So the latest attempt at rebooting the Addams Family comes in the form of Netflix's Wednesday. Fresh off of The Sandman's success, the show sported a cast of Jenny Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones and even Christina Ricci (Wednesday from the 90s movies), while also being directed mostly by Tim Burton, music by Danny Elfman, and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, we'll see how Netflix does with this.
Bear in mind, the Addams Family I am perhaps going to compare this to the most is the 90s movies of Ricci, Raul Julia, Anjelica Hutson and Christopher Lloyd - as well as Burton, but I also will be observing Ortega's portrayal of an older Wednesday similar to Youtube's 'Adult Wednesday Addams' shorts by Melissa Hunter (who later went on to do some writing for Santa Clarita Diet and She-Hulk), whose shorts were sadly cease and desisted - which could've been partly due to production of this very show, but I won't hold that against it.
Spoilers for Season 1 of Wednesday
So I'm going to review based on four key points; Production, Plot, Side Characters, and Wednesday herself, hopefully this way I will be able to express the pros and cons of the full scope of the show.
Production
Production of the show was very sound actually; music was good, setting and costuming was also very well-done, showing differences from Wednesday's gothic style, Enid's bright and bubbly, Kinbott's clean whites, there are the theme motifs that you'd expect from a Burton-esque story.
In that same vein though, cgi was an oof at times, particularly for the Hyde, which was too uncanny to see past the Burton-esque bug-eyed claymations, Enid's wolf form was a bit iffy too.
But for the most part, Jericho and Nevermore academy did feel like real places that existed outside the vacuum of Wednesday's presence.
Oh also! Some things were just wrong, particularly the off-comment on Ophelia, Ophelia wasn't driven mad by her family she went mad over her lover, Hamlet. Given how Ricci's Wednesday performed Hamlet at school that's a definite gap.
Plot
The plot is probably one of the things I am most on the fence about. For its pluses, it did work towards creating character development for Wednesday, layered into a murder mystery story, layered into a spooky high school scenario. It had some lovely easter eggs primarily playing on Addams family leitmotifs specifically the iconic double snap. There is a balance as well of being gothic but also caught up to current affairs, expanding the world more familiar to the Addamses via the presentation of 'outcasts'. The plot does invite a second series as well, but doesn't try to force it either.
However, there are things I struggle to shake off. For one, it doesn't help that this feels far too much like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, another stylistic reboot of a gothic female teen character in a gothic academy uncovering prophecies and having frosty relationships with the Queen Bee's kliq, while also engaging in her own love triangle and fighting a vengeful entity of the past. I do find it odd as well why we necessitated Wednesday to be in a high school setting, since her character had often been presented as emotionally mature and aware, in some cases it does feel like Wednesday was plopped into a monster high school concept to buff up its budget. Much of the murder mystery feels like it has holes in it as well, with characters simply acting oblivious or unhelpful to one another, Wednesday's continued distrust in Xavier for instance rides on the annoying side even when DNA didn't match, and Sheriff Galpin had been suspicious of a monster since episode 1 but chose not to suspect his son who he had worried carried on the genetics of his mother? Tis odd to say the least. Weens and Wednesday had their annoyances too, simply caused by a lack of communication.
The love triangle also felt unnecessary, it was perhaps to try and push the idea that Xavier was the threat to smokescreen Tyler but honestly I'm more disappointed in the Tyler reveal than shocked, because it falls so painfully hard down to cliché, as does much of the high school melodrama. For better or for worse; Bianca, Eugene, Ajax, Xavier and Enid are very cookie-cutter level high school clichés and frankly Xavier is still not a great love interest for Wednesday, let's not forget his actions at the Rave'N. For a story where Wednesday is being sent to an academy of people like her, there is an awfully apparent lack of people like Wednesday anyway, which bodes the need to change high school settings?
I will also note my dislike of the whole concept of 'outcasts vs normies', what made the Addams family good was indeed their counternormative lifestyle but they still existed peacefully among society, in Wednesday it wasn't bad that the main villain was a hypocritical reanimated pilgrim with a magic staff but it did harm the show that every 'normie' character was either dead or complicit to the evil side, thematically it failed in a lot of areas. Also was I the only one who caught on quickly that Thornhill was the enemy? Even before the introduction of Laurel? I mean Laurel is the name for a plant for one and it feels obvious to write Christina Ricci as the new Wednesday's antagonist anyway. The 'outcasts' don't seem too different in physiology either, it may've been a movie thing but the Addams often tended to be indestructible, they drink Cyanide, they can survive a point-blank bomb, they do the electric chair as a child's game, so it is kind of a far cry to 'do you mind ghost ex machina, I have been stabbed to death'.
Finally it's probably gonna sound controversial to some but it was not lost on me that that nearly every male character ends up being useless in the climax, only Eugene comes in clutch and it's only to distract, Xavier makes things even more dire, Thing is AWOL, Galpin does shoot his own son but it's an extension of his inaction, and Ajax is just a spectator. I know writers want to try to stress strong female characters but that doesn't mean every male character must be either evil, useless or a cheap shot in it, the goal is supposed to be equality is it not?
Side Characters
As a result of the plot issues, the side characters did suffer much. Enid was presented as the polar opposite of Wednesday, which did work in her favour a lot, her half-baked romance with Ajax is perhaps an underdeveloped spot however, underdeveloped also being the key word to use for Bianca and Walker - the mayor's son. Eugene is underbaked too, what could've worked as a good 'innocent cinnabon' character did end up being kept away from much of the series for too long.
