Warning: Spoilers for the Wayward season 1 finale are forward!
Wayward‘s showrunners dig into the season finale ending, and its main Alex twist. The Netflix thriller launched on September 25, and already has a Rotten Tomatoes ranking of 75%. Created by and starring Mae Martin, the present sees two troubled teenagers staff up with a newly native police officer, to research sinister goings-on within the city of Tall Pines.
The Wayward finale unveiled a number of surprising revelations about Tall Pines Academy, its chilling headmistress Evelyn, and the city of Tall Pines itself. One of many largest shocks got here with Martin’s cop, Alex, making the choice to remain in Tall Pines together with his now-cult chief spouse Sarah, and their new child, as a substitute of taking the newborn and fleeing.
Per Variety, Martin, and co-showrunner Ryan Scott, mentioned the ending, what Alex’s choice means, and the way this adjustments the character’s journey. Scott talked about how the skin-to-skin scene on the finish, because the child is welcomed into the cult, was lovely however eerie, and a Rosemary’s Child second.
Martin mentioned how Alex’s choice to stick with his spouse and the newborn was not the end result he would have needed from parenthood, and that he realizes he has made an enormous mistake. Try Martin and Scott’s feedback beneath:
The skin-to-skin scene on the finish is so scary and unusual. How did it gestate in your thoughts?
Scott: I’m unsure. I believe it got here for me as a result of I’ve acquired two youngsters, and considered one of them was born in the midst of the evening after a really lengthy labor. It was a strenuous factor. I keep in mind that skin-to-skin second and the way weird and unusual and connecting and visceral and messy it was. It’s a factor that individuals don’t see lots, and it’s very intimate when that occurs and it’s your first second of connecting. It’s the start of the story of your life with this individual and of that connection. I believed it could be significantly attention-grabbing on this present, given Mae’s character. Swiftly, you’re like, “How does everybody connect with this on this world the place that is the primary child? What if all of them began taking off their garments?” That was our second on the finish of “Rosemary’s Child” the place there’s slightly hand that comes out. It appeared like a extremely lovely however eerie, progressive, messy means of telling a narrative of how perverted it could be if that had been the case.
Martin: For Alex, who’s so craving for this heteronormative nuclear household and to be the man for this child — to have that second ripped away from him and, in that second, have it daybreak on Alex that this isn’t going to be what he thought it was. I believe it’s such a jarring picture and so deeply icky that he immediately is aware of he’s made an enormous mistake. He’s so determined for all these rites of passage of fatherhood and all of the moments, however he doesn’t get to chop the umbilical wire and issues like that. So tragic.
What This Means For Alex’s Wayward Journey
Alex comes to a decision that many individuals would wrestle to know, and elects to stay within the city with the cult, reasonably than taking his child to security. As Martin notes, Alex has a powerful want for a nuclear household, seemingly borne from his abusive relationship together with his father, and he has this taken away from him on the finish.
There’s maybe a sense that the newborn will probably be showered with love and adoration by the cult, particularly as there are not any infants within the city of Tall Pines. However, it is clear from Alex’s response, and Martin’s feedback, that Alex instantly regrets what he is achieved, and realizes he has made an enormous mistake, and one that will come again to hang-out him.
Our Take On Wayward’s Finale Episode
One of many key causes Wayward has been well received by critics is as a result of it is a very cleverly written present that has lots to say. The finale’s Alex revelation is the right rug pull for the character, and ends the present with a denouement that feels each ambiguous and last for most of the characters, with Alex seemingly accepting his destiny.
There are particular nods to Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty, and The Stepford Wives, in lots of elements of Wayward, and it will likely be fascinating to see whether or not Martin has deliberate for any additional episodes. The Netflix thriller was deliberate as a miniseries, however it appears like there’s sufficient left ambiguous that the present might return for one more season.
