Summary
Wednesday Season 2 goes off-campus in Episode 3, with the title character using a camping trip as an excuse to continue her investigation.
Allow me to start with something I neglected to mention in the previous episode, since it becomes important here in Episode 3, “Call of the Woe”. It was only a matter of time before Season 2 of Wednesday found a way to rope in Wednesday’s Grandmama, Hester Frump, and that setup actually began when Dort told Bianca to use the siren’s song on Morticia to compel her to contact her mother. Since she’s Nevermore’s biggest donor, she’s a key part of his plans to raise funds for the school, and since Morticia and Hester are estranged, Bianca’s powers of persuasion were integral to making it happen.
Thus, “Call of the Woe” opens with Morticia reeling from the sudden impulse of calling her mother and asking her to be the guest of honor. She also feels bad for forgetting Thing’s birthday, but it’s kind of excusable given everything going on with Wednesday. Speaking of which, she tries to steal Goody’s spell book back, only to realize that her mother is one step ahead of her. In an uncharacteristically open plea, Wednesday tells Morticia about her vision of the one-eyed crow and Enid’s potential death, explaining that she needs the book back to rejuvenate her powers to stop the killer before they get to Enid. This is only confirmation for Morticia, though, that Wednesday isn’t ready to have Goody’s book back. She’s willing to risk the resentment in order to protect Wednesday, in precisely the way that Hester should have protected Morticia’s sister, Ophelia.
Because of this, Wednesday is forced to do her investigating the old-fashioned way. Galpin’s funeral is attended by only her, Sheriff Santiago, and Dr. Fairburn, who tells Wednesday that Galpin once visited Tyler at Willow Hill, prompting him to enter a crazy rage and try to kill his father. Whatever Galpin was up to, Tyler didn’t know about it. Wednesday unlocks Galpin’s phone with the help of Agnes’s shapeshifting friend, another member of Wednesday’s fan club, and a voice message reveals the location of a hidden cabin in the woods close to where Nevermore students will be pitching up on their now-annual camping trip.
Like the Founder’s Pyre in the premiere and Prank Day in the previous episode, this camping trip is the central event that defines the episode. Wednesday is initially reluctant to go, but when she realizes she can use it as a pretense to continue her investigation, she reconsiders. Morticia, Gomez, and Lurch all come along, and Pugsley smuggles in Slurp, who seems to be healing and regrowing a brain after his encounter with Enid’s driving instructor. Pugsley sets up an early warning system outside his tent, but if you’re thinking it probably won’t be enough to prevent carnage from ensuing, you’d be right.
Speaking of carnage, Wednesday Season 2, Episode 3 spends a good chunk of its camp runtime on a game of capture the flag between the Nevermore students and the Phoenix cadets, led by Ron Kruger, who booked the camp for the same period as Dort. The winners get to stay and, naturally, Wednesday leads the team to victory. But Kruger isn’t the type to take defeat lying down and plans to recapture Camp Jericho that night during the festivities.
For Wednesday, there aren’t any festivities, since she and Thing go to investigate Galpin’s cabin. Behind the mirror, they find a bunch of obituaries for former Willow Hill patients, including suggestions that someone named Lois may be the next victim. To get any further, though, Wednesday needs her powers back, so she challenges Morticia to a bling duel to determine whether she gets to reclaim Goody’s spellbook.
The duel takes place while a bunch of other things are also happening. Enid officially breaks up with Ajax, Kruger triggers the early warning system set up by Pugsley to protect Slurp and gets his brain eaten for his trouble, and Wednesday loses the duel. It’s an uncharacteristically bleak ending, with the existence of Slurp becoming public knowledge, and Wednesday now totally at a loss about how to proceed. If nothing else, she knows there’s a connection to Willow Hill, where we see that Marilyn has just been transferred as a patient.
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