Wednesday is back! After three long years of delay, Jenna Ortega once again reprises her iconic role as the gothic, morbidly charming, and emotionally reserved Wednesday Addams. This highly anticipated Tim Burton production quickly rose the ranks on Netflix’s top shows, but alas, it fell short with several key factors.
*Season 1 Spoiler Alert*
To recap from Wednesday Season 1, Wednesday Addams is sent to Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts, after committing a revenge attack involving piranhas that results in her expulsion from her previous school. At Nevermore, she becomes entangled in a murder mystery when a monster begins terrorizing the nearby town of Jericho. As she investigates, Wednesday discovers a connection between the killings and a vengeful pilgrim ancestor, Joseph Crackstone, who harbored a deep-seated hatred for the outcast species. Meanwhile, she grapples with her growing psychic visions, a complicated love triangle involving Xavier, another outcast, and Tyler, a local barista in Jericho, as well as her unlikely friendship with her colorful, bubbly werewolf roommate, Enid Sinclair. The season concludes with Wednesday uncovering the Hyde monster to be Tyler, controlled by Ms. Thornhill, a teacher and dorm advisor for Nevermore, who is actually Laurel Gates, a descendant of Craskstone, leading to a fiery showdown, ultimately ending with Wednesday victorious.
This season, we follow the Addams family’s return to Nevermore Academy, where Wednesday unravels school secrets, encounters new threats, and faces the consequences of past mysteries and actions, all of which contribute to her developing character arc.
Before continuing with thoughts on the storyline, it would not be a complete review without acknowledging the awful decision to have two separate release dates. This decision was not only a nuisance and a frustration but also a disruption of the show’s narrative flow. I understand that it was a strategic choice aimed at extending their viewers’ subscription across two months. However, when you apply logic to the situation, you find out there are eight episodes, and releasing one each week would have achieved the exact same goal while also keeping the buzz and conversation alive for two straight months. Instead, we got two quick binges with two short windows of discussion before the show was promptly forgotten.
The first section of the two-part story follows Wednesday as she uncovers and unravels a new mystery involving a crow-related murder, a stalker, and the return of Tyler Galpin from Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital. These mysteries are very short-lived, predictable, and some are just completely out of left field, offering nothing to the storyline. Especially the big cliffhanger from the fourth episode that separates the two parts. If anyone has ever watched a show or even looked at the title of this television series, the outcome would not be unforeseeable in the slightest.
As for the plot, none of the villain arcs were compelling to watch. To the writer’s credit, some subplots were cohesive, but most felt like fillers that jumbled the execution of the main plan. The inclusion of a broader role for Pugsly was unnecessary and unenjoyable. He was not particularly interesting and often came off as more annoying than endearing. Instead of giving more screen time to underdeveloped antagonists or Pugsly, the show would have benefited from tightening the core narrative and focusing on conflicts that actually drove the story forward.
On the contrary, episode six was a refreshing, sort of stand-alone feeling addition. Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers, the actresses who play Wednesday and Enid, both delivered exceptional, layered performances that added depth to their characters. This highly praised episode allowed the actresses to explore an acting range they do not get to touch upon in their regular roles.
Speaking of episode six, Lady Gaga’s role has to be the most overhyped and heavily teased promotional disappointment of both seasons. Although she wrote another hit track for the season’s big dance number, she was overpromoted for having only two short scenes with minimal lines and little importance to the show as a whole. Her appearance can be called a cameo at best.
On a more positive note, I admire and fully support the choice to have Wednesday step back from romantic entanglements and primarily focus on her relations with Enid, her family, and her own character evolution. This decision not only felt true to her character but also provided space to explore her internal conflicts, the value of platonic bonds, and her emotional growth.
Unfortunately, the season contained mild, anticlimactic plot twists that were highly predictable. Rather than letting tension simmer or even giving the audience time to engage with the mystery and create suspense. Big reveals have little buildup, and the mysteries are resolved too quickly to feel even near satisfactory.
Despite the huge time gap between each season, the ideas seemed cluttered and rushed. There were so many storylines and subplots that it seemed as if they were just throwing ideas into the series as just a mark on a checklist rather than having a clear vision of how to pace the show strategically. Ultimately, this error ended in rushed, underdeveloped concepts and links.
Altogether, Season 2 has its moments, but it feels more like a missed opportunity than a triumphant return. Despite the solid performances from all the cast members, the underdeveloped storyline and inconsistent pacing really broke the overall structure.
With Season 3 already teased in the season finale, the first glimpses do not look promising, despite the heavily needed redemption by the Addams family.
