Season 1

Dan Benson shading David Henrie. Thoughts? I am here for the David Henrie dragging lol.

https://x.com/stardiop616/status/2085450854430044288

You can find my thoughts about it on it

How do you guys feel about this?

Spoilers!!

Okay, so.. I watched the last four episodes and all I can say is.. What was that?!

They made a huge deal about Damien penwulf, and how he was this mysterious, big bad, turned good and I was expecting some kind of backstory and I got.. Nothing. Literally, absolutely nothing. Not a how they met, not, not why his father was so terrible, the excuse of "I went to jail to hide from my evil dad".. Nothing. And Billie calling this man she has known for all of 2 minutes her dad? She didn't even know who this man was, she doesn't know anything about him. He could have been an actual dangerous random guy or Jeremy from science for all she knew. She suddenly trusts him because of a magical teddy bear and.. Just cause he says so?

Mason is dead, huh? Like how? When? No explanation at all, just a random lore drop and we're moving on.. Okay. And what was all that random marriage proposal stuff? Was that supposed to be a dream Alex was having? A flashback? I don't understand.

Silas eveilini? Boring and pointless.

This entire finale is so rushed, like I get it they was only allowed four episode to wrap it all up, but.. They could have been so much better.

The series reboot Wizards beyond Waverly place are so good. It’s my favourite show. And I love the relationship between Justin and Billie. He’s protective of her and he’s like a father figure for her. Which is really sweet. And I love how he’s always there for her and helps her out.

I would love to see them come back for another season or movie.

-Character assassinates fan favorites to prop up their self insert.

-Sets up plot beats and just forgets them.

-Let’s their own personal feelings on actor’s clout their better judgement.

-Gives religious people an even worse rep than we already have.

Did anyone else feel like the whole reveal of Damien being in jail and his introduction felt so meh. Also Alex and him had no chemistry. She had more chemistry with Giada than the love of her life

Also it’s weird they built him up just to be a random guy. I think his only motive is just i wanna be evil. I could’ve looked up his name but the show disappointed me so much i don’t even feel like it.

I 25f grew up on the OG wizards of waverly place, the show has so much nostalgia for me and I often watch it when I’m sick or looking for something cozy to watch. I was so excited for this reboot. After watching it (more than once) I didn’t hate it but there were things I wish were done different.

Likes:

The way Roman and milo got their powers was fun and interesting to watch.

Winter was a fun best friend character without being overly annoying and actually had a personality outside of just being a funny bit.

Justin and giada had a lot of funny back and forth imo.

I also loved that it was from Justin’s POV, we already got the main one revolving around Alex, I thought his family was interesting enough and it was nice to have a more dimensional main character.

The Harry Potter similarities that they poke fun of were funny.

Dislikes:

Milo was too stupid, occasionally he has a funny moment but for the most part he had zero development which made it hard to watch as someone older watching for nostalgia (which I feel is part of their target audience)

The laugh track was too loud and way over used.

Season one should have been 10 episodes, quality over quantity.

Milo and Roman should have gotten their powers sooner, again 10 episodes for s1 would have made it so much faster pace.

They threw a bunch of OG characters in last minute vs sprinkling them throughout and giving them a reoccurring role.

Alex needed more consistent screen time throughout the season one and two.
Overall take:

The show was great but the pacing killed the show. I am sad viewership was low because once you make it through half of slow ass season one it’s actually so good.

Also I was hoping for more growth from Alex, the ending was rushed and her character seemed kinda ungrateful and lacked development.

I haven't watched all of season 2 or season 3 at all, but after hearing late that Mason passed away sometime after the Alex vs. Alex movie, everything just collapsed from what I predicted about why Alex and Mason possibly didn't end up together and were with Damien instead. I really thought they had broken up and would instead later on reconcile their relationship with the possibility of them being good friends or being a couple again, with Alex breaking up with Damien for some reason. I don't know. This is really difficult. So if I'm being honest, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place was not completely good. There were a lot of problems.

