Is there really such a thing as "happily ever after"? In "The School for Good and Evil" Sophie
and Agatha learn that there is a fine line between wicked witch and fairy princess. Spoilers ahead.
Like many young girls, Sophie dreams of being the princess of her very own fairy tale. She longs to
escape her dull life in the village of Gavaldon and become the extraordinary person she was always
meant to be. After Sophie makes a wish that takes her and Agatha to the School for Good and Evil,
it seems that all of her dreams are about to come true. What she discovers is that
being in a true fairy tale world is nothing like what she had hoped for.
Although Sophie believes that her pretty hair and her affinity for
nice things make her the perfect candidate for the School of Good,
her actions speak otherwise. She breaks her promise to Agatha not to leave Gavaldon,
she's dishonest with the boy she insists is her true love, and she completely disregards
Agatha's feelings about wanting to return home. Though she claims to be good, time and time again
Sophie proves that the only person she cares about is herself — an innately "evil" trait.
It isn't until the end of "The School for Good and Evil" that Sophie realizes the destruction that
her choices have wrought. Her need to feel special has caused pain to everyone around her and allowed
her to be easily manipulated by Rafal [rah-FALL]. However, she finally comes to understand that
being special means nothing if it means losing the ones you care about. Casting her selfish wants
aside, Sophie makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her best friend's life, even if it means losing
her own. In the end, Sophie returns to Gavaldon a little bit humbler and a little bit wiser.
For the majority of her life, Agatha has been an outcast. Thanks to her mother's affinity for
brewing potions that don't actually work, the villagers of Gavaldon call Agatha a witch and
bully her incessantly. It doesn't help that she wears drab clothes and doesn't follow
societal norms. Her only comfort has been her best friend, Sophie, who has always had her
back and shown her kindness. But when Sophie says that she is leaving Gavaldon forever,
Agatha fears being alone once more. Desperate to hold onto her only friend,
Agatha travels with Sophie to the land of fairy tales and the School for Good and Evil.
Much to her shock, Agatha has been placed in the Good school instead of Sophie,
who somehow ended up on the Evil side.
"Oh, I must be in hell."
Being forced to wear fancy ball gowns and act pretty and polite
is not Agatha's idea of paradise, and all she wants is to find Sophie so they
can both go home. Yet as Sophie succumbs to the evil inside her,
Agatha knows that her friend has to be saved –- and she's the only one who can do it.
After years of Sophie coming to Agatha's rescue, now it's Agatha's turn to rescue Sophie. All
Agatha has ever wanted was an ordinary life, but her ability to empathize with others and
her willingness to stand against oppression makes her an extraordinary person. In the end,
Agatha finds the hero within herself to help her friend and save the whole
school. She also learns to embrace her uniqueness rather than be ashamed of it.
From the moment Agatha arrives at the Good school, it's clear that things are not what
they seem. She encounters angelic fairies with razor-sharp teeth and hostile dispositions,
a beauty class that fails students for not smiling prettily enough,
and mean girl princesses who would put Regina George to shame. It quickly becomes
apparent that the School of Good is not so much interested in being good, but in appearing good.
A conversation between Dean Dovey of the Good side and Dean Lesso of the
Evil side reveals that even they have their suspicions of things not being quite right
at the school. Though it's stated that the School Master doesn't make mistakes,
it's also inferred that questioning him can lead to terrible consequences. Luckily,
Agatha isn't afraid to stand up and fight against the injustices she witnesses within the school.
If there's one thing that "The School for Good and Evil" tries to get across,
it's that authority should be questioned –- and, if need be,
challenged. Even the most well-meaning authority figures are not infallible, and in the case of
"The School for Good and Evil," many of them can be hiding secret corruption. As Agatha and
the other students learn, things won't change unless someone steps forward to change them.
Once Sophie accepts her role as a witch, she becomes the queen bee of the Evil school.
Trading her long locks and fancy gowns for a stylish bob and fashionable black attire,
Sophie appears to be in her element. Even Tedros,
the handsome and popular prince from the Good School, can't seem to resist her charms.
Even with her rise in social status and newfound confidence,
Sophie is still determined to prove that she belongs in the Good school. Yet as
Rafal's influence keeps its hold on her, she finally gives in to her darkest impulses,
and he gifts Sophie with the power of forbidden blood magic. That's when Sophie's
transformation from light to dark begins to show in physical and terrifying ways.
Starting with a dark mole on her cheek, Sophie's good looks begin to change into
that of a fairy tale hag. She gets a long hooked nose, deep wrinkles,
and thin white hair. Instead of being horrified by the change,
Sophie embraces it as her magical power grows. But it's more than just Rafal's
dark power that's initiated the transformation. As Sophie's actions become increasingly evil,
the darkness of her heart manifests in grotesque ways. Where once she was young and beautiful
like a princess, her looks change to mirror what she has become on the inside -– a wicked witch.
In the movie's prologue, we learn that brothers Rhian and Rafal are responsible for maintaining
the balance of good and evil. But if good always wins over evil, can there really be a balance?
