Why the transformation?

Question

The title is deliberately weak - this is a new series and I do not want to add any spoilers in the title. I will turn it into something better after some time

In S01E02 of Wednesday, we see that

Wednesday confronts a defensive Rowan as he leaves the school [after having been attacked, allegedly killed, found unharmed and expelled from school] and sends Thing to follow him. Rowan is revealed to be Weems who has shapeshifted into him (...)

The shapeshifting is actually Rowan → a grown-up man → Weems.

I do not understand that part of the episode. Has Rowan been actually killed? Why has Weems transformed into him? (To protect the school by showing that Rowan is actually unharmed and just expelled?) Is the grown-up man intermediate transformation just a way to get from men's toilets?

Answer 1

Has Rowan been actually killed? Why has Weems transformed into him? (To protect the school by showing that Rowan is actually unharmed and just expelled?)

Yes. Weems' confession to Wednesday (in S01E05) about why she shapeshifted is not false. Rowan is actually dead, and Weems was protecting the school's and Rowan's reputations, as well as the school's students, from harm.

Weems: His tragic death allowed us to rectify the situation without casting the school or Rowan in an unflattering light.

Weems: I did what I needed to do to shield this school from controversy and protect its students from harm.

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Is the grown up man intermediate transformation just a way to get from men's toilets?

Yes. If Weems shapeshifted from the form of Rowan to her original female self in the men's restrooms, she will attract unwanted attention, putting her plan at risk of being discovered. It is a smarter move to shapeshift into a man. Weems' plan worked, and no one figured it out (except Wednesday).