Chapter Text
The Love Triangle:
When I first watched the show, I was neither Team Tyler, Xavier, Enid, or whatever have you. I was Team Wednesday. I wanted Wednesday to be single and focus on herself. There are not a lot of female led shows directed towards teenagers were the female protagonist doesn't have a love interest. I think that needs to change, and Wednesday Addams is the character to do that. I'm with Jenna Ortega; Wednesday would never be in a love triangle, and if she were, it wouldn't be as poorly executed as it was done on the show. I'm not entirely against love triangles, but if it's going to be done, let it be done right.
From the first episode I knew Tyler was the monster. It held a strong resemblance to Hunter Doohan's facial features - particularly the eyes and facial shape - and Tyler overall was just too nice. His very first meeting with Wednesday wasn't exactly love at first sight, and on his part at least, there was no reason for him to take a romantic interest in her. She was rude, bossy, and completely out of touch. Why would he leave his job to drive her two hours (there and back) to the train station for a measly $40? Assuming he makes minimum wage, which in Vermont is $11.75 as of 2021, within that eight hour shift he would have made twice as much as Wednesday's $40. The average price of gas is $3.81 so he would actually have lost money if he were to leave his shift early to take her to the train station. Even if he completed his full eight hours, he still wouldn't break even.
With all that in mind, it shouldn't leave him with a good enough impression of her to develop a crush. Yeah, she knows Italian and can use a screwdriver to tighten a couple bolts on an out of control coffee machine. Yeah, she's the cool girl for defending herself against three boys. Yeah, she's tough for not backing down against his father. Yeah, there's the mystery about why their dads have beef, but she's still rude and unpleasant. As for him, all he did to "impress" her was say he couldn't be bought and steal her father's file from his father. None of that is enough to convince the audience that these two have any chemistry. They never have any deep conversations about themselves, they never build trust, and they never establish a relationship outside of Tyler's gaslighting and occasional quips that Wednesday has slight interest in.
As for Enid, they work better as friends. I see them with a more sisterly bond than a romantic one and I hope it stays that way. Female friends in media are often portrayed as catty and mean and always in competition with one another. Enid and Wednesday don't have that. Sure, they have their problems, but for the most part they have a healthy, supportive friendship and it's refreshing to see.
Now with Xavier, there is definitely something there. Their first meeting at the funeral at 10 is a direct reference towards the Addams Family (1991) movie when Gomez and Morticia talk about how they met at the funeral. It's also very on brand of Wednesday to develop a crush on a boy who was brave enough to climb into a casket with the corpse of his dead godmother. They also have this "I save you/you save me" thing going on which just screams potential.
Along with that, personality wise they are a good match. They are both chaotic personalities who feel things deeper than others. Wednesday isn't the most emotional person, but when she does feel something, it's usually felt deeply. She cares deeply for the people she deems tolerable and has a deep sense of justice for those who have been wronged. Xavier wears his heart on his sleeve and never hides how he feels. He never explicitly tells Wednesday he likes her, but he also never denies it. He really does not care what other people think about his crush and he seems to genuinely like her for her. He's also snarky and sarcastic, able to keep up with her banter and doesn't take offense to some of the stupid shit that comes out of her mouth (unless of course said stupid shit is a direct violation of his trust and personal space). He doesn't let her get away with walking all over his feelings and invading his privacy and is always calling her out on her bullshit, which is exactly what she needs. She acts completely unhinged and like she's better than everyone, and she needs someone to reel her back in and bring her back to reality. And despite knowing all the bad things about Wednesday, Xavier still keeps coming back for more. He forgives her and clearly sees something in her that's redeemable. That's exactly what love is. It's seeing the worst in someone but loving them anyway.
We don't see Tyler doing any of that. Sure, he makes a few comments here and there when she deserves it, but he still doesn't actually know her. Xavier sees her every day at school. Just by seeing her in class and watching her interactions with others and even in the Poe Cup, he knows more about her than Tyler does and vice versa. Wednesday knows more about Xavier than she does Tyler because she's spent more time with Xavier, albeit because she thinks he's the Hyde, but still. She knows he's competitive, an artist, kind of a loner, has a bad relationship with his father, goes to therapy, and has nightmarish visions. What exactly does she know about Tyler? He's a barista and also has a chip on his shoulder? Does she know what he does in his free time? She knows he's court ordered to attend therapy, but never bothered to ask why yet we're supposed to believe she liked him? How can they be in a relationship if she doesn't even know if they have compatible interests? It just felt very sloppy and disheartening to see her "falling" for a boy she really knows nothing about.
The Hyde aside, Tyler seems too nice. Sure he can be sarcastic and clearly has issues, but overall he's a nice boy with a pretty smile and he's someone who definitely will not fit in with the Addams Family long term. I think anyone can get along with the Addamses because that's just who they are, but not in a familial way. Tyler doesn't challenge Wednesday like Xavier does. She would get bored of him and eventually discard him when she was done playing with him. Tyler never truly saw her the same way Xavier did.
All Canon Love Interests:
Wednesday does have two other love interests: Joel Glicker and Lucas Beineke. Obviously Joel is the fan favorite all around because of how adorable they were in The Addams Family Values (1993) BUT I still think Xavier is the most practical out of all the love interests.
