Beware, massive spoilers for season 1 of Netflix’s Wednesday are ahead.
Netflix just dropped all eight episodes of the primary season of Wednesday, a Tim Burton-directed series based on Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) of the Addams family. The universe of the kooky and spooky Addams Family is wealthy and longstanding, but the brand new show has expanded it right into a world of âoutcasts,â or individuals with supernatural connections and powers. They stand in contrast to the ânormies,â or regular individuals who populate the town near Wednesday’s boarding school, Nevermore Academy.
This season covers Wednesday’s first 12 months at Nevermore and a series of mysterious murders in the realm. In the ultimate episode, her investigation has come to some harsh conclusions.
It begins with Wednesday confronting townie and alleged normie, Tyler Galphin (Hunter Doohan). The young pigtailed goth has been experiencing visions throughout the season that show her glimpses of an individual’s future and all their dark secrets. When she and Tyler kissed within the previous episode, she saw that he was a âHyde,â a kind of baddie that appears to be based on the thought of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a scientist who was each a person and a monster.
After discovering her love interest is probably going the local killer, Wednesday enlists her friends in kidnapping and torturing him, but they balk at the thought. After Wednesday’s plans are ruined and she or he gets expelled from Nevermore, Tyler gives her a speech about his evil machinations. But he isn’t actually the mastermind behind the killings. The query stays: Who’s controlling Tyler?
Wednesday visits her bug-loving friend Eugene, who’s within the hospital after an attack. He reveals that he saw someone wearing red boots during his assault, which connects the dots for Wednesday: The offender is Marylin Thornhill (Christina Ricci). All through the season, Ms. Thornhill has been making some extent of buddying as much as Wednesday, however it was all a ruse. Her real name is Laurel Gates, and she or he has been planning her revenge against the Addams family for years.
When Wednesday confronts Thornhill, she learns that the plant-loving teacher has been using her herbal concoctions to disclose Tyler’s Hyde self to him, after telling him about his own mother’s fate as a Hyde. Then Tyler appears again, and Thornhill says he’ll âdo anything for her.â
Except it is not Tyler.
Throughout the series, Wednesday has butted heads with Principal Weens (Gwendoline Christie), who cares deeply about Nevermore’s status and the protection of her outcast students. She’s also a shapeshifter. The fake Tyler transforms into Weems, but before the principal can do more, she is stabbed with nightshade poison and dies right in front of Wednesday’s eyes. The teenager is then clapped in the top with a shovel.
Thornhill’s plan goes far beyond tormenting Wednesday. She desires to resurrect Joseph Crackstone, whose coffin was cursed by Wednesdayâs magical ancestor Goody Addams. Crackstone was a zealot who hated and feared the outcasts and planned to kill all of them. Thornhill is completely for this, after all, and she or he uses Wednesday’s blood to open up his tomb and release him into the world over again.
As Wednesday bleeds out, Thornhill brings her big plan into fruition and a haggard Crackstone appears and starts wreaking havoc at Nevermore. Before it’s too late, the spirit of Goody Addams appears and heals her descendant, before sending her off to place Crackstone back in his grave.
Wednesday is confronted once more by Tyler’s Hyde side within the woods, but her roommate Enid (Emma Myers) finally manages to âwolf out,â and transforms right into a werewolf protector for her bestie. Wednesday gets away, and manages to stab Crackstone’s resurrected form in the guts with a shard of a special sword, killing him.
Thornhill also gets her comeuppance, and gets swarmed by Eugene’s bees. It isn’t totally clear if she dies, but Wednesday sure gives her an enormous kick to the top, blacking her out from the scene. Wednesday then reunites with the remaining of her friends, Bianca (Joy Sunday), Xavier (Percy Hynes White), and Enidâwhom she finally embraces after rejecting hugs all season.
The story finally ends up with Wednesday completing her novel on her typewriter with the phrase âTHE END?â and receiving a phone as a present from Xavier, who competed against Tyler for her affections. (She’s a little bit of a Luddite.)
As she drives away from Nevermore with Lurch and Thing, Wednesday receives several threatening text messages from an anonymous number on her recent phone. Wednesday may be very joyful to have her first stalker, and fans could be, tooâit implies there’s one other mystery for her to return to in a possible season 2.
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will likely be released by Dial Press in February 2022.
