'Wednesday' fixes its love triangle problem in Season 2
Wednesday Season 1 made a bizarre choice: sticking its title heroine (Jenna Ortega) in a love triangle between Jericho barista/monstrous Hyde Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan) and psychic Nevermore student Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White).
The inclusion of a love triangle fit Wednesday's trend of putting Gothic twists on classic high school TV tropes, yet the romantic drama of it all didn't feel true to the character of Wednesday Addams. Don't just take it from me, take it from Ortega herself! In an episode of Dax Shepherd's Armchair Expert podcast, the actor said, "Her being in a love triangle made no sense."
Then, in an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Ortega discussed plans for Wednesday Season 2, saying, "I think we want to up the horror aspect a little bit, then get Wednesday out of the romantic situation and just let her be her own individual and fight her own crime."
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Wednesday Season 2 does just that, leaning far more into horror and doing away with Wednesday's love triangle entirely. To no one's surprise — especially not Ortega's — the show is better for it.
How does Wednesday Season 2 get rid of Wednesday's love triangle?
Wednesday Season 2 removes both of Wednesday's former love interests from the board with little fuss.
Xavier is no longer at Nevermore, with Hynes White departing the show in 2024. His exit came after women accused him of sexual assault on social media in 2023. Hynes White called these allegations "a campaign of misinformation."
Within the world of the show, Xavier gets one last "goodbye gift," sending Wednesday a psychic painting of a crow on a headstone, the same image Wednesday later sees in her vision of Enid's (Emma Myers) death. In that scene, we also learn that Wednesday tossed the phone Xavier gave her at the end of Season 1 into a boiling cauldron, so he can't easily contact her. The phone-boiling scene reads like the show's final, definite refutation of Season 1's love triangle.
Unlike Xavier, Tyler is still involved in the show. However, his chances with Wednesday are slimmer than slim, because her actions in Season 1 led to him being imprisoned in Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital. She visits him there in Season 2, episode 2, where he tries to make a romantic appeal to her dark side.
"You sensed the monster in me. You fell in love with it," Tyler tells her. "We're two black-hearted souls ready to pillage the world together."
"The only thing you're pillaging is an extra fruit cup at dinner," Wednesday retorts. Ouch.
Between that and the rest of the verbal dressing-down she gives Tyler at Willow Hill, we can consider that side of the love triangle officially erased. Good! That gives us more time to focus on Wednesday's many mysteries.
Wednesday Season 2 gives Enid a love triangle of her own.
Just because Wednesday is out of her love triangle doesn't mean Wednesday is without any kind of relationship drama. Turns out Enid's got some competing suitors of her own.
Frankly, when it comes to Wednesday characters to put in love triangles, Enid is far and away the most logical choice. Leaps and bounds beyond her roommate Wednesday! As the more social of the pair, and the one more open to romance, Enid's love triangle makes far more sense. Let Nevermore's bubbliest student live out her teen TV fantasy and find love!
At the end of Season 1, Enid wound up with gorgon Ajax (Georgie Farmer). But after a summer of wolfing out and embracing her place in the wolf pack, Enid's learned a lot more about herself. She's not the insecure girl Ajax fell for. Plus, now she's got eyes for fellow werewolf Bruno (Noah B. Taylor). She just... hasn't been able to break up with Ajax to his face.
Thankfully, though, Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 doesn't drag Enid's love triangle out too much. By the end of the season's first four episodes, she's broken things off with Ajax and become an item with Bruno. Yay for Enid, and yay for viewers who don't want to deal with too many more love triangle shenanigans!
The loss of Wednesday's original love triangle frees up more room to explore the dynamics of the Addams Family — especially when it comes to Wednesday's complicated relationship with her mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). It also allows the show to hone in further on Enid and Wednesday's friendship, which faces major complications as Wednesday begins to push Enid away in the hopes of protecting her from prophesied death. For the Wednesday-Enid shippers, at least, the door remains open.
Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix, with Part 2 premiering Sept. 3.
Topics Netflix
Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
