The shire- is burning. So Mordor it is.

Part One: Regarding Intentions

The most damning evidence first, lets revisit E08 "This Means Woe" for the description of the events in Iago Tower - from both perspectives.

Claim: Isaac planned to kill Gomez because he needed, quote, "more than just a spark". Morticia intervened in time, leading to the explosion - but Gomez lost his powers.

Morticia's evidence for Isaac's murderous intent is that he allegedly dug the grave beneath the skull tree in advance.

(followed by the quote "He even dug your father's grave underneath the Skull Tree in preparation")

Immediately preceding this scene, however, Wednesday has a vision. This vision opens to the sound of a shovel. The sound of digging. And it pans over to Morticia urging Gomez to hurry up while he digs the grave beneath the skull tree, with Isaac already laying dead. He throws the shovel away and rolls Isaac's corpse into the grave.

Isaac never pre-dug the grave.

(this is after literally throwing the shovel away)

For being close to death, Morticia sure is keen to let him do all the work, huh?

And that's aside from her really hamming it up with the tears as she's recounting this. This is from Morticia Addams, who goes to funerals as a passtime and to whom near-death experiences are basically foreplay. Could be that it's just one of the many blunders the writers made in characterization, lord knows theres enough of that, but there's enough suspicious shit for me to wonder if they actually did intend to let you dig a little for the truth.

Wednesday then asks "So you buried Isaac in the same grave he intended for father?"

And Morticia doesn't answer immediately. She looks to Hester. She hesitates. The music crescendos. She finally says "Yes". She hesitates on her own story detail.

Now onto the potential counter "but Gomez lost his powers so clearly Isaac did SOMETHING nefarious"

To her credit, she doesn't explicitly state that it was the overtaxation that robbed Gomez of his ability.

But think.

In E06 "Woe Thyself", Isaac describes the purpose of his machine as follows:

The machine wasn't made just to cure Francoise's Hyde affliction. It was made to remove Outcast abilities. Without discrimination.

So what's more likely? That Gomez lost his powers due to being overtaxed by Isaac? Or that he lost his powers when the machine literally made to remove Outcast powers was sabotaged and backfired? Fork found in kitchen. An ability was lost with the ability-losing machine. It just happened to be Gomez when Morticia intervened.

Okay, I hear you argue "But Morticia (untrustworthy though her word has been so far) said that her "darling Gomez" was "near death" when she found him!" Sure, this is her word against my theory. If you exclude the fact that she was perfectly happy to let him dig Isaac's grave the same night, but oh well. Thats Wednesday!Morticia for you.

Here's my alternative explanation:

She stumbled upon the experiment, assumed the worst, attacked Isaac (welcome back Thing), and sabotaged the machine. The machine backfired onto Gomez, leading to him losing his powers. Francoise Hydes Out and flees the scene after seeing her brothers corpse (because that's the only way I can explain why she'd let M&G over here just drag his corpse all the way out to Skull Tree to bury him in an unmarked grave).

After he vanishes, his reputation is tarnished with the "clockwork heart made him cold" thing, which is clearly bullshit, because Isaac has two modes, caring (a LOT) for his sister (... possibly too much but hey that's codependency for you), and being extremely pissed off. He's showing emotion all the damn time. Anyway, that part's unimportant, I just want to get the record straight.

Part Two: Why he deserved a little crashout. As a treat.

An additional argument for why this is likely what happened is because it literally happens again.

Agnes follows Isaac back out to Judi's fuckass Prius and climbs in the trunk because... she's Agnes, and she is doing Agnes Things. Lets be clear here, if Agnes had not intervened, then he would have gone through with his plan to cure Francoise, and he never would have had to capture Pugsley. Up until this point he has shown no indication of really wanting revenge against the Addams' - he even actively walks away from Gomez at the fair.

He wants to cure his sister. That's all that he wants, at this point. Agnes intervenes, she gets put in a cell (threats of snacking on her brain aside, what is he meant to do with her? she is the one who put herself in danger following them all the way here, and they're in a time crunch), Wednesday and Enid come to the rescue, and in the rescue, the machine is sabotaged. Again. Womp womp.

Another stupid pointless intervention because something looks worse than it is. Another explosion. Another failure, and an Addams is the cause.

Agnes had no place being in that fucking Prius let alone in Willow Hill, lets be clear on that. The Professor's death, at this point, is the only questionable death of a potential innocent, and even that seems weirdly er, personal.

He threatens Agnes, but they ultimately just throw her in a cell. Agnes is fine.

Interlude: Taking a look at pre/post Crashout Morality

Lets just... round up Isaac's victims.

