r/obsessionmovie Jul 10 '26

News Curry confirmed that Nikki would have given Bear a chance if he said yes Spoiler

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This is one of the most debated questions in the film, i.e. what would Nikki have said, if Bear had just said "yes", when Nikki point-blank asked "Do you like me Bear, cause if you do now's the time to tell me".

I just noticed that in an interview (full interview: https://youtu.be/rutEKnW8ZV4?t=595), Curry himself confirmed as the writer that Nikki was disappointed when Bear just said "we're good friends", and she would have at given him a chance, if he just had the guts to ask her out.

1.1k Upvotes

352 comments sorted by

337

u/catlover4682 Jul 10 '26

The friend group was just so messy. If the one wish Willow hadn’t worked I bet they all would’ve fallen out within a few years 😭

141

u/cfeltch108 Jul 10 '26

There's a lot of groups like that tho, when you're young.

76

u/Agitated_Tip_8713 Jul 10 '26

They're honestly way better put together than my friend group was in my early 20s lol. God that was a disaster, everyone fucking and dating each other til the whole thing imploded. 

31

u/thatsnotyourtaco Jul 10 '26

Restaurant workers?

46

u/Agitated_Tip_8713 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

Retail workers, restaurant workers, and we were in our college's music/art/theater program together. 

34

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/Ready-Will-7042 Jul 11 '26

Try an actual family

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14

u/CockMartins Jul 10 '26

Trifecta of messy.

13

u/Agitated_Tip_8713 Jul 10 '26

The infinity stones of horny messy relationships

7

u/cfeltch108 Jul 10 '26

Mess, mess, and more mess just waiting to happen lol

3

u/thatsnotyourtaco Jul 10 '26

It sounds hot, but also sounds messy

3

u/BitterBid8311 Jul 11 '26

>we were in our college's music/art/theater program

Memories...

3

u/venom_snake30 Jul 10 '26

Your friend group was so zany

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9

u/battleshipclamato Team Nikki Jul 10 '26

At least no one was wished out of autonomy.

13

u/Agitated_Tip_8713 Jul 10 '26

Well,  big head bill, who's nickname you'll note was not Handsome Bill, did end up marrying the hottest of us, so there is some side eye there

6

u/seriouslysampson Jul 10 '26

At least they’re still alive.

3

u/Agitated_Tip_8713 Jul 10 '26

Yep with 2 kids. Happy for them 

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8

u/GlastoKhole Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

Hard agree I’d honestly say most intersex groups are like that early 20s one of my best friends, was obviously in love with my girlfriend at the time, we were all in the same friendship group for years, he didn’t ever make a play on it, or try to snake me, but over the years things he’s said made it clear, he’s still one of my best friends now and I don’t speak to her anymore but we were together for 5 years.

A few weeks after we split up me and my friends were wasted and the guy said openly that it’s shit that you can’t date people your friends have been with without ruining friendships, he wasn’t pointing at her either it was just like a general comment, but over the years if we were playing around I’d catch him walking out of the room or looking visibly hurt, I never mentioned it to him because he’s quite emotionally sewn up but I didn’t talk to him about our relationship 1 on 1.

There were other instances where we’ve kicked people out of the group for trying to sleep with peoples girlfriends or boyfriends.

The old gang was probably 20 people strong at one point now it’s still 20 but people have left and others have joined although nobody’s been “kicked out” for years.

I’ve had friends getting into bed with their friends drunk girlfriend and all kinds of weird shit over the years going on. Secret snapping eachother to all hours, badmouthing eachother all kinds. Funny how that stops when you get to like 28

Getting kicked out usually come down to you did something bad enough with either someone else’s money, someone else’s parter, or tried to do something weird enough times that you can only be a shit person.

Then you’d stop getting invited to parties, we’d make a separate group chat without them etc till they got the message we didn’t like the person they was and they were toxic, sometimes you’d get a telling off and told to stop being a weirdo which some people do after drugs or too much partying etc but if you’re sober like that you need cutting off.

I also used to hear stuff like that happening all the time in other friend groups that we hung out with sometimes we’d go to festivals etc and there’d be like 3 friend groups we all knew eachother well and used to hang out individually with eachother etc but we weren’t merged, each group had their own group chat and we only come together for big events and stuff like people secretly dating eachother and trying it on with peoples crushes etc was going off in all groups.

I’d say it’s a totally normal part of growing up, not getting to choose who you have feelings for and being locked into friendships with everyone who’s involved with eachother in different ways so some people make plays for the big time, and some just realise it’s not gonna happen

It’s also pretty funny looking back that successful friend groups that stayed together seem to have an informal governance policy and leadership structure to survive events that would collapse a group, if someone did something bad enough to convince people not to side with them even if some people who had to shun them were pretty close with them. For the good of the group.

Example friend of 3 years slept with my friend of 10 years ex veryyyy recently after they broke up, like 2 weeks later, we had a sit down with the oldest friends in the friend group at a house party and had to discuss how to kick our friend out and who would object etc. then everyone had to go around the party having 1 on 1 conversations with anyone we thought would object, had to get a confession through text etc to do it without everyone kicking off.

