Creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky.
Netflix's "Wednesday" is all these things and more, and is mostly very successful at
mixing genuine scares with morbid humor.
But every once in a while, it doesn't quite nail it.
These are the hit series' biggest hits and misses.
Wednesday Addams is undoubtedly one of the most beloved characters of the "Addams Family" franchise.
Her deadpan expressions and love of all things macabre are oddly endearing traits that have
made her an American icon.
After the character was portrayed by Christina Ricci in the 1991 and 1993 Barry Sonnenfeld
movies, whoever would take on the mantle of Wednesday would have some massive shoes to fill.
Thankfully, Jenna Ortega is the perfect choice for the gothic Cinderella.
Ortega captures the spirit and look of Wednesday Addams perfectly, from her black-and-white
outfits to her grim expression and spot-on, sardonic delivery.
"Lurch, please remind my parents that I'm no longer speaking to them."
She delivers plenty of memorable moments, including taking revenge on the swim team
for bullying her brother Pugsley by dropping a school of bloodthirsty piranhas into the
swimming pool.
In another hilarious scene, Wednesday is forced to volunteer at the local pilgrim theme park
for the school's outreach program.
Dressed in colonial garb, she informs a group of tourists that the fudge they are sampling
is made from cacao beans "procured by the oppressed indigenous people of the Amazon."
She adds,
"All proceeds go to uphold this pathetic whitewashing of American history."
While we'll always have a place in our hearts for Ricci's Wednesday, Ortega's portrayal
lives up to the legend.
The biggest mystery in "Wednesday" involves a creature called a Hyde, which terrorizes
the small town of Jericho and the Nevermore school.
Wednesday discovers that the Hyde is actually a human who transforms into the ferocious
beast, and that their abilities were unlocked by someone who is now controlling them.
Wednesday is determined to find out the monster's true identity, as well as the person pulling
the strings.
Wednesday deduces that the person helping the hyde is Laurel Gates, the younger sister
of Garett Gates, who suffered a fatal accident at the time Wednesday's parents attended Nevermore.
Laurel is hiding her true identity, however.
"Laurel was presumed drowned, but no body was ever recovered."
At one point, Wednesday is visiting her friend Eugene in the hospital when her court-ordered
therapist, Dr. Valerie Kinbott, arrives with a vase of flowers.
After Wednesday leaves, Kinbott neatly arranges the vase filled with pale pink roses on a table.
The camera focuses for a long moment on the flowers, so clearly, they're important.
Sure enough, when Wednesday, Enid, and Tyler stake out the old Gates house, they find Laurel's
old room recently lived in and decorated with the pink roses from the hospital.
This leads Wednesday to believe that Kinbott is actually the missing Laurel Gates.
But it all fits a little too neatly, and the fact that the hospital scene seems to linger
a little too long on the roses makes it all too clear that this is a classic, and perhaps
too-obvious misdirection.
Director Tim Burton has always had a unique view of the world.
Throughout his most notable features, such as "Edward Scissorhands," "Beetlejuice," "Frankenweenie,"
and 1989's "Batman," Burton's art reflects his tendency to see the world from a gleefully
morbid perspective.
"If you gotta go, go with a smile!"
It's a wonder that it took so long for him to deliver his own take on "The Addams Family"
franchise, because it seems to fit him like a pair of lacy Victorian gloves.
Burton directs four of the eight episodes of "Wednesday," and his trademark gothic aesthetic
is present throughout.
Wednesday's monochromatic attire is highlighted by various hints of color, such as the stained
glass window in her dorm room that she shares with her werewolf roommate, Enid.
Enid's bright personality is reflected in her fashion, and the window on her side of
the room is painted in bright colors.
Wednesday's side, meanwhile, is colorless and bleak, as is her half of the large window.
Wednesday is even fitted with her own custom black Nevermore Academy uniform, as she is
apparently allergic to color.
