Netflix‘s frequent delivery of new TV shows every week, sometimes every day, means that not everything that they release is going to be met with open arms and cheers from the crowd. Even the most recent installment of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series MONSTER, detailing the crimes of Ed Gein and starring Charlie Hunnam, has earned a dreaded green splat on Rotten Tomatoes with a 20% critical approval and only 54% approval from audiences. It’s also not the only Netflix original series that is earning immediate backlash from users after they’ve watched it.
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The latest dogpile by Netflix subscribers is their new limited series Wayward. Created by Mae Martin, the series is an eight-episode mystery about a small town in Vermont and the eccentric school that is found tucked away there. Martin not only created and showran the series, but stars as Alex Dempsey, a new police officer in town who is drawn into the mystery. As you might expect, the narrative goes deeper from there and reveals a twisted origin for the school and terrifying circumstances about the kids who leave it. Despite the hooks the series has to bring in viewers, it’s not being fully met with open arms.
Netflix’s Wayward Draws Extreme Criticism, But Is Still Ranked #1
Many fans were excited ahead of its release about a one-and-done Netflix mystery show, especially one with Toni Collette in a creepy role, but now that Wayward is here, many have turned on the show as quickly as it arrived. A post on the /r/netflix subreddit this week, titled “Wayward was sooo good until it wasn’t,” has sparked a lot of debate from viewers who have extreme criticisms about the show.
The initial post had precise critiques for the series, noting how much they liked the initial episodes and the setup of the mystery, but taking issue with the culmination of the entire series in the eighth and final episode. In truth, their criticism boiled down to wanting more, they wrote, “I felt like it just didn’t deliver. I think it just wasn’t good as a limited series. The mystery that was built was too big for the wrap up.” This, somewhat tame criticism of the series has sparked major critiques from other users, though.
“I thought it was hot garbage and didn’t finish it,” one user wrote. “Most of the acting was like watching kids on Nickolodeon (sic) cast in a wannabe psychological thriller.
“Wayward was absolutely horrible from the jump,” another added.
“I couldn’t finish the first episode. What the hell was that lol,” one user added.
Others, however, were ready to make it known that they disagreed with the majority, even noting a bit of a pattern in some of the reactions, writing, “Some ppl genuinely didn’t like it for valid reasons, but there’s lots of bad faith actors skewing the reviews.”
Despite all of these criticisms from viewers, Wayward is still the #1 Netflix TV series globally according to the streamer. Having premiered on September 25, Wayward is #1 in the world on the streaming platform for the second week in a row. According to the most recent data from Netflix, Wayward was watched 14 million times in its second week alone, an increase from its first week by 6 million views. Suffice to say, Netflix fans may not be loving this one, but the streamer’s tabulations can’t tell the difference between a view where you’re loving it and a view where you’re seething.
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm.