This is explained in the film's third act when the evil Rafal reveals that he killed his brother,
Rhian, thus tipping the balance in evil's favor. Disguising himself as the Good school's master,
Rafal was able to take over without anyone ever noticing that anything was amiss.
So why did no one ever question why good always has the upper hand after all these
years? As the epitome of evil, Rafal is a master of deception and manipulation. On top of that,
teachers and students alike have become complacent and assume that good will
always triumph over evil. It's this hubris that makes it so easy for Rafal to fool everyone.
"But good has won for two hundred years."
"Oh have they now? Story by story, I have corrupted them."
Meanwhile, the School of Good is happy to feed their egos rather than believe that
something is wrong. As a result, they lose their ability to see beyond their shallow desires,
which makes it easy for them to become weak and for Rafal to enact his scheme. Luckily, Agatha and
Sophie arrive at the school just in time to upend the status quo and restore the balance once more.
Fairy tales have always been designed to thrill young children as well as entertain them. Most
importantly, they're meant to teach morals and prove that being good will always win the day.
However, real life isn't so simple, and "The School for Good and Evil" demonstrates that
even in the land of fairy tales, good and evil are not always what they appear to be.
Throughout the movie, we see villains dressed in black and heroes dressed in bright,
pleasant colors. In the movie's climax, an intense battle breaks out between the Evil
students and the Good. Sophie uses her magic to transform the Evil students' clothing into
white and the Good students' black, in a symbolic gesture that suggests their roles
have changed. As the heroes and villains clash, it becomes almost impossible to tell who is who.
Earlier in the movie, when Dean Dovey asks Agatha if she
believes that Sophie is truly good, Agatha has a very perceptive answer.
"I don't believe anyone is truly good or truly evil, because people are complicated."
In stating one of the biggest themes of "The School for Good and Evil,"
Agatha hits the nail right on the head. At the movie's conclusion,
this revelation suggests a big change for the future of the School for Good and Evil.
Anyone who's survived high school knows how harmful labels can be. Whether it's "nerd,"
"jock," "band geek," or something worse, these epithets are used either to degrade or to elevate
a person's status. They can also be used as a way for young people to define themselves on their way
to discovering their personal identities, which is an important stepping stone in growing up.
Now imagine what it would be like to grow up with the idea of either being "Good" or "Evil" pounded
into your brain. What kind of damage would that cause? What would that do to your ego? In "The
School for Good and Evil," Sophie's motivation comes from her mother's dying words that she is
special and destined for great things. While this was meant to give her daughter hope,
Sophie took the words to heart. She truly believes that she was meant to become a princess,
like in her favorite fairy tale. When that dream is destroyed, she goes to
extreme lengths to gain the power that she believes she deserves and has been denied.
Similarly, the students at both the Good and Evil Schools are trained to be the best
heroes or villains they can be. Many of them are placed at the school based on their bloodlines,
such as Tedros, who is the son of King Arthur, and Hester, the daughter of a hag. Because they
have been led to believe that they are who they are because of where they come from, they don't
realize that they have a choice. It isn't until Agatha saves the day that the students come
together as allies instead of enemies, and are free to decide for themselves who they want to be.
Unfortunately, fairy tales have skewed many of our views on the definition of true love. In most
stories, it's presented as romantic love. However, as we've come to learn, true love comes in many
forms. And besides, romance isn't everyone's cup of tea. When Sophie and Agatha go to the
School Master to try and straighten things out, the School Master offers them a chance
to prove once and for all that Sophie belongs on the Good side. Of course, the one sure way
to tell for certain if someone is on the side of good is for them to have true love's kiss.
Sophie believes this to be an easy task, as she already has
her eye on the handsome Prince Tedros. Of course, things are a bit more complicated
than that. Besides the fact that Tedros is already dating Beatrix from the Good side,
it turns out that the attraction between Sophie and Tedros is just superficial.
In the end, true love's kiss comes in an unexpected form. As Sophie
lies dying in Agatha's arms, they share a kiss. It isn't a romantic gesture,
but rather a kiss from her best friend whom she dearly loves. The kiss brings
Sophie back to life, and the two friends are reunited once more.
Every fairy tale ends the same way: "They lived happily ever after." At least, that's what we've
been led to believe. But does a story ever truly end? After Sophie and Agatha return to Gavaldon,
it seems things are back to normal for the young women. However, in the movie's final scene,
we see the portal between Gavaldon and the land of fairy tales open, and an arrow shoots through and
strikes a tree. A dagger with a hilt in the shape of a dragon follows, splitting the arrow in two.
According to the Storian, the arrow belongs to Tedros, who calls out for Agatha's help.
"I need you, Agatha."
This ending is likely setting up a potential sequel to Netflix's "The School for Good and
Evil." If that's the case, it would probably follow the plot of the second book in the series,
"A World Without Princes." In the book, Agatha and Sophie return to the school to find that the girls
and boys have been separated, with all the girls now on the Good side, and all the boys on the Evil
side. It's up to Sophie and Agatha to figure out what's gone wrong at the school and try to fix it.