‘Wednesday' review: Season 2 puts creepy, kooky Addams family first
Its first four episodes, which premiere Wednesday, Aug. 6, are still set primarily at the Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts with supernatural abilities. This time, however, the focus is less on the droll, goth titular genius (Jenna Ortega) and her schoolmates, and more on her relationships with her family.
Reprising their roles are Catherine Zeta-Jones as mother Morticia, Luis Guzmán as father Gomez, Isaac Ordonez as brother Pugsley — now a Nevermore student himself — and, most deliciously, Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester. The undefined, unattached Addams relative known as the Thing also once again lends a reanimated hand, his computer-generated movements even more impressive this season.
In the nearly three years since 'Wednesday' debuted, the similarly themed Broadway hit 'Wicked' has become a blockbuster film, and the 'Harry Potter' franchise has lost cultural favor due to its creator's public views. Both properties tread familiar ground in the outcast-at-school genre, making the shift from the classroom to family by 'Wednesday' executive producer/director Tim Burton and creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough a wise and timely move.
Although artist Charles Addams' creepy, kooky clan from the 1930s comics, '60s sitcom and '90s movies seems too ho-hum familiar at Season 2's start, Millar and Gough eventually reveal a fresh approach by centering the strained dynamic between Morticia and Wednesday. This emphasis gives Zeta-Jones and Ortega, who is usually required to be stone-faced even with no gorgons in sight, more to play. Both excel.
Wednesday bristles when Morticia accepts the new Nevermore headmaster's (an unctuous Steve Buscemi) invitation to be the school's head of fundraising. Morticia and Gomez move onto school grounds, horrifying Wednesday in a way worms coming out of an eye socket never could.
Meanwhile, Wednesday has a vision of killing her beloved — or at least tolerated (a big deal for Wednesday) — werewolf roommate Enid (a reliably buoyant Emma Myers). Worried about hurting the Galinda to her Elphaba, Wednesday wants to push her psychic abilities to find a solution. Morticia, firmly yet not unkindly, forbids this.
Ortega exudes defiance, fear and desire for approval while still somehow keeping her expression trained to her character's signature baleful near-neutrality. For her part, Zeta-Jones shows a warmth rarely associated with Morticia Addams, yet remains commanding. Season 2 even plays as a tribute to Zeta-Jones' movie heyday at times, with nods to 'Chicago' and 'The Mask of Zorro' highlighting her enduring singing and sword-fighting skills.
The new season also evokes 1980s kids-at-camp comedies with an obstacle course challenge that's fun until a zombie starts chomping heads. This zombie storyline offends less for its violence than its prominence. Given a whole school of gorgons, shape-shifters and werewolves to exploit, the writers decide to flesh out a brainless dummy. Talk about bringing a knife to a sword fight — a phrase this show repeats so often that one assumes it is a callback rather than lazy writing.
Burton directed four episodes of Season 1, enhancing its quality through his distinctive camera angles and brilliant world-building. Just as he once contrasted the foreboding castle with Technicolor suburbia in 'Edward Scissorhands,' Burton created, in 'Wednesday' Season 1, clear visual and cultural divides between Nevermore and the quaint nearby town of Jericho — though he was less judgmental of the 'normies' this time.
Most of Season 2's first half — even the Burton-directed first episode — is generically dark, with effects beyond The Thing resembling standard-issue CGI in a million other shows. Overall, it looks like a follow-up made with half the budget of Season 1. That is, until the fourth episode. Directed by Burton, it pulls out the creative stops, augmented by Armisen's dreamily unhinged work as devious, upbeat criminal Uncle Fester.
Apart from Guzmán, who camps it up winningly in portraying Gomez's perpetual lust for his wife, 'Wednesday' Season 2 is a comedy-horror series largely missing comedic actors. As many bon mots as Wednesday drops, Ortega's delivery is not especially funny, and Zeta-Jones cannot sell a joke. Even Buscemi seems restrained.
This context contributes to the joy and light Armisen gives during his scenes, no matter how physically dark nor gruesome. His appearance in this batch's final episode — the second half drops Sept. 3 — also lifts hopes for the forthcoming one.
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'Everybody really believed in this story. And I'm really proud that we were able to tell it through a woman's lens; everything that happens in the series is only told from Sam or Charlie's point of view. But it's also the first show I've ever seen that has a survivor of gun violence as a main character.' While Slaughter is mum on whether she'd undertake another showrunner role, she's excited about what's next, which definitely includes a second North Falls thriller. What's it about? 'Let's just say somebody dies and we find out why at the end,' she quips before adding more seriously, 'I know that doing all that-world building and work on my North Falls characters won't pay off until maybe next book or three books from now. It took a lot of discipline to not reveal so much, but over 24 books, I've learned to be patient and trust that readers will want to stay with me for the ride.'
