Wayward: A Cult, A Cop, and a Seriously "Troubled " Teen

Netflix's Wayward  is one of those shows that makes you constantly look over your shoulder, even though you’re just sitting on your couch eating chips. The setup is simple, and delightfully creepy: a young police officer named Alex (Martin) and his pregnant wife, Laura, move to the seemingly idyllic, granola-munching town of Tall Pines, Vermont, for a fresh start. Immediately, everything feels wrong. It’s that wholesome, small-town vibe where everyone is too nice, which, as we all know from years of watching TV, is the absolute fastest way to signal that a town  definitely has a terrible local zoning board. 

You just know Alex’s police work is going to involve less traffic enforcement and more uncovering a sinister, generation-spanning conspiracy.

​The central source of all this weirdness is the Tall Pines Academy, a therapeutic boarding school for "wayward youth" run by the magnificent, scene-stealing Toni Collette as Evelyn Wade. Evelyn is basically a cult leader in a sensible turtleneck, promising to "solve the problem of adolescence." The school’s methods,  involve aggressively forcing teens to be "vulnerable" via terrifying, high-pressure group therapy sessions known as the "Hot Seat." 

If you ever thought mandatory community-building exercises were bad, wait until you see teenagers verbally dismantle each other’s entire personalities before being forced into an extremely awkward group hug.

​What really grounds the tension is the fantastic pairing of the two main plot lines. On one side, you have Alex, the perpetually anxious outsider cop who is trying to live a quiet life but can't stop digging into the shady past of the academy On the other, you have best friends Abbie and Leila .The show constantly bounces between Alex's procedural investigation and the girls’ increasingly desperate, high-stakes attempts to break out of what is essentially a prison.

​The show truly excels when it leans into the unsettling atmosphere and the sheer psychological horror of feeling trapped and gaslit. It’s set in 2003, because it removes the annoying plot hole of "Why don't they just Google the cult?" or "Why can't they call their parents on a smartphone?" The lack of modern tech makes the town feel incredibly isolated, and the visual motif of endless, significant red doors scattered around Tall Pines just hammers home the idea that there are secrets everywhere.

The way the townspeople talk about Evelyn with cult-like reverence is genuinely chilling. It's like everyone decided to swap out their regular lives for a low-key, very disturbing performance art piece about community healing.

​However, be warned: this show has been dividing audiences faster than a particularly sharp knife. The biggest point of contention is definitely the finale. The show builds up this masterful, slow-burn mystery, dropping breadcrumbs about generational trauma and the sinister workings of the academy. 

​So, should you watch it? Absolutely. Wayward is a stylish, smart, and  gripping psychological thriller. It's messy, a little muddled in the final act, and sometimes so tense you forget to breathe, but it’s anchored by Mae Martin's empathetic, awkward performance and Toni Collette's chilling excellence. Just brace yourself for the last episode—you might need a stiff drink.