In season 2, part 1 of Netflix’s Wednesday, our favorite titular outcast (played by Jenna Ortega) finds herself embroiled in another mystery at Nevermore Academy. After saving the school from Joseph Crackstone, the town of Jericho’s resurrected anti-outcast founder, Wednesday Addams’s new investigation comes courtesy of a cloaked stalker and, unironically, a murder of crows. This mysterious figure and their homicidal birds remain elusive until their identity is revealed in episode 4, right before a cliffhanger sets up the second half of the season, which drops on September 3.
So, who exactly is under the hood? Before we answer that, let’s rewind.
In the mid-season finale, Wednesday and Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) infiltrate Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital, where several outcasts purportedly receive treatment. Some of the patients include Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan), a shapeshifting Hyde who was admitted after wreaking havoc at Nevermore the year prior; Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci), Tyler’s former handler and the mastermind behind Crackstone’s resurrection; and Slurp, a zombie that Pugsley Addams (Isaac Ordonez) previously zapped to life by accident. The facility is run by chief psychiatrist Dr. Rachael Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton) and her executive assistant, Judi (Heather Matarazzo).
Wednesday—hellbent on preventing a vision that suggests she’s responsible for her best friend Enid’s (Emma Myers) impending death—followed clues that led her to Willow Hill. Earlier in the season, a local private investigator named Carl Bradbury was killed by a flock of eye-gouging crows. The former sheriff and Tyler’s father, Donovan Galpin (Jamie McShane), tells Wednesday that he and Carl were working on a case that could affect all outcasts, including his son. But that’s all the information Wednesday could get from Donovan before he suffers the same fate as his P.I. friend.
Further complicating things, Wednesday’s psychic abilities, which she harnesses with the help of a spell book from her ancestor and former spirit guide, Goody Addams, stop working. Her mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), confiscates the book, fearing that her daughter will go mad, as her psychic sister, Aunt Ophelia, did when they were younger. It’s a valid concern, considering Wednesday starts experiencing “psychic exhaustion,” which comes with the side effect of black tears. (Worth noting: Aunt Ophelia was admitted to Willow Hill after succumbing to severe psychosis, distinguished by black tears streaming down her face. She then mysteriously went missing.)
