Wednesday Review

Not counting the recent animated movies, we haven’t had a good live-action version of Charles Addams’ newspaper comic strip The Addams Family in over 30 years. Taking one of the more interesting and morbid characters from the family, giving it one of the most perfect casting choices in history, and putting it into the hands of gothic filmmaker Tim Burton has resulted in Netflix’s Wednesday series being a part tribute, part original work, and 100% worth your time.

Title: Wednesday
Production Company: Millar Gough Ink, 1.21 Films, Glickmania Media, Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, MGM Television
Distributed by: Netflix
Written by: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Tim Burton
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Luis Guzmán, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Based on: The Addams Family created by Charles Addams
Release dates: November 23, 2022
Running time: 45-50 Minutes per Episode (8 Episodes)
Rating: PG13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q73UhUTs6y0

Welcome to Nevermore… (Story)

Episode Story Summary – SPOILERS

[toggler title=”Episode 1: Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe” ]Wednesday Addams, a high-school student, finds her brother Pugsley tied up in a locker. She sees a psychic vision of his bullies whom she attempts to kill in revenge but gets expelled. Her parents, Morticia and Gomez, decide to enroll her in Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts. Meanwhile, a hiker is killed by an unknown creature near Nevermore. Wednesday’s parents release Thing, a sentient disembodied hand, to watch over her. She meets her roommate Enid, her complete opposite, and duels with Bianca, the popular girl, after she bullies another boy, Rowan. Later, Wednesday is nearly killed by a falling gargoyle but is saved by Bianca’s ex-boyfriend Xavier. After escaping her court-ordered therapy session, Wednesday meets Tyler, who agrees to help her escape from Nevermore. However, she is apprehended by principal Larissa Weems and taken back to the school. Later, Tyler and Wednesday meet at the local fair, and Wednesday gets a vision of Rowan’s death. Rowan attempts to kill her but is murdered by the monster.[/toggler] [toggler title=”Episode 2: Woe Is the Loneliest Number” ]Wednesday manages to convince a skeptical Sheriff Galpin that the perpetrator of the murders is in fact a monster. Suddenly, Rowan reappears unharmed. Wednesday doubts her sanity and decides to investigate the murders herself. She roams the campus inquiring about Rowan and is told that he has been expelled. Meanwhile, Weems grows worried about Wednesday’s visions, keeping close tabs on her. She confronts a defensive Rowan as he leaves the school and sends Thing to follow him. Rowan is revealed to be Weems who has shapeshifted into him, and Thing loses them. Wednesday has visions of a book belonging to an old students’ society. In her search for the book, she overhears Bianca planning to rig the upcoming student tournament. Wednesday joins Enid to defeat Bianca and win the tournament. Later, Wednesday discovers a hidden library within the school, where she is captured.[/toggler] [toggler title=”Episode 3: Friend or Woe” ] Wednesday finds herself tied up and surrounded by members of an elite students’ society, including Bianca and Xavier. Wednesday frees herself and leaves the library, taking one of the books with her. Weems orders Wednesday to play in the school’s band at an upcoming town ceremony. A drawing in the book leads her to an exhibition at a local fair, where she notices the painting of a girl she had seen in her visions. In the forest, Wednesday envisions the girl—believed to be an old ancestor of hers—ready to be executed by Joseph Crackstone, the town’s forefather who is dead set on killing all misfits, but she is able to escape. Wednesday is ambushed by the monster, which she discovers to be human. Back in town, Wednesday crashes the ceremony and is scolded by Weems. While investigating a crime scene in the forest, police find a camera that managed to capture photographs of the monster.[/toggler] [toggler title=”Episode 4: Woe What a Night” ] Wednesday and Thing break into the coroner’s office to copy the files of the monster’s victims. In trying to identify a pattern, she finds that each victim has had bodyparts surgically removed. Wednesday becomes suspicious of Xavier and follows him into his art studio, where she discovers several drawings of the monster, leading her to the monster’s lair. There, she retrieves one of its claws and gives it to Sheriff Galpin to match its DNA. Wednesday and Tyler attend a local dance together. Meanwhile, classmate Eugene, who is privy to Wednesday’s investigative work, witnesses a cloaked figure detonating the monster’s cave. The dance is interrupted by the mayor’s son, who triggers the building’s fire sprinklers in revenge of Wednesday disrupting the town ceremony. Wednesday senses that Eugene is in danger and heads into the forest, only to find him gravely injured by the monster.