The School for Good and Evil is a fantasy film based on the first book of the series of the same name by Soman Chainani. The film follows two friends who one day find themselves admitted to a school that trains fairytale heroes and villains.
Featuring Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie as best friends Sophie and Agatha, The School for Good and Evil presents an ensemble cast of actors in key roles. The list includes Charlize Theron, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, and Kerry Washington, among others.
The action-fantasy film is directed by Paul Feig, best known for Bridesmaids (2011) and Ghostbusters (2016). The project was passed on to Netflix by Universal Pictures when the former took over in 2020.
The School For Good And Evil Story Summary
Rafal and Rhian (Kit Young) were two immortal twin brothers who built the School for Good and Evil. Rhian looked over the School for Good while Rafal oversaw the School for Evil. Rafal and Rhian both had magical powers. But with time, Rafal grew discontent and attacked his brother Rhian to take control of the entire school although Rhian is believed to be the victor in the battle between the two. Finally, Rhian took charge of the School for Good and Evil as the School Master, managing to protect the institution from his evil brother.
Many years into the future, Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie) are residents of the village of Gavaldon. While Sophia is a happy-go-lucky girl, Agatha is more on the gloomier side of things. But luckily, they find respite in each other’s company. Sophie found Agatha’s company upon the sudden death of her mother one day. Ever since then, Sophie and Agatha are best of friends.
Despite their friendship, the two are very different. Sophie is an optimist who loves fairytales, and Agatha always picks the darker stories, thanks to her mother who is believed to be a witch by the townsfolk.
On a visit to the bookstore, Sophie and Agatha come to know about The School for Good and Evil – a mythical school where fairytale protagonists and villains are trained. The School for Good is for the heroes, and the School for Evil harbors the villains. The storekeeper also informs the friends about a girl named Leonora who disappeared one night from her house and is believed to have been taken to school.
Being the pessimist of the two, Agatha rubbishes the story. On the other hand, Sophie ends up writing a letter to the School for Good and leaves it on the Wishing Tree in the village in hopes that she will be called to the School for Good.
Later, Sophie informs Agatha that she will leave the village as her father is forcing her to leave school. Sophie, who dreams of an extraordinary adventure, aspires to make something great of her life. Agatha requests Sophie to stay, but against Agatha’s request, Sophie tries to leave Gavaldon alone.
Sophie’s attempt is foiled when Agatha catches her leaving with her bags. An argument between the two follows as both try to convince the other party. However, the argument is interrupted when a mysterious flying creature kidnaps both of them and takes them to the School for Good and Evil.
Agatha freaks out at the prospect of leaving her mother behind while Sophie is delighted to have finally landed the opportunity to become a princess. Disappointment strikes Sophie in its most glorious form when she finds out that she is dropped at the School for Evil, and Agatha is dropped at the School for Good.
Agatha becomes an “Ever”, a student at the School for Good, and Sophie becomes a “Never”, a student at the School for Evil. The Evers believe in a “happily ever after” while the Nevers don’t. The School for Good is led by Professor Dovey (Kerry Washington), and the School for Evil is led by Lady Lesso (Charlize Theron).
For the orientation ceremony, both Sophie and Agatha get makeovers, looking way different from their usual selves. During the ceremony, the son of the legendary King Arthur, Tedros (Jamie Flatters), catches the fascination of both Sophie and Agatha although for different reasons. Sophie is smitten with Tedros while Agatha smells nothing but an inflated ego from him.
When the School Master Rhian (Laurence Fishburne) appears, Sophie and Agatha attempt to point out that a mistake has been made although both come up with different reasons for terming what has conspired a mistake. Sophie believes she should be in the School for Good, and Agatha believes they shouldn’t be at the school in the first place. However, the School Master quickly corrects them both by saying that no mistakes happen in the School for Good and Evil. Sophie and Agatha are the “readers” who are given a chance to be a part of the stories they have read passionately since childhood.
While Sophie remains unsatisfied with her position in the School for Evil, Agatha is determined to return to Gavaldon with her friend. In the night, Agatha sneaks out of her room to get to Sophie and ends up lending an ear to a conversation between Professor Dovey and Lady Lesso. She overhears the two deans discussing whether the School Master has made a mistake. Professor Dovey is convinced that a mistake has been made although Lady Lesso doesn’t agree. Moments after the deans leave, Rafal materializes before Agatha and warns her to stay away from Sophie.
