of The School for Good and Evil upon our screens.