[/toggler] [toggler title=”Episode 5: You Reap What You Woe” ] 32 years ago, Gomez is arrested on suspicion of killing Garrett Gates at Nevermore. At present time, the Addamses visit Wednesday for parents’ weekend at Nevermore. A family therapy session is cut short when Wednesday confronts her parents about the suspected murder. Meanwhile, Sheriff Galpin learns that the coroner has committed suicide after admitting to fabricating Gates’s autopsy report. Galpin concludes that Gomez is guilty and arrests him. In prison, Gomez reveals to Wednesday that Gates was killed by accident. Wednesday and Morticia dig up Gates’s grave to find that he had been poisoned but are caught by police and arrested for the night. Later, they confront the mayor, who reveals that Garrett intended to poison the entire school. The mayor agrees to release Gomez after admitting to covering up Gates’s motive. Back at Nevermore, Weems reluctantly admits to covering up Rowan’s death by means of shapeshifting in an effort to evade controversy at the school.[/toggler] [toggler title=”Episode 6: Quid Pro Woe” ] Wednesday attempts to summon Goody, an old ancestor and fellow psychic. During a surprise birthday party, Wednesday has a vision of Goody, who instructs her to seek out the Gates’ mansion. There, she witnesses the mayor as he is leaving the building and sneaks into his car. After arriving back in town, the mayor is run over and severely injured. Weems locks down the school and forbids Wednesday to leave campus. With Tyler and Enid’s help, she escapes and returns to the Gates’ mansion. There, they discover that Laurel Gates, Garrett’s relative long believed to be dead, might still be alive. They find the severed bodyparts of the monster’s victims in a cellar but are forced to escape after being ambushed by the monster. Wednesday leads Galpin to the cellar, only to find it empty. At Nevermore, Wednesday convinces Weems not to expel her in order to be able to further pursue her investigation. At the hospital, an unknown figure kills the mayor.[/toggler] [toggler title=”Episode 7: If You Don’t Woe Me by Now” ] At the mayor’s funeral, Wednesday notices a lurking figure and chases it into the forest. The figure is revealed to be Uncle Fester, who explains to Wednesday that the monster she has been investigating is a Hyde. Together, they retrieve a diary from the hidden library revealing that a Hyde must always have a master. Later, they track and follow Xavier, who they witness meeting up with Dr. Kinbott, Wednesday’s therapist, in the forest. After returning from a date with Tyler, Wednesday finds her dorm ravaged, the diary stolen, and Thing gravely injured. Research into Laurel Gates reveals that she is both alive and the master of the Hyde. Wednesday initially suspects Dr. Kinbott, but she is killed by the Hyde. Police arrive to arrest Xavier, who Wednesday believes to be the creature. Wednesday decides to enter a relationship with Tyler but suddenly has a vision of him being the Hyde.[/toggler] [toggler title=”Episode 8: A Murder of Woes” ] Wednesday and her classmates lure Tyler into the forest, where they kidnap him. Seeking a confession, Wednesday starts torturing Tyler. Disagreeing with her methods, her classmates alert Weems and Wednesday is arrested. At the police station, Tyler finally confesses to being the monster. Fed up with Wednesday’s behavior, Weems expels her from Nevermore. Wednesday visits Eugene at the hospital, who tells her that the figure he saw at the monster’s cave wore red boots, matching Ms. Thornhill’s. Using her shapeshifting powers, Weems and Wednesday get Thornhill to confess her true identity—Laurel Gates. However, Gates is able to kill Weems and subdue Wednesday. Using Wednesday’s blood, Gates resurrects Crackstone and leaves Wednesday to die, but Goody appears to heal her. Enid, having finally transformed into her werewolf form, defeats Tyler, in his Hyde form, while Crackstone breaches Nevermore in his pursuit to destroy the school. After a struggle, Wednesday manages to destroy Crackstone and kill Gates. Xavier is released from prison, and Wednesday departs Nevermore for the holidays.[/toggler]

