Wayward Ending Explained: What Happens to Evelyn and Laura? Do Abbie and Leila Escape Tall Pines?

Wayward Ending Explained: When Alex and his pregnant wife arrive at Tall Pines, he starts to smell something fishy happening in the small town. As more and more red flags pop up, he is left speechless when he realises that his entire life has been a lie.

The series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 50 minutes.

Wayward Ending Explained

The episode opens with troubled teen Leila being told that she will be sent to a troubled teen home if she can’t get her act together, while newly arrived local cop Alex Dempsey and his partner run into an escaped student on the road, whose bloody clothes and bare feet make him suspicious of Tall Pines Academy, a school for troubled teens.

Fixating on the runaway teen, Alex is concerned and asks Laura, who was a part of the academy, about the conditions of the school. Although she is all about how it saved her life, it’s clear that there is something that Laura is not divulging. They later find a basement under their new house that looks absolutely ominous, and it scares Laura thoroughly.

The next day, Alex meets the mysterious Evelyn, and it’s clear that she’s an enigma in their small town, and her presence enamours everyone. That night, after Abbie and Leila have another adventure against her parents’ wishes, they have her kidnapped to Tall Pines Academy, much to her dismay and confusion. Meanwhile, Alex finds Riley in his home, and although it starts out well, Laura’s presence triggers him to fight with Alex, ending in him getting stabbed.

Things go haywire from there. Evelyn has dinner with Alex and Laura, after which she starts having odd dreams, while Leila, in a bid to break Abbie out, is forced to attend the school as well. In the aftermath, Leila and Abbie go through the motions of the school’s intense and manipulative techniques to control the children under its care, while Alex gets increasingly more paranoid about Tall Pines Academy and suspects that something is amiss.

What was really happening in Tall Pines?

Alex figures out from records and during a farmer’s market chat with a graduate of the academy that there are no children in the town, and all the youngsters were a part of the academy at some point or another. Meanwhile, he also realises that there’s something wrong with Laura and that Evelyn is controlling her every move. Concerned about finding Riley’s notebook, he tells Abbie, whom he met during a visit to the academy, to look for it, and Abbie tells him about a secret “level” called Leap.

Having witnessed the shocking and traumatic events surrounding Leap, Abbie tells Alex that Riley probably ran because he didn’t want to be a part of the ritual. However, in episode 5, Alex meets a man who is trying to find all the kids who go missing from Tall Pines and figure out what’s going on in the school. He tells him about Ponderosa, a shell company that owns the school and from his research, Alex makes a startling discovery – Laura’s parents had come back for her after her admission to Tall Pines, but were never seen again afterwards.

In the aftermath of Maurice’s death, Dwayne threatens to arrest Alex for his murder if he doesn’t abide by Evelyn’s rules, just after he realises that the house they were staying in belonged to a cult which saw a gruesome murder. Alex rushes home to run off with Laura, but she tells him that the house is bugged and they have to be careful. Opting to stay, Laura takes it upon herself to find the truth, and that night, she finds her parents’ car in the pond behind their house.

Who is Evelyn?

As a teenager, Evelyn was swept up by a charismatic cult leader (think Charles Manson) and left home to be with him. Following his ideals, she and others like her decided that they were not going to have children and that they were going to populate Tall Pines with the graduates who went out of the school each year. The ‘Leap’ is one of the cult leader’s methods of opening up about their trauma and leaving the pain behind so that they can live life free of that burden. She’s basically a cult leader who believes in dividing and conquering people for easier manipulation.

Does Leila ‘Leap’?

Evelyn makes sure to make Abbie and Leila fight to drive a wedge in their relationship. Through this, she tries to control Leila to try and keep her in Tall Pines after completing her Leap ceremony. Although the two friends make up in the end, in episode 8, she chooses to stay behind and go through with the Leap to restart her life and forget about her mother and sister.

What happens to Laura?

Hurting from Evelyn’s manipulation but uninterested in leaving Tall Pines, Laura gears up to take over Evelyn’s place, promising to let the community grow without the shackles Evelyn put on them. In the end, she is successful at starting her cult, where she hopes to live in harmony with everyone around her instead of creating division.

What happens in the end?

Alex finds David’s body the same day he realises that Laura is turning into a cult leader; unfortunately, he is knocked unconscious by Dwayne and is taken off to be ‘Leaped’. That afternoon, Laura, too, goes into labour.

Abbie, Leila and Rory, in the meantime, make a run for it from the facility, but Abbie is the only one who can make it out. Meanwhile, Alex is held captive by Evelyn and Rabbit, but before she gives him the drugs, Rabbit intervenes and drugs Evelyn, helping Alex escape. But, before he rushes home to Laura, he injects the drugs into Evelyn a few more times, resulting in her death.

At home, Alex is surprised to see all of Laura’s friends converged around her as she gives birth. He helps her through it, and afterwards, is shocked to see everyone doing skin-to-skin contact with the newborn. He is shocked and confused, but Laura tells him that this baby belongs to everyone. Meanwhile, Abbie, after escaping everyone, finds the car that Alex left for her. She gets up and drives, heartbroken at having lost everyone she loved along the way.

What does the end signify?

In the end, Alex dreams about leaving Tall Pines with his baby and Abbie, hoping for a fresh start somewhere that is not so cult-y. However, he eventually chooses to stay with Laura, signifying his choice of staying in Tall Pines in the end. Meanwhile, we see Evelyn going through the Leap process and in the haze, she comes to realise that there is nothing behind the doors – it’s just an endless stream of doors. So, in the end, there is no way of leaving your sins behind like she had hoped.

What are your thoughts on Wayward? Let us know in the comments below!

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