Halloween came early as ‘The Ghost with the Most,’ the mischievous looney demon, Beetlejuice, has returned to the silver screen after thirty-six years with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to Tim Burton’s cult classic horror comedy, Beetlejuice. With the events of the new installment taking place after a prolonged gap, the characters have gone through a lot of changes, the narrative has evolved past a simple case of human haunting, and new elements and characters have been added to the saga. As the movie followed a number of plotlines, the ending of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice needed to address all of them as well.
Spoilers Ahead
Was Lydia Able To Rescue Astrid From The Afterlife?
Like in the first movie, the narrative largely revolved around the Deetz family, and once again Lydia Deetz found herself at the center stage of the main crisis. However, the eccentric, goth teenager has now become a mother herself, and shares an estranged relationship with Astrid, her daughter. Astrid despised Lydia for not being able to communicate with the spirit of her late father, Richard, despite having psychic abilities, and considered the paranormal afflictions in the world of the afterlife to be fake. However, as Astrid got acquainted with a local boy from Winter River, Jeremy, she learned the truth about the existence of the undead spirits and was beguiled by his promise of letting her reunite with the spirit of her father in the afterlife. Jeremy had tricked Astrid into trading her life for his own, thereby getting a chance of regaining his mortal form—while Astrid, now a spirit, was being taken to the Great Beyond on a soul train. Realizing the mess her daughter has got herself into, Lydia had no other choice except to call Betelgeuse once more, and with his help, she was able to find her daughter in the Afterlife. Betelgeuse made sure that Astrid got her life back by chucking Jeremy into the eternal flame of Hell.
While escaping from the guards of the Afterlife administration, Lydia and Astrid were rescued by the spirit of Richard, who had been working as an employee in the Afterlife since his death, which is the reason why Lydia was unable to communicate with him. A sweet family reunion follows, as Richard requests Lydia and Astrid to make amends, assuring them he is always watching over his family. The reunion allows Astrid to finally cope with her father’s passing, and as she returns to the earth with her mother, her mind is at peace at last. Apologizing for not believing her, Astrid reconciles with her mother, and their broken relationship is somewhat healed.
Was Delores Able to Exact Her Revenge?
Parallel to the main storyline, Betelgeuse’s vicious soul sucking demon of a wife, Delores’ revenge plot was brewing in the background. Part of a soul sucking cult during her life, centuries ago, Delores wanted to harness her husband’s soul—and ended up poisoning him to death. Before passing away, Betelgeuse, aware of Delores’ treachery, killed her by chopping her to pieces, and at the present, Delores has managed to reassemble herself in Afterlife. A reawakened Delores wreaked havoc in the afterlife by killing a number of spirits,gaining their souls, and was in the hunt for Betelgeuse to offer him a similar fate to the spirits she ended up killing.
Delores crashed the wedding of Lydia and Rory, which was practically cancelled anyway after Betelgeuse’s truth serum revealed Rory’s true intentions, and went after Betelgeuse to take her revenge. However, Astrid, following the instructions in the “Handbook for the Recently Deceased,” was able to summon a sandworm from Saturn’s moon, just like Barbara Maitland was able to do in the first movie, and Betelgeuse lured the sandworm to get it to devour both Delores and Rory. Although we aren’t shown what happened with them later, both of them probably ended up in the afterlife like Betelgeuse did after getting consumed by the sandworm in the first movie.
Was Betelgeuse Able to Marry Lydia and Leave Afterlife?
In the first movie, after getting released, Betelgeuse was overeager to get married with a teenage Lydia, as marrying a human was his ticket to getting out of Afterlife and getting free from his curse. However, that plan was never executed, as he was banished and got stuck in the afterlife for the next three decades. In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, after being summoned by Lydia in her most desperate state, she needed the psychotic demon’s help to bring her daughter back from the Underworld. In exchange for his assistance, Betelgeuse, getting the opportunity to gain his freedom, convinced Lydia to marry him after he keeps his part of the bargain. For Betelgeuse, the additional reason to marry Lydia was the emergence of Delores, his vicious ex-wife.
After Astrid is rescued, Lydia’s marriage with Rory is cancelled, and Delores is also taken care of. Betelgeuse decides to take his chance and marry Lydia, as a prolonged, super fun dream sequence begins with Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park” playing in the background. However, Astrid rightly points out that the agreement made between Lydia and Betelgeuse is null and void, as Betelgeuse had brought Lydia to the Afterlife by going against the rules of Afterlife in the first place, thereby using the loophole to free Lydia from Betelgeuse’s clutches, Lydia utters Betelgeuse’s name three times to banish him to Afterlife once again.
What Happened to Delia Deetz?
It was the death of Charles Deetz, which brought the Deetz family to their family home in Winter River—and set off all the ghostly shenanigans in motion. Half eaten by sharks, Charles’ spirit wandered in the afterlife, while his wife, Delia, had a hard time coping with her husband’s death. While making arrangements for an Egyptian mourning ritual for Charles’ passing, Delia was bitten by venomous asps and promptly died as a result, ending up in the afterlife as well. During the wedding, Betelgeuse had brought her back to the earth, and later on, Afterlife crime investigation department chief, Wolf Jackson, decided to bring her back to Afterlife. Before returning to the Netherworld, Delia bid adieu to her stepdaughter Lydia and granddaughter Astrid. However, in the Afterworld, she finally reunited with Charles’ spirit, getting a happy ending after leaving the tribulations of mortal life behind. The ghosts of Charles and Delia will surely return to haunt Lydia and Astrid, watching over what remains of the Deetz family.
What Happened to the Maitlands?
One aspect of the sequel entry that will definitely not gel with the viewers is the way the Maitlands, essentially the ghost parents of Lydia during her teenage years, were sidelined There is only a single mention about how they found a loophole and moved on, and we don’t get to learn anything else about their present condition. Hopefully, if the Beetlejuice franchise continues, the Maitlands will return once again.
