Wayward Episode 5 and 6 Recap: Who Conquers Mount Otis?

‘Wayward,’ a Netflix mystery drama, centers on individuals connected to the Tall Pines Academy, a specialized school for troubled teenagers. The plot unfolds as new cop Alex Dempsey becomes intrigued by the academy’s secrets after encountering a boy attempting to flee the institution. The series delves into ideas of secrecy, teenage fragility, deception, and friendship. The previous episode ended with Stacey being part of the Leap therapy, which seemingly liberated her from all the pain and guilt that she had been experiencing.

Laura and Alex argue about the secrets of the town, and the fact that it has no naturally born local kids. Laura tells her partner that their kid will be the first one to be born in the town. Abbie finds out about Riley’s death from Alex, and Leila is asked to confront her feelings about her sister’s death. Alex finds Laura disoriented and in a trance-like scenario wherein she opens and shuts the door latch repeatedly. This leads to “Build” and “Mirror,” the fifth and sixth episodes of the season. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Hot Seat Leads to a Shocking Revelation

The students wake up to Evelyn’s voice on the public microphone. Daniel is summoned to Evelyn’s office, who tells him that he will be remaining in the school due to his parents’ travel plans. The head of the school asks Rabbit to handle the hot seat session herself. Stacey seems to have changed her behavior after the Leap therapy, which Abbie and Leila notice. Abbie tells her friend about Riley’s death and that Rory wants to come with them when they attempt to escape the facility. Alex continues to investigate the cases of the missing people, and his partner tells him that something is happening to her. Alex asks her if the Leap therapy was done to her in the past by Evelyn, and that the head of the school has some kind of hold on her.

Laura plans to have a baby shower and invite the members of the community to the same. The hot seat takes place without Evelyn’s supervision, and the students start insulting each other again. Rabbit publicly tells Abbie that Leila was found with a stash of cocaine, which shocks her. Alex goes to a restaurant to meet a blogger called Maurice, whose articles on the Tall Pines Academy he found online. He pretends to be a journalist working for the Boston Herald. The hot seat continues with chaos, and the insults keep coming at Leila, who gets overwhelmed. Leila tells everyone that Riley is dead, and the students angrily confront Rabbit. The shocking news leads to extreme chaos, and the students begin to attack Rabbit.

The Students Rebel Against Authority

Stacey becomes hysterical seeing her favorite staff member getting attacked and asks the students to remain calm. Rory pricks Rabbit with an injection, and Stacey is pricked as well. The students seemingly start a rebellion, hoping to get out of the institution. They start attacking other staff members and even steal a key. The staff members lock them inside the school, but the students remain determined to resist the authority. Maurice tells Alex that Hannah, his daughter, was also a student of the academy and went missing. The students form a team and spot Evelyn walking towards the school. Leila attempts to reason with the head of the school and tries to convince her to let her and Abbie go. Evelyn tells Duck and the other staff not to worry and that the students will open the door themselves.

Maurice takes Alex to his cabin in the woods and asks to see his phone and bag. The blogger hands the cop files from the past related to the school. Abbie accuses Leila of ruining their plan to escape and getting the other students involved. The staff turns off the power to the building, and Abbie finds a secret room, where all the students’ files are kept. Maurice also talks about the disappearance of his daughter and says that the graduates of the school are not sane. Laura spots a toad in her backyard and then takes it inside the house, killing it brutally by grinding it. The rebel students find CDs in the school and start playing music loudly, even dancing. During the dance, Ello and Leila grow closer and kiss each other passionately.

Ello’s Actions Lead to Evelyn’s Victory

Maurice tells the cop that the school’s land is owned by a shell company called Ponderosa, formed in the 1970s. Alex spots an old photo of Laura at the house, and Maurice tells him that the girl’s parents went missing about fifteen years ago, which shocks the cop. Maurice senses that Alex isn’t a reporter when he spots a gun on him, and tases him from behind. He falsely concludes that Alex belongs to the institution. Leila and Ello go to Evelyn’s office to get intimate and take out drugs from Ello’s bag. Abbie tells Rory that he can come with her and Leila when they escape, which makes him emotional. Ello and Leila take drugs, and the other students begin to burn stuff randomly. Daniel takes Rabbit and Stacey hostage and aggressively questions the staff member about her behavior in the past.

Daniel then pours kerosene on her to possibly burn her to death. Meanwhile, Alex is able to temporarily neutralize the blogger by pushing him away. The police officer looks to escape, but Maurice intervenes again. Alex punches the blogger repeatedly and makes an escape. The students are shocked when Leila screams for help after Ello overdoses on the drugs. This forces them to open the doors to the staff members, who take control of the situation. Evelyn enters the school and sarcastically looks at Leila, insulting her for her failure to break out of the school. Alex returns home, where Laura’s baby shower takes place in the presence of community members.

