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Created by Shawn Simmons, ‘Wayne’ tells the story of Wayne, a hot-headed teenager who goes on an interstate trip following the death of his father. It was all sparked by my father’s memories of a vintage car he once owned. The car was taken from him several years ago. Determined to bring it back not only as a tribute to his dead father, but also as a way to confirm his will, Wayne sets off with only his motorcycle and backpack, but he is not alone. Joining him is Del, a neighbor he barely knows but is nonetheless drawn to. The feeling is also mutual, as Del sees in him a chance to escape his abusive family, and together they set out on a completely unknown and untrodden path and see it through to the end. There are spoilers.
Wayne Season 1 Plot Summary
‘Wayne’ begins with a glimpse into the life and antics of a teenager who appears to have violent tendencies and a very high tolerance for pain. After sparking a fight with some older boys for no apparent reason, Wayne walks home and finds his landlord furious over the rent and promises to pay it soon. Throughout, he lives with his father, who is on his deathbed after a long battle with cancer, and the toll is evident in Wayne’s daily actions. A break comes into his life after a chance meeting with Del, who sells cookies at his doorstep. His attempts to talk to her fail when he is brutally attacked by her father Bobby. That night, Wayne returns home to find his father looking longingly at a photo of his old Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, the car he claims was taken from him by force.
Wayne’s father took his last breath not long after this discussion, which seemed to spark a spark in Wayne’s heart. After collecting all the cash his father left behind, Wayne burns the entire house along with his father’s ashes and rides off on his bicycle. On the way, he picks up Del too, assaulting her father and siblings on the way out. The goal is to get Wayne to Florida where he can find the car, deal with the person pretending to own it, and get the title back. However, throughout this long journey, he continues to be pursued by two forces: the police, led by Sergeant Geller, and Del’s parents. As the cat-and-mouse chase continues, Wayne and his new friend experience many twists and turns in their dynamic, but each time they form a more personal connection.
While taking a break in the cafeteria, Del is picked up by an angry teacher who assumes he is one of the students wandering outside the school. While waiting for Wayne’s rescue, she befriends some students and is invited to the prom dance. Although embarrassed at first, Wayne eventually dresses up for the event and dances with her, realizing that he has romantic feelings for her. But soon, Wayne was lucky enough to find his father’s car, only to discover that its current owner was his mother’s new partner, Calvin. The car was intended as a gift for Calvin’s son Reggie, and a violent fight breaks out between him and Wayne, leading to the sergeant’s intervention. Wayne ultimately wins the fight, but is too injured and at risk of arrest, so he flees with Del, this time in his father’s car.
Wayne Season 1 Ending: Will Wayne and Dell Reunite? Will he get out of jail?
Season 1 of ‘Wayne’ ends in tragedy as Wayne breaks up with Del and is on the verge of death, but is eventually rescued and thrown in prison. For a moment it seems like he has everything he ever wanted in life, a loving relationship, his father’s prized possession, and the freedom to choose the path he wants, but one car accident takes it all away. On the way to the hospital after their fight with Reggie, Wayne and Del are shot by none other than Bobby, who appears to have been released from the hospital early. Filled with a desire for revenge, Bobby breaks Wayne’s nose and leaves him on the floor, already bleeding profusely from other injuries. In the blink of an eye, he lost everything and everyone he was supposed to hold on to, especially Del.
For a moment, Wayne looked like he was about to bite the dust, but he used the last of his energy to crawl forward a few feet and retrieve Del’s necklace, which was left behind when Del had it taken from him. Soon after, an ambulance arrives, prompting Del to think that he is actually his guardian angel. However, in this case, it is more likely that Sergeant Geller anticipated Wayne’s condition and decided to call an ambulance in advance. This decision helps save Wayne’s life. The next time we see Wayne he’s almost recovered and can walk, but there’s one crucial difference. Instead of being a free young man in Florida, Wayne is now a juvenile prisoner and will likely return to Brockton, Massachusetts.