Deciding that only the School Master can help her, Agatha finds Sophie and takes her to his tower, where the two friends find the Storian already writing the story of Sophie and Agatha as the events happen in real life. Agatha and Sophie present their cases in front of the School Master who calmly informs them that once the Storian has written something it cannot be changed.
To prove that a mistake has occurred, Sophie and Agatha must change their destinies – something that could happen if a Never like Sophie finds true love. And traditionally, true love is sealed by a kiss, implying that Sophie must find a prince to get a true love’s kiss if she wants to be turned into an Ever.
With this information at their disposal, Sophie and Agatha begin their semesters. On the first day, Sophie attends the Ugly class by Professor Bilious Manley (Mark Heap), who teaches the students to use their ugliness to their strength. On the other hand, Agatha is failed by Professor Anemone (Michelle Yeoh) in the beauty class for not smiling adequately.
The School For Good And Evil Ending Explained
During recess, the two friends devise a plan to help Sophie find her true love. Sophie assigns Agatha the responsibility to hand a letter to Prince Tedros. Thankfully, Agatha manages to accomplish the task with less tension in the air compared to the first encounter. However, to Agatha’s horror, during the school woods survival experts Yuba’s class, she soon discovers that not everything is pleasant in the School for Good as she witnesses Gregor Charming, the son of Prince Charming, turn into ashes in front of her after failing three times in three classes.
In Lady Lesso’s class, Sophie also goes through her first truly terrifying experience at the school when she crosses horns with Hester (Freya Parks), the daughter of the Witch Gertrude of Ravenbow from Hansel and Gretel. Hester uses her demon tattoo to summon a demon to attack Sophie. To everyone’s surprise, Sophie summons a cluster of bees to defend herself against Hester’s demon. From the cluster of bees emerges Rafal who praises Sophie before quickly vanishing.
Lady Lesso takes Sophie to the side to inform her that if her powers have caught the attention of Rafal, the last Evil to beat Good, then Sophie is exactly where she belongs. After Sophie leaves, Lady Lesso promises herself that she will do everything in her power to deliver Sophie to Rafal if indeed Sophie is the Evil destined to beat Good finally.
Did The School Master Make A Mistake In Selecting Sophie and Agatha?
Meanwhile, still angry at the school for what happened to Gregor, Agatha is introduced to the wish fish – another unfortunate student like Gregor who was turned into a mythical creature for failing three times. Using the power of her empathy, Agatha uses her wish to turn the wish fish into her human form.
After transforming back into a human, the girl thanks Agatha moments before departing. Soon after, in the form of a hideous stymph, Gregor appears before Agatha only to be killed at the hands of Tedros who mistakes Gregor to be Evil. Tedros becomes the target of Agatha’s ire for this mistake. However, the commotion is handled by Professor Dovey who suspends the classes for the rest of the day. Before leaving though, Professor Dovey reveals to Agatha that what Agatha has achieved just now through her power of empathy has confirmed that she is at the place where she is supposed to be – the School for Good.
Later, Agatha confronts Tedros for blindly believing in the rules set by the school without using his good judgment. She pleads to him to look beyond the binary distinction the school presents. Concurrently, Sophie is punished by Lady Lesso for trying to mingle with Tedros – a prince – instead of focusing on her true destiny. The dean cuts off Sophie’s hair in a bid to lessen her beauty. Finding an opportunity to capitalize on Sophie’s anger, Rafal appears in front of Sophie to incite her.
Can Sophie Win A True Love’s Kiss From Tedros?
Sophie decides to welcome the makeover given to her by Lady Lesso and uses her confidence to her benefit. With newfound belief, Sophie enters the hall amidst the finger glow ceremony in which every student’s finger glow is unlocked. Through the finger glow, each student can unlock their real magical powers. Sophie decides to embrace her darker side, also seeking a truce with Hester and her friends.
However, Agatha helps Sophie understand that the only way to win Tedros’ heart is through goodness as his father died of heartbreak after being cheated on by her mother. Through Agatha’s help, Sophie eventually manages to draw the attention of Tedros, who asks her out for the Evers Ball. Unfortunately, this invitation catches everybody’s attention at the school, including the professors, as dating between Nevers and Evers is prohibited in the School for Good and Evil.
In a meeting of the school council, it is decided that Tedros and Sophie will have to undergo a Trial by Tale to prove their love is true. During the trial, the two lovers must enter the Blue Forest and survive all its horrors to prove that theirs is true love. Naturally, unaware of the dangers that lay ahead, Sophie and Tedros accept the trial.