Story Review – Some Vague Spoilers

Wednesday is a story that is mostly a horror-based detective story, with the pigtailed sociopath at the center of the investigation. From moment one, you are following Wednesday while she adapts (begrudgingly) to life at Nevermore, a boarding school where her parents met and fell in love. At first you think this is going to be one of those stories where the dark raven is going to leave the nest, make a bunch of friends, and become a brighter and more normal member of society… Except this is the world of the Addams Family, where things like that are more nightmare than fantasy. Wednesday goes about spreading its own version of dark macabre mystery from the get-go with murder being on the menu and a LOT of people who could have done it. Add in a history of the town of Jericho being one of the original settlement towns with a history of witch-burnings due to the normies of Jericho living with the native outcasts (Vampires, Werewolves, Hydes, Gorgons, and other mythical creatures). It’s this connection in which Wednesday finds herself being dragged into things, helping solve not only a new local mystery but also clearing a mystery around her own parents at the same time.

To say that Wednesday is a show with a lot of twists and turns is an understatement. Almost every episode had me and my wife debating who the overall villain was, who the monster was, and how everything was connected with the Addams Family in general. We followed Wednesday with every clue she uncovered, getting as frustrated as the character when she was cut off by the local authorities or the headmaster of Nevermore. By the time we were dong watching Wednesday‘s 8 episodes, we were in love with the world and wanted more straight away.

Normies and Outcasts (Characters)

• Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams
  Ortega as the title character will go down alongside William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, and Alan Rickman as Severus Snape as one of those castings that cannot be replaced. Ortega brings the deadpan, sass, intelligence, and macabre that the character has been known for in all media while giving Wednesday… *gasp*… Emotions! Most of the time Ortega plays Wednesday Addams a negative Nancy Drew to perfection and even some moments where I’d normally groan at the inclusion of specific third-wave feminist language I was accepting of it since Ortega makes it work for the character. Wednesday is one of those roles for Ortega where I, alongside many Addams family fans, would love to see her be rocketed into stardom from here.
• Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair
  It must be hard to play someone who is meant to be the opposite of Wednesday Addams. Myers is given the task of playing a very positive, energetic, and loving werewolf character who is trying to not only get Wednesday to like her but also help Wednesday assimilate into the social world of Nevermore Academy. Myers does an excellent job of not only being a friend to Ortega’s character but growing as a character over the 8 episodes to the point where you grow some attachment to Enid through her acting skills and become interested in her as a character. There is a small sub-plot around Enid’s ability to “wolf out” during a full moon that has a predictable but excellent payoff but could have been something that could have easily been milked for a couple of seasons.
• Victor Dorobantu as Thing
  Outside of seeing Cousin IT (Which we don’t, but we do get a reference) I love seeing Thing be shown in anything Addams Family related. It’s always good to see a silent character and what they need to do to emote in a world where everyone else can talk. Thing using sign language (though one-handed, obviously) is always a good thing to see as I’m all for more use of sign language in movies and TV shows. But as usual, Thing can be a scene stealer at times, but this is ok since it’s not hard to grow attached to that loveable hand.
• Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin
  Beware those boys who are as bland as milk for some of them have a secret to hide. Tyler was one of those characters who you think will be the romantic normie love interest for Wednesday, and ends up that way before the writers throw some interesting twists in at the last minute. This ends up being a problem for both Tyler as a character and Doohan as an actor as he has to be bland as anything in a world of normies and outcasts till the last 2 episodes when he finally gets a chance to do something interesting. Let’s hope that season 2 (if it happens) gives him more to do with the overall story.
• Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay
  A Siren who comes off, at first, as the nemesis for Wednesday. However, she has a darker past being connected to a local cult which uses the Siren song to fleece members of as much money as possible. While Sunday does a great job when is trying to be the Queen bitch in Nevermore, she seems to settle and soften very quickly, becoming somewhat friendly to Wednesday out of nowhere and then befriending a local normie late in the show. One of the characters who really doesn’t get the time she deserves in Wednesday.
• Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe
  Another student at Nevermore that feels really under-developed. Used more as a plot point and red-hearing due to his ability to bring paintings to life, Xavier becomes one of two suitors for Wednesday, which should have created a really enjoyable love triangle, but doesn’t pull the trigger on it at all till the plot demands it late in the show. White does a good job playing the outcast among outcasts, hiding away from everyone as much as possible, but he doesn’t get enough to work with in the show at all.
  
• Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Otinger
  Low iter MVP. A bee-loving (and controlling) nerd who is befriended by Wednesday only due to the fact that his bee-keeping club is far enough away from the spying eyes of Nevermore that it works as a base of operations for Wednesday. Mostafa plays a very loyal friend who doesn’t know he is being used, and when he is taken out of action for a part of the show, you really feel for the kid and want to see him recover. A good comedy-ish character played by a good actor.
  
• Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems
  The principal of Nevermore Academy and a former student who was roommates with Morticia Addams. You’d think that this would be some sort of driving factor of the rift between Weems and Wednesday, but its not. The driving factor for Weems is protecting the school at any cost, even forgetting about some things in order to keep the peace with the Jericho normies. Christie as an actor is amazing, using her height as a bold intimidation factor to bring presence to her character at all times. A true highlight of the series.
  
• Christina Ricci as Marylin Thornhill
  The former Wednesday Addams that everyone has grown up loving gets a more than substantial role on Wednesday. Playing the only normie teacher at Nevermore with an almost Poison Ivy style of interest in plant life, Ricci does a good job of being sort of “mid” when it comes to her time on screen. She could have easily taken the spotlight from the younger actors on Wednesday, but instead, she keeps to the back of most moments, leaving the spotlight for the kids to shine in. This is a true testament to how good of an actor Ricci is. But when she does get her moment later in the series, we get to see what happens when she takes her acting to 11. A great way to use the former Wednesday to enhance the new Wednesday.
• Jamie McShane as Sheriff Donovan Galpin
  For someone that we spend a lot of time with on Wednesday, the Galpin character is such a cookie-cutter. As the local authority of Jericho, he comes off as the troubled, shut-off, angry, grudge-holding officer that we’ve seen in many other shows. We learn early that he is keeping a secret for the town, and himself, but even once things are starting to come to light, Galpin doesn’t change his resolve, leaving any character growth for a future series. As for McShane and his performance, he did everything perfectly, making him someone whom you both love and hate at the same time, but ultimately have zero sympathies for when things come to light.
  
• Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester
  I’m sure that there are people out there who do not understand how good Armisen and his version of Fester are given that most of us have grown up with the very altered Christopher Lloyd version. Fester is a crook, scam artist, thief, murderer, and all-around nasty guy. But he loves his family, especially Wednesday. Seeing this version of Fester show up on Wednesday is a welcome addition to the series as he knows more things than other members of the family know, and wants to help Wednesday only because he loves her. At the same time, you know he is working some angle at all times, even testing Wednesday and making sure that she is living up to his high low standards. If anything I would say that Armisen’s acting as Fester is the best to be put onto the media of all time, outpacing the standard that Lloyd set years ago.
• Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams
  I’m going to get more into this later, but I really didn’t like Guzman as Gomez. Sure, he has the look of the original character design, but there was a lack of charisma from the acting that really left a sour taste in my mouth. Yes, I’ll admit that Raul Julia will always be the standard I hold the character up to, but even if I took that standard away, Guzman is just not that good. I guess I’ll blame it on the dentures he wore for the character or something. Even a story based around him didn’t help me feel anything but woe for the character.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams
  I don’t know what to make of Zeta-Jones as Morticia. She has the look down, even if she does need a few more layers of grey foundation to capture that dead look the character is meant to have. However, her acting works well for the character too, showing the morbid nature of Morticia while also being the worried and loving mother to Wednesday who only wants the best for her daughter. Luckily, things do not focus on Morticia as much as it could have given Zeta-Jones’ star power, but when she is around she does a decent job of making a modern Morticia look like she should.
• Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams & George Burcea as Lurch
  Sadly these two get so little screen time that they barely deserve a mention. Lurch doesn’t even really groan as he does in other media, leaving him mute and almost invisible throughout any time he is around. Pugsley gets the same treatment, only appearing in 3 episodes, with less than 5 minutes in each. A real shame since it’s the family dynamic for all of the characters that make the Addams Family one of the best families in media.