Tracking back to Enid, of course people immediately ship her with Wednesday, she could've been any kind of character and people would pair her because fandom is how fandom does. If you ship it it's okay but honestly I see it as platonic (reminder that two people of any gender are allowed to be just good friends), I feel like Ajax can be more of a character and it's a bit mean to disregard him too, bright colours doesn't always mean queer coding either but I will give you that 'Lycan conversion camp' did feel like a shoehorn of gay conversion therapy in its dialogue, however I don't think she 'wolfed out' because of Wednesday, they hinted it before she was clued on in Wednesday being in danger.
Principal Weems is perhaps the character who suffered the most from the narrative, it felt like she would be the obstacle for Wednesday out of jealousy towards Morticia, but really she just acts pretty fairly, if not a bit politically. Her then dying in the finale felt like a waste.
The Galpins became a mixed bag in the end, because Sheriff Galpin did feel like a good guy who needed to learn to trust the 'outcasts' more and open up, but in the end he just turned out to be a hypocrite indecisive about whether he's being oblivious towards his son's nature or looking for someone to take the fall for his son's crimes. I've already expressed my disappointment in the Tyler turn, mainly the fact that it ended up just being an act - it did a lot feel like the actor was only told when doing the final episode, because he did feel like a nice kid - I still don't know how he wounded himself but it just felt like a letdown that he was the cliché honeytrap minion who is fully aware of his evils. Thornhill at least had more method in her 'too nice' persona.
Xavier was the grumpy artist who felt more like he expected reward for interacting with Wednesday, and while she did wrongly hound him with accusations he wasn't exactly likable either. Rowan as well was a character who kinda was...well, dumb. The dude sees a picture his mother drew of Wednesday and a guy who clearly looks like a Pilgrim and decides Wednesday is the villain, sure maybe Telekinesis did fuck with his brain but it does mean that the foundation of Wednesday's investigations becomes born out of misinterpretation.
Which leads us to the Addams family themselves and, it's a mixed bag. I know people will say 'people don't think Morticia and Gomez are goals anymore because they're not hot' but honestly, chemistry is important. I've seen Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Zorro films, the chemistry she had with Banderas is far and beyond what she has with Luis Guzmán. I don't think I liked that their relationship with Wednesday had waned either, I understand high school is teenage rebellion phase but again, Wednesday had always been to my experiences very emotionally mature, in Addams Family Values one of the first things she says is 'they had sex' when countering a child's story about a stork bringing babies. Pugsley suffered the most in the short time he was there, suddenly unable to take care of himself and despite being Addams-like, still being conscious enough to be bullied by high school jocks. The Gomez murder plot was weak too, the build up of 'she wouldn't believe it' being just that Morticia killed Gareth Gates (not the singer) in self-defense was also weak I was expecting a lot more.
On the plus side, Fester and Thing were great, Fester was only in one episode but was entertaining and frantic, while Thing provided a lightness as both accomplice and wingman to Wednesday, but also having a mostly unseen bond with Enid and experiences with Tyler and Xavier.
Wednesday herself
Jenny Ortega, writing aside, was fantastic as Wednesday. Having nailed the cold wide glare, the dry tone and the silver tongued clapbacks, Ortega turned Wednesday into a capable, inquisitive loner but also one with flaws of being uncompassionate, untrusting and having been absorbed by tunnel vision. While Wednesday has these flaws that distances her from others, it also works to develop her on wearing down on these flaws. I do have some annoyance with the mother issues she has, the unpredictable nature of her visions are rather convenient also, but some of the best scenes are also moments where Wednesday is in full expression of her true self, particularly the cello scenes and the dance scene at the Rave'N. Ortega certainly filled the shoes of an iconic role that often kept the show afloat.
Conclusion
Overall, Wednesday was a good start as a spinoff, setting the foundations of what the show would be like. I would certainly watch more of Wednesday herself but I would dedicate more time to fleshing out the side characters properly, while also remembering the counter-normalcy roots of the Addams Family's appeal. Remember that Wednesday is not simply a gothier Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and overescalation does not make things more successful, Adult Wednesday Addams thrived on putting Wednesday's character in normal and everyday scenarios such as one night stands, confronting catcalling or having a job interview, people will watch for Wednesday but that doesn't mean effort beyond cliché and the odd wink nudge to the camera should not be put in.
The show is a decent watch, but considering Ortega's performance and the shoes they're filling, there was certainly more we could've gotten out of it.
Gwendoline Christie, Isaac Ordonez, Victor Dorobanur, George Burcea, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Iman Marson, William Houston, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Oliver Watson, Calum Ross, and Johnna Dian Watson have joined the cast of Tim Burton’s Wednesday. They join the previously cast Jenna Ortega (Wednesday Addams), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Morticia Addams), Luis Guzmán (Gomez Addams), Joy Sunday (Bianca Barclay), Emma Myers (Enid Sinclair), Hunter Doohan (Tyler Galpin), Moosa Mostafa (Eugene Otinger), Georgie Farmer (Ajax Petropolus), Naomi J. Ogawa (Yoko Tanaka), Percy Hynes White (Xavier Thorpe), Jamie McShane (Sheriff Donovan Galpin), Thora Birch (Tamara Novak), and Riki Lindhome (Dr. Valerie Kinbott). Tim Burton is directing from a script by Al Gough and Miles Millar.
Christie will portray Larissa Weems, the principal of Nevermore Academy who has an axe to grind with Morticia Addams, her former classmate.
Ordonez will portray Pugley Addams.
Dorobantu will portray Thing.
Burcea will portray Lurch.
Jenkins will portray Mayor Walker.
Marson will portray Lucas Walker.
Houston will prtray Joseph Crackstone.
Lewis-Nyawo will portray Deputy Santiago.
Oliver Watson will portray Kent.
Ross will portray Rowan.
Johnna Dias Watson will portray Divina.
Wednesday follows Wednesday Addams as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday will have her hands full as she “attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago - all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships of the strange and diverse student body.” (Netflix)
