Wednesday - Season 2 (Netflix)
By: Rachel Brodeur
Netflix resurrects the iconic Addam’s family for a second season of its hit Wednesday. For a show steeped in horror, darkness and woe, the end result is decidedly fun and even wholesome.
Wednesday, played by Jenna Ortega (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) is as headstrong as ever in continuing the battles she began at her boarding school for outcasts. With new school principal, Steve Buscemi (Fargo), season two allows viewers to see more of the school. Students, defined as outcasts, each have unique abilities that tend to align with the powers seen in horror villains. These adolescents are straight out of mythology and fantasy with gorgons, ghosts, sirens and werewolves among them. As Wednesday struggles to master her psychic powers and outwit the tragedies they foretell, Buscemi’s exuberance provides a playful counterbalance to Ortega’s deliciously dark, deadpan presence.
Seminal gothic director Tim Burton continues to bring to Wednesday a whimsical world of shadowy creatures that are charming in their obscurity. True to his style, nothing here is purely terrifying or purely cute; characters exist in an uncanny space where bulging eyes or awkward gaits feel both unsettling and oddly charming. The duality also extends to the title character and the other females with whom she shares the screen. They embody a balance of striking beauty and self-reliant strength, resisting easy stereotypes and asserting themselves as layered figures who can be unsettling, witty, strong and vulnerable all at once. In Burton’s hands, the grotesque becomes elegant, and elegance always carries an edge.
Additionally, the music of Wednesday becomes one of the series' well-honed weapons, with the venerable Danny Elfman (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and talented Chris Bacon (Heretic) composing a score that is both eerie and playful. It carries the full range of the series’ suspenseful moments as well as its more lighthearted comedic episodes of teen drama. Additionally, episodes feature captivating moments with reimagined arrangements of modern hits like Wednesday playing “Zombie” by the Cranberries on the piano or the cast singing a haunting rendition of CCRs “Bad Mood Rising”.
The eight episode series features hour-long installments that feel movielike in their pacing. Much like a graphic novel, each installment closes a central conflict while building to a greater story arc. In this storytelling, season two is even stronger than season one. There is greater depth to the character relationships, more complexity to their motives and less predictability in the outcomes.
For a show about horror and monsters, Wednesday purports values that are surprisingly pure. Teens reconcile issues of family, friends and fitting in, and courage and loyalty run deep through the series’ plot lines. The show may be titled Wednesday, but the Addam’s family values are all here through all the kookie and spooky.
Rachel’s Rating: 7.5/10
Wednesday (Netflix) balances dark humor with uplifting values in an energetic and suspenseful show. Tim Burton’s trademark gothic whimsy and Danny Elfman’s inventive score create a world that feels eerie yet playful where audiences can’t help but embrace a world of outcasts and oddities.