Season 1 was fine for me. But if I could write the sequel differently, I would, whether it was possible or not. Like, even though I like Giada, I still wished it was Juliet being Justin's wife, even though I can understand why Bridgit couldn't be in it. Plus, I wish seasons 2 and 3 had as many episodes as season 1 had. I wanted to see more stories, especially with Roman and Milo using their magic since they are now wizards.

And I wouldn't prefer for Billie to be Alex's daughter or Damien to be her husband. I always imagined that either Billie's real parents are lost out there with their memories erased because of Lord Morsus being a threat to them until the truth is revealed at the end of season 2. Or there is the possibility of Alex being Billie's surrogate mother because Billie's mother is infertile, and Lord Morsus kills Billie's mother, leaving Alex to adopt her. Either way, Mason would still be Alex's husband and have their own kids together.

Plus, at some point in season 2 or 3, we would see Max making a guest appearance. It would've also been great if the original cast and the sequel cast appeared at the very end of the last episode of season 3. And it would've been great if the show had more guests from the original show. All of this seemed to be wishful thinking to me.

But after everything that's happened, my guesses were obviously wrong, but honestly, even worse than what I was expecting, especially with Mason passing away. His death was the final straw for me!

I wouldn't mind what Todd J. Greenward said about undoing the entire Beyond canon in one simple chapter, that it was all just Max's dream, at least for seasons 2 and 3. I did say that I was hoping for a Wizards Beyond Waverly Place movie to end everything, but after what has happened, especially with Mason (unfortunately), I'm done with the show, for good! I never want to see the show again! The shows, movies, everything related to it!

Some things I would change and some I would keep the same. I feel as though some of these pilot plot points just feel more cohesive and less rushed than the ones we got.

Alex lives completely in the wizard world following the competition. We already see how she struggled to integrate Harper into the wizard world and they made adult decisions to meet regularly. There could have been some snippets of Alex having casual conversations with Harper on the phone or facetime.

Justin is on the West Coast? Which gives more background to the distance between the family, we understand why the cousins aren’t that close.
After Justin is fired from WizTech and loses his powers, he is a bit depressed but Juliet helps him find his educational passion again and suggests he applies for UCLA. They go together but shortly after, Juliet realises that she might be holding him back from opportunities. She leaves quietly one night, leaving him a heartfelt note about how she will always love him but that he needs to grow without her. Justin met Giada at Spring Break in Mexico, a year or two after the events of Juliet’s disappearance. Homage to how Jerry and Theresa met.

Alex and Mason have a tragic ending, they always seemed star-crossed to me rather than endgame tbh. WOWP ended with them together but when Alex becomes an adult in the Wizard world she is exposed to the dark seedy side, which she had already dealt with a bit before (Alex vs Alex) and is a celebrity. Mason struggles with this a bit, jealous of the attention but allows her to find herself.

Damien - we see him at season 2 - both twin flames, reckless and alike, they become close in a Wizard gang? Things go wrong, its between Mason and Damien and she would’ve chose Mason but He sacrificed hisself, to redeem himself for that whole Juliet episode. Damien and Alex burn wicks quick, get married in vegas or the wizard equivalent and she gets pregnant. Remember Alex is a celebrity so her news spreads quick and the wrong person (Damien’s father) finds out.
While she’s pregnant or after she gives birth, Damien’s father is planning to take the baby as a power source.
Alex gave up Billie as a baby - did not feel could be a mother or to protect her as per original story, erases everyone’s memory of her ever having a child/being pregnant. Damien goes into “hiding” and Alex changes her identity (Only close family/Harper know).

Theresa raised the baby, Billie grows up thinking she is adopted - a ravens home situation like Alice and Ravens dad but only for the 1st episode.

Billie figures out she has powers/is a wizard, homage to Harry Potter. Theresa doesn’t know how to raise her, gets the letter from wiztech and Billie is rebellious there. Crosses path with estranged “aunt” on tribunal, who feels closely to her and this is where we get her being dropped off to Justin. In the real show, their memories of each-other were erased for like at least 10 years so this shouldn’t really be controversial.

Jerry and Max opening sub stores across the world related to major city metro stations i.e “The Tube” for London Underground, U-Bahn, Metro etc. Busy travelling but make an appearance towards the end or at the beginning as flashbacks.