Creepy and Kooky… (What worked)

Where to begin with Wednesday… As someone who is a fan (and married to a superfan) of The Addams Family, it was very hard to not go into watching Wednesday without my fandom showing through. Leading up to the release of the show, we were researching Wednesday as much as possible, watching every trailer time and time again, watching interviews, and just getting our hands on every bit of Wednesday media in the lead-up to the show going on air.

To say, as fans, that Wednesday ticked every box from start to finish is an understatement, and even now I’m having a hard time finding words to describe how excited and entertained I was watching Wednesday beyond “You have to see it for yourself”. From the opening moments of Wednesday protecting Pugsley at school, you know that there has been a lot of love, care, and dedication to the style of Charles Addams’ original comic strips while paying tribute to the very successful movies from the 1990s, as well as the older black and white TV series. Once Wednesday gets to Nevermore and the actual story begins, you are strapped in for a story that covers many twists and turns over 8 episodes, with speculation about the story coming thick and fast as you work things out alongside our favorite mini lover of death.

What keeps Wednesday fresh is that it’s not beholden to anything that came before it. Wednesday isn’t a sequel to The Addams Family Values, nor the recent Addams Family animated movies. This gives Wednesday a chance to create its own world, with only references to past series and movies being used very sparingly. A huge part of this comes from the casting of the Nevermore students, all of whom get small moments to shine and start their own stories, even if all of them do not pan out beyond one episode or one moment in the show.

Speaking of the family, you do get some moments with most of the clan, with single episodes dedicated to one or more of the Addams clan just to break things up a bit. These side stories, with Gomez being accused of murder, and Uncle Fester showing up between crimes, both give the other members of the cast a chance to shine and get compared to their previous counterparts. The fact that these stories do line up with everything that is going on on Wednesday is a testament to the idea that this is Wednesday’s world, and we’re just being tolerated by her in it.

But not all is doom and gloom on Wednesday. There are moments on Wednesday when comedy or romance take center stage. An excellent example is the Rave’N, a prom-style dance where Ortega herself choreographed her own dance sequence that is both funny and also fitting to the weirdness that she brought to the character. On the other hand, we have romantic moments between Enid and Ajax which are also funny due to the way the Enid character is so forward in personality while Ajax can be as dumb as stone.

Not quite mysterious and spooky (What Didn’t Work)

While I do see Wednesday as one of those series where I personally think it is perfect, there are some small things that frustrated me while watching. The main complaint I have with Wednesday is that there wasn’t much focus on the other characters featured in Nevermore. I understand upon reflection that this is done so that there is some story to work with in future seasons (if they actually get more given how fickle Netflix is when it comes to doing more live-action seasons recently).

Outside of that, I don’t really think there is anything else I think didn’t work on Wednesday… Ok, ok, I’ll say it. Yes, Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams does get a bit annoying. I know that this version of Gomez is much more like the recent animated version, which is based on the comic strip original. However, I think that John Astin and Raul Julia’s versions of the character have become the ones that most people think about when they hear the name, Gomez Addams. Guzmán has the right look for the character, being repugnant and short, but he doesn’t have the off-the-charts charisma that Astin and Julia brought to the character, and its a shame since people think its that charisma and confidence that Morticia finds attractive.

A tribute in character while being something new (Closing)

It’s no secret that I’m going to be very positive about Wednesday, given my love for the Addams Family. Wednesday is one of those series where you binge-watch the whole 8 episodes over 2 nights and you want more right away. As I said before, if this doesn’t turn Jenna Ortega into a superstar then I lose faith in the Hollywood system finding great people to help build the future of TV and cinema. From the opening notes of the great theme by Danny Elfman to the look of the monster stalking everyone that is very Tim Burton in design, to the casting of some of the best kids to do a weird high school in a while, Wednesday is just that perfect mix that creates a world while paying homage to the people, characters, and lore than came before it.