As a person who grew up loving both The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) (a rare combo where I believe the sequel is just as good as the original), I was cautious regarding Wednesday. Yes, all the trailers I watched looked promising, but these legacy re-imaginings don’t always go well. Nevertheless, I went in hoping for the best, expecting to be at least half amused. To my massive surprise, I was “fully” amused by most of this TV show. I didn’t expect this to be kind of Wednesday being a detective story and finally understood the hype about Jenna Ortega, who shines in this role. Her portrayal of Wednesday was so phenomenal, I don’t know whether it’s my recency bias, but she is on pair with “my Wednesday” Christina Ricci. I can’t pick who I prefer more in this role, and to me, that says everything about the quality of this show and the performance given by Jenna.
Let’s start with why Wednesday worked for me, as it was all about smart decisions. For example, we get the family, but only as side characters. They pop in, do their thing and are out of the picture, and that was brilliant because that decision allowed us to focus more on Wednesday’s character without thinking about when the rest of Addams’ family would show up. Speaking of them, I thought Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán did a fine job. I don’t think they could have done much more with the space they were given, and I didn’t mind either in their respective roles. I read the “backlash” against casting Luis as Gomez, as many knew him only as Raul Julia, this suave, charming beast. And I get it, Luis isn’t Raul but given they were trying to go back to the roots (in the original cartoons, that is how Gomez looked like), I admire the decision and thought Luis did a great job. He had some funny moments but had some sincere moments too, where he needed to utilize his dramatic chops, and I thought he nailed it.
Another aspect is the story itself, which is “borrowing” a few things from Harry Potter. Look, possibly they weren’t, and the Nevermore school is also part of some old cartoon I have never seen. But a school for gifted students, split into four “categories”? A mystery that all the adults are ignoring, so it’s up to the students to solve it? But if it ain’t broke… and it worked for this show. This show balanced the dark humour The Addams Family (and mainly Wednesday’s character) is known for with some good storytelling and the underlying themes you might expect by now (metaphors for everything from race to LGBTQ issues but neither seem heavy-handed). This show knew what it wanted to do and say and went ahead. It also chose the best protagonist – Jenna Ortega.
I have been hearing for a while that she might be the “next big thing”, and yeah, after finishing this show, I can see why. Jenna was spectacular as Wednesday. I believe this role is much tougher than it looks because I would imagine it’s tempting to stay “one note”. Just say everything deadpan and move on to the next scene, but she always added something more on top of her lines, something that assured me that she was “present”. The best compliment I can give her is her Wednesday evolves really slowly, therefore, at the end of season one, she is a tad different but still, the same snarky, dark humour-loving intellectual we know and love. It must be so hard having to translate that from the paper onto the screen, but Jenna managed to make it look effortless. Even if you aren’t into “teenagers run around and solve crimes” shows, I would still recommend watching this show for her performance alone. Her delivery was always on point; I felt safe with her leading this show; from the moment she appeared, she made me aware that she was the boss.
What also pleasantly surprised me was that I was wrong when I guessed the big bad. Well, kind of wrong and kind of right. Without going into any spoilers, there were a few layers to this story; some I guessed correctly, and others I was pleasantly surprised with. I also didn’t expect some deaths, and that is always a plus, given most of these shows usually telegraph deaths from miles away. But not Wednesday… or maybe I was just too entertained to notice.
The only tiny negative would be the open-ending, hinting that something even larger was happening. As much as I would love at least one more season, I would prefer if it was its own thing. Unless that is, the show’s creators actually have a plan for two or three seasons, and they set up things in this season to pay off in the upcoming seasons. If not, and if they get the go-ahead for the second season (as of writing this review, nothing has been confirmed yet), I would have preferred its own, totally separate story, maybe including more of the family members…? I just hope they won’t try to replicate the first season and build up on it too much, where we have to suspend our disbelief too much, as some TV shows have done in the past where they tried to outdo the first season. But that is it; I can’t say anything negative about this show.
Overall, Wednesday surprised me on all fronts. I went in hoping for the best, and my expectations were not only met but they were also surpassed. I can’t overstate enough; how much this show relies on the massive talent of Jenna Ortega. Her portrayal of Wednesday was doomed to fail, given most people watching this show grew up with Ricci’s impeccable take on that character and she not only managed to get close to her; she might have even surpassed her. But I am comparing incomparable things, Jenna had more time, and if there is a second season, she will get even more to show us where she would take this delightfully dark character. I can recommend this show, and I hope we will get at least one more season.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke