i really think uwe is such a good use of the "came back wrong" trope because of its use of perspective.
with reawakenings, the hosts don't physically die. it's more of a death of identity. if everything had gone smoothly, emma would be essentially gone within her own body. her soul would be so suppressed, it would be considered non-existent.
from winston's (and sort of emma's) perspective, she has come back wrong. something happened to her and now something is wrong with her. melinda is the wrong.
from edred's perspective, melinda has come back wrong. emma is the wrong. really, emma isn't even real to him.
and, unlike many came back wrong tropes, the center of this one is the person (people) who came back "wrong". emmalinda push against other people's (and each others) demands and expectations of them. and ultimately, the only way to make themself "right" again is by accepting each other.
"came back wrong" is often used as a metaphor for change or grief. in uwe, it isn't a metaphor. the characters did change and are grieving the loss that came with it; the loss of identity, the loss of relationships, and the loss of the ability to simply not change. as bad as they were for each other, themselves, and outsiders sometimes, it's made clear that the characters liked it that way. unicorn doesn't get that anymore. they don't get to discard their hosts anymore. for the first time, they come back and are made to feel that they are wrong.