During the Trial by Tale, Sophie and Tedros are both attacked by Jack the Reaper. Fortunately, Agatha comes to the rescue and helps Tedros defeat the evil Jack. When Sophie did not help Tedros in order to save herself, Tedros realized that Sophie is not Good. He leaves the trial in between regretting his decision. Hereon, holding Agatha responsible for Tedros’ departure, Sophie blames Agatha.
What Is Rafal’s True Intention?
As soon as Sophie also leaves the forest, Rafal appears before Agatha with a smile that resounds his unannounced victory. Agatha again tries to bring to Professor Dovey’s notice that Rafal has been preparing for something big. And this time, Professor Dovey takes Agatha’s concerns seriously, bringing the matter in front of the School Master.
The School Master agrees that if his brother has risen from the dead, he intends to destroy the school so he can keep all the magic to himself. Lady Lesso, who’s in love with Rafal, refuses to believe this as she believes Rafal’s action to be part of an attempt to make Evil win over Good.
In the meantime, Rafal manages to manipulate Sophie and passes on the powers of Blood Magic to her. Embracing the evil inside her, Sophie starts transforming into a hideous witch. When Lady Lesso tries to question Sophie, it’s revealed that Lady Lesso is the same Leonora who was kidnapped by Rafal many years ago from Gavaldon. But when Leonora could not impress Rafal despite her love for him, Rafal turned his back on her.
Using Blood Magic, Sophie turns all the professors at the school into dolls, inviting Tedros and his army of Good to attack Sophie and her Evil friends. However, this goes against the rule that the Good are only supposed to defend and never attack first. This helps Sophie switch roles as Tedros and his band become the Evil and Sophie transforms into the Good. Sophie and her friends defeat all the students of the School for Good. She then heads out to look for the School Master, whom she believed had wronged her from the very beginning.
Who Between Rafal And Rhian Died In The Beginning?
However, it turns out that the School Master was not Rhian but his twin brother Rafal, who assumed his brother’s identity to slowly manipulate the Good people to do evil things in the stories such as burning witches. He believes it was the only way to corrupt the goodness in the world. He brought Sophie to the school to win a true love’s kiss and open the gates to the Never After – a hellish world in which evil presides over everything.
Rafal fulfills his plan of reigning over the world with his evilness by kissing Sophie, but Sophie realizes quickly that Rafal’s true intention was to kill everyone who opposed him, including Agatha. The kiss leads to the destruction of the school along with the death of everyone inside it. Sophie pleads to Rafal that they can still rule over the world without killing anybody – a proposal that does not align with Rafal’s idea of evil.
In an attempt to kill Agatha, Rafal ends up hurting Sophie, who sacrifices herself to save her friend. Tedros tries overpowering Rafal, but his effort goes in vain. With Rafal hurting his true love Sophie, the effects of Rafal’s evilness start reversing with the school reverting to its previous state.
Using the last iota of magic inside of her, Sophie assists Agatha to kill Rafal using Tedros’ Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur. Rafal is finally defeated although Sophie also breathes her last in the arms of her friend, Agatha.
When her dear friend’s heart stops beating, Agatha kisses Sophie one last time to bid a final farewell. With Sophie’s death certain, Agatha is left shocked as Sophie starts breathing again and her wound heals itself. Agatha’s kiss helped bring Sophie back to life as there is no love purer than that of a friend and there is no power stronger than that of true love.
Do Sophie And Agatha Return To Gavaldon?
With Rafal failing, a new chapter begins in the history of the School for Good and Evil as finally, nothing separates the Nevers and Evers from each other although it will still take time for everyone to adjust to the change.
Agatha and Sophie also become free to return to Gavaldon as their love has emerged victorious. Although Sophie offers to let Agatha stay at the school with Tedros, Agatha chooses not to leave Sophie, returning to Gavaldonwith her.
At Gavaldon, both friends are welcomed by their families happily as the separation has helped the unidentified love flourish. Sophie and Agatha’s lives continue to be mostly the same even though they have retained their magical powers, which do make their otherwise miserable lives a bit more enjoyable.
While this would be considered the end of the story for Sophie and Agatha, an arrow from Tedros’ bow pierces the wall between the human world and the fairytale world, hinting that greater adventures lie in store for the friends. A reason for worry also appears as Rafal’s dagger follows the arrow and pierces it from between.
Possibly, unbeknownst to Sophie and Agatha, a greater war is being waged in the School for Good and Evil.
The School for Good and Evil is now streaming on Netflix.
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