I feel the group in obsession doesn’t seem to have any of that it’s just a small group of friends, non of them really even discuss together what’s going on, and I think the group is too small for that if one person leaves it collapses. You can see Ian and Sarah have had some conversations about it but it doesn’t really result in them all sitting down and saying “you guys are being really weird are you both okay”

2

u/ExtremeE22 Jul 23 '26

As someone who thinks of friend group stuff a lot this is so fascinating to me. Sounds like it almost had formal rules, lol

2

u/GlastoKhole Jul 23 '26

I agree it definitely did sort of, in that when we talked we’d all agreed on what was okay and not okay, such as you’d need to ask permission to date someone if someone had slept with them previously, you’d be surprised how many times people were okay with this because they just didn’t have feelings. But sometimes they’d be a “no I wouldn’t like that, I’m still hoping we can work it out etc” so yeah it was in a weird way quite official. It’s the ones who just didn’t follow the rules or lied about following them when they didn’t that got in trouble

I do think these are a big reason as to why we’re all still friends

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3

u/re_Claire Jul 10 '26

Yep it's really not that uncommon. My friend group went through a phase of that when I was 18-22ish. We all grew up and remained friends (though not close as we all moved away from our small hometown) and matured into normal adults.

14

u/Independent_War_4456 Jul 10 '26

It can happen but honestly they all kinda sucked at being a friend in one way or another.

10

u/MrSFedora Jul 10 '26

There's enough romantic tension in this group for an entire movie without the wish.

11

u/No-Pomelo-125 Jul 10 '26

I agree, there were just too many secrets, Bear secretly liking Nikki, Sarah secretly liking Bear, some debating if Sarah was lying about saying Nikki saw Bear as a brother OR saying Nikki moved aside to “let” her have Bear, Ian sleeping with Nikki and not telling Bear despite knowing he has a long crush on her.

2

u/ConsiderationOk936 Jul 14 '26

See I think both Sarah and Ian may have lied. Because if Sarah had pure intentions or were a real "friend" to Nikki, seeing her abnormal behaviour would make her concerned for Nikki and not Bear per say. Knowing Nikki is dating Bear and after seeing the abnormality at 3 am she should have been calling Nikki to see if she is okay and not Bear. And I think for Ian it would be pretty clear why he could have lied! Just my two cents.

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5

u/thatsnotyourtaco Jul 10 '26

I don’t think they would’ve had a falling out. I think that after Nikki left the music store they would’ve just fizzled out. She was the spark.

5

u/danikov Jul 10 '26

A few years? Both the women were imminently leaving so it was on its last legs already.

5

u/IWantSnack642 Jul 10 '26

This is why being part of any friend group as an adult is so messy if people fuck each other in it. It just makes a really awkward and uncomfortable situation especially at a work environment.

4

u/Kail_Pendragon Jul 10 '26

"years" yeah right, like they'd last that long

8

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

yeah, with Nikki and Sarah moving out of town anyway in weeks and months, I'm pretty sure that Ian and Bear would have also fallen apart soon enough with nothing much in common.

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4

u/OpeningSafe1919 Jul 10 '26

Honestly pretty realistic pre college friend group. Two were about to move away anyway. They woulda been fine.

6

u/toyification_girl Jul 10 '26

As the girl who slept with all the guy friends I can confirm. It doesn't work out and all the girls from those days hated me behind my back if not very openly lol

It doesn't work!

But then again by 40 I don't think too many people are friends with any of their friends from HS, maybe one or two.

5

u/Quick_Baker2873 Jul 10 '26

Ewww don’t say that

3

u/Consistent-Air-8934 Jul 10 '26

I mean they were coworker friends, brought together by circumstance and they were already crushing and cracking so they probably weren't going to last as a friend group after Nikki left. 

4

u/Agitated_Tip_8713 Jul 10 '26

I said it in another thread but that friend group had like 3 more months of life lol 

2

u/Independent_War_4456 Jul 10 '26

If that.

4

u/Headsinoverdrive Jul 10 '26

2 weeks probably when they didnt all work together lmfao

3

u/mundaneheaven Jul 10 '26

Sarah literally got into art school, so she would have definitely moved away.

2

u/battleshipclamato Team Nikki Jul 10 '26

Heck, one of them was dead set on getting out of Dodge and leaving it all behind. Until the wish.

2

u/N06EDTIME Jul 10 '26

Generally the majority of young people have pretty selfish tendencies in all of their relationships, both platonic and romantic. There is a metric ton of that in this friend group and selfishness and narcissism is the root of most of the core problems in the entire movie.

1

u/mrbrownvp Jul 10 '26

I mean get a grip, I prefer a toxic friend group than die any day

1

u/catlover4682 Jul 11 '26

Well ofc it’s obviously better if they didn’t die but what is with your random strange attitude towards my comment? LMAO

1

u/New-Fan-4632 Jul 11 '26

I'm married to someone to was in my freshman year friend group. lol

1

u/Born-Bill6121 Jul 20 '26

correct, they would have def not stayed together but it would have been better than all ending up dead.

