Wednesday 2: Slurp's Origin & Connection With Augustus Stonehearst, Explained

The first part of the second season of Wednesday has ended on a major cliffhanger following the Willow Hill asylum chaos, with Wednesday out of commission and two monsters—Tyler the Hyde and, most importantly, Slurp the zombie—on the loose. Slurp is an original, series-exclusive character who perfectly fits Tim Burton’s macabre gothic vision, and from the way his presence in the story is highlighted through several narrative connections in the past and present, it is obvious that he will have a much more significant role to play in the final part of the second season. I would like to share my speculation about Slurp’s ties with the existing Outcast crisis and how the connection can shape a new threat in the final part of the season.

Spoilers Ahead

Origin of Slurp

Slurp’s past is beautifully showcased in the very first episode of the ongoing season of Wednesday, with the segment The Tale of the Skull Tree created in the vein of classic Tim Burton stop-motion animations like Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, Coraline, and Vincent. In the past, Slurp used to be a genius inventor who decided to stop his suffering caused by fragile health by replacing his heart with a clockwork machination. While the solution worked wonders, and Slurp’s body was finally working in tune with his brilliant mind, the genius gradually lost his humanity in the following years. At some point in time, Slurp was associated with Nevermore Academy, although whether in the capacity of a student or teacher remains unrevealed. What we do know is that his talent as an inventor was much appreciated in the academy, and driven by his pursuit to reach perfection, Slurp scripted his own demise. One of his experiments conducted upon a rat goes horribly wrong, and the ensuing explosion results in Slurp’s death. However, according to local legend, it was believed that his clockwork heart kept beating even after death. His body was buried under the infamous Skull Tree, located in the woods, and the sound of his beating mechanical heart could still be heard. Thanks to Pugsley Addams, who accidentally electrocuted Slurp’s corpse while visiting Skull Tree—almost in the same way Victor Frankenstein reanimated his patched-up monster—Slurp got a second shot at life. However, his brilliant mind is gone; Slurp is reduced to being a mindless zombie, driven by his hunger for human brains. His humanity left him in life in a figurative manner and in a very literal sense after his rebirth. 

It is telling that sharing Slurp’s story with the freshers of Nevermore Academy is a tradition in Caliban Hall. The symbolism is pretty noticeable in this segment; Caliban, the part-human, part-monster character, quite obviously reflects the present state of Slurp as a zombified being. Again, Caliban’s ‘master,’ Prospero, a genius capable of wielding magic, had lost his humanity in his quest for revenge. Slurp’s existence as a human partly mimics Prospero’s—minus the revenge part, and he is reborn as a creature much like Caliban. 

It can be speculated that Slurp’s power of regeneration, which is triggered by his continuous consumption of human brains throughout the first part, is caused by a mutation resulting from his final experiment, which cost him his life. Perhaps while experimenting on the rat, Slurp ended up imbuing himself with some of their genetic elements. Rats can regenerate nerve cells to a limited capacity, an ability Slurp might have inherited from his final experiment. 

What Is Slurp’s Connection With Augustus And His LOIS Program?

Following a series of events, Slurp ended up in Willow Hill asylum and was able to break free in the final moments of the first part. Having regenerated a lot of his decomposing body, Slurp’s mind has started recalling part of his past memories and sense of identity. This becomes pretty clear when he finds out about Augustus Stonehurst and mentions him as an old friend before brutally killing him by consuming his brain. Now the obvious question that arises is what connection Slurp might have had with this psychotic Normie scientist, who wanted to extract powers from Outcasts to fulfill his desire of gaining unique abilities. There are clues scattered in the first part to establish a connection between the two, beginning with Slurp’s identity as an Outcast. In the stop-motion animation sequence, it is shown that as a human, Slurp was a DaVinci and possessed telekinetic powers. In his fragile state, Slurp used his powers to create designs for his inventions. As mentioned by Judi, her father, Augustus, subjected Outcasts to his heinous experiments, as he’d always wanted to become a DaVinci but was unable to imbue himself with the extracted powers of the Outcasts for reasons unknown. It is also no coincidence that Augustus used to be a renowned science teacher at Nevermore, as Professor Orloff recounts while speaking with Wednesday. However, Orloff also mentions that he never trusted Augustus as a person, due to his identity as a Normie. There is a strong possibility that Augustus used Slurp as one of his first test subjects to gain his powers, which resulted in the genius’ death—contrary to the cause of death mentioned in the popular legend. 

However, that doesn’t explain why Slurp called Augustus a friend, which brings me to the final clue, which hints at the connection between the two characters. The machine Slurp had designed, which he is seen using during his final experiment, is visually similar to the one Augustus used in his LOIS program, as seen in his hidden basement lab of Willow Hill. Previously, in the animated montage, Slurp was able to use a device to reduce an entire automobile to a core particle. It is fairly possible that Slurp had designed a machine to extract genetic material from living creatures, and the blueprint of the machine was used by Augustus to extract powers from his imprisoned Outcasts. Alternatively, after befriending Slurp, Augustus might have turned on him and used his own machine on Slurp in an effort to extract his powers, to no avail. This explains why, even in his zombified form, Slurp had a grudge against Augustus and killed him after successfully tracking him down in the midst of chaos. Knowingly or not, Slurp was responsible for the initiation of the LOIS program and perhaps became the first victim of it. 

Will Slurp Become the Big Bad of Part Two?

Following the breakout in Willow Hill asylum, Slurp is roaming free, similar to Tyler the Hyde, who managed to escape in the final moments of the first part after severely injuring Wednesday. I will not rule out the possibility of Slurp and Tyler working together in the second part, but honestly, there isn’t a strong enough motive for Slurp to attack Wednesday or the others at Nevermore, or for that matter, to join hands with another monster. Is it possible that Judi Stonehurst ends up confronting Slurp and tries to seek revenge for her father’s death? There is a possibility, but that will not constitute the entirety of Slur’s character arc. Most importantly, we still don’t know what Slurp’s human identity is, and I feel that will play a key role in the second part. Don’t be surprised if Slurp turns out to be connected with Ophelia Frump, who might have been subjected to experimentation by Augustus, as she too was a patient in Willow Hill who mysteriously went missing. There is another popular theory, which reveals Slurp might be connected with Lady Gaga’s character in the series, Rosaline Rotwood, owner of the house where the Addams family is living at present. Rosaline will appear in the second part of the season, and if she has a familial connection with Slurp, that will be explored as well. In the teaser of part two of the second season of Wednesday, Slurp is shown to have regained many of his physical features of the past and been walking through a carnival. He has a subterranean lab underneath the Skull Tree, as shown in the teaser of part two, where he might once again return while regaining some of his intellect. Is there a chance that the makers will try to provide a redemption arc for Slurp as he tries to reconnect with his lost humanity? Or will they commit to a clichéd ending for the character and turn him into the big bad of part two? We will get the answers when the final part drops on the first week of next month. 

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