I dont want to respond directly to the person but to the comment about Wayward having a ton of emotional whiplash, going from objectively horrifying shit to something silly and light hearted, I think that's genuinely just the point of the show.
It's a shoe about psychological, emotional, and spiritual abuse. The whiplash is what the characters are going through, being kept emotionally unstable and uncertain so that they can become pliable and accept the abuse when it is doled out. If it's only horror all of the time then you never have a chance to breathe and fully understand why someone would willingly stay because abusers are not harmful 100% of the time. Its part of the cycle
The juxtaposition of the idyllic small-town life, the light hearted birthday and the moment of humanity also highlights how abuse is often carried about by those that we do not suspect. That the nice lady who leaves eggs on your porch is capable of doing these nice things, she can give treats and baked goods while also turning around and tormenting teenagers. That the idyllic town is complicit by allowing it to happen and turning the other cheek when things occasionally "go wrong"
These tonal differences are meant to be juxtaposed because that is what the story is about