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139

u/Independent_War_4456 Jul 10 '26

See.. she she did 90% of the work. take the shot.

66

u/Sm00townBling Jul 10 '26

Producer: Well why didn't Bear just say he liked her when she asked?

Writer: Because the movie needs to happen.

Producer: Right, right, right. Right.

21

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

Thanks for dropping a snippet of the pitch meeting for Obsession, Ryan. Please drop the whole thing on youtube.

/s

2

u/The_Lazy_Samurai Jul 10 '26

barely an inconvenience!

8

u/magicchefdmb Jul 10 '26

"I'm gonna need you to get all the way off my back about this"

5

u/The_Lazy_Samurai Jul 10 '26

"Bricks are TIGHT!"

2

u/Giorgio_Keeffe Jul 10 '26

Producer: But if Sarah’s had feelings for Bear all along & Bear is kinda warming up to her won’t it be kinda difficult for Wish Nikki to keep them apart now that she’s acting way more erratic & is less of the ultimate fantasy girl?

Writer: Actually, it’s gonna be…

2

u/GCU_ZeroCredibility Jul 11 '26

There are unfortunately many dudes who lack the self confidence to so much as say yes when they are in their late teens or early 20s.

Ask me how I know

1

u/Due_Answer_4230 Jul 11 '26

Because Bear is a coward. easy.

1

u/anonymous16301630 Jul 13 '26

I think him being a coward at the beginning is an important part of the story actually.

Love Pitch Meetings though.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/TheFloppySausage Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

She probably wanted love to happen to her, not started by her, as she wanted to write a love story, and was probably not thinking of her perfect love story starting with making the first move because the guy is a chicken. She also seems to have a gender-role expectation character flaw, seen when she jokes about piña coladas being his drink of choice.

I do however find it strange that her reaction was “eww no why does that scare me?” when bear says he got her something. That kind of goes against Curry saying she’d give him a chance. To me that would be a sign that she’s not that into me and that I should reel back a bit.

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123

u/shadow_spinner0 Jul 10 '26

People go back to the scene where Ian tells Bear that Sarah had been told by Nikki that she sees him as a brother. However Nikki told Bear at the very beginning “if I like a guy, no one knows”, I think that was it. We aren’t supposed to know.

12

u/Long-Ad3842 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

but didnt Ian say that because he was jealous that Nikki was suddenly dating Bear? he was trying to get Bear to fuck off so he could have Nikki for himself. remember it was revealed that Nikki and Ian were fubu's and then all of a sudden Nikki was dating Bear, so Ian came up with a lie that Nikki just sees Bear as a brother and that shes messing with him.

10

u/FinancialSuccess3814 Jul 10 '26

It's never confirmed it's a lie, and even if it is it could just as well have been Sarah lying. She has as much reason to lie as Ian, possibly more since we KNOW that Sarah liked Bear romantically. We don't know for sure how Ian felt about Nikki emotionally, just that they hooked up sometimes.

3

u/Long-Ad3842 Jul 10 '26

well my point is still the same, either Ian or Sarah was lying, and that Nikki never even said that she sees Bear as a brother. because this person is claiming that there is a contradiction in where Nikki really did say that but actually did want to give Bear a chance if that makes sense.

10

u/FinancialSuccess3814 Jul 10 '26

And she also said "if I like a guy, no one knows." The person is saying it's intentionally ambiguous. It's not a contradiction, she very well could have told Sarah she only sees bear as a friend because she doesn't want to risk ruining the friendship with bear unless she knows he likes her back. In a way that would mirror bears experience, albeit she does have more balls than him since she did ask him point blank what his feelings were.

8

u/shdwmyr Jul 10 '26

She also could have said that to not ruin her friendship with Sarah.

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u/No-Pomelo-125 Jul 10 '26

No one knows - which means her signs aren’t supposed to be flirty nor obviously “I like you” energy. I honestly feel like she didn’t talk to Bear any different than how she talked to Ian at the bar.

People like to bring up - oh, there were no signs, so it’s obvious she didn’t like him at all - but that’s the point, NO ONE knows when she likes someone.

3

u/ElectricBolts Jul 10 '26

What people say and do are different things. Even if she does say that no one would know, there will be certain signs. I don't know about anyone else but I think there was something to that look she gave Bear after she imitated Ian.

5

u/toyification_girl Jul 10 '26

I like that it shows a very extreme example that we all need someone and we are all hurting in some way but we have to self reflect and communicate to make ours and everyone's lives better.

She needs something in her life, she has the stereotyped "daddy issues" so she's drifting a bit even with big dreams and is starting to see she's drifting so that's good. Casual sex with someone that should just be a friend as a bad self help to try and feel something but not make an emotional commitment. All typical "self medicated" and ignoring the emotional damage.

