‘Wednesday’ Season 2, Part 1 Twist Ending Explained—Who’s The Avian Killer?

Wednesday. Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in episode 202 of Wednesday.

JONATHAN HESSION/NETFLIX

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Wednesday Season 2, Part 1.

Wednesday is willingly back for another year at Nevermore Academy. Within days of her arrival, she’s being stalked, has stumbled upon two crime scenes, visited Tyler (the Hyde and her Season 1 love interest) and is trying to find out who’s controlling the murderous crows that might be after her best friend, Enid.

She’s also unexpectedly lost her psychic abilities and is experiencing psychic exhaustion, causing her to cry tears of blood, something her mother says happens when you abuse your powers. When Wednesday asks how to make the tears stop, Morticia forces her to give up Goody’s book of spells. After all, she doesn’t want Wednesday to end up like her Aunt Ophelia.

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But Wednesday is desperate to get her psychic powers back — especially since her last vision predicted Enid’s impending death — and it was all her fault. Now, she must find the killer before they get to Enid. The person she’s looking for is likely an Avian, which is someone with the ability to control birds, including the crows that killed Tyler’s dad, Donovan Galpin, and private investigator, Carl Bradbury.

In Episode 3, Wednesday uncovers her first major clue: a voicemail from Bradbury to Galpin, warning that if anything happens to him, the evidence is safe in the “bullpen.” A postcard in a box of Galpin’s belongings reveals that the bullpen is actually located in Pine Crest, near Camp Jericho, where the students of Nevermore are headed for camp. This gives Wednesday an easy way to get there by pretending to go, too.

Wednesday finds Galpin’s cabin, where she discovers newspaper clippings of obituaries for outcasts who were all patients at Willow Hill. One name is written in red: Lois. Could she be the one targeting and killing outcasts? As the one-eyed crow watches her every move, the episode ends with the arrival of a familiar face at Willow Hill: Marilyn Thornhill (a.k.a. Laurel Gates).

What Happens In Wednesday Season 2, Episode 4?

Episode 4 begins at Willow Hill Asylum where Dr. Fairburn asks Thornhill to help them break through to Tyler and assist with his rehabilitation. She agrees but only if she can see him. When she reaches for him through the bars he transforms into his Hyde form and grabs her by the neck, choking her. He releases his grip only after she promises to get him out of there.

Viewers also finally meet Grandmama Hester Frump, who arrives to help Wednesday at the cemetery where the outcasts from the obituaries found in Galpin’s cabin were allegedly laid to rest. After they open one of the urns and discover it was filled with animal remains, a crow swoops in and flies off with Wednesday’s evidence. She chases after the crow, which takes off beside the mysterious Avian, who escapes on a motorcycle.

By mid-episode, questions still remain about who faked the patients’ deaths, who Lois is and how everything connects to Enid’s impending death. All signs point to Willow Hill, so Wednesday calls in a favor from Uncle Fester to dig up information on Lois. He tells her that the last time he was asked to go to the asylum was by her mother, who wanted him to check on their sister, Ophelia.

Who Is Aunt Ophelia? What Do We Learn About Her?

Morticia tells Wednesday that her sister, Aunt Ophelia, possessed the same psychic abilities as she does. However, during her sophomore year at Nevermore Academy, Ophelia was found screaming in the quad with black tears running down her cheeks.

She had pushed her psychic abilities too far and was sent away to Willow Hill at the hands of Grandmama. Morticia says she pleaded with her mother, believing things would only get worse for Ophelia at Willow Hill. Later, we learn that Ophelia has been missing for the past twenty years.

Who Is Augustus Stonehurst?

Grandmama tells Wednesday that Augustus “Gus” Stonehurst was the one who signed the outcasts’ death certificates. Stonehurst used to be the Normie head doctor at Willow Hill, but before that, he taught science at Nevermore Academy. Professor Orloff tells Wednesday that Gus was very popular, though Orloff was never a fan because he was a Normie. Gus’s wife died before he came to Nevermore, but he had a young daughter and even built her an aviary in Iago Tower. As for his current whereabouts, Stonehurst is now committed at Willow Hill after suffering a psychotic break.

After Fester is caught helping Wednesday at Willow Hill, she teams up with Enid and her stalker-turned-assistant, Agnes, to break him out and track down Lois. She sneaks into the asylum and enlists help from Fester’s cafeteria worker and lady friend, Louise. Wednesday manages to free Fester, but a zombie escapes in the process, distracting the guards assigned to Thornhill and allowing her to slip away. Thornhill runs off, passing Wednesday on her way out.

