SO IS MERYL STREEP DEAD IN MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN OR WHAT?

We finally have an answer to the summer’s most burning question.

by RICHARD LAWSON

Ever since its first trailer was released, one question about Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again—the ABBA musical sequel to the 2008 ABBA musical blockbuster—has gnawed at us, kept us awake at night, sent us wandering the shores of far-flung Greek isles, looking up to the starry sky in search of answers. What we’ve wanted to know is this: is Meryl Streep’s character dead??

It’s been a long wait, but we have finally seen the film, and thus finally have a response to the cosmic query we sent out into the universe lo those many months ago. Is Donna dead? Has the heroine of the first film, so full of conflict and joy in her overalls, been snipped out by the capricious scissors of Atropos? We’ll have an answer for you after a few GIFs, to keep the spoiler-phobic safe.

It’s been a long wait, but we have finally seen the film, and thus finally have a response to the cosmic query we sent out into the universe lo those many months ago. Is Donna dead? Has the heroine of the first film, so full of conflict and joy in her overalls, been snipped out by the capricious scissors of Atropos? We’ll have an answer for you after a few GIFs, to keep the spoiler-phobic safe.

The point is, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is partly about grief, about Donna’s daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) trying to honor her mother’s legacy while bitterly wishing her back into the world—which is tough stuff! But the movie handles it well, and Streep does return at the end of the movie for a really beautiful duet with Seyfried, and then gets in on the finale group performance of “Super Trouper.” So you get some Donna!

Well, you actually get a lot of Donna—only most of it is in younger form, played by Lily James. That stuff is good too, just flecked with sadness because we know she’s gonna be dead later. Of course, we’re all gonna be dead later, which is kind of a bummer. But it’s a bummer that can be at least somewhat alleviated by watching Cher sing “Fernando” to Andy García. Which is something that happens in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. It’s a pretty decent consolation prize for the loss of Donna, the original dancing queen.