‘Wednesday’ Explained: How and Why [Spoiler] Is the Serial Killer Monster
Netflix‘s Wednesday series has an intriguing supernatural mystery tied to local murders in Jericho. As Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) attends Nevermore, she soon gets entangled in the mystery when she comes face-to-face with the monster causing the murders. While the local sheriff is stumped, Wednesday offers her own clues. Wednesday soon reveals the real serial killer and how they got involved in the greater murderous storyline.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Wednesday.]
Wednesday learns the creature causing the murders is a Hyde
The series opens with a local hiker becoming the next gruesome victim of the monster lurking in the shadows. In the first episode, Wednesday soon becomes disturbed by the mysteries of Jericho as scenes show Sheriff Donovan Galpin (Jamie McShane) looking at his murder board with no clear suspects. The series takes a frightening turn when Wednesday faces the monster when it saves her from Rowan (Calum Ross), almost killing her in the forest during the Harvest festival.
Wednesday soon becomes embroiled in finding clues to the monster, leading her to a mystery in her family’s past. By Wednesday Episode 4, she realizes the monster is taking certain body parts from its victims. The story takes a turn when Wednesday starts to suspect Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White) due to his drawings of the monster and scratch marks.
She also suspects him as he was present during every attack. Wednesday is set in her ways, especially when she learns from her Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) the monster is a Hyde. When she gets a hold of Nathaniel Faulkner’s journal, she learns the Hyde needs a master. The journal explains, “Born of mutation, the Hyde lays dormant until unleashed by a traumatic event or unlocked through chemical inducement of hypnosis.”
Once the Hyde is released, the person who released it becomes its master. Wednesday suspects Dr. Valerie Kinbott (Riki Lindhome), Xavier’s therapist, to be his master. She also suspects her of being Laurel Gates, who never died at sea. But Wednesday throws in a curveball as to who the real serial killer is.
Tyler Galpin is the serial killer in ‘Wednesday’ and the Hyde
Wednesday is convinced Xavier is the serial killer Hyde, even after the monster kills Dr. Kinbott. While arrested by authorities, Wednesday learns the truth. She gets a vision when she kisses Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan), the sheriff’s son, and her other love interest in the love triangle. Tyler is the Hyde and the person who killed Dr. Kinkbott. But the question is why?
At the beginning of the series, Tyler is a normie. He is a sweet and handsome young man who works at the local coffee shop. Tyler first met Wednesday when she fixed his espresso machine in return for a way out of town. He also happens to be the sheriff’s son. He never sees Wednesday as an outcast and develops feelings for her. Along the way to finding clues, Tyler becomes an ally. No one would have suspected him as a killer.
In the finale, Wednesday has Tyler surrounded by the other students at Nevermore and reveals what she knows. Tyler is not a full-fledged normie. Showing him a picture of the fencing team, Wednesday points out another woman. The woman is his outcast mother. As fans know, the sheriff never wanted to talk to Tyler about his mother. Her medical records reveal her postpartum depression triggered her Hyde. While trying to get him to turn, the sheriff listens to Dr. Kinbott’s recordings of her sessions with Tyler.
How was Tyler’s Hyde triggered in the Netflix series?
Dr. Kinbott’s notes on Tyler reveal she had started to suspect something was wrong when she felt she was talking to a different person. At the station, after Tyler is rescued from Wednesday, he changes. He reveals he knew he was murdering people and started to enjoy it. But the question remains, who is his master?
Wednesday has fans believing Tyler is truly a monster and managed to kill his master, Dr. Kinbott. But it is not true. When Eugene wakes up from his coma, he reveals a woman wearing red boots torched the Hyde’s lair. Wednesday has a eureka moment. Dr. Kinbott was not Tyler’s master, Ms. Thornhill (Christina Ricci). She suspected Dr. Kinbott of using hypnosis to unlock the Hyde, but in reality, Ms. Thronhill used a chemical inducement.
Being the real Laurel Gates and knowing her family’s secret, she targeted Tyler. She showed him his mother’s records and her being a Hyde. To break him in, she used the cave to shackle him and used the chemical to unleash the Hyde and make him her servant. As the series has an even further complex finale and storyline, Tyler’s story as a Hyde is far from over and teases a Wednesday Season 2.
Wednesday is available on Netflix.
