Upamanyu Biswas
In their feature-length debut, ‘Incoming,‘ Dave and John Chernin delve into a wild night of partying as four freshmen friends – Benj, Connor, Eddie, and Danah – attend their first-ever social gathering after joining Waymont High School. For Benj, the party is a means to get into the good graces of his crush, Bailey, and finally make a move on her. However, the pair’s interactions are sidelined by the night’s absurdities and Benji’s mistakes. He tries to make up for it at the end by attempting a grand gesture that he hopes will get his feelings across to her. The film’s conclusion marks their potential romance with an interesting twist that hints that things are up in the air. But the final moments of ambiguity between the pair also have a sense of hope attached to them! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Bailey Rejects Benj But Leaves the Door Open
At the end of ‘Incoming,’ Benj performs a song in front of the gathered school crowd in the gymnasium. It is meant as a callback to his vocal training in the past, which he seems to be running away from. After becoming a high schooler, Benj worries that he might be branded a sore loser if he continues to be the same person he was before becoming a freshman. However, on several occasions, Bailey tells him that she would like to hear him sing as he is supposedly good at it. To save himself from appearing uncool in her eyes, he refrains from doing so. In the film’s final moments, Benj decides to dash all his inhibitions and sing a song in front of the crowd just so that he can ask Bailey out. Ultimately, this ends in disaster when she blatantly rejects him.
Crushed by the disappointment, Benj is comforted by his friends as they gather around him. Although it seems as if their relationship will only ever be platonic, Benj notices Bailey turn towards him near the gymnasium entrance and give him a wink. The small signal lights up Benj’s gloomy expression as he watches her walk away with a smile on his face. He is glad that there is still a semblance of hope left for him. The rejection he faced moments before no longer plays on his mind as he tells his friends that there is still a lot of time left in the year, hinting that his relationship with Bailey is not out of the books just yet. His grand singing plan may have come to an end rather embarrassingly, but in the long run, it may be a forgotten affair if things work out with Bailey.
What Does Bailey’s Wink Mean?
Bailey’s wink suggests that she is not ready to accept Benj’s proposal just yet, but she is willing to let him court her. Ultimately, the pair have a crush on each other from before and only get a proper chance to converse on two occasions – once during a sleepover at Benj’s house and the second at the party. They don’t interact with one another beyond their private conversations, as Bailey is actually Benj’s senior, and as such, they don’t attend the same classes together. Additionally, Benj gets into trouble at the party when he smokes ketamine from Jessica’s belly, which causes friction between the romantic duo. Bailey is disappointed by Benj’s actions and leaves him to contend with his bad decisions while she heads home before the police show up.
Therefore, when Benj sings a song for her at the school gymnasium, Bailey is both impressed and also indifferent to his gesture. As not much time has passed between the party’s events and their school classes, Bailey still needs time and space to readjust and recalibrate her thought process. Her disappointment at Benj’s actions at the party may be playing on her mind and overriding her feelings of romance and attraction towards him. However, she also knows that she likes him for who he is, and if he continues to be that person instead of the persona he adopted at the party, she wants him to keep trying. On the flip side, it takes the whole film for Benj to figure out that Bailey actually likes him as his authentic version, and nothing makes him more confident about that than her wink.
Benj and Bailey’s Relationship Might Still Happen
‘Incoming’ ends before we get to see the outcome of Benj’s efforts to court Bailey and potentially establish a relationship with her. Instead, a hopeful Benj tells his friends that their year is only getting started, as mentioned before. This means that after his rejection, Benj will continue trying to woo Bailey, although, for the time being, he may have to settle for a friendly relationship over that of lovers. Additionally, now that Benj attends the same school as her, he is likely to get ample opportunities to interact with her, which was previously difficult for him beyond Bailey’s occasional visits to their home. Thus, his statement that there is a lot to look forward to in the school year directly alludes to his newfound goal of getting closer to her in the halls of the school.
For Bailey, there is also a likelihood that she is excited to see what Benj does next as the onus is on him to change her mind bit by bit that he is the right person for her. In many ways, it offers a good chance for both of them to learn about each other beyond just knowing each other through an intermediary; they entered into one another’s orbit mainly due to Bailey’s friendship with Alyssa, Benj’s sister. However, now that the two will share a lot of time on the school’s premises, it is a chance to establish a strong friendship that eventually turns into love, which is ultimately their main goal. While the film itself does not make it clear whether the two characters will find success in the future, it is a significant plot element that could be addressed in a potential sequel.
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s Incoming Filmed?