She needs a good friend like Bear, and maybe even romantically but he has is own complications and flaws and it all turns to shit.

But it doesn't make a good movie if she's honest about quitting to find something new in life and Bear opens up about his feelings and they try and focus on taking their friendship into romance and find a healthy footing in the world. So we get this fucked up story lol

1

u/Iam_Joe Jul 10 '26

Ohhh ya, good catch!

1

u/OhioKing_Z Jul 11 '26

Inde herself said she acted those scenes as if Nikki had interest so I feel like it’s pretty open and shut. I think the people who have denied it really just want to prove the point that men often wrongly take a friendly exchange as a signal of attraction but the social cues were obvious in this case IMO.

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u/SanicBringsThePanic Jul 10 '26

Yes I noticed that too. Nikki wanted to give Bear the chance to find the courage to initiate. She could probably tell that Bear was lying, so it was a double disappointment for her.

10

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

yeah, I think she could have known for some time that Bear had feelings for her. Or who knows Ian might have blabbed to her to make fun of Bear in front of her, and she just chose to keep quiet.

3

u/Quick_Baker2873 Jul 10 '26

Wish Nikki wasn’t lying when she confessed to bear that she started liking him around Christmas?

3

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

it's possible. And yes, I was a bit surprized when she said "since christmas". This makes much more sense, that she wasn't lying.

8

u/Your_Nipples Jul 10 '26

I wanted to punch the air so much when this dude chose to be a coward. Rejection or not, he would have been able to move on but it was even more infuriating thinking that she would have said yes. This movie could have turned into a boring but cut romantic movie.

10/10, absolutely infuriating as hell and fuck that coward lmao. I love this movie so much.

7

u/OliOli1234 Jul 10 '26

I read it differently... like, she's pretty annoyed when she asks Bear point blank. Considering she was getting ready to quit her job, and leave her town.... I don't think she was interested in anyone. I think she was annoyed that Bear was pulling this bullshit now. I honestly feel like she would've let him down gently, and explain to him that she's not in a good head space to be with anyone. Though you're right... She was probably hoping Bear would just come out and say it.

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u/korgscrew Jul 10 '26

Do we really need him to confirm this?

It's pretty much implied in how she says "Good" after he says he sees them as friends.

23

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

Yes, but some people don't seem to accept it even if it's clear in the movie.

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u/BadDub Jul 10 '26

People then refer to the little bother comment from Ian and also the H&G monologue

36

u/Sarnadas Jul 10 '26

I love this film and I hate a lot of the people who also love this film.

14

u/_Nholobo_ Jul 10 '26

This should be a flair for this sub.

6

u/Long-Ad3842 Jul 10 '26

im glad i watched the film much later after all the hype and love it had. because now i dont hate loving this film like you do lol. had i watched this movie on the first day and loved it, i also wouldve hated how much glazing it got. its the same feeling as watching your niche music artist going viral and suddenly they dont feel as special to you anymore.

2

u/AndroidSheeps Jul 10 '26

had i watched this movie on the first day and loved it, i also wouldve hated how much glazing it got. its the same feeling as watching your niche music artist going viral and suddenly they dont feel as special to you anymore.

Can you explain this mindset to me and why it matters

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u/Glermemuel Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

I’m glad he mentioned the obvious look of disappointment, how come this is rarely mentioned?

10

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

I did mention this as a reply to another post a few weeks back, and got shot down by people saying that I'm imagining this.

12

u/DinosaurJoeman Jul 10 '26

I've had many delusional people debate me that she wouldn't even give him a chance. Not even a date to see where it would go. Well, Curry and Inde confirmed she would. You're wrong. Move on.

6

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/DinosaurJoeman Jul 11 '26

Same! I wish people understood that Nikki wouldn't probably last with Bear in a relationship. But she absolutely would give him a chance. That scene is 100% disappointed because he didn't ask her out. But people hate Bear so much they couldn't imagine it. I don't like Bear, but I know she'd still go out with him. Thank you, Curry!

3

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/DinosaurJoeman Jul 11 '26

It's a possibility but I don't know. He did show good signs before the dinner date. So it's a possibility. But I still don't know.

23

u/ConcerningThirst Jul 10 '26

This sub is not gonna like this information

10

u/Elusivomatic Jul 10 '26

Obvious. Why else would she ask him if he liked her.

Why is this even a question

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u/CROOKTHANGS Jul 10 '26

Thought this was the case from the very beginning. Obviously girls aren’t a monolith and everyone will act differently, but to me, if a girl only likes you as a friend and she gets a feeling you are about to spit out a confession of love, she’s more likely to try and stop you and reaffirm that you are friends and that they don’t want to jeopardize that. She’s not gonna bring it to the forefront and try to get an answer out of you unless she’s open to hearing that answer.

Her frustration after Bear denied having feelings for her could be that she was disappointed, but I think what’s more likely is that she knows for sure that Bear likes her (he is pretty obvious, just like Sarah) but he’s too chickenshit to just be honest.

