Review by C.J. Bunce
More of… everything in the second season of the Netflix supernatural streaming series Wednesday may have you believing the new season is even better than the first. The exploits of the oldest teenage member of Charles Addams’ comics-turned 1960s live-action series and later theatrical and animated Addams Family was a fierce competitor in its first season with some classic supernatural hits, like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Stranger Things, Charmed, Haven, Grimm, and yes, even Buffy the Vampire Slayer, along with the relentless high school detective of Veronica Mars. With elements from the signature look and style of his Beetlejuice, the 1989 Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, Sleep Hollow, and A Nightmare Before Christmas, director Tim Burton somehow did more this year, leaning into what makes Tim Burton… Tim Burton, and upping the stakes for all of the characters.
It’s always going to be the right thing when your protagonist drives the entire narrative, and that’s just what Jenna Ortega did this season, returning to the title role with no signs that the 23-year-old actress playing a teen was anything but a teenage year older. The writing was smart and fun, while also darker, revisiting more of what made fans of the 1991 and 1993 Addams Family movies memorable and quote-worthy. So the season stuffed itself with gross dinner entrees, while not grossing us out, and hinted at plenty of dangerous threats between the family members and the friends. And Ortega returned as that believably brilliant cello player and fencing star, like she’d done it all for a century or more.
We could rave on and on at how Ortega perfectly embodies the modern angst-ridden teen with thoughts in the darkest of places. She is pristine and perfect in this role, whether dodging and protecting her BFF, Emma Myers’ Enid Sinclair, after receiving a premonition of her impending death, to both shooing and embracing her new young apprentice with invisible powers, Evie Templeton’s Agnes DeMille, to trying to protect her little brother, Isaac Ordonez’s Pugsley, from his newfound pet zombie, to her un-ending fight over much more than her ancestress’s book of secrets with her mother, Catherine Zeta-Jones’s Morticia, who had even more to do in the storylines this year. Why isn’t Zeta-Jones in more movies? Maybe she’s holding out for fun stuff like this. Regardless of the reason, she doesn’t seem to have lost any of the fire and passion from her Zorro days–exactly what you want from someone playing Morticia Addams.
As for the villains, the series knows how to write strong and compelling antagonists for our Gothic and Goth heroes. Last year that included the actress behind the original movie Wednesday, Christina Ricci, as well as Gwendoline Christie’s Principal Weems. But in the realm of the macabre, nobody stays dead for long. Christie returned as an even better incarnation of her prior role, this time reservedly guiding Wednesday through a series of secrets that may or not help Wednesday protect Enid. But the Big Bad was obvious, Steve Buscemi as new Principal Dort. Has Buscemi ever fully inhabited such a quirky role as this? It was a bit like watching William H. Macy for the first time in Fargo. Buscemi’s Dort was part Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter and part P.T. Barnum, always there with a positive message and a smile, despite the secrets of his past he kept well hidden.
The scripts touched on serious issues, too, embracing all things different with characters both strong and admirable. That’s saying something when the context is a fully fleshed out upgrade to Hogwarts from the Harry Potter books and movies. Somehow Burton’s school for the strange and gifted was something better, more promising, and more fun. From the remaining houses of Nevermore’s Outcasts, filled with Werewolves, Sirens, Gorgons, Sparks, Shapeshiftes, Psychics, Vampires, Pyros, Vanishers, the Itts, and machine-making DaVincis, to the elite Nightshades, it’s the extinct Outcasts like the Minotaurs, Cyclopses, Yetis, (and who knows what else?) that creates an endless possibility for future stories.
Even if you are a die-hard fan of the beloved Barry Sonnenfeld movies or the 1960s series starring John Astin or decades of animated series and movies, all based on Charles Addams’ groundbreaking comics, you can still climb aboard the fun of this show. Ortega is unflinching in her ability to step into the shoes of what is a weird, or strange, or morbid girl at first blush. But what Ortega reveals is that at her core she is perfectly normal. She just likes what she likes. Where weird is the norm, even she doesn’t think she’ll fit in, this take on the character is consistent with the prior versions, and it makes a great coming of age journey.
Back again is Fred Armisen as the perfect Uncle Fester, and just as he was the high point of the first season his episode is the high point of this season. Armisen is just that good. Well-known pop culture icons joined the cast this season: Christopher Lloyd was the disembodied Professor Orloff, Doctor Who’s Billie Piper was new werewolf Professor Capri, Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley played Wednesday’s grandmother, Frances O’Connor was another surprise antagonist, and Chewbacca actor Joonas Suotamo stepped into the role of Lurch. Even icon Anthony Michael Hall, Starship Troopers’ Casper van Dien and Lady Gaga drop in. But what is it with Jamie McShane’s agent? The talented actor (Longmire, Bosch) has become the go-to guy for the dreary and disturbed enforcer outcast.
Last season Wednesday’s family was there more as window dressing, but each was integrated into the mystery this year, simply a smart use of the characters who already bring with them years of backstory. Along with Zeta-Jones and Ordonez, Luis Guzmán tapped into his inner John Astin. Still no cousin Itt, but even Victor Dorobantu’s handy Thing was key to the story. That’s quite a lot to balance, lots of characters to provide time for. But it all drew together nicely for the finale, not devoid of its own cliffhanger and tensions all ready for Season 3.
The setting is Nevermore Academy, and the scripts don’t forget about the other kids. Of course Enid being in jeopardy was key, and her distaste for newbie Agnes became a source of recurring fun. Enid’s doting Ajax, played again by Georgie Farmer, was perfect again for the CW crowd. Moosa Mustafa’s Eugene was a good pal and roomie for new student Pugsley, Hunter Doohan returned as Wednesday’s ex, and Joy Sunday was a standout as the Siren student Bianca. But nothing this season topped the way Evie Templeton embodied the Single White Female and true outcast in need of help that was the invisible Agnes. She definitely earned her way to much more both in the next season and in other series and movies.
As for tropes, fans of supernatural series will find beats and character archetypes twisted and spliced again in new ways from all things Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Stephen King, and the show taps into the teen mystery genre as Wednesday tracks down clues like Veronica Mars or Nancy Drew. The writers continued to explore this relatively untapped world, expanding on the world-building of past incarnations into something sustainable. From Colleen Atwood and Mark Sutherland’s costume choices, to the production design, art direction, set design, visual and special effects, and music, Netflix viewers were treated to movie-level quality, imagination, and creativity. A camp episode, a body switching Freaky Friday episode, a masquerade ball, a carnival for Dios de los Muertos… so much was nicely packed into eight episodes.
One of the best series you will watch this year and tops of the supernatural, coming of age, and horror sphere, all episodes of Wednesday Season 2 join Season 1, now streaming only on Netflix.
