Wednesday
A spin-off of the Addams Family franchise, Wednesday stars Jenna Ortega as the titular daughter of Morticia and Gomez Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán respectively), who is sent to the Nevermore Academy for “outcasts” after an unfortunate event involving piranha and swim team bullies. The academy is host to all manner of monsters, from werewolves to vampires to gorgons, but nobody is quite prepared for Wednesday’s arrival, or the dark secrets her presence inadvertently brings into the light.
This show’s version of Wednesday Addams borrows from the more popular interpretations of the character featured in films like 1991’s The Addams Family and 1993’s Addams Family Values. However, these cinematic versions of Wednesday worked as well as they did because the other Addams family members were around to balance out Wednesday’s deadpan, as well as the inherent novelty of a young child with a snarky and sadistic streak and the fact that this bit only needed to sustain smaller parts of feature-length films.
None of these benefits are present in this reimagining – a teenager being sullen and sarcastic isn’t particularly novel, and, now that Wednesday has to prop up the plot of an ongoing television show without the narrative foil of the rest of her family, her shtick wears thin very quickly, despite the best efforts of the talented cast. While Wednesday eventually dials this part of its writing back to focus on character development and the progression of its various mysteries, the unrelenting snark of much of the series’ first half can make for an unpleasant viewing experience.
Unfortunately, these mysteries and character development moments are also underserved by the scripting and pacing. Multiple characters and subplots come and go without much exploration, and the central mystery of the first season isn’t particularly gripping. There are some admirable attempts at social commentary, critiquing racist and colonialist narratives in ways other magical school properties conspicuously ignore, but these are another half-baked part of the story that ends up feeling particularly toothless.
Overall, Wednesday is a frustratingly okay TV show: it doesn’t do anything egregiously wrong, but also doesn’t make the most of its aesthetic and storytelling potential. It should make entertaining and engaging viewing for younger teenagers who see a kindred spirit in Wednesday, and it certainly isn’t the worst series about a magical school there is, but it’s nowhere near as intelligent as it thinks it is.
Umar Ali
Wednesday is released on Netflix on 23rd November 2022.
Watch the trailer for Wednesday here:
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