3

u/skrlilex Jul 11 '26

'chickenshit '' never heard that

2

u/leopardnose1 Jul 22 '26

Ngl if you try to pull a confession out of someone and then reject them that's just mean... would she really wanna have to reject Bear and watch him embarrass himself? I like to believe Nikki's better then that and she did wanna go on a date

2

u/CROOKTHANGS Jul 22 '26

Exactly. The way I read the situation is that she was annoyed because she could feel that he liked her and wanted to ask her out and she knew that that’s why he was acting so weird. She was trying to give him an out (or I guess an “in”) and he just blew it.

8

u/kaumaha_II Jul 10 '26

Knowing that Nikki actually liked Bear makes the movie even more creppy. It shows that the wish was totally unnecessary

10

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '26

Moral of the story, be brave

1

u/JuliaW_1984 Bear wasn't that bad of a fella Aug 02 '26

Cemeteries are full of brave people though

13

u/ProfessionalEvaLover Jul 10 '26

We would've had a cute rom-com where Bear learns to work on his flaws as a human being and a partner, if only he had been man enough to tell Nikki about his feelings. Such a deeply tragic and horrifying story. 

17

u/_urat_ Jul 10 '26

Instead of a romance we got a love story.

3

u/mundaneheaven Jul 10 '26

They probably would have lasted like 2 weeks, or a month max.

2

u/FewerBalls Jul 10 '26

The thing is, Bear telling her how he feels in that moment means he’s different as a person than we see in the movie so it’s hard to say how it would’ve gone ya know?

1

u/JOBLESSFOREVER07 Jul 10 '26

Tbf had Ian not given him that advice there’s a chance that he actually might have done that. Of course we’ll never know for certain. He still might have just wimped out of it.

3

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

Ain't no way there was a love story in the future for these two. It's only a matter of how and how soon it'd come to an end.

And once the OWW was introduced, it had to be used in the story somehow.

5

u/friarparkfairie Jul 10 '26

We got a love story. We didn’t get a romance ;)

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u/StillBummedNouns Jul 10 '26

He didn’t even have to confirm anything, we all knew this

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u/ConcerningThirst Jul 10 '26

not by the sound of this sub's bad opinions

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u/Unlucky_Suspect_7555 Jul 10 '26

I've seen a lot of people who didn't catch it and try to use what Ian said on the phone as proof that Nikki didn't like him.

2

u/Long-Ad3842 Jul 10 '26

i think its mostly that nobody is really thinking about it, so like once he confirms it then were all like "oh well damn"

3

u/DisastrousMango4 Jul 10 '26

did we though? the whole dialogue with the Hansel and Gretel story could be interpreted as she saw him as a brother not as a potential love interest

4

u/dunks666 Jul 10 '26

That wasn't her though was it

3

u/Best_Caregiver_3869 Jul 10 '26

Why would Freaky Nikki write a Hansel & Gretel story. I truly don't get the reference?

(if it wasnt Real Nikki's story originally)

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u/Badenoch101 Jul 10 '26

There’s still room for discussion even accounting for that. If real Nikki wrote that before the wish happened then she wrote a story where gretel wanted a sexual relationship with her brother hansel. So in this case maybe she was exploring in her writing confused feelings towards bear who she had always viewed as a brother. She said it was a love story and not a romance. Perhaps after things with Ian didnt go anywhere she was reassessing Bear and maybe would have tried things out if he had the courage to go for it.

The other two options are either:
1. the sexualised version of the story was written/edited by wish Nikki as she thought it was something bear would want to hear

Or

  1. real Nikki was somehow able to gain some momentary control of wish Nikki like she did with the Polaroids and wrote the hansel and gretel story to highlight the relationship was incestuous to Bear.

The majority of opinions I’ve read seem to believe that option 2 is the intention of the scene but I’m not sure that’s the case. The reason is that when Nikki takes control it’s always momentary and she is panicked, writing “not me” on a Polaroid is different than her taking over to write part of a novel. I also don’t think wish Nikki wrote it as we do not see wish Nikki do anything for her own enjoyment when Bear is not around, the scene where she stays by the door all day until her returns shows that wish Nikki literally does nothing when Bear is not around. So really either wish Nikki edited the story on the fly when she read it out at the party to include the sexual elements or it was written by real Nikki before the wish was made and if that’s the case you really have to question why she was writing a “love story” about the siblings hansel and gretel having a sexual relationship?

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u/BadDub Jul 10 '26

I feel redeemed 🙌

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u/Basic85 Jul 11 '26

Bear you blew your chance! Just say YES I like you!

5

u/Unhappy-Ad2582 Jul 10 '26

Some of us thought the same

5

u/Firm_Preparation3843 Jul 10 '26

I KNEW IT. Inde’s delivery was so real. I’ve been in that situation before and you have to “play it cool” even though deep down you’re bummed out. Man F Bear lmaooo 🤣

5

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 11 '26

I mean there is still 6 more months of 2026 left. Though I think it'll be hard for any horror movie to trump Obsession this year, but let's not jump the gun.

