A24's Everything Everywhere All At Once made history at the Oscars after it won the most above-the-line (writing, acting and directing) categories of any film in the ceremony's history. It is also now the most-awarded film of all time. The movie has been dominant throughout the awards season and has now been re-released on a limited theatrical run after its historic run.
The dramedy follows laundromat owner Evelyn Wang and her husband Waymond as they face off against a multiversal threat while dealing with marital issues and accusations of tax fraud. The movie's inciting incident occurs when the Wang family goes to meet an IRS agent. In the elevator ride, a multiversal variant of Waymond "verse-jumps" into his body from the Alpha timeline, explaining that Evelyn must learn this same skill to defeat a being named Jobu Tupaki, who is scouring the multiverse looking for her. It's later revealed that Jobu Tupaki is a variant of Evelyn and Waymond's daughter Joy from the Alpha timeline, who is a relentless killer. But while the Alphaverse team is positioned as the heroes in the story in their quest to stop the seemingly antagonistic Jobu Tupaki, that's far from the truth.
Alpha Evelyn Is EEAO's Main Villain
Everything Everywhere All at Once later reveals that Jobu Tupaki emerged after Alpha Evelyn discovered the existence of the multiverse. As a brilliant scientist, she developed the technology required to "verse-jump." Seeing her potential, she pushed Alpha Joy to traverse the multiverse, eventually overloading her brain and fracturing her mind across every reality. So, Alpha Evelyn initially created Jobu and is responsible for unleashing her across the multiverse; her callous disregard for her daughter's well-being crafts an equally nihilistic and terrorizing force.
After Alpha Evelyn's death, the rest of the Alpha characters continue their quest to stop Jobu, which results in several deaths in different timelines. As Alpha Waymond explains to Evelyn, he has watched her die several times at the hands of Jobu as she searches for a specific Evelyn variant. The cause of her quest is, at first, unknown. However, when revealed, it further convicts Alpha Evelyn.
Evelyn Must Empathize With Jobu to Win
Eventually, the main version of Evelyn becomes like Jobu and fractures her own mind across the multiverse, thereby being, like the title, everything everywhere all at once. It is then that Jobu reveals she did not want to kill every version of Evelyn but unleash havoc until she found the one that would attempt to understand her pain. This revenge plot stems from Alpha Evelyn, who never considered what her ruthless demands did to Alpha Joy. In empathizing with her, Jobu hoped that Evelyn would be able to find some sort of antidote to the shared grief of their fractured minds.
When Evelyn fails to provide a sufficient answer, Jobu reveals she has created a cosmic everything bagel that can absorb anything in the multiverse in order to end their existence and pain. To stop Jobu from taking her own life, Evelyn must overcome her typically cold and critical exterior to communicate to her daughter the love she has for her. While Alpha Evelyn's cruelty to her daughter created Jobu, Evelyn's empathy and love unravel Joy, who decides to remain in the present moment with the main timeline versions of Evelyn and Waymond.