Wednesday, Wenclair and the Unneeded Love Triangle

[Winter]

Last year I posted my thoughts on The Owl House being the most open LGBT show in Disney and during that post I had mentioned that part of the reason opening the doors to LGBT inclusion in storytelling was a good thing was because it opened doors for writers where characters with good chemistry can be together romantically or if the character doesn't work with anyone then just have them be Asexual.

Sadly this not everyone has taken the opportunity to do so as shown in Wednesday. As mentioned in my other post about Wednesday I think the show is great but it did have its flaws with the most notable being the forced, unwanted and unneeded love triangle between the title character and two rather bland characters. Everyone from fans to critics and even some of the cast all seem to see Tyler and Xavier as bland and uninteresting characters who add little to nothing to the show and seem to be there more to have a love triangle because this is a teen show and it's suppose to have a love triangle.

It doesn't help that Tyler and Xavier are kinda terrible the more time you spend with them with both acting as if Wednesday owes them something because of their attraction to her. Xavier is arguably the worst of the two because for all of Tyler's faults he at least has a reason to act the way he does (it's a terrible reason but still a reason) and we're meant to see him as unlikable in the end but Xavier.

To quote TV Tropes "The audience is clearly supposed to sympathies with Xavier and see him as a Love Martyr for Wednesday. Many fans and critics, however, found his behavior towards Wednesday creepy and entitled, as he ignored her numerous statements that she wasn't interested in him, and often followed her around for little reason. Some have also argued that his arrest was more his fault than Wednesday's, considering he often hid important information about his visions for no real reason."

Having a character turn villain is one thing as we're meant to see them as a villain but Xavier is just awful as he's just badly written. Even his actor, Percy Hynes White, doesn't seem to like him and would rather Wednesday end up with Enid.

And thus we come to the second half of this post Wenclair. Now at the time of this writing Wenclair is the most popular pairing in the fandom of the show AND all of Addams family. To show how popular it is the videos of Wednesday kissing Tyler and her love interesting in the second film (I think his name is Paul?) having around 300K views while the scene where Wednesday hugs Enid has over 1 Million Views and CLIMBING!!!

Now personally I'm not sure if I ship Wednesday with Enid in a romantic sense as I like their friendship but there's no doubt that the two's relationship is Vastly Superior to the LT BS thanks to the pairs chemistry and the way they actually improve one another. A relationship, regardless if it is romantic or not, must be included to help flesh out characters. A relationship cannot exist Just to for the sake of existing. The Last of Us works because of the father/daughter relationship between Joel and Ellie and as that relationship develops it helps to better flesh out the characters. She-Ra works because of the complex relationship between Catra and Adora as the two struggle to realize the depth of their own feelings and each others.

Wednesday is at it's best when it focuses on the relationship between Wednesday and End, on how they change each other and how that effects the plot moving forward. Enid is able to transform into her werewolf form to try and save Wednesday and Wednesday works to better herself when she sees how her usual behavior hurts those she's grown close to.

This is why the LT doesn't work. It doesn't change Wednesday and adds nothing to the plot outside of one twist and even that is rather lame when compared to a similar plot point that has more impact partly due to the actor playing the character and the depth of the betrayal.

Xavier and Tyler are part of an old method of thinking that frankly is just lazy writing which is really annoying in an otherwise great show. If you removed these two almost nothing would change and regardless if Wednesday and Enid ended up together romantically the simple fact is they have one of the more interesting arcs in the show.

When Critics and fans agree that the intended romance is week and the intended friendship feels more romantic and the more engaging relationship that means something and hopefully season 2 will just put Xavier and Ajax on the bus and just focus on Wednesday and Enid's relationship, regardless if it becomes romantic or not.

[hammerofglass]

I still want to know who thought "let's put this character the audience is supposed to think is straight in a lesbian flag sweater for half her screentime" was a good idea.

[Winter]

I still want to know who thought "let's put this character the audience is supposed to think is straight in a lesbian flag sweater for half her screentime" was a good idea.

Well in all fairness it's not really a Lesbian Flag Sweater, the colors aren't exactly right. I'm more curious who made the WesneGay Poster and why Neflix (which is generally a LGBT Friendly company) hid Wenclair tweets. I do find it funny how most of the cast seems to ship Wenclair with even White saying he thinks Wednesday should hook up with Enid.

[clearspira]

Wednesday works better as an asexual character. The 90s version didn't give a shit about boys, girls, romance or anything in-between. And she was glorious for it.

[Thebestoftherest]

Wednesday works better as an asexual character. The 90s version didn't give a shit about boys, girls, romance or anything in-between. And she was glorious for it.

Agree with you there. I think having her be annoyed with the whole world would be fun.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Not sure if this is topic specific thread but I really like this series/season. It’s a pretty engaging story and she’s funny.

[McAvoy]

Wednesday works better as an asexual character. The 90s version didn't give a shit about boys, girls, romance or anything in-between. And she was glorious for it.

She was supposed to be ten or that was the age of Ricci then. Age 10 not every girl is going to be liking boys (or girls).

People seem to think Ricci Wednesday and the new one are one and the same. No they are not. One is a teenager and the other is barely a pre-teen. There is a huge difference between someone who is 10 and what they become at age let's say 16-17.

My own opinion I could have dealt without the love triangle myself. Maybe keep what Wednesday really is a mystery. Straight, lesbian, bi, asexual or whatever would be left up to the imagination and opinion of the viewer.

[hammerofglass]

If they hadn't had the kiss at the end there'd be a decent reading that the "love triangle" only existed in the boys' heads (and whatever Thing thinks with) and Wednesday had zero romantic interest in either one. For instance I still have no idea what Tyler was talking about when he claimed she was sending "mixed signals", I thought that was the joke originally.

[McAvoy]

If they hadn't had the kiss at the end there'd be a decent reading that the "love triangle" only existed in the boys' heads (and whatever Thing thinks with) and Wednesday had zero romantic interest in either one. For instance I still have no idea what Tyler was talking about when he claimed she was sending "mixed signals", I thought that was the joke originally.

That could be taken as a few different ways with what Tyler said. Basically taking in face value that Tyler was misreading those signals completely even if he thought they were mixed. Or he was just saying that keep up the charade to keep her close.

There was no chemistry between the two of them so it did feel odd towards the end the series tried to make it seem like they were trying to date. Before the Big Reveal, it just felt forced and made more sense after the Big Reveal.

[clearspira]

Wednesday works better as an asexual character. The 90s version didn't give a shit about boys, girls, romance or anything in-between. And she was glorious for it.

She was supposed to be ten or that was the age of Ricci then. Age 10 not every girl is going to be liking boys (or girls).

People seem to think Ricci Wednesday and the new one are one and the same. No they are not. One is a teenager and the other is barely a pre-teen. There is a huge difference between someone who is 10 and what they become at age let's say 16-17.

My own opinion I could have dealt without the love triangle myself. Maybe keep what Wednesday really is a mystery. Straight, lesbian, bi, asexual or whatever would be left up to the imagination and opinion of the viewer.

I get your point about age and it is an important one. But at the same time, there are so few assexual characters in media. It really is the final taboo because assexuality is something that hetero, homo and bi alike seem to misunderstand or refuses to acknowledge. I know that may sound weird coming from me, but even I can see that assexual-representation is NOT a thing.

I seem to be in the minority on this because the show has made serious bank, but Ricci!Wedensday will always be superior to me.

Less is more. That would be my review.