Netflix’s Wayward follows Abbie and Leila, two best friends trying to escape Tall Pines Academy—a disciplinary boarding school in a small town—as well as Alex, a police officer who just moved to town with his wife.
Abbie is sent to Tall Pines against her will after her parents grow frustrated with her bad grades and her habit of skipping class and getting high. Leila soon joins her after a failed attempt to break Abbie out. Together, the two friends navigate the psychological torture, manipulation, and psychedelic treatment administered by the school’s founder, Evelyn Wade.
As the friends try to survive the school, Alex begins to investigate a series of student disappearances at Tall Pines. Meanwhile, the officer begins to uncover tangled secrets involving the school, the town, and Wade, who has cultivated a cultish following.
The miniseries starts off strong, but lazy writing and unconvincing acting in the later episodes prevent it from reaching its full potential. Still, it delves successfully into interesting themes around cult dynamics and the ethics of troubled-teen boarding schools. The show’s strongest lesson is always worth considering: If you give a charismatic leader unchecked power, you’ll get corruption and human rights violations.
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