How Does Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 End?

The zombie on the loose at Willow Hill marks the beginning of the asylum’s problems. Fester and Wednesday use the chaos as a distraction to reach the maintenance door where Gus said Lois was being kept. Fester remembers the numerical code that Gus’s parrot gave him to get inside.

What Is Lois?

It turns out that “Lois” is not a person, but the name of a secret program conducted at Willow Hill: the Long-term Outcast Integration Study (LOIS). When Wednesday looks into the individual cells, she sees the outcasts whose obituaries she found earlier at the cabin. Their deaths were faked so that they could continue being used for experiments.

Who Is The Avian Trying To Kill The Outcasts?

While Fester and Wednesday put the pieces together between the obituaries and the outcasts, the cloaked Avian finally reveals themselves. It’s Judi, the executive assistant at the Willow Hill Psychiatric Facility and Augustus’s daughter. She says that Dr. Fairburn works for her and that she recruited her to be the public face of the institution.

Judi’s father, Augustus, founded the program in order to harness outcast powers and become one himself. He wanted to become a Da Vinci — an outcast with telekinetic ability — but his body couldn’t handle it. Instead, Judi became a testament to his work, and Augustus was able to turn his daughter to an Avian.

Uncle Fester cuts the power to the entire facility, releasing all the experimented-on outcasts and Willow Hill patients, who then attack Judi. Meanwhile, Wednesday saves a woman being held in the Lois program. Could she be Wednesday’s Aunt Ophelia?

The asylum is now in shambles, with Thornhill and all the patients having escaped. Thornhill makes her way to Tyler’s cell and sets him free. “I told you Mama would get you out of here,” she tells him. But that proves to be a deadly mistake. He is still very angry at his former master, blaming her for being the reason he was locked away.

“You’re not my mother, you’re my master. Or should I say, you were…” Tyler whispers to Thornhill, before giving her a chilling five-second heart start to run. He quickly catches up and strikes her with his claws.

But what will happen to Tyler now that he’s escaped Willow Hill? As Thornhill said earlier in the episode, “If a Hyde murders their master, they seal their own doom.”

What Is Happening With Slurp?

Slurp, the zombie Pugsley revived earlier in the season, also manages to break free and storms into the office where Dr. Fairburn and Augustus are hiding. He eats her brain, but before killing Augustus, he mentions that they were old friends. With every brain he consumes, Slurp continues to regenerate, both physically and mentally, so there’s still a lot to learn about him in Part 2.

“We’ve seen Slurp beginning to humanize as he starts to eat brains in the first four episodes,” co-showrunner Miles Millar told Tudum. “And in the second half of the season, Slurp really comes into his own. We love the idea of seeing this metamorphosis. This seemingly harmless zombie who was Pugsley’s wannabe pet, has his own agenda. As he becomes more human, we have a lot of fun with what the audience will think he’s up to.”

Does Tyler Kill Wednesday?

Tyler, in his Hyde form, spots Wednesday at the end of the hall with the unknown outcast. Wednesday tells the woman to run before he charges at her at full speed. He violently throws her out the window, and she lands on the concrete below. The police arrive and try to shoot Tyler, but he escapes.

In her voiceover at the end of part one, Wednesday says, “I’ve always dreamed of looking death in the face. But in my final moments, all I hear is my mother’s words ringing in my ears. Maybe I have made everything worse… much worse.”

Co-creator Alfred Gough revealed to Tudum that they needed to end part one with a cliffhanger to keep fans hooked for Season 2. “At the end of Episode 4, Wednesday literally lets the lunatics out of the asylum, and the rest of the season is: Now you have to deal with that… She solved one mystery, and has unleashed a Pandora’s box of new problems,” he said.

What Happens In The Wednesday Season 2, Part 2 Teaser?

Netflix released a 40-second clip at the end of Episode 4 hinting at what’s next. The teaser reveals that Wednesday isn’t dead, but she’s stuck in a coma. “It’s the vacation she always dreamed of,” her mom says. Quick flashes in the clip show the upcoming fundraising gala, Slurp the zombie, Tyler, a very scared Enid and more.

“Fans have a lot to look forward to in the second half of the season,” Hunter Doohan, who portrays Tyler, told Tudum. Gough added, “The mysteries of Willow Hill definitely carry over into Part 2.”

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Watch the official Season 2 trailer below.