Due to his reputation, Wayne will probably end up in solitary confinement for a long period of time, as the list of crimes attached to his name is quite long. But he is not necessarily alone in that cell. In the final scene, we learn that he romantically smuggled Del’s necklace by putting it in his mouth. This shows that he has a clear goal when he gets out of prison, and that is to find the love of his life. This was likely intended to be a cliffhanger, but the show’s cancellation leaves the story on an ambiguous note. On its own, this seems like an incredibly bleak end to his journey, but in some ways it also makes sense, as it was only a matter of time before his crimes caught up with him. That means Wayne won’t be in prison forever, which gives him a second chance at life.
Will Wayne get his father’s car back? Where are you going?
The fate of the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am also hangs in the air as Wayne passes out and Del guides him. The fact that we cut to Wayne’s unconscious self and wake up straight back in the hospital is likely a deliberate choice. This allows the writing team to obscure what happens to the car and, if anything, who owns it. Given that the police followed Wayne there, it’s likely they towed the car right after he was taken to the hospital, but it’s unclear from there whether the car was still in the garage or passed on to someone else. Given that Reggie and Calvin are currently in prison, the only suitable person left on the list is Wayne’s mother, Maureen.
The car’s most likely trajectory would put it right back where it was, but there’s a thematic point to it being there. Throughout the show, Wayne’s journey to retrieve his father’s car is not about the car itself, but rather the value it holds. For Wayne Sr., the car symbolized a much happier time in his life, when he wasn’t sick and his family wasn’t descending into dysfunction. In a way, Wayne inherited the same feeling, as he began to associate cars he couldn’t even remember with moments of warmth and joy from his childhood. It reminded him of a time when his mother applied acetone to his skin, and he smiled even wider as it meant he needed to spend more time with his mother.
Over the years, Wayne likely developed a detrimental association with pain and pleasure. This means that the difficulty of getting his car back has a completely different meaning to him. On a symbolic level, it means that he has regained control of his life, and the people in the car stand as antagonists to his life. For that person to ultimately become his mother, the very person he has sought validation from throughout his life, creates a kind of internal contradiction that is resolved as everything happens to Wayne. But if there’s one thing he’s learned from this week’s travels, it’s that there’s no need to chase cars anymore because what he truly cares about are real people, not just ideas.
Where is Dell? What happens to her?
The last we saw of Del was when she was forcibly taken away by her father and brothers, so the logical conclusion is that she is now in her home in Brockton and will no longer be allowed to leave. The prospect of her not even knowing for sure whether Wayne is dead or alive is bound to be distressing, but at the moment there seems to be no escape. Del learned a lot from his time with Wayne, but his rebellious plan only worked as long as it didn’t scare the other guy. But Bobby appears to have already been through his fair share of run-ins and knows what’s in store, when and how to deal with it. Unless Dell’s arc changes direction completely in this short amount of time, we don’t really know what’s going to happen to her.
It may be difficult for Del to escape the clutches of his abusive father on his own, but he can count on the help of Sergeant Geller, who already has some idea of what Del is going through. He is initially tasked with bringing the children back, but over time he begins to form an understanding with them. A big part of that is because Geller understands exactly why Wayne and Del ran away in the first place, and who they are trying to escape from. We already know what he’s capable of in terms of physical strength, but whether or not Geller helps Del escape her father’s control is ultimately a decision she must make.
The penultimate episode of the season reveals that Del and Wayne’s relationship didn’t necessarily start with a chance meeting on Wayne’s front door. Rather, Wayne once fought a group of local bullies to retrieve a video recording of Del’s mother struggling after being high on drugs. Even though he didn’t know Del or her mother at that point, the fact that he went all in on helping her creates a powerful through line. This may be symbolically repeated when he leaves prison and sets out to save Del, but as always, it’s ultimately a team effort.
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