Wedding Season (Season 1), Review & Ending, Explained: Streaming on Hulu, Wedding Season is a new web series that merges elements from several genres to present its comical romantic core. Rosa Salazar stars as one of its leads, who is known for her performances in ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ and ‘Undone.’ Along with her, impeccable acting chemistry is built by Gavin Drea, throughout all of its genre explorations. Developed by Oliver Lyttelton, the series consists of 8 episodes directed by George Kane. The series goes beyond being just a quirky romance with a blend of genres and becomes an evocative & layered contemplation on weddings and relationships in general, told in a non-linear fashion.
Wedding Season (Season 1) Recap
A young doctor named Stefan (Gavin Drea) crashes the wedding of Katie McConnell (Rosa Salazar) and proposes to her to marry him instead of her would-be husband, Hugo Delaney (George Webster). She denies his request stating his one-sided interest in doing so. With such an intentionally quirky scene, the series opens up to the viewers and presents its two characters in pivotal situations in their lives. We get a tonal understanding of its narration, from its dialogues that are written in a ripe British humor style to its blocking that pokes fun at grand romantic gestures. The next thing we see is Stefan getting interrogated by two police officers about Katie. She has gone missing on her wedding night after 8 of the Delaney family members get poisoned at the ceremony.
The timeline shifts to about three months before Katie’s wedding, where we meet Stefan’s girlfriend at the time, Vanessa, and his gang of best friends – Anil (Bhav Joshi), Leila (Callie Cooke), Suji (Ioanna Kimbrook), and Jackson (Omar Baroud). They go for a wedding where the romantic vows shared by the married couple make Stefan emotional, and being a hopeless romantic; he decides to propose to Vanessa – which fails terribly. Later, he accidentally bumps into Katie and falls in love with her at first sight, where their romantic affair begins. Currently, he gets threatened by the police officers Metts (Jade Harrison) and Donahue (Jamie Michie) that he will lose his medical license if he doesn’t cooperate and share more information about her. Later, in a frenzy of a car crashing into the police headquarters, he meets Katie, who convinces him to run away with her.
Stefan and Katie head to a village north of Edinburgh, where she hopes to be helped by Uncle Fred Delaney. On their way, they manage to fool a local cop, but Stefan makes a silly mistake that helps Metts & Donahue track their location. They eventually reach Uncle Fred’s villa, but unlike Katie, who considers him to be just a sweet, older man, Stefan grows suspicious of his involvement in the murders. Later, when they decide to run away, several people in pest control vans arrive with guns at the house. In the flashbacks, we see the gang of friends going to a wedding, where he again comes across Katie. Since her would-be father-in-law is suspicious of her origins, she asks him to pose as her school friend. Later, she confesses to not having a wealthy background and growing up in a small fishing family. While he finds that endearing, he proposes to her to sign a prenup for the safety of his family’s wealth.
After escaping Uncle Fred’s place, Stefan and Katie decide to run away by boat. Their conversations make it apparent how frustrated he is with her lack of transparency. She gets attacked by a bunch of people when Stefan’s not there, and getting a hint of that; he manages to help her escape. At the villa, Metts & Donahue find Fred shot dead. While Donahue does not feel that Katie would have shot him, Metts thinks otherwise. The couple-on-the-run share a moment of connection over time. But when Stefan decides to contact his friends, he gets pulled back with a gun on his head. They get kidnapped by Katie’s ex-husband, Conrad (Richard Gadd). In the flashbacks, we witness events from two and half months before, where Stefan comes for the wedding, knowing that Katie will be there. She shows no interest in engaging with him in any interaction. After a series of awkward exchanges, he finds her doing something shady with the groom’s father and decides to follow her. While Stefan is bewildered by it, she tries to get into this person’s laptop, and then they both manage to get out. Despite Stefan’s attempts to persuade her into a relationship, she rejects them.
While Stefan and Katie assume that he sent the people in the vans, Conrad suspects they are sent by a criminal group called The Block. Stefan learns how Katie had used him in the past for her benefit. Metts & Donahue get closer and closer to their location, and while Katie manages to escape, she leaves Stefan there to be caught by the police. While he believes in Katie’s innocence, the officers try to convince him that she is a cold-blooded murderer. In the flashbacks, we see Stefan at his friend Ani’s stag do, where he gets a text from Katie saying that the plans for her hen do have not worked out. He goes to meet her, and they decide to head right to Vegas, where her friend had planned for her to take. Over there, in a casino owned by the Delaneys, she tries to implicate Stefan in some cheating as a diversion strategy for her. She later rescues him from the security guards; they get wasted and marry Vegas-style. Yet his irresponsible behavior for bailing out on Anil’s stag-do makes Leila angry.
Metts & Donahue interrogate him about Katie’s plans when Leila accompanies him as his lawyer. They inform him that before her wedding, Katie was purchasing ingredients to make the chemical that killed the Delaneys. They ask for his whereabouts at Anil & Leila’s wedding, and Stefan mentions being kidnapped by Hugo Delaney, who was suspicious of his relationship with Katie. Later, he finds himself at a cemetery, completely naked. Katie manages to get hold of him and takes him on a detour to Hugo’s place, and mentions that she won’t be able to help him any further. He gets into the house and steals back his clothes and rings (for Anil and Leila’s wedding). While he is in the Delaney house, he overhears Katie telling Hugo that Stefan is obsessed with her. Later at the wedding, he gives a heartfelt speech to the couple, reflecting his disappointment in Katie. After the ceremony, he speaks with her about the same, shares how hurt he was that she bailed out on him, and tells her to leave. After this confession, Metts takes him to a different cell and tries to kill him by hanging him from the ceiling.
