The Reel Review
A transgender police officer new to a rural town in Vermont teams up with two teenage girls to uncover the dark secret behind the town’s mysterious boarding school for troubled, wayward teens. Toni Collette, Mae Martin, Sarah Gadon, Sydney Topliffe and Alyvia Alyn Lind star in this eight-episode Netflix mystery/thriller.
It doesn’t take long to discover that the school owner, played by a scene-chewing Collette, is running a cult that isn’t just brainwashing the school’s staff and students, but has populated the entire child-free town with its graduates. Created and co-written by comedian Mae Martin (who also stars as the transgender cop, Alex), the mini-series starts off well enough, with some promisingly creepy developments and a refreshing, matter-of-fact treatment of LGBTQ+ relationships. But halfway in, Wayward goes way off the rails into ridiculousness.
The second half of the series devolves into bloated episodes about the school’s sinister brainwashing combo of hypnosis and hallucinogenic drugs, along with a bizarre, Lord of the Flies-type orienteering excursion – all more silly than scary. Wayward could have been an interesting thriller about reform schools that prey financially on troubled families while psychologically and physically abusing teenagers in their care, but instead is just a mediocre, brainless waste of time that will likely offend those who have endured these schools.
REEL FACTS
• Mae Martin, who identifies as non-binary, based the story on personal anecdotes from a good friend who spent time at one of these so-called schools. Martin was previously romantically linked to frequent Survivor contestant Parvati Shallow.
• Alyvia Alyn Lind played a young Dolly Parton in 2015’s Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors and its 2016 sequel.
• Sydney Topliffe grew up in Wyoming and later moved to Toronto, Canada, appearing in the 2024 Hulu sci-fi series Davey & Jonesie’s Locker.
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