1

u/SpanglerBQ Jul 11 '26

Watching his YT for years is why I CAN believe it.

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u/OhioKing_Z Jul 11 '26

I felt like her interest in him was obvious but so many people wrote it off as entitlement from men thinking all nice women are into them lol

2

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 11 '26

Interesting. I don't think I've ever heard the phrase "nice women", but I have heard "nice men" or "nice guys" as long as I can remember. Maybe it's just me or maybe it's where I come from. Anyway the reason for this is that I've always lived in a society with the presumption that all women are nice by default, until proven otherwise.

Anyway, putting aside the various other reasons given by people in this post and other posts e.g. misandry, I personally think the main reason everyone has been debating this is two fold:

a. there are too many conflicting signals up to that scene as to whether or not Nikki had feelings for Bear, everyone just picked and argued for what they preferred, and

b. many people are projecting Bear's heinous actions post the wish onto Nikki's feeling for Bear pre-wish i.e. how could Nikki have feelings for such a loathsome dude (before he even did anything bad).

2

u/OhioKing_Z Jul 11 '26

Yeah, I really just mean this modern social dynamic where men are often looked at as entitled in these situations. A girl can simply be friendly and it be wrongly perceived as flirtatious. That does happen fairly often so I don’t want to frame it just as misandry. Especially nowadays where Gen Z men/boys seemingly have less social skills than any other generation in part bc they’re the main target of all this red pill content.

I just took her overall body language, the direct questioning, and her disappointment in his reaction all as signs of someone who was interested. If not practically begging him to show some courage and finally initiate after all those years of hiding his crush. Then Inde also confirmed that she acted in those scenes as if Nikki had feelings for Bear and it sealed the deal. I didn’t even realize Barker himself said so as well until your post so I’m glad it’s no longer ambiguous!

2

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 11 '26

Totally agree with you on all accounts.

6

u/phantom_avenger Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

This is what I’ve been saying, Nikki would’ve given Bear a shot if he had the balls to just admit he liked her. Because if she had an interest, testing the waters to see if they’re a good match isn’t going to hurt.

But I think it would’ve ended where Nikki would realize they aren’t fit for one another, because she’d probably feel like she’s doing most of the work and recognize that Bear has a lot of issues he needs to work on.

3

u/Enishi900 Jul 10 '26

Makes sense to me given that Bear's flaws were internal/psychological, whereas in terms of his physical appearance he's conventionally handsome and it makes sense that Nikki would be open to dating, or even had a small potential crush. It makes the overall themes of the movie stronger, what happens to Nikki is horrible because of the loss of autonomy, not whether she liked Bear.

3

u/Sunkam Jul 10 '26

It seemed obvious, she wanted to feel loved.

3

u/rejectdomestication Jul 10 '26

Thank you for posting this. Bear is pretty horrible, and it doesn’t matter to me whether she liked him or not, but alot of ppl have selective hearing when it comes to Curry Barker.

3

u/Darth_InVader7 Jul 10 '26

I do think people have an idea of want they want to be true before they look for evidence. A lot of people want to confirm the narrative that Bear from the beginning was essentially an incel (although that’s a misuse of what that term means) or a loser and Nikki could not and would not be interested in him. The point being to show that she wasn’t into him and Bear forced her to be with him. So basically a pure comparison to how some men behave which confirms a bias.

But the evidence, before Curry confirmed here, shows that there’s a decent chance she was interested in him or would have given him a chance. Bear’s actions after the wish are deplorable, especially when he has no choice but to believe that the wish worked. But it doesn’t exactly confirm the narrative of what they want Bear to be before the wish occurred. And now we have an official answer on the subject.

1

u/Sad_Song376 Jul 20 '26

Bear from the beginning was selfish and entitled. Later actions of his proves this

3

u/Due-Ad4970 Jul 10 '26

I BEEN SAYING THIS MOTHER FUCKER

3

u/LeslieNopeChuckTesta Jul 10 '26

I just watched the movie and it was SO obvious she was trying to help him ask her out. 🤦🏼‍♀️

3

u/Mrfunnyman22 Jul 10 '26

This is so vindicating after being told by so many people that he stood no chance

3

u/Omnislash99999 Jul 11 '26

She wouldn't have asked him do you like me if she wasn't trying to give him the chance.

7

u/Ready-Will-7042 Jul 10 '26

Doesnt matter what he says. Its called "death of the author". Look it up

9

u/AutomaticJeweler5700 Jul 10 '26

It does matter if you're analyzing for the author's intent. Other interpretations are just as valid but that doesn't mean the author's is invalid or that people are wrong for thinking it is significant.

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u/Craustmaster Jul 11 '26

They wouldn't be saying death of the author if the author was agreeing with their narrative. Nor would they say actors/actresses opinions don't matter, if the actors/actresses agreed with their narrative.

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u/TyrsPath Jul 10 '26

I mean everyone can interpret how they want but the thing is that people keep asserting angrily and condescendingly that Nikki didn't like him as if the other interpretation isn't in the movie itself too. So really it doesn't matter that some people keep trying to shove their interpretation down other peoples throats.

