‘23
On Wednesday, November 23, Netflix launched a new 8-episode series titled Wednesday and it was exactly as everyone expected: creepy and kooky. This show features a very Harry Potter-esque feel of a teenager with special abilities who is dropped at a boarding school to face a monster only they can defeat.
Wednesday depicts the story of Wednesday Addams of the Addams family, attending a school of “outcasts” called “Nevermore.” These outcasts form cliques including werewolves, gorgons, psychics, sirens, vampires, and more. Wednesday is reluctantly dropped at this school after being expelled from her last and has to deal with being in her mother’s shadow as she is a proud alumni of Nevermore. Wednesday is paired with a roommate, Enid, who at first, would not be her top choice. Enid is a peppy werewolf with an admiration for rainbows and stuffed animals which is the complete opposite of Wednesday who, as one character notes, looks like she is in black and white. Wednesday learns over the course of the year how to trust, befriend, and even fall in love with others but faces hiccups along the way. She was almost murdered countless times throughout the year and on top of it all, she discovers that there is a monster lurking in the woods claiming the lives of both normal people from town (known as “Normies”) and outcasts. To sum it up, as Wednesday stated, “I narrowly avoided death twice, discovered that my father may be a murderer, learned that I could potentially destroy the school, and was mysteriously saved by a homicidal monster.” Hectic? Yes. But Wednesday offers a mystery that not only will make viewers binge the whole series in one sitting, but will also leave them grasping at what the conclusion might be.
In addition, this show measures up to past Addams Family films but focuses much more on the eldest child, only featuring Wednesday’s Parents, Morticia and Gomez, her brother Pugsley, and her Uncle Fester briefly throughout. Jenna Ortega, the actress behind Wednesday, even called back to the past show during the outcast’s prom as she danced in a style that young Wednesday did in the original show.
This season does end on a cliffhanger, setting up a possible season two. Although there has been no official renewal of the show for season two, the popularity almost guarantees it. Overall this show has won over viewers and received great reviews in its first few weeks while having a balance between the past Addams family shows and new adventures satisfying all ages and audiences.