During "Slurp Era", before he is able to talk again:

Numerous innocents! I'll give you that one! The driving instructor and the camp boss dude. And he licks Gomez. I counter the fact that he literally didn't have a brain all the way up until around-about the sewers/the Pilgrim Tent.

Post "Zombie Era", when he is more present of mind:

The Hunter (who Tyler kills but Isaac snacks), deserved, as complicit with Judi

Judi (who he has personal history with and who tortured his sister for funsies for a decade straight)

The Professor (with whom Isaac has some undisclosed beef - possibly related to him helping to cover up Isaac's death. It would fit thematically and with just how personal their beef is. To Isaac's credit, the talking head in a jar that's only alive because of his genius was a bit out of line to call him a perversion of nature. I'm just saying. And I think that was a very odd response of Orloff in the first place. Why would he be so hostile? anyway this was a partial desperation kill, he needed the power source no matter what, and he needed it fast)

(Threatened to eat Agnes, theoretically, when she was caught snooping repeatedly and attempted to sabotage them again)

During Peak Crash Out

This is where Isaac starts getting really morally questionable (outside of the Professor and Agnes, which both had dubious but tenable excuses to kind of have it coming). Not gonna argue that.

The Vet. The only innocent on the list really, and this is after his big hope of curing his sister has been smashed by a fucking Addams for no good reason, AGAIN, after he was almost killed, AGAIN, after Tyler then dunks on him AGAIN, and Francoise is rapidly declining.

Part idk: back to explaining the crashout

But listen, hear me out.

If you

Had one goal in life - to save your sister - and you almost succeed, only for the procedure to fail due to your best friend's asshole girlfriend misreading the situation, and killing you in the process

Had your death then covered up by everyone involved while you rot away in a shallow, unmarked grave

Had your reputation dragged through the mud until it sparked (heH) an urban legend that you were a heartless monster who died to your own hubris or some shit

yeah thats right they killed you, covered up your death, and then used your fucking chronic illness and subsequent heart transplant to make the claim that you are "literally heartless" and were driven by ambition rather than love for your sister. anyway.

Had your machines stolen by your teacher - and then repurposed and used to torture your sister for a decade straight

Got revived by the same powers that indirectly led to your death, and then treated like a pet and shocked repeatedly (... justified. Isaac couldn't help the brain-lust but Pugsley was right to stop him from, yknow, doing that)

Found out that the people who killed you and dumped your body in an unmarked grave also kept your (now animated) severed hand and treated it like a pet

Your sister's kid is kind of a dick who's parading around Hyde Pride or whatever when all that specific power has brought is pain and suffering, including to Tyler himself

Side note: Treated your severed hand so shittily that they gave it fucking depression and several complexes. They gave your severed hand depression. Your severed fucking hand attends support groups. Isaac KNOWS ABOUT THE SUPPORT GROUP, he makes a joke about it before killing the Professor.

sorry this part is just really funny to me.

You get all your ducks in a line to finally reattempt the procedure and fulfill your life's quest to cure your sister, but the attempt is sabotaged by a nosey red-head and Wednesday Fucking Addams for "Lets Get Nearly Blown Up Due To An Addams, Part II, Electric Boogaloo"

Your sister's son is a dick about it to add salt to the wound

Your sister is doing really fucking awfully now actually and is out of meds so you have to raid a fucking veterinary office and perform an impromptu transfusion (plus point: you look hot again, because the universe had to hand you at least one win)

Your sister, who you got SO CLOSE TO CURING TWICE NOW only to be foiled by an Addams, AGAIN, is now insisting that you cure her bitchass son (who doesn't even want to be cured) instead. The Addams Family is now not only directly responsible for your death and the cover up thereof, but also indirectly responsible (twofold) for your sister's inevitable demise. Yippee.

said bitchass son was the reason she had to transform and "exacerbate her condition", btw, which is why you were so desperate to get a fucking move on that Agnes was even able to hitch a damn ride in the first place.

you try a third time and get foiled by the Addams' a third time, your sister dies, everything fucking sucks, and the hand they treated like shit turns on you and rips your own heart out

the end.

Isaac's a villain and he was sure as hell outta line for kidnapping Pugsley and I'm certain he didn't give a shit at that point if Pugs lived or died. but like, i get it. i get the reasoning.

I just think he's a complicated villain (though that might be due to shit writing. It's likely due to shit writing) and I'm kind of hoping the writers, who largley run this shit on fan service anyway, might see Isaac's popularity and bring him back. But then that might mean they make him worse so. Maybe not.