Wednesday season 2: The extending romance between Wednesday and Tyler

When Netflix released Wednesday season 1 in 2022, the audience was captured by the Addams family’s sharp tonged, gothic, and intelligent daughter. Viewers were hooked not only by the paranormal mystery and Jenna Ortega’s cynical performance, but also by an unexpected romantic subplot; the slow, awkward yet intriguing bond between Wednesday Addams and Jericho barista Tyler Galpin. Their ironic chemistry in season 1 became a major conversing point for fans, debating whether Wednesday did have a human vulnerability and rawness present in the dark recesses of her heart, or whether their abnormality combined balanced each other out, and whether the show was inevitably leaning towards teen romance and heartbreak.  

The storyline (spoilers!) however took an unforeseen twist in the finale of season 1. What began as an innocent, if uncustomary teenage crush, quickly succumbed into horror and betrayal upon discovery of Tylers true nature, a Hyde. This alter-ego proved to be nothing but trouble and despair for the quaint little town of Jericho. Controlled by a villainous master, Tyler conducted multiple assassinations on citizens as well as a few students of Nevermore. For Wednesday who had cautiously and hopefully lowered her guard, this revelation was brutal. The final episode showcases Tyler lying restrained in an ambulance, covered from head to toe in bonds while constraining a gag in his mouth, waiting to be shipped to an institution. On the other hand, Wednesday retreated even farther behind her shroud of mistrust, having been exposed to the consequences of her small moments of weakness. Her denial, her isolation, his anger, his contempt becomes intertwined in a never-ending cycle. Their romance, not fully begun, not fully distinguished, curdled into a story of trauma and illusions, with a side note: the dangers you face when you let someone in too deep. 

Given the ending many predicted season 2, as a declaration of war and bloodshed, with no place on the battlefield for love. But Wednesday never fails to surprise, the Tyler Wednesday dynamic, although fractured, was not beyond repair. The show opted to explore further in this uncharted territory, their emotional terrain and what will be gained or lost in it. The second season, debuted in August 2025, questions the unresolved and lingers on the choices Wednesday makes. How will Wednesday write her own story? 

Season two opens with a colder, deeper Wednesday, the crusts of romance hardening as the days go by, scars of the past still abide, the bitter taste hasn’t completely worn off yet. Putting romance in the backseat, and Tyler further out of her mind, Wednesday puts her keen ability and focus only on the vital; solving cases. She avoids entanglement, despising the notion of being celebrated as a “hero” and the social norms that come with it. She hides, writes and copes with her surroundings, accepting a small amount at a time, and even smaller amounts when it comes to human interaction. 

But what goes around, comes around. As the secrets of Nevermore unravel themselves, she finds Tyler’s shadow, in every turn of the page, haunting every investigation. With the death of Mr. Galpin, Tyler’s father bursting the bubble at last. She is forced to face him and the past again. Their first reunion happened at Willow Hill which becomes a standpoint for everything that has gone terribly wrong. 

Willow Hill is a psychiatric facility housing Tyler and many other dangerous outcasts. Wednesday’s visit is not longing or forgiveness, she ventures forth for information, about Tyler’s treatment, about Marilyn Thornhill’s manipulation techniques, and her sixth sense that Willow Hill isn’t all it seems to be. Dr. Fairburn, believing Wednesday to be the stimulus Tyler needs to weaken the bond between master and Hyde, brings her to a cell where he is seen chained up, equipped with a shock collar, isolated. As eyes meet, a visible spark is reborn, a sizzle of electricity lingers in the air, tension that pushes their dialogue forward. 

Questions of the past resurface, Wednesday is accused of “falling in love with the monster inside him.” To all this she retorts that what had been was nothing but manipulation, a game where she holds the crown. It ends with Wednesday marching out and Tyler kneeling on the cold hard ground, his attempt to transform restrained only by the hospital’s shock collar. 

But the exchange between them, the reaction all suggest that their emotional bond has not fully been extinguished. The past has not been forgotten and will play a crucial role in the plot, whether this bond will develop into romance, betrayal or vengeance, there is still a long way to go. Which proved shorter than expected. 

That evening Tylers breaks free of his restraints with the help of Thornhill then killing her in cold blood, later he seeks out Wednesday and hurls her out of a second-story window. It is an act that signals reconciliation to be nearly impossible, yet it also underlines how deeply intertwined their fate remains. 

For Tyler, this relationship is less about romance and more about obsession and hope that Wednesday sees beyond the monster within him. Actor Hunter Doohan expresses his thoughts on romance by referring to a particular scene when he’s a Hyde about to kill Enid, but is stopped by Wednesday, she proclaims, “I lied about my feelings, but you know there is only one way for us to truly be together.” Even in Hyde form he is drawn to her, intrigued and hopeful, waiting for the answer, hanging on to her every word. He is not in control of himself, feelings poke through, just when he thought she was gone, he had lost her. It all comes back, they come back. 

In this moment, Tylers undergoes a deep internal struggle, as a Hyde he is supposed to be pure instinct and violent, still Wednesday’s words cut through the rage. He hesitates, monster or human he is not immune to her influence, what surfaces is a fragile connection they once shared. Whether she is manipulating him for survival or revealing a sliver of genuine feeling is ambiguous, but to Tyler the effect is the same, he is pulled to her. 

This encounter changes our earlier perception, the sentiment shifts, from liaison, to betrayal, vexation and now it develops into something darker and more tragic, steadily growing into unfulfilled love. To Tyler passion disguised as hate, to Wednesday affection disguised as wariness. 

Bibliography:

Macias, Gil. “‘Wednesday’s Hunter Doohan on Tyler’s Possible Return in Season 3.” Collider, 10 Sept. 2025, https://collider.com/wednesday-season-2-finale-hunter-doohan-owen-painter/.