one of the top 5 most disrespectful moments in tv history was when how to get away with murder randomly killed wes after several seasons of hyping up his backstory with his mafia dad + epic weslaurel bury the body justice obstruction best friends to bath sex arc + out of wedlock afrolatino grad school baby
I find Wes such a sad, tragic, and misunderstood character... I often see people on Reddit calling him bland or boring, and I couldn't disagree more. Sure, it makes sense for viewers to see him as bland on a first watch because he doesn't have an 'eccentric' personality like Connor, Michaela, or Asher. Wes is quiet and reserved, has a strong moral compass, and wants to help people. But to many viewers, he's also a bit of a mystery.
I've seen people calling it bad writing, but I think it's exactly the point that we don't really get a sense of who Wes is, at least not at the start of the show: he basically has built a fortress around him. He's distant, reserved, and doesn't let people in. Especially in a group of competitive law students like the K5, where he's already the outsider. But there's a LOT more to Wes than just the quiet underdog, which becomes clearer and clearer the more you rewatch the show.
I love Wes, so here's a bit of a deep dive into the psychology of one of the most misunderstood characters on the show.
How Wes's background influences the way he acts
On a rewatch, Wes's behavior, motivations, and choices make a lot more sense. He's carrying a lot of unresolved trauma from losing his mother and possibly had a very unstable upbringing in foster care. We know he grew up poor, bullied, and alone. On the surface, Wes seems like this sweet and innocent "puppy," but I think this might just be a mask to hide the deep layers of unresolved trauma bubbling below the surface.
Wes doesn't have many connections on the show. He's the poor kid in the somewhat scruffy clothes, shabby apartment, who didn't go to an Ivy League university, got waitlisted, and is blatantly favored by his professor. He's the outsider, but he does connect to people, and it makes sense that those people are also just as broken and messed up as he is.
Wes's savior complex in his relationships
I've seen people saying that they don't get his obsession with Rebecca, or find it difficult to root for them because their relationship feels 'hollow.'
Wes has been alone for a large part of his life, so when there's someone who he gets attached to, he clings. Hard. Obsessively even. He desperately wants to help (or "fix") that person. Wes has a savior complex, which seems to be something that appears more often in people dealing with unresolved abandonment trauma: he couldn't protect his mother, but maybe he can protect someone else. It's also a way for him to avoid dealing with his own childhood trauma.
That obsessive tendency to protect someone happens with Rebecca early in S1 (both Rebecca and Annalise call him out on it). Wes recognizes himself in her and strongly believes she's innocent, so he goes to great lengths to protect her. Rebecca gradually warms up to him, too.
With Annalise, that savior complex starts showing up around the end of S1/start of S2 (and Connor constantly makes remarks on it), as he starts to defend her, shows up when she needs him (the rat-scene) and seems worried about her during the Hapstall cover-up. That 'obsession' intensifies in season 3, but more on that later.
That savior complex starts to show up a little bit with Laurel in season 3 after he testified against Charles Mahoney. He tells Laurel "I've got you," which seems to throw Laurel a bit off and she tells him she got herself. Wes insists he'll be there, too. Not that Laurel really needed protection though.
It's a very toxic pattern, which is probably why Wes's relationship with Rebecca and Laurel were very hard to root for... something indeed felt 'hollow' or off. (Though I'm in the minority that thought Wes and Rebecca were sweet together and was rooting for them).
Wes's abandonment issues
Wes can get very attached to people. At the same time, he's scared of people leaving him, so he puts his walls up. Afraid people might abandon him when they realize that under that sweet "puppy" mask, he's actually very messed up.
Rebecca calls him out on being the "most privatest person ever," so he finally opens up a bit. He hides the darkest parts of his past from Meggy: he tells her his mother died of cancer, that he never met his dad, and doesn't say a word about witnessing a shooting. He lets Meggy go because he doesn't want to drag her into his mess. He gets together with Laurel not so much because he loves her, but because he doesn't have to pretend with her: Laurel knows about his past and saw him in some of his worst moments, but is still there.
He's instinctively drawn to Annalise because she's equally or maybe even more screwed up, she knows Wes has issues, but still sticks around and protects him (I mean, he killed her husband and shot her, but she's still there...). Annalise is the only person to whom Wes truly lets his walls down, and vice versa. They develop a trauma bond, with some maternal tendencies from Annalise, strong loyalty (but also toxic dependency) from Wes, deep intimacy, and at times even a bit of unsettling attraction. Wes and Annalise may not talk about their deepest trauma, but they see each other.
Wes's coping mechanism for people leaving him
When someone does leave him? He's hurt and feels abandoned all over again. He shuts down and pushes everyone else away before they can leave him. He does it in 2x01 after Rebecca's disappearance, especially with Annalise because he's the closest with her after Rebecca. But Annalise sees through it and gets him to open up. When Sandrine points out Laurel's tendency to try to "fix" broken people and then move on, he starts pushing Laurel away.
Finally finding someone who cares for him
Wes in season 3 is a lot more casual around people, especially Annalise. I think part of that is because he slowly started to process that trauma during his involuntary psych hold and after the events of season 2. I think it's also because he fully accepted that Annalise really isn't going anywhere, and now finally has that support system he desperately craves.
Annalise isn't doing too well in season 3, so that savior complex goes into full gear as Wes tries to figure out what is going on with her, shows up with pizza, checks up on her when she's suspended, cleans the vomit out of her hair after a bender, defends her in front of anyone who criticizes her, and even destroys evidence (Frank's confession) to protect her. Their relationship is still incredibly toxic, but they also genuinely care for and even love each other.
Final thoughts
To get back to the title of this post: Wes is absolutely not bland or boring. He's just guarded, and hard to identify with since most of us (luckily) never experienced the hardships he did. His relationships can be hard to root for, because they are toxic: Wes is drawn to people who are just as broken as he is, and who just like him have no idea what a healthy relationship looks like.
Wes is one of the most tragic figures on the show and gets a lot of subtle character development, you just have to look past the surface.
9/28 addition: About Alfred Enoch's portrayal of Wes
I've seen people on Reddit calling Alfie's acting "wooden," or suggesting that the reason why Wes and Annalise had so many scenes together was because Alfie needed Viola Davis to prop him up... which is honestly just such an insulting thing to say.
I think Alfie did a fantastic job portraying a very quiet and reserved character who has been struggling with PTSD and unresolved trauma from the very first episode. Wes shows a lot more emotion in front of Annalise, but that's not so much because Alfie 'acts better' with Viola, but simply because Annalise is the only person Wes truly opens up to. But Wes does often show emotion in front of the K5, one of my favorite moments is in 2x11 when the K5 pick Wes up from the psych ward, and you can just see how broken down he is when they drive him home.
When Wes is emotional, he's not loud or dramatic like Annalise or Michaela. He tends to be quiet and subdued. When people are mean to Wes, he doesn't yell or pick a fight (most of the time), but he walks away. That's not because Alfie's acting is "wooden," it's just because of who Wes is. But his expressions and body language say a lot, and I think Alfie did a great job at conveying Wes's feelings in a much quieter and subtle manner.
Okay, but my ending with Wes and Laurel being together in the after life (at the ages when they respectively died) was better than Alfie playing adult Christopher.