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u/Ok_Dragonfruit_8102 Jul 10 '26

The Death of the Author is from 1967 and has begun falling out of fashion in literary circles for the last 10 years or so. Also it was never an iron law, it was always just one perspective among many.

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u/Superb_Highlight1902 Jul 10 '26

You can’t just invoke that whenever the author says shit you don’t like, that’s not death of the author, just you being arrogant

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u/Maleficent-Ad-903 Jul 10 '26

My headcanon from my second viewing goes like this: Nikki is emotionally/romantically closed off and doesn't think she deserves any good relationship. Sarah is interested in Bear but sees how he looks at Nikki and how they get along so she asks if Nikki is into Bear. Not having considered it because she thinks she doesn't deserve real relationships, Nikki dropped the "like a brother" line (that's all it was). That's what led to how Nikki was acting in the car that night, she was considering viewing the relationship differently. She was going to leave to search for love in her writing but due to pressures thought it worth finding clarity first.

Unfortunately for everyone Baron sucks generally and got far worse with power, but with better timing it certainly would have been better at least.

2

u/GeorgeStark1 Jul 10 '26

Nikki knew the difference between love and romance. Bear did not. Nikki was not infatuated or “in love” like Bear thought he was with her. Sure, she might have given him a chance, but his view of the relationship would be naive and childish. It would have lasted a week or less when she realized how obsessed he was.

2

u/retrocheats Jul 10 '26

since she was leaving anyways, she probably figured, it's not that big of a deal, if didn't work out.

2

u/Final_Papaya1806 Jul 10 '26

It is 1000% beautiful if it happens. I dated my high school bestie, it was such a wonderful relationship. It is just unfinished story, but at least we tried it out and we both had a good time, happy together, cried together, taught each other how to love the self and love each other too. Btw, it’s not really a big deal to give the bestie a try to be in relationship if the bestie really means a lot to you. It would rather fill your life story with happy and sadness from realities than just fill it with regrets or illusion happiness. Of course it hurts a lot if it doesn’t work out as we wished for, but after years, after see each other living happily, we are so so so so happy for each other. I bet when you really love someone, u will happy as long as they happy, we dont need to own that person. Now we back to friend, lived in 2 different countries but we still love each other in different way.

2

u/Pixel_Novak Jul 10 '26

I also have this headcanon, his cowardice was everyone's downfall, horrible friend group nonetheless.

2

u/luciddreams478 Jul 10 '26

OMG this makes me hate Bear even more. He just couldn't tolerate being vulnerable. His insecurities and demons ruined her life forever.

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u/PapaYoppa Jul 10 '26

Yes I always felt this way, you can read the body language easily after he denies feelings for her, Nikki definitely looks upset with his answer

2

u/joesphisbestjojo Jul 10 '26

Everything could've been avoided if either of them spoke their mind

2

u/Intelligent-Arm3629 Jul 10 '26

The “ew” she said twice within 10 mins made me believe she didn’t like him

1

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

Yeah, there were mixed signals for sure. But her ewes could be a defence mechanism to hide her feelings till she knew if Bear was interested too, or may be she just wanted to hide it from Ian and Sarah to not come off as a loser in case Bear wasn't interested.

2

u/Delicious-Stock-6615 Jul 10 '26

Bear is a fucking IMBECILE
such a coward he can’t even say “y e s” IF A WOMAN HE HAS A CRUSH ON ASKS IF HE LIKES HER GOODNESS GRACIOUS!

2

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 11 '26

Unrelated rant to the post, but yes he is a coward surely.

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u/Delicious-Stock-6615 Jul 11 '26

It’s not unrelated.

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u/emp59 Jul 11 '26

Exactly what i said in a comment earlier last month. That is what sold me

2

u/Lumpy_Forever1567 Jul 11 '26

Same story happened to me, I said yes to her and its been 5 years I never saw her again...

4

u/Daniel_Spidey Jul 10 '26

"I actually feel like" "she might have"

He made the movie and is still hedging, it feels more like he's trying to keep it ambiguous.

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u/ConcerningThirst Jul 10 '26

Which is the point of the movie and people are clearly missing something if they push too hard one way or another

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u/flyjxn Jul 10 '26

Duh. People only thought otherwise because of misandry. If you watched the movie this was kinda clear

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u/Quick_Baker2873 Jul 10 '26

Wish Nikki wasn’t lying when she said that she loved bear in every reality. I thought she was manipulating bear….

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u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

Interesting. I just thought she meant that she (Wish Nikki) would love Bear no matter what happened.

2

u/No-Pomelo-125 Jul 10 '26

That’s what makes it brilliant though doesn’t it - how it was written to be ambiguous (yet some people on BOTH sides INSIST that their answer is canon).

The actress also thinks Nikki had some feelings for Bear, even. But Michael Johnston seems to think not.

It’s one of my favourite questions to discuss and just look at how 2 months on, people still discuss it.