In the 6th episode, we see young Katie at her father Paul’s wedding with her stepmother, witnessing him getting stabbed the same night after being threatened to sign papers for his pub. In the present. Donahue finds Stefan hanging from the roof, decides to help him, and learns that Metts is behind this murder attempt. He manages to rescue Stefan, and meanwhile, Katie visits Vince, her wedding designer, and shares the reason she married Conrad since he was the boss of the men who killed her father. Conrad informed her that the Delaneys were the ones behind killing him. After that, Vince shares his suspicion that the Block killed the Delaneys despite backing them for years. He mentions an upcoming wedding in Texas that links the Block to the Texas mob. While that happens, Donahue brings Stefan to Katie, who seems confused about whether to turn herself in or run away. Amidst that confusion, they are attacked by the Block. After they successfully escape, Katie mentions that she intoxicated the groom’s father (who was Delaneys’ lawyer) on that wedding night to edit her prenup to inherit the building built over her father’s pub in case they divorce due to infidelity. When Stefan shares being almost murdered by Metts, Katie mentions her suspicion about the officer, who she thinks works for the Block. After their heartfelt rejoice through the interaction, the two plan to sneak into the Texas wedding (mentioned by Vince), where Metts will be present.
While Katie & Stefan reach the wedding venue, Stefan’s friends try to get intel on Metts by breaking into her house. Over there, they meet Donahue, who mentions her being allergic to sesame. The couple, meanwhile, infiltrates the wedding and presents themselves to those who assist with fitting the dress they brought. On their way to the bride – Mitzi, Katie sees the deed she was hoping to get her hands on (the one to the building the Delaneys built over her father’s pub) being locked into a suitcase. Over time, they manage to steal Metts’ EpiPen and withhold it long enough to get her confession for the murder of the Delaneys, done on orders from the Block. Metts tells Stefan that Hugo’s father had received a double dose of poison because Katie really had planned to poison him at the wedding in revenge for his role in her father’s death. Stefan is shocked that Katie had lied to him about her innocence. This connects to an earlier scene from before her wedding with Hugo, where the reason why she contacted Stefan is that she hoped he would talk her out of it. While on the verge of breaking down, she kidnaps Mitzi, steals the deed, and drives away.
Wedding Season (Season 1) Review
An exhilarating, consistently amusing mix of several genres
Within the span of eight episodes, Wedding Season brings a blend of many genres to the table. Its fugitive-couple-on-the-run narrative, like Bonny and Clyde, keeps the thriller elements intact. The suspense keeps building due to the lack of transparency exhibited by the characters. Besides that, the maze-like structure of the script keeps you guessing their motives and fate until the end of the journey. The romance between Katie and Stefan is integral to the story, and the sheer unpredictability of their behavior and responses keeps the humor refreshing and the series relentlessly funny. The British cynicism and quick wit come in handy for the darkness of its humor to the point that the doomed romance also reminds you of the likes of Fleabag.
And the reason why the series works beyond its consistently engaging script is the acting performances by both its leads. Rosa Salazar and Gavin Drea form an exceptional duo whose acting chemistry builds an immense likeability for both characters. The hopeless romanticism of Stefan is pitted against a destructive, often morbid concept of love for Katie – and the culmination is invigorating. It makes the non-cliché bits of their romance revelatory and the cliché bits unusually endearing. Rosa is a one-of-a-kind talent which is unique in her acting style – reminiscent of Aubrey Plaza for the kind of humor they naturally bring to the narration. Her existence in the series alone makes it worth the viewing. And, of course, the commendable performance by the remaining cast elevates the content with their sharp comical timing while bringing emotional potency.
Besides the several genres present in the series, many themes are being discussed that evaluate the purpose of the razzle-dazzle of a wedding from different viewpoints. Anil and Leila present an interracial couple with different ideas of love & wedding based on their religions, cultures, and upbringings. Jackson presents the side of a carefree gay lover, who finds monogamous relationships pointless, and Suji seems engaged in her experimental romance style. The characters of Metts & Donahue are not explored as a couple, but their pair brings another kind of doomed romance. Even Mitzi’s lesbian, influencer character is shown to give up her love to fulfill her father’s wishes.
The hope that a partner brings to a person’s life depends on these different bits of identity, and the season attempts to add that layer of philosophical & sociological introspection. And while it doesn’t succeed in being stimulating with each of its threads, it is more than a commendable effort.
Wedding Season (Season 1) Ending Explained
Katie brings Mitzi to an empty church in the Texan desert and takes her hostage. She admits that she has no reason to kidnap her but does it on impulse. She also mentions that she is in love with Stefan. That’s when he arrives outside the church with Metts pointing a gun at his head to convince Katie to come out and surrender Mitzi. That’s when Mitzi jumps out from a window as misdirection, and the couple gets inside the church. Metts keep firing at them, during which Donahue arrives. He tries to reason with Metts, but instead of listening to him, she shoots him. Later, the Block leader (Mitzi’s father) arrives at the scene.
Stefan gets caught by their gang, and to make him and Katie safely escape this hellhole, he claims that they were successfully able to upload Metts’ confession that mentions her misdemeanor. It also implies that Katie is innocent of the crime, which makes the terms of Katie’s prenup stand and the building belong to her. After this, Metts is killed, and Katie negotiates away the rights to the building she wants in exchange for their freedom. Cut to a while later, we see Katie, now Stefan’s girlfriend, attending another wedding with the rest of his friend group. As she approaches the car, it explodes.
The writers manage to keep the ending of Wedding Season (Season 1) ambiguous by not revealing what happened to her. It can be interpreted in many ways. The moment I finished it, I considered it to be written from a moral standpoint, letting her get the blunt of her past actions. However, it can also be seen as her being saved from this disaster as her outsmarting anyone that tried to kill her, the way she has managed to do always.
