Tall Pines is, on the face of it, the perfect progressive community. When Alex Dempsey (Mae Martin), a trans cop, moves to remote Vermont with his pregnant wife Laura (Sarah Gadon), nobody bats an eyelid. More than that, his new partner from the local police department quickly assures him, correctly as it turns out, that he’ll be actively accepted and treated just like one of “the guys”. There’s a farmer’s market where locals sell their homemade chutneys, group outdoor yoga sessions, and a care package waiting when they move into the idyllic (and mysteriously rent-free) clapboard house in which they’ll start their new life. Alex’s gender identity is not a problem. Nothing, it seems, is a problem. So why does everything feel… off?
Netflix’s new eight-part thriller Wayward was also created and written by Martin, best known for their stand-up career and semi-autobiographical offbeat romcom Feel Good. Their comedic chops prove a real boon here; tonally, Wayward benefits from a sense of surreal, dark humour and bouncy pacing to offset all that cultish creepiness underpinning the narrative.
