Genie Ending Explained (2024)

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Genie.

At the end of Genie, Bernard wishes for Flora to be free and she gives him three final wishes, which he uses to bring his family back together. Genie is a Peaco*ck original Christmas movie directed by Sam Boyd featuring performances from Melissa McCarthy, Paapa Essiedu, Denée Benton, Marc Maron, Alan Cumming, Luis Guzmán, and more.

After Bernard Bottle (Paapa Essiedu) misses his daughter Eve's (Jordyn McIntosh) birthday party, his wife Julie (Denée Benton) takes Eve to stay with her mother for the holidays. Bernard wants to win her back and discovers a magical genie Flora (Melissa McCarthy) to help him do it. Despite having unlimited wishes, Bernard realizes it's hard to fix mistakes he's already made. He puts in work to rebuild his relationship with his daughter, but it might be too late to get Julie back. After giving Flora her freedom, she tells him he can travel back in time and have a second chance to stop his family from splitting up in the first place.

How Bernard Avoided All the Classic Genie Wish Mistakes

He avoided the Monkey's Paw tropes.

Genie stories are often at least partially cautionary tales, similar to a Monkey's Paw where wishes have unintended consequences or the wisher foolishly wastes their wishes on extravagant luxuries. The power to have any wish granted usually brings out the worst in people, but that's not the case for Bernard. Before Bernard had even rubbed the jewelry box to free Flora he'd already re-prioritized his family and lost his job for telling his boss he needed to focus on rebuilding his marriage. And when he got access to unlimited wishes, he didn't spend them on money, power, or even coercion, but on more simple, straightforward ways to get his family back.

That's not to say Bernard's wishes were all perfect. Obviously, the wish for the Mona Lisa got him in a lot of trouble, and allowing his family to make wishes was almost disastrous, but Bernard's character arc is far from a cautionary tale. He let his daughter down, and he let his wife down, but he immediately took the steps necessary to fix it. Bernard's worst behavior seemingly comes in the months, or even years, before the movie of him missing important family events because of work, but once Julie leaves, he immediately fixes his priorities and doesn't abuse the privilege of having his own personal Genie.

Why Flora Let Bernard Break Time Travel Rules

Flora trusts Bernard with the most dangerous wish.

When Bernard first starts thinking of how he can use Flora's wishes to reunite his family, he says it could "solve everything," but Flora says "no time travel, that's crucial, you would just destroy the history of the world," although after he wishes for her freedom, he finds out that's not entirely the case. While time travel is possible, genies all tell their bosses that it's not. Flora says "it's for you protection and also people make horrible decisions." If time travel is such a dangerous wish to grant, then when does Flora tell Bernard it's possible and then give him a clue that he can wish himself back?

Bernard's behavior throughout the rest of the movie is key. Despite the Mona Lisa fiasco, Bernard was very responsible with his wishes. He didn't use any in a vindictive way, and Flora trusted him to use the wish responsibly without shattering the timeline irreparably. She has a lot of experience with selfish masters who only wish for sex and money and the death of their enemies, yet Bernard was entirely focused on restoring his relationships with his wife and daughter. Flora tells him "I've never really trusted people because they're greedy and they're selfish, but Bernard, that's not ever you," which is why she also trusts him with the time travel wish.

What Did Flora Mean When She Told Bernard About '"The Multitude Gathered"

Flora was friends with Jesus and (indirectly) mentioned in the Bible.

When they're saying their goodbyes, Flora tells Bernard that in many years when he's an old man reading his stories about her "old pal J.C." in his Bible and "when you come to the phrase 'the multitude gathered,' I want you to remember that one of them found you to be the very best friend that she'd ever had." There's a few places in the Bible where it references the gathering of a multitude, but the one with the most similar phrasing that applies to Jesus is Mark 3:20: "And He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal."

The timing of this is right after Jesus selected the 12 disciples at the beginning of his ministry. While Jesus had an inner circle of apostles, he actually had way more disciples than the 12, so when Flora says earlier that she knew Jesus, it would make sense that she was one of the ones in the crowd when it says "the multitude gathered." When Bernard told her about the meaning of Christmas, he explains the birth of Jesus as the origin of the Holiday, so Flora knows that's a verse he'll likely read many times throughout his life, and since it references an event she was present for, she wants to make sure it reminds him of her friendship.

Why Bernard Wasted His Last Two Wishes

Bernard knew the wishes wouldn't give him happiness.

After Bernard wishes for Flora's freedom, she says he'll have three wishes left after she goes. He spends the first one time traveling back to before Julie and Eve left at the start of the movie, but the next two wishes seem especially frivolous considering the opportunity cost. Simply showing up to Eve's ice skating birthday party would have been enough to avoid Julie leaving, but instead, he decides to spend his second wish to get access to a full restaurant and his third wish to get peanut butter sandwiches and cherry ice cream for Eve, even though they weren't on the menu. While it seems wasteful, it actually exemplifies Bernard's character.

By the end of Genie, Bernard has gone from a man who was missing time with his family because he was too busy working to a man who would spend his last wish on peanut butter sandwiches and cherry ice cream for his daughter. Flora trusted him with time travel for exactly this reason, knowing he would use the wishes modestly to show his appreciation to his family. Since he's technically still in the past at this point, any lavish use of the wishes could be catastrophic. He could save them for something big later on, but the point is he sees small moments like this with his family is the most important thing in the world.