It isn't just Wednesday Addams' look that gets the Tim Burton treatment.
Nevermore Academy itself, with its gothic architecture and shadowy recesses are also
reminiscent of Burton's previous work.
The design of the Hyde monster is also distinctly Burtonesque, with its wide, bulging eyes and
rows of razor-sharp teeth.
In her psychic visions, Wednesday is able to communicate with the spirit of her ancestor,
Goody Addams.
Wednesday and Goody look almost identical, and Goody is also played by Ortega.
We learn that Goody was a powerful witch who, like Wednesday, had visions.
She was a sworn enemy of Jericho's oppressive founder, Joseph Crackstone, whose hatred of
outcasts was all-consuming.
In a truly despicable act, Crackstone gathered all Jericho's outcasts, locked them in a barn,
and had it set on fire, leaving everyone inside to burn alive.
Goody would later curse Crackstone's remains so that he could never rise again.
Many viewers might just dismiss the name "Goody" as an old-fashioned sign of the times.
But anyone who is knowledgeable about early American history or of Arthur Miller's play
"The Crucible" might raise their eyebrows at this one, because "Goody" isn't a name
at all.
It's a title.
Thought Co. confirms that in the 17th century, Goody was a title for a married woman.
It was short for "goodwife," and would be equivalent to today's use of "Mrs."
There is no mention of Goody Addams being married, and though it is possible that this
was the case, the show's writers don't clarify.
So we're left to assume that Goody is actually intended to be her first name.
Wednesday even says it's her name.
"Her name is Goody Addams."
At the heart of Season 1 of Netflix's "Wednesday" is a supernatural murder mystery involving
a bloodthirsty monster, a dark prophecy, and a classic cover-up scheme.
It all makes Wednesday's time at Nevermore very memorable.
It all begins when a gargoyle statue nearly crushes Wednesday, and it's clearly no accident.
The murder attempt is thwarted when fellow student Xavier Thorpe pushes Wednesday out
of the way just in time.
It turns out that a fellow student with telekinetic abilities named Rowan believes that Wednesday
is the source of a prophecy that foretells Nevermore's doom.
When Rowan attempts to attack Wednesday directly, he is killed by a terrifying monster who then
disappears into the shadows.
Like the teen detective in the novel she is writing, Wednesday takes it upon herself to
uncover the seedy machinations happening at Nevermore Academy.
She discovers not only the dark history of the town of Jericho and the real origin of
the Hyde, but the secret that her parents, Gomez and Morticia, have been hiding for years.
"Wednesday" throws viewers for a loop as each episode reveals more of the bigger picture
and ends with a truly surprising twist.
It's sad to say that the "Wednesday" series uses the hackneyed trope in which the competitive,
popular girl can't stand the presence of the weird new girl and makes it her mission to
take her down.
Bianca Barclay is the most popular girl at Nevermore Academy, as well as a siren with
the power to use her voice to exert her influence over others.
Bianca is arrogant and territorial, and Wednesday takes issue with Bianca's bullying.
The moment Bianca and Wednesday meet, there is an immediate animosity between them.
When Wednesday volunteers to spar with Bianca in fencing class, their exchange is dripping
with contempt.
"You must be the psychopath they let in."
"And you must be the self-appointed queen bee.
Interesting thing about bees — pull out their stingers and they drop dead."
The rivalry between Wednesday and Bianca covers all the cliches, down to the two girls eventually
learning to sympathize and become allies.
The problem isn't that there's conflict between the characters.
The way it happens is just a little played out.
The handy Thing plays a big role in Netflix's "Wednesday" as the title character's sidekick
and confidante.
Although he's sent by her parents to snoop on her, Wednesday recruits Thing for her own service.
Thanks to his quick fingers and small stature, Thing can get in and out of most places unseen,
making him the perfect spy.
Thing absolutely steals every scene he's in.
Even though he's just a hand, performer Victor Dorobantu, is able to convey the most complex
of emotions.
