‘Wednesday' Season 2 Part 1 review: Jenna Ortega's return to Nevermore is promising, but lacks bite

The Hindu

3 days ago

Netflix's Wednesdayhas always had its task cut out. Coming on the back of several notable adaptations portraying the spook-embracing Addams Family, Wednesday created waves with its first season by increasing focus on the fan-favourite Wednesday Addams, isolating her away from the celebrated family, and placing her in an institution with other teenage 'outcasts'. More mysterious and dramatic than the humorous legacy of The Addams Family, Wednesday's first season found success in its teen-centred approach. Now, three years later, it returns with a second season (well, only half of it for now), and finds itself maybe haunted by expectations.
It handles this pressure by reaching out in several directions. The second season, helmed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, doubles down on its teenage murder mystery hook that worked well the first time around, while also bringing the Addamses together in hopes of sparking the nostalgic joy that shot this family to fame in the first place. Stilted in some aspects, while making strides in others, the first half of the second season comes across as a mixed bag.
Quickly catching us up on the summer Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) had, in which she honed her psychic abilities and took down a serial killer in Kansas, the show drops the deadpan teen back at the Nevermore Academy — a school she ended up saving from supernatural destruction. Not only is Wednesday plagued by the popularity that comes with being a local hero, but she must also brace for her family being a part of her life at Nevermore this year. Add to this the suspiciously friendly new principal, Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi), and Wednesday's latest psychic vision of her friend Enid (Emma Myers) being harmed, and you have all the trappings to a woeful start to a new year at Nevermore.
However, Wednesday is quick to gain a pesky stalker, and a murderous trail in the neighbouring town of Jericho, so not all hope is lost as the teen looks forward to yet another macabre fall.
Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 (English)
Creators: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, Steve Buscemi, Isaac Ordonez, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Thandiwe Newton, Fred Armisen, Luis Guzmán, and others
Episodes: 4
Runtime: 45 mins - 1 hour
Storyline: Wednesday returns to Nevermore Academy this season, with more murders to solve and some family drama to unravel.
There is also the infusion of new cast members, with Billie Piper singing her way into becoming a prodigious music teacher, and Christopher Lloyd as a Professor who exists as a disembodied head. Thandiwe Newton plays a psychiatrist working at the Willow Hill asylum, where we find ourselves face to face with the previous season's monsters and this season's inmates — Tyler Galpin aka the Hyde (Hunter Doohan) and his master Laurel Gates (Christina Ricci).
It is a full house and full season at Nevermore this year, with more to come, including a guest appearance by Lady Gaga. Jenna Ortega, with her signature steely gaze, leads another season of good performances. Yet, it leaves some things to be desired this time around.
While the murderous mysteries that Wednesday tasks herself to solve play out, the season's more arresting moments come in the form of her interactions with her mother. Catherine Zeta-Jones returns as a concerned Morticia who, this time around, seeks to look out for her daughter. Finding itself in the crosshairs of a falling out between a teenage daughter who wants to find herself away from her mother's shadow and her mother, who refuses to back down, is an unexpected and welcome change that the narrative takes. It lends new, interesting layers to not only Wednesday, but also the Addams family, whose dynamic so far had existed in a more humorous tone. Morticia also faces her own mother this season, with Joanna Lumley playing a scheming Grandma Frump.
The show's plot, however, struggles a bit to marry the ambitious contrasting tones it takes up, and in the process leaves behind other relations and dynamics, including the fan favourite Enid and Wednesday, to operate on autopilot.
However, all the critiques stand on unsure ground in light of Netflix's decision to divide the release into two parts. With a mid-season cliffhanger that will only be resolved a month from now, one can't help but wonder whether the show was written in a way to take a break after four episodes, or the streamer just chopped it abruptly in half. Both seem possible, but neither satisfies the audience. Much more will be resolved next month, and hopefully the show finds a more compelling rhythm to resolve it all.
The first four episodes of Wednesday Season 2 are available for streaming on Netflix