Warning: This article contains spoilers forBeetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Jeremy subtly foreshadows his shocking villain twist in his very first scene inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice– thanks to a well-placed Dostoevsky reference. WhenJenna Ortega’s Astrid Deetzhas had enough of her family’s nonsense, she gets on her bike and rides through Winter River. After being run off the road by an emerging truck, she crashes through a fence and bumps into a tree. There, she meets her love interest, Jeremy, who’s hanging out in his treehouse, readingCrime and Punishmentby Fyodor Dostoevsky.
As Astrid and Jeremy discuss their love of Dostoevsky’s work, they quickly fall for each other and Jeremy invites Astrid over to spend Halloween night with him. However, when she gets to his house on Halloween, she’s shocked to learn that he’s one ofBeetlejuice 2’s many dead characters. He initially tells her he needs her help getting his life back, but he’s actually planning to trade her life for his. This is a surprising twist, but it was already set up in that first conversation about Dostoevsky.
Jeremy & Astrid’s Crime & Punishment Conversation Foreshadowed His Dark Plan For Her
Crime & Punishment Is All About A Character Justifying His Crime To Himself
The Jeremy villain twist was foreshadowed in Jeremy and Astrid’s conversation aboutCrime and Punishment. Jeremy’s plan to switch Astrid’s life for his own is somewhat similar to the plot ofCrime and Punishment.Dostoevsky’s novel revolves around an impoverished man who plots to kill a womanwho stores money and valuable items in her apartment. He convinces himself that killing the woman and stealing her wealth is justifiable if he uses that money to do good things after the deed is done.
All 9 Clues To Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Jeremy Twist
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice features a major plot twist around the new character, Jeremy, and there are many hints leading up to the reveal.
Jeremy has similarly convinced himself that he’s justified in taking Astrid’s life, because he believes he’ll do something more worthwhile with it than she will. Jeremy even noted that he’s read the book three times. This means he’s had a lot of free time on his hands, hinting that he’s a ghost trapped on his parents’ property, and it means he’s been studying Dostoevsky’s ethical pontifications pretty closely. However, where the character inCrime and Punishmentbegins to feel remorse for his actions, Jeremy has no such turning point.
Betelgeuse Hilariously Turned Jeremy’s Crime & Punishment Obsessions Against Him Before His Death
“I Believe It Was Dostoevsky Who Said… ‘Later, F*****!'”
Jeremy’s final scene brings theCrime and Punishmentreference full circle and uses his love of Dostoevsky against him in one ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuice’s best quotes. Right before sending Jeremy into the fires of damnation inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice’s third act, Betelgeuse hilariously quips, “I believe it was Dostoevsky who said… ‘Later, f***er!’” Dostoevsky’s writing deals with the complexity of morality and the human condition, but Betelgeuse’s view of good and evil is much more black-and-white than that. In the end, the ghost with the most’s indifference to Jeremy’s intense self-importance undermines it and turns it into a joke.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Cast
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