We can feel his grudging anger at Wednesday as he indifferently flips through the pages
of a magazine.
We can also discern his casual smugness as he sits on the railing of Wednesday's bed,
swinging his fingers back and forth like legs as he presents the dress he stole for her.
Thing also has a really strong character, even though he can't speak.
He clearly cares about Wednesday, and his loyalty is unshakable, even when he doesn't
agree with her actions.
In the episode where Wednesday finds Thing impaled and bleeding to death, we couldn't
help but feel a sense of panic.
Uncle Fester is able to save Thing using his electromagnetic powers, but the buildup to
that moment is one of the tensest of the series, because viewers have built such an attachment
to Thing.
Once Wednesday and Bianca set aside their differences at the dance, the series begins
to show Bianca in a new light.
At Nevermore Academy's Parents Weekend, Bianca's mother, a siren named Gabrielle, shows up unexpectedly.
We learn that Gabrielle is a member of a cult called MorningSong, which Bianca has recently
escaped from.
They argue over Bianca's return to the fold, with Gabrielle threatening to reveal the secret
about how Bianca made it into Nevermore.
Bianca later promises her mother to return to MorningSong at the end of the semester,
but makes an interesting claim about the return.
"But after this, you and MorningSong are out of my life…forever."
It's fair to assume that the show will attempt to delve deeper into Bianca's character and
MorningSong in its second season, but in the context of the first season, it's pretty disappointing.
The show wraps up the subplot fairly quickly, which makes it feel like little more than
time filler.
Of course, we can't predict what the plot for "Wednesday" Season 2 might be if it gets
picked up, so it is possible that MorningSong might be a new source of conflict for Wednesday
and her friends in the future.
The first name of the Addams Family's father being Gomez seems to imply that his side of
the family is of Hispanic descent.
The Barry Sonnenfeld films of the '90s ran with this concept, casting Puerto Rican actor
Raul Julia as the patriarch.
This idea continued with the release of the 2019 animated film, with Guatemalan-born actor
Oscar Isaac providing Gomez's voice.
Netflix embraced this idea even further, casting Jenna Ortega, who is of Mexican and Puerto
Richan descent, in the titular role, as well as Puerto Rican actor Luis Guzmán as Gomez.
"Wednesday" isn't the first to add diversity to the "Addams Family'' franchise, but it
is the first to cast a Latina actor to play the goth teen.
The show acknowledges Wednesday's heritage in various other ways.
In her dorm room, Wednesday often listens to Spanish-language music on her Victrola.
It's also established that Gomez's family, including his ancestor Goody, came from Mexico.
In another episode, Wednesday mentions that her family keeps up their ofrenda all year
long for Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead.
For better or for worse, there are certain parallels between the outcasts of Netflix's
"Wednesday" and the LGBTQ+ community.
Being different is a challenge for anyone, but it can be even more difficult when people
have false preconceived notions about who you are.
For the students and faculty of Nevermore, prejudice is an ongoing concern from the local
citizens of Jericho.
A local group of "normie" boys frequently delights in causing trouble for the outcast kids.
They terrorize the awkward Eugene during the town's Outreach Day, as well as pull an elaborate
prank to ruin the school's Rave'N Dance.
Even Jericho's mayor, despite outwardly claiming to want a peaceful co-existence with Nevermore,
has his own misgivings.
Given the similarities between the outcasts in "Wednesday" and the real-life struggles
of LGBTQ+ people, it's a shame that the series is sadly lacking in queer representation.
We do learn that Eugene Ottinger, the founding member of the beekeeping club at Nevermore,
has two mothers.
Janet and Sue Ottinger visit Eugene when he is injured in the hospital.
This is the extent of the show's LGBTQ+ inclusion, however, and it feels like it was barely thrown in.
The minimum effort made is disappointing, and we certainly hope that in Season 2, we'll
see a big improvement.