After its record-shattering debut and then a three-year-long hiatus, Netflix’s Wednesday returned to the Addams family and their world of Normies and Outcasts for a rather disappointing second season. With newfound and self-proclaimed mastery of her psychic powers, and after stopping a serial killer, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) returns for another semester at Nevermore. However, her self-aggrandizing claim about her abilities is quickly proven false when they disappear altogether, though not before an ominous vision teases the end for Wednesday’s best friend, Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers). Ultimately, this powerful beginning quickly turns sour, as the story throughout this too-short, eight-episode season becomes increasingly convoluted and, frankly, quite messy.
The first season may have been far from perfect—for starters, everything to do with Xavier (Percy Hynes White)—but it presented an intriguing and provoking twist on the traditional Addams family lore, incorporating magic and monsters into the world around this eccentric and spooky family. Most importantly, it sought to showcase Wednesday as a character in her own right, not just the daughter in the larger family unit. It didn’t take itself too seriously, providing a nice balance between drama and comedy. The second season feels like a soft reboot, desperately trying to darken the world, creating a more threatening and serious atmosphere that results in Wednesday no longer feeling like an outlier in the world, damaging much of her charm. In fact, embracing the darkness so heartily drags just about every character down, too, like Enid, whose sunny disposition and stark contrast to Wednesday was a breath of fresh air, but who is altogether lacking a certain je ne sais quoi when we see her again. The show's major shift in direction touches every aspect to varying degrees, and it was an utter mistake, especially after its debut was such a roaring success.
Credit: Netflix
Personally, and this is surely an incredibly unpopular opinion, promoting Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Isaac Ordonez to series regulars, as Morticia, Gomez, and Pugsley, respectively, was a disaster. Nothing against them, as they are each unbelievably talented, but my initial skepticism and hesitation about this choice from the moment it was announced were proven to be justified. One of the most appealing things about Wednesday was breaking apart this beloved TV family and sending Wednesday off into the world on her own. For once, she was at the forefront, able to unleash her chaos and unique personality onto the world without the comfort of her similarly strange family behind her. This close-knit and unusual family has always faced the world together, but here we saw Wednesday forced to adapt—to an extent, of course—and stay true to herself with outside forces constantly pushing back. It was a departure from the norm, a new avenue in which to explore the Addams family, that made reviving this family worthwhile. It was also a challenge for the writers to stay true to this character in a new world, which the debut definitely accomplished.
That said, keeping Morticia, Gomez, and Pugley around full-time quickly became overbearing, and it was easy to see how the series took a step backward. Considering the Addams family members are not ones to seek out the comfortable and easy, it’s rather ironic that Wednesday did just that by embracing the familiar and overdone. Worse, with her family around and the strange choice to have Wednesday hailed as a hero by her peers, she no longer stood out in her classically woeful and off-putting ways. She became just another Addams once again. Additionally, and perhaps the biggest flaw of all, is that neither Morticia, Gomez, nor Pugsley was given anything interesting to do, and certainly nothing that couldn’t have been accomplished by another character — sans the mother/daughter strife, which is truly the only thing gained by this because they’ve created a fascinating relationship between Wednesday and Morticia and Zeta-Jones and Ortega have great chemistry. This left all three feeling like empty shells of the characters in the shadows of those who played them before (and with much better material, to boot). If they are given more interesting things to do without consistently undercutting Wednesday, maybe it would be worth it. Until then, continuing with the three characters as recurring characters limited to just a couple of appearances throughout the season is plenty.
Credit: Netflix
As for the story itself, there was simply far too much going on. Everything to do with Morning Song, Bianca (Joy Sunday), and shady Principal Dort (Steve Buscemi) was wholly unnecessary. Moreover, it was a complete waste of Bianca, leaving her mostly isolated and just killing time. Jumping from the reveal that Enid’s an alpha to potentially stuck as a wolf forever in just a couple of episodes was not nearly enough buildup, and the major changes going on with Tyler (Hunter Doohan)—from his father and master dying to his mother’s return from the dead and becoming his new master—did not feel earned or properly explored. In fact, nothing was properly explored, nor were any of the stories granted the proper level of focus. All of the stories failed to grasp the much-needed emotional elements, and the characters and their relationships suffered by extension.
On a brighter note, the highlight of Wednesday season 2 is definitively Lady Gaga cursing Wednesday and Enid to suffer a body swap that quickly results in death. Though I may not always be 100% on Ortega’s performance as the woeful Wednesday, she proved her talent tremendously with her eerie impersonation of Myers as Enid, capturing her vocal inflections and body language near perfectly. (Myers also delivered a great performance channeling the titular character.) It was a brilliant move to showcase and strengthen this fan-favorite relationship—no matter how you may view said relationship—while also capturing everything the series should be and balancing heavy subject matter and imminent death with a degree of fun and a chorus of laughter. And, having Wednesday and Enid eventually bring Agnes (Evie Templeton) into the fold and expanding their duo into a trio was an unexpected delight as well.
Looking to the future, I hope Wednesday does another drastic course-correction. The writers made things way too complicated in the second season, sending the characters in too many directions without a true through-line. Things need to be simplified because there’s already too much on the horizon with Wednesday chasing down a wolfed-out Enid, Morticia’s sister Ophelia being alive in their mother’s dungeon and painting the wall with a mysterious “Wednesday must die” message, and Tyler seeking out a pack of other Hydes.