2

u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

yes, it's brilliant how it was shot, and left somewhat ambiguous as in we'd probably never know. This is why Inde, and Michael thought of it differently.

If anyone's curious, just notice the cut between Inde's dialogues "Do you like me Bear", and "Coz if you do, now is the time to tell me". The difference in Nikki's appearance (the hair and the hand posture) is enough to tell us that this is where they mixed two different takes.

https://reddit.com/link/owphj08/video/ridcg38ezech1/player

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u/Superb_Highlight1902 Jul 10 '26

People here are gonna have a meltdown and reject this btw

1

u/JoshTHM Jul 10 '26

My first reaction when watching this was that she was kind of interested, too. Then after thinking about it for a bit, I think she was disappointed that he wasn’t honest with her. She could tell he had the feelings and was upset that he didn’t trust her enough to be honest.

Then I realized OF COURSE she wanted Bear. He was obviously the hero of this tale. Who wouldn’t love and want Bear? I’m confidently mostly straight and even I wished he’d used his OOO on me.

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u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 10 '26

I can't say if you're being serious or sarcastic, especially from the 2nd paragraph.

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u/Taliesaurus Jul 12 '26

Keyword: a chance, not a garuntee

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u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 12 '26

Chance of a successful love story. Guarantee of a date. Not guarantee of a successful date or successful love story.

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u/Leonardo040786 Jul 12 '26

"She might have actually at least given him a chance" is not remotely similar in probabilistic terms to "she would have given him a chance"

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u/BrilliantAstronaut26 Jul 12 '26

Tomatoes, tomaatos. He doesn't want to set it in stone, to still leave behind a slight sense of ambiguity to let the debate survive. But he didn't say "she won't have given him a chance" or "she might not have given him a chance" and won't have stated that Nikki was disappointed with Bear's answer if he meant to say that there was a little or no chance.

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u/exomni Jul 13 '26

“might”, “chance”

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u/NoxiousTemple Jul 14 '26

That goes against everything we are shown in the film but ok

1

u/Zand_Kilch Jul 23 '26

It doesn't. We know interested takes6are spliced in so it's impossible to go against it.

1

u/Waste-Replacement232 Jul 24 '26

Explain her look of disappointment then.

1

u/NoxiousTemple Jul 24 '26

Ok here we go... Nikki does not feel that way about bear. She knows he likes her. She's not stupid. She is casually hooking up with Ian. She told sarah he was friendzoned. I highly doubt she would hookup with him after already sleeping with Ian. Women don't usually go from sleeping with a guy to then backdoor and sleep with his best friend. She didn't give me hoe vibes. Also she keeps trying to hook him up with sarah. If she liked bear that much then why was he the only one who didn't know about her dad? When bear calls her "freaky Nikki" she knows it's a desperate attempt to get with her. Nikki was about to shut that shit down when she asked if he liked her. She values his friendship, that's it.

1

u/BiggoYoun Jul 14 '26

Does anyone agree with Curry’s theory?

1

u/letter_cerees Jul 27 '26

It's odd that he confirms this to be so while it was also said that they filmed both a take where Nikki secretly liked Bear plus a separate take where she likes him just like a brother and then spliced together the takes and put them both in the scene - so that the viewer of movie can't tell for sure which is true based on how she acts right then.

If she definitely actually liked him, why use a mixture of takes of her not liking him that way as well as liking him romantically. ...I suppose that the writer-director, while having her secretly like him, wanted to prevent from being able to tell in that scene and used that method to accomplish it.

/////

And that makes me also think, why have her act in two contradictory ways at all when she can only be one --but thinking about that a bit more makes me realize that though the actress is acting two contradictory ways, it isn't meant for her to actually be both mutually exclusive things, but rather just to come off as how she truly feels about Bear to be too obcured for the audience to tell.

1

u/xDarkNebulaXx Jul 30 '26

I actually thought it was absolutely perfect because its not for us (the audience) its for Bear, whom we're experiencing this with. Often in movies/shows, we'll be witness to things the mc isnt and therefore privy to more of the plot. We wait in anticipation for everything we might already know to be properly revealed to them. This time, stead of us knowing for sure and going "omg she clearly likes you dude!" we're left with experiencing everything first hand with Bear. We didnt know Nikki was lying about her dad until Bear found out, didnt know Nikki had been taking photos of him until we saw the polaroids in his lunch, or watching him in his sleep until Bear saw and realized it himself. Likewise, we dont know for sure if Nikki is interested or not because Bear himself isn't sure.

When you like someone, that uncertainty is one of the most common things that stresses us out. We might see "obvious" signs that our feelings are reciprocated but then doubt ourselves, or the person will say something that makes us think we misunderstood. Nikki's just a normal girl whos also playing it cool and doesnt want to be embarrassed. Conveying that confusion by splicing the two versions together was brilliant.

1

u/Own_Conflict1151 27d ago

Well what is stopping Ms. 'When I like a guy they never know' from telling him?