📺 Welcome to Tall Pines, Vermont. At the center of this seemingly idyllic community is Tall Pines Academy, a boarding school for troubled teens run by the enigmatic and charismatic Evelyn Wade (the brilliantly unsettling Toni Collette). Wayward follows Alex Dempsey (M. Martin), a cop who relocates to the cozy little town with his pregnant wife Laura (Sarah Gadon), herself a graduate of the Academy and a close friend (and something of a protégé) of Evelyn’s.

When Alex investigates a runaway student and uncovers a pattern of mysterious disappearances, it deepens his suspicions about Evelyn’s methods — and his wife’s allegiances. Meanwhile, two rebellious Canadian teenagers — Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind), dealing with her sister’s sudden death, and best friend Abbie (Sydney Topliffe), struggling against her strict parents’ control — find themselves trapped at the Academy where they encounter cultish rituals, psychological manipulation, and disturbing group therapy sessions.

The casting is exceptional across the board. Collette delivers a masterclass in quiet menace, creating a character who’s simultaneously terrifying and oddly vulnerable. She is a woman who genuinely believes her extreme methods are helping, which makes her far more compelling than a straightforward villain. Gadon skillfully navigates dual roles as an unwitting victim and a potential accomplice, while the teenage performers are particularly impressive in capturing both youthful defiance and a naive overconfidence.

Through the door to… nowhere. For its first seven episodes, the series is remarkably effective at breadcrumbing clues and maintaining suspense around its central mystery. Unfortunately, the finale undermines much of that. The big reveal fails to deliver genuine scares — instead, embracing the camp and presenting an ending that reads as overly dramatic instead of horrifying. Wayward doesn’t fully commit to examining the horrors of the troubled teen industry — the setup draws from genuine abuses but quickly pivots to a more implausible mystery, missing the chance to engage with its source material more meaningfully.

The verdict? Wayward is undeniably bingeable, with enough style and strong performances to carry viewers through its runtime. The questions it poses about family, manipulation, and identity are genuinely interesting, even if the answers prove unsatisfying. As a creative departure for comedy veteran Martin (who writes and directs as well as stars in the show), it shows real promise for future projects with a tighter focus and a more confident conclusion.

WHERE TO WATCH- Wayward is streaming on Netflix, and you can catch the trailer on YouTube (watch, runtime: 2:15).

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