Here we are at the end of the line for the season one finale of Netflix’s Wednesday series. We figured out who the monster was but were still unsure of who was pulling the strings. Now we have to gear up and see if Wednesday can tie this up with a nice bow and save the school from an apocalyptic event.
1. Confrontation
I love that the show’s writers decided to jump right into it in the finale after discovering the information about Tyler being the Hyde monster. The episode has Wednesday meeting Tyler in this foggy part of the woods/town, and she lays right into him with her Scooby-Doo-like discoveries. They flashbacked to her telling him where she’d be during the attack on Outreach Day, overheard her and Eugene going over checking out the cave he’d been hiding in and then going as far as to scratch himself to shake off the suspicion of being the monster. It was a moment where when I was watching it, I was shaking my head, thinking, “Oh yeah, that fits.” It’s not a huge shock because it was bound to be someone in the main cast, but it does give a solid explanation of how it may have gone unnoticed by the audience during the initial watch. The confrontation switches gears once; with the help of Bianca and the other siren kids, they tie Tyler to a chair to be tortured for answers. The kids are freaked out, but the audience has been waiting for this moment, it’s been a lot of talk about her experiments but nothing on the screen. Unfortunately, the siren kids snitch, and the sheriff shows up just in time to avoid any torture for Tyler.
2. Tyler Söze
After Wednesday’s attempt at bringing out the Hyde via torturing Tyler, the sheriff nearly arrests her, but he decides not to press kidnapping charges. This is partial because he has always had suspicions about Tyler having a Hyde-like reaction since his mother was a Hyde. This explains the sheriff’s sometimes coldness towards his son throughout the season. Now back at the station, as Wednesday is returning to Nevermore, Tyler has a one-on-one conversation where he flips from soft-spoken and nervous to a more severe and assertive tone. Almost like a Bond villain, he admits to his Hyde activities and how initially it scared him, but soon he learned to love the monster side of himself where he can instill fear among anyone he chooses to come into contact with. The way he flips from a young kid who doesn’t know much to this calculated monster is perfect for this type of final battle of wits.
3. Laurel Gates
Wednesday’s primary suspect for Laurel Gates was Dr. Kinbott, but since the Hyde killed her in the previous episode, she may have to go back to the drawing board. That is until Wednesday gets new information from Eugene after he wakes up from his coma and tells her about seeing the red boots of the person that blew him up back in the woods. Something unique immediately popped into her head: Ms. Thornhill, Christina Ricci’s character. This fits the creative choices for the show because you can’t have the 90’s Wednesday Addams in the show and expect her to be a background/side character. Now, Wednesday gets one last favor from Principal Weems as she turns into Tyler to help get Thornhill to admit to being Laurel and for being the one who unlocked the Hyde from him. It was a long con for Laurel, using Tyler in her plan to destroy Nevermore and the other outcasts in the town.
4. Crackstone
The underlining storyline is heading to the driver’s seat; Goody Addams has been talking to Wednesday in her visions about being a key and that Joseph Crackstone was going to make his return. What new information was shared with the audience is that along with Thornhill being Laurel, it turns out that she is a descendant of Crackstone and shared his viewpoints of outcasts and how they ruined the town of Jericho. Laurel kidnaps Wednesday and uses her to resurrect Crackstone and the missing body parts from the victims of the Hyde murders. As soon as he is back in the picture, the first thing he does is stab Wednesday in the gut because she looks exactly like Goody, and he goes into his crusade to destroy Nevermore and anyone who stands in his way. The ironic thing is that despite being a member of the living dead, using his magical staff to cause chaos and destruction, and not to mention coming back looking like a stand-in for Leperchaun monster, he’s complaining about the outcasts being the problem. It’s one of those the bad guys use the very thing he’s complaining about because people won’t believe him. It feels like magical Godzilla meets Alex Jones.
5. Friendship Wins
The fight with Crackstone is a little underwhelming, but it does the job of sending the correct message to both Wednesday and the audience; you can’t do it alone. All her “schoolmates” (AKA Wednesday’s friends) contribute to helping defeat Crackstone once and for all. Bianca uses her siren abilities to help move the students peacefully to exit the school, Xavier fails at helping Wednesday but shows up to help some students struggling to get to safety, Enid finally goes full werewolf to attack Tyler’s Hyde form, and Eugene uses his bees to subdue Laurel. The fight with Crackstone never leaves the school courtyard, so it feels contained, but seeing Wednesday and Bianca distracts him enough to get stabbed by each of them to put him back in the grave. Unlike Harry Potter, the rest of the school year gets canceled, and everyone gears up to head home; the season wraps up with Wednesday making her “goodbyes” to her friends but receives a mysterious text about someone watching her and sending pictures of her mere minutes before.