Joel is nerdy, weird, goes against the grain, and immediately became head over heels in love the first moment he laid eyes on Wednesday. He seemed like the perfect match at first, but if you look closely at their relationship, he is nothing more than a first love. Joel wants to be the Gomez to Wednesday's Morticia, but that's just not who Wednesday is. In all adaptations of Wednesday's character, it's clear that she will never be like her mother. She has similarities and shares things in common with her mother, but she's not her mother and will never be like her mother - this includes who she chooses as a partner. Wednesday is a deeply passionate character (conventionally so or not doesn't matter) and I have no doubt whoever she chooses as a partner she will love them until her dying breath. She is loyal, protective, and obsessive. However, like Tyler, she will get bored of Joel over time because he doesn't challenge her. Joel is a follower - not a leader. Wednesday is a leader so she doesn't mind having a follower - as a friend. Joel was willing to give up his identity to become the Gomez to her Morticia, even going so far as to change his appearance to look like a mini Gomez. In his words: "what if you met the right man, who worshipped and adored you? Who'd do anything for you? Who'd be your devoted slave?" Wednesday doesn't need a slave. She needs a man (or woman) who will worship and adore her, but remain his own person while doing so. That's the secret sauce that makes Gomez and Morticia work so well. They are both different people with similar values who are absolutely devoted to each other while still being their own person. What Joel described is toxic and does not make a long lasting, fulfilling relationship.
While on the other side, we have Lucas Beineke from the Addams Family Musical who Wednesday changed for. She didn't change her entire personality, but she was far from the sadistic psychopath we all know and love. She normalized herself to make their relationship work and that's just not great. In relationships, there should be compromise, yet there doesn't seem to be much compromise on his part. It seems like Wednesday was the one who made changes. She wore yellow for him for God's sake! And all he did was blindfold himself and let her shoot an arrow at an apple on his head to show he trusted her? Ugh. Honestly Tyler seems more like a better match than Lucas.
With all that said, I believe Xavier to be the perfect balance between the two canonical love interests. Like Joel, Xavier is passionate and capable of giving Wednesday that devotional kind of love, and like Lucas he does bring forth positive changes in Wednesday by forcing her to realize she does need to consider other's feelings. Unlike Joel and Lucas, Xavier is his own person and has the right amount of bite to put up with Wednesday and keep her on her toes.
Percy Hynes White:
I was already Team Xavier before the actor's allegations, but after seeing Percy literally become Xavier by being falsely accused and "imprisoned", it made me become more defensive of the character.
I don't follow celebrity gossip and I really only follow the actors on Instagram to get ideas for their characters personality's while writing these stories. Of course, when hearing my favorite character's actor is being accused of sexual assault, I started to do my research. Since January, I have tried to keep up with developments of the allegations against him because I would never want to support someone was was actually guilty. However, the more I learned, the more it became apparent that Percy Hynes White was a victim of a hate campaign. It's been eight months and still no legal action has been taken against him despite the accusers saying they have consulted attorneys and have mountains of evidence. If he's so guilty, why is nothing being done? Twitter hate and cancel culture is not actual justice. It boggles my mind that there are people out there who still believe this crap!
Before the allegations, Xavier seemed to have a decent following. Wavier fanfiction was thriving and the amount of people reading it were coming in droves. Now the Wavier fandom is half of what it used to be. I've seen people who used to love the character all of a sudden start projecting their own unjust hatred towards Percy onto Xavier, which is odd because they are not the same person. It seems like everything Percy has been accused of is all of a sudden tied to Xavier's character.
Like his character, Percy was accused of heinous crimes by four women (two of whom don't even know him) with zero proof, and the whole world ran with it. There was no proof, no investigation, no trial, and zero common sense was used before everyone put Percy in his own prison and forcing him to go into hiding. Sounds a lot like what Wednesday did to Xavier, right? She literally had no concrete proof Xavier was the monster and yet she just ran wild on her own witch hunt to pin everything on him and ruin his life. Yes, the charges may be dropped for Xavier, but his father is a very wealthy, famous man. You think the whole debacle didn't end up on the news? If season two doesn't touch on the aftermath on how Wednesday royally fucked up, then that will be a disservice to Xavier.
It's awful watching Percy become his character and for what? Because there were hurt feelings and jealousy from the accusers and insecurities within the fandom? The cancel Percy movement turned fiction into reality, which turned me into a diehard Xavier Thorpe and Percy Hynes White supporter. It's not right that people can ruin someone's life without any substantial evidence and treat the situation like it's some kind of joke. Calling for someone's arrest and sending death threats is not justice. Both Xavier and Percy were victims of people with their heads up their asses and they deserve to be defended. If you don't like the character or the actor, that's fine. But don't try to ruin their life or eliminate the character by making shit up to fit your narrative for petty reasons so Wenclair can happen or because you don't want to see Jenna Ortega with Percy. That kind of logic is fucked up and delusional.
Not only that, but I am an avid advocate for men's mental health. Being a feminist doesn't mean only women's rights matter. It also means understanding that the world is equally fucked up towards men and women. The patriarchy wants us to believe that men don't have feelings too, that feelings are a woman's business. That's not true at all! Men's mental health matters and men can be victims as much as any woman can. Xavier and Percy are both victims and deserve to have someone in their corner defending them. I unfortunately personally know two men who have been accused of rape by a woman who was cheating on both of them and cried rape to avoid the consequences of her actions. Thankfully both men had receipts and evidence that any and all sexual contact was consensual and eventually the woman came out and admitted to lying. After seeing firsthand how harmful these accusations can be and how they leave a lasting impact on the innocently accused, I cannot in good conscience stand by and watch it happen again.
At the end of the day, Xavier Thorpe is just a character and it will never be that serious. I would never argue with someone if Xavier just isn't their cup of tea. I didn't particularly like Weems that much, but I won't berate someone if she's their favorite character. But I will defend the character and the actor when the argument becomes tied to something as utterly appalling and heinous as an unjustified hate campaign to fit your own delusional narrative.
I hope Percy comes back for season two because after all the method acting he was forced to endure, he will for sure act the hell out of his character.