Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande have chemistry on screen

Photo: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s relationship has been a point of controversy since the beginning. We can’t definitively say what the timeline was, but for many online, it sure is looked like Slater left his wife, who had recently given birth, for Grande while he was filming Evilwhere he plays the Munchkin man Boq and she plays the good witch Glinda. But what do we know for sure after watching the first part of Evil, is that they have chemistry. It’s true! They are fun together! It’s cute! In fact, out of everyone in the cast, they are two of the only people who seem to have exactly the same vision for the film: daffy and cute, with heightened but specific characteristics. They are in sync!

Within Evilthe two don’t talk much. Boq is in less of the show than you remember, especially Act One, which is all this first film covers. In the movie, he just broods at Glinda’s feet while she completely ignores him and forgets his name. They have a few conversations early on, but the real showcase comes during the “Dancing Through Life” sequence. In the midst of Fiyero’s school-wide corruption for fun, Boq comes up to ask Glinda if she would like to dance with him. She turns him down by having him ask Nessarose, Elphaba’s disabled sister, to the dance instead. Both actors have a little twinkle in their eyes throughout the short scene, and despite their characters not having a romantic connection, it’s clear that sparks are flying.

Notably, Grande has less chemistry with Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero than she does with Slater. Maybe it’s partly by design — no spoilers, but Fiyero doesn’t exactly have a soulful connection with Glinda — but there’s no faking the chemistry we get to see. Part of the fun is that they are clearly the only two who really get the original Evil was. Everyone else makes the whole affair harder than it needs to be. Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba is very serious, without Idina Menzel’s deadpan humor, and Bailey’s Fiyero is played as a straightforward charmer, not a slyly funny slacker, and Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible is grounded instead of grand. These versions of the characters make for a good movie, but not necessarily a fun one.

Grande and Slater, meanwhile, are less afraid to lean in Evil‘s ridiculousness and come out all the better for it. Both are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. They have attuned “manic theater kid” energies that, when paired, really work.

Part of the issue people have taken with their relationship since its inception has always had to do with Slater’s looks. He’s called SpongeBob (a reference to his Tony-nominated stage work), and most people’s mood isn’t just “that was a bad thing to do,” but rather “why him?” And look, we’re not saying we agree with leaving the mother of your child for the nearest hot pop star you’re starring in a movie with. If it happened, that’s bad. Everything we say? We get it.