#wednesday analysis

It's almost embarrassing how clearly he’s still into her and obsessed with her, as dark and twisted as his expressions of those feelings may be. And I think Tyler’s humanity is leaking through here too, because flowers and a card almost feel like they started out as apology gifts for hurting her and landing her in the hospital in the first place. And from anyone else they might be, but of course everything gets so warped and twisted by his Hyde that the card has a death threat instead of an apology and the dead flowers really add to the ominousness of his words.

Of course, Wednesday immediately knows something is up. Only Tyler would know to do all these things—the dead roses, the black and white tissue paper, the death threats painstakingly handwritten in a card she can safely handle (why care at all about the allergies of someone you truly want dead?) He knows how much she cares about Enid, and he knows exactly how to get under her skin and get her attention—by threatening Enid. He’s her enemy, yes, but he knows her, and moments like this make it clear.

She asks the candy striper who gave her these “gifts,” and then there’s this reveal that not only did Tyler ask for these to be delivered to her, he's close by because he wanted to see her, too. It would've been way less risky if he hadn't stuck around to watch her reaction, but he did, and he even gives her a little wave:

One wonders just how long he's been skulking around the hospital waiting for her to wake up. The sheer amount of risks he took to be here, the lengths he went to to avoid detection when he only recently escaped Willow Hill and is wanted by the police—it really says everything about just how badly he wanted to see her. For this moment to happen, he had to sneak into the hospital somehow, steal and don the scrubs disguise, and avoid being recognized by anyone, even though this is clearly a busy hospital. He was also apparently around long enough to see Agnes visit at least once, because he knows she’s one of Wednesday’s friends in Episode 6.

He plays the role of full on psychotic villain when he knows he has her full attention. Just look at his smirk when he knows she's looking at him:

A chase/round of Hyde and woe seek ensues, but he manages to shake her. And this is where the pathos of the scene really hit me, and it’s all because of Tyler’s reaction once he’s alone:

A “regular” monster and clear-cut, unsympathetic villain would have smirked and gloated over getting away and successfully toying with his target. I think I even expected something along those lines, especially after his smirk earlier. Instead, Tyler practically has a breakdown and has to brace himself against the vending machine for support, and this moment hit me so hard. Props to Angela Robinson (the director of this episode), Erika Vásquez and Sienna Butterfield (the writers of this episode) and of course Hunter Doohan for his marvelous job of portraying Tyler’s emotions here, because it’s exactly thanks to moments like these that Tyler is such an interesting, nuanced character.

I’m sure part of his reaction is because he's sick and in pain and dying without a master, and this clearly shows that. He also just had to race through the hospital halls to avoid Wednesday and needs a moment to catch his breath. But I think he’s also experiencing a powerful wave of emotions—relief that Wednesday is okay and awake and alive, especially because he's the one who landed her in the hospital in the first place, regret that he had to run away from her when deep down he wants her to catch him, and anguish and disappointment over being separated from her again. Look at the way he squeezes his eyes shut, which is Tyler’s way of indicating the pain he’s feeling is unbearable, as he also squeezes his eyes shut like this when he asks Wednesday to kill him in Episode 8 and is bracing himself for her blow.

He also swallows here, like he’s choking back tears and is desperately trying to get ahold of himself. Beneath the monster and the villain is a very vulnerable young man who shows his real emotions when he thinks no one’s watching. It’s his humanity peeking through all over again, and I love that they included it because it adds so much to what came before and casts everything in a new light.