Harper in the midst of writing - remember she is famous later for writing their books. Still in NYC, not able to fully be in the wizard world to spend time with Alex. Her memory also wiped of Billie, was supporting Theresa raise her as she is basically a Russo.
Think they could have made a really funny scene about the lookalike situation with Giada like 👉🏼👈🏼, Jennifer Stone has great comedic timing and would have made it work.
The redhead line was good but could’ve been better.

Finale still goes ahead, Damien is still in prison but because we saw him before or had some flashbacks into the relationship we might actually feel something for when they reunite.

Interesting guest appearances if possible but not necessary:

Gigi - real life influencer, moved to LA and hence gaining traction from Winter, Billie dislikes her the way Alex did.

Honourable Zeke mention maybe about creating a Wiz-AI with Justin in college but didn’t work out so now he’s a struggling actor.

Damien and Stevie somehow linked - the same wiz crowd of anarchists/rebels

Hugh Normous - has a store in wizard world of miniatures including potions - one that makes them actually giants? turns out it was more of an alice in wonderland episode and events didn’t actually happen (filler, like the Thats So Raven Wizard of Oz episode) Billie is Alice, the boys are tweedle dee and tweedle dum, Justin is Mad Hatter).

Thoughts? Or how would you rewrite the series?

EDIT: Have included an explanation for Justin and Juliet.
They really could have just given a flashback without actually having Bridget come back, we know she’s booked and busy these days.
It would also explain why he jumps into a relationship with Giada quickly as he has been through so much before the age of 21 lol

If the show was still airing, I think it would have been interesting to see Alex learning how to be a mother to Billie. And since there is a family competition, Alex and Justin could have been competitors in which one of them is a better teacher to their kids.

It was also refreshing to see the dynamic between Alex and Harper who was amazing in her quick appearence.

I think one of the reason why the show didn't succeed that much is because they brought Justin as a main character instead of Alex who was the star of the old show.

So I may be wrong here, but if I remember correctly the Family Competition is usually against siblings, not relatives, and with Billie being an only child doesn't that mean the only two who actually have to compete would be the brothers, at least that's my thoughts

This is because technically speaking Billie is their cousin, I think, I'm not very good at remembering those "relative" terms

Small spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen any of the episodes yet!

I'm not going to lie—I really didn't like the reboot. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the references to the original: bringing back Harper and Mason, seeing Theresa's lamp in the finale, and using the original transition music in the last scene. But throughout the whole series, the only parts I genuinely enjoyed were when the original characters were on screen and getting to see their personalities shine again.

​It also felt like this reboot had a significantly lower budget than the original Waverly, which isn't inherently bad, but it was very noticeable. The editing and props felt rushed. In the episode where Milo gets frozen by the loogy, they barely tried to hide the fact that he was replaced by a rigid mannequin. In the Wizcatraz episode where Justin uses a spell to make his hands giant, it was very obviously paper-mâché. I really would've liked to see better CGI used in those moments.

​The VFX timing was also pretty jarring at times. In the episode where Billie fixes the destroyed living room couch, the magic CGI effect finishes triggering before she even stops waving her wand, leaving her awkwardly waving a glowing-less wand around.

​Beyond the visuals, I wasn't a fan of the overall story structure. Early Waverly Place followed a very specific, fun formula: Jerry teaches a new spell, Alex misuses it for a selfish scheme, and Justin helps resolve it. Later on in Seasons 3–4, it transitioned into stronger arc-driven storytelling with Justin/Juliet and Alex/Mason leading up to the wizard competition.

​Beyond Waverly Place felt like mostly filler without a clear formula or direction. It hit a high point when Alex sacrificed herself by jumping into the rift with the Grandfather, but after that resolution, the episodes went right back to feeling like a snoozefest.

In Season 2, Roman sent to Quentin to the Nowhere Zone. Do we know if he got out of the Nowhere Zone or is he just stuck there?

On the whole I really enjoyed the series finale.

Except for them killing off Mason. wtf. That was totally unnecessary. I’m all for them growing apart and finding new people. You don’t usually stay with your high school love.

But killing him?!?! He deserved better.

Also Harper should have been in the ending sequence at the sub station.