Wednesday: Season 2 - Part 2

While you can't dispute the success of Wednesday, I do firmly believe there is an argument about how this show understands the Addams Family source material. Sure, Jenna Ortega plays an excellent Wednesday Addams that feels about as authentic as it gets, but this version of the character exists in a world that feels estranged from what we expect from the Addams universe. In my thoughts of the first half of Season 2, I mentioned that it feels like Wednesday is more of an attempt to become another Riverdale, and while the second half of Season 2 does have some better and more interesting storylines, I can't help but feel as though that opinion holds true.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot that this show gets right, most of which surrounding the excellent gothic and spooky school of Nevermore Academy and the Addams Family gang itself. The school feels like a creepy and kooky version of Hogwarts, and the core family come across as well cast and well performed, with them always stealing the show when they make appearances. And, it's worth saying that some of the characters who have been introduced in this second round of episodes take better shape in this latter half of the season, especially Steve Buscemi's Principal Dort, who takes on a much more villainous gig, one where his narrative threads form into something more twisted. Similarly, the same can be said about the different Hydes and Pugsley's zombie, and how these are all connected to the Addams Family parents and their past at Nevermore. Again, it all takes greater shape as the episodes roll on, forming into something more interesting and focussed, and I can appreciate that.

But that being said, there's so much about this show that frankly doesn't feel as though it reflects the Addams Family values. Extended pop dance performances, a bigger emphasis on supporting characters who frankly are not interesting enough to carry their focus, cameos that don't really add a whole lot to the wider whole, and the core weird Addams nature being saturated by the sunshine and rainbows that radiate from some of the other Nevermore students...

You can argue that I'm perhaps not the core demographic for Wednesday, but at the same time, I'm not asking for the show to be dark and depressing, like a live-action Coraline, I just can't help but feel as though Wednesday would thrive and excel if it leaned more into the twisted and unsettling nature that we've known to expect from the Addams crew over the years. Since he's heavily involved with the project, let's put it in Tim Burton terms: Wednesday should be more Beetlejuice and less Alice Through the Looking Glass.

As the show has now given us two full years of Wednesday's life at Nevermore, perhaps it's time, as was the case for Riverdale's young characters, for the Addams daughter to grow up and maybe this will lead to some more authentically Addams storylines and moments, narrative threads that are beginning to be teased at the end of the second season. Even if this doesn't become a reality, there's still enough funding behind this show that you will constantly remain fulfilled by the fantastic set design, the excellent costumes, the star-studded cast, the top production quality, and the serviceable special effects. It's fine television, no doubt about that, but it never dares to be much more.

So long story short, if you're yet to catch up on Wednesday, take solace in the fact that the last four episodes of Season 2 have some better storylines, even if there are moments that are so anti-Addams in theme that you may want to fast-forward them until they're over. Oh, and once again, the best character often ends up being a severed hand, make of that what you will...