When Evelyn visits, Laura talks to her about the things that she did to her during the Leap therapy, and says that she was drugged as a teenager, and shuts the door on Evelyn. Rabbit apologizes to Evelyn for letting the situation go out of control, but the head of the institution scolds her for failing to control the students. Laura addresses the guests at her home and says that Alex helped her stay inspired in life. After the baby shower, Laura seduces Alex and enjoys taking control over his intimacy moves.

Multiple Perspectives Trouble Leila in the Mirror Room

Leila is taken to the mirror room again by Evelyn, where she is made to confront her past, especially her relationship with her sister Jess. As she thinks about the past, she begins to recollect incidents in different ways. One perspective appears to be happy, where Leila’s mother is friendly and loving, whereas the other perspective appears to portray her mother as a strict and rude parent. Leila gets a job in the past, but her mother seems to enjoy her sister Jess’s company more. Leila goes out to a party with her sister and her friends, who take her to a Greek restaurant where Leila works. While Leila is locked up in the mirror room, the other offending rebel students are taken into the woods in a bus, blindfolded as a means of punishment. Their blindfolds are taken off, and Duck orders them to complete a mission.

Duck hands over a pack of vital supplies to each of them and also hands a map to each of them. The staff member tells them that their mission is to make it to the top of Mount Otis, and that whoever makes it to the destination first and rings the bell gets the opportunity to leave the academy forever. In the memory from the past, Leila and Jess are joined by other friends at the party, wherein Jess hands her sister a stash of ecstasy to distribute. Abbie and Rory team up during the mission, and Alexandra forcibly takes away Abbie’s water supply. In the past, Leila flirted with Ashley, Jess’s best friend. During the memory, Evelyn keeps intervening, demanding that Leila arrive at the truth and not alter her memories. Abbie and Rory walk further in the Mount Otis mission and are joined by Daniel, as they spend the night near a cave, setting up a bonfire.

The Journey to Mount Otis

Daniel reveals that he is experienced in hiking because he was trained in the past. In Leila’s memory, the party continues, but gets suddenly interrupted by the owner of the Greek restaurant. The party people head to escape and disperse, leaving Leila and Jess by themselves. On the road, Jess gives her sister a bottle of liquor she stole earlier, and then the two of them break into a public pool. Rory and Abbie wake up in the morning and see that Daniel has left. They are joined by Marty, and then spot Alexandra, who begs them for help, as she is injured. Abbie refuses to help Alexandra and convinces Rory to ignore her as well. The group leaves the injured girl by herself and heads towards Mount Otis. Leila and Jess talk by the pool, where the former playfully pushes her sister into the water.

Jess screams for help as she appears to drown, but Leila isn’t able to save her on time, despite trying to. Evelyn says that this memory is false and demands that Leila remember it again. In the woods, Stacey confronts Daniel in an isolated location and blames him for hurting Rabbit. She also accuses him of living without rules and gets closer to him. When Daniel asks Stacey to leave, she stabs him violently with a piece of wood, killing him instantly. Rabbit arrives at the spot and comforts her favourite student. Leila remembers again, and in this version, she stands by the pool, willingly letting her sister die. Abbie, Rory, and Marty almost reach the top, and Rory accuses the girl of being selfish. As they argue, they see that Marty has ditched them, and Rory gets tired. Marty is able to win the mission and grab the bell, as Rory, Abbie, and the others show disappointment.

Laura’s Mysterious Past Haunts Alex

Duck gives Marty permission to leave the place and go where he wills, but Marty realizes that he can’t make it anywhere on his own and comes back to the bus, which is supposed to take all of the participants back. Duck lies to the students that Daniel has run away, and the bus heads back. Leila confronts the memory of her sister’s death again and says that she deliberately pushed her into the pool to kill her because her mother always loved Jess more. Evelyn hugs Leila and comforts her, telling her that her guilt can be healed. Alex investigates the case of the academy and finds an article online that talks about a self-help group, wherein a murder took place in the 1970s. Dwayne finds out about Alex’s role in the death of the blogger Maurice and takes away his gun.

This indicates that Dwayne deliberately killed Maurice and pinned the death on Alex. He tells Alex that he will take care of the case and that the town is very forgiving. Alex heads back home in a rush and tells Laura that they have to move out of the town immediately. Laura shows him that the house is bugged and deliberately speaks against his wishes, saying that they should stay. Alex tells his partner that her parents came back for her in the past, but were possibly killed by the academy before they could reach her. Laura tells Alex that she will not let anything happen to the baby. She later goes out to the pond again and dives in, and spots a car at the bottom, indicating that it could be her parents’ car from the past.