I finished Season 2 of the Netflix series Wednesday, based on the Addams Family character, then realized I never reviewed the first season. So here we go.
Wednesday
Rating: OK
Standouts:good performances
story is a bit incoherent
not really very Addams Family-ish
Season 2 of Wednesday came out three years after Season 1 concluded. I only remember two things about Season 1:
- It’s’ “Addams Family, but really Harry Potter”
- That one dance
It’s not a bad show, but obviously it’s something you enjoy for a little while, then (literally) forget about. But why?
It’s not the performances. I liked most of the actor performances. Many stood out: Jenna Ortega is good as Wednesday Addams, Catherine Zeta-Jones is good as her mother Morticia. I liked Luis Guzman’s Gomez Addams less, but still liked him. Fred Armisen is deranged as Uncle Fester; I like it. Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley was the break-out character of Season 2. Of the other teen actors, Emma Myers as Wednesday’s roommate Enid stood out, and Evie Templeton’s Agnes was very creepy, but the rest did a decent job, too. I just didn’t care about their characters.
As for what’s wrong: well, it’s a tad long, feeling more like a really long movie instead of a TV show, but that’s typical of TV shows made for streaming services, and it’s not as bad as other examples. But the story feels a bit incoherent. Too many things that don’t seem to have anything to do with the story. I think this is why I couldn’t remember much about the first season; I just couldn’t keep the story in my head.
Another issue that might be a problem for some: it doesn’t really feel entirely like the Addams Family. For one, in the '60s TV series and the '90s movies (mostly,) the family always felt like they really liked each other. Sure, the kids torture each other, but then they like torture, so it’s a sign of love. In Wednesday, however, Wednesday is at odds with her parents, especially her mother. Morticia’s at odds with her own mother. Everyone treats Thing as a slave.
The other reason it doesn’t feel like the Addams Family is because of the Harry Potter influence. They wanted magical kids at a magical kid school. But… the joke of the Addams Family has always been that the family thinks of themselves and their lifestyle as “normal”, while their neighbors and other people they encounter are weirded out.
That’s the opposite of the Harry Potter series, where the students all think “weird” is normal and only Harry is baffled because he grew up isolated from the wizarding world.
Wednesday can’t decide which way to go, so it oscillates back and forth. Wednesday’s schoolmates sometimes act like she’s weird, even though they are gorgons, werewolves, vampires, and the like. And then, suddenly, they all think Wednesday’s perfectly normal. Meanwhile, there’s a “normie” town nearby. You’d think that the townies would be the ones baffled by Wednesday and the students of Nevermore, but no… they are hostile towards Outcasts, but know all the lore.
So I can’t recommend Wednesday to the general public (in other words, it’s not Great, it’s OK.) But I also can’t necessarily recommend it to Addams Family fans. If you just want a goth girl mystery-comedy, or a replacement for Harry Potter because of the politics of the author, this might fit your needs.
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Agree with your review. I've only seen season 1 but I felt the same way. Enjoyed the show but more or less forget everything afterwards. It did feel Harry Potterish which takes away from the whole Adams Family thing. One thing I find interesting is the Luis Guzman’s Gomez Addams. He looks like Gomez in the comics but mentally John Astin was Gomez in the show, and Raul Julia was Gomez in the movies and they were more handsome and smooth. So Hollywood upgraded Gomez so now its odd to see the original version.
ReplyDeleteThe difference in Gomez's appearance certainly takes some getting used to. My only really complaint about Guzman's performance is he just doesn't seem as passionate as either Astin or Julia's Gomez and doesn't seem to react as quick.
DeleteAlthough additionally I have complaints about Gomez being a formerly-magical Outcast with lightning powers. The whole "people with weird powers" thing just doesn't do it for me when we're talking about the Addams family. Aside from Fester in the TV series, none of the Addams family members seemed to have powers per se, just weird interests and appearances.
My wife, daughter, and I are not very familiar with the Addams Family. As such, we watched the series with little to no expectations, and we really enjoy it. We think of it as a gothic Harry Potter.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, if you have no expectations and are just looking for something Harry Potter-like, it could be quite enjoyable. Even I liked it well enough, despite things I didn't like. It's OK. It's by Tim Burton, and I like some of his stuff. It's got some good performances. It's aimed at a very particular audience, and that's fine.
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