Previous Next

Waymond Wang is first introduced as a gentle but seemingly ineffectual man—cheerful, kind-hearted, and often overlooked by those closest to him. He clearly loves his family but struggles to connect with Evelyn, whose mind is always elsewhere. At the laundromat, he bonds easily with customers, building relationships through humor and warmth, though Evelyn dismisses his focus on positivity and community as trivial. True to his nature, Waymond brings cookies to the IRS officer handling their case—an act Evelyn mocks as naive and unhelpful. Frustrated by her emotional distance, Waymond prepares to serve Evelyn with divorce papers, not out of spite, but in the hope of prompting her to take their relationship seriously. Yet even in this, he struggles to assert himself, and Evelyn largely ignores the gesture. A lingering tension in their marriage stems from Evelyn’s doubts about the path she chose; marrying Waymond meant defying her disapproving father and giving up a different kind of life. When she verse-jumps and sees a version of herself who rejected Waymond and became a glamorous movie star, those doubts resurface with new intensity. 

Ultimately, however, Waymond shows a quiet strength that inspires Evelyn profoundly. His kind acts often prove effective in winning over others. Deirdre, for example, gives the Wangs until the end of the day to resubmit their tax paperwork, noting that she appreciates the cookies. Later, when the laundromat is taken in lien as a result of Evelyn’s failure to submit their paperwork, she is shocked to discover that Waymond was able to convince Deirdre to give them more time, despite Evelyn’s rude outburst, by speaking to her openly about their problems.  

Instead of fighting others, Waymond achieves his goals with kindness, and his giving nature inspires Evelyn at a pivotal moment in the film, when she is at risk of surrendering to the nihilism that has already corrupted Jobu. In that same alternative universe where Evelyn became a famous actress, Waymond himself became a successful and wealthy man, though he tells Evelyn that he would been happier living a mundane life with her. Inspired by Waymond’s attitude, Evelyn decides that she cannot defeat Jobu and her followers in combat, and instead defeats them by providing each with what they need most, reaching out to Jobu with encouragement, understanding, and compassion.  

Previous section Evelyn Wang Next section Joy Wang

Take a Study Break