‘Wednesday’ Reimagines The Addams Family to Tim Burton’s Vision
When ‘Wednesday’ was announced by Netflix, I’ll admit I had my hesitation in watching.
I like The Addams Family, obviously. I’m the resident creepy nerd of my friend group, and that means that with a Tim Burton stamp, I knew I’d dive into the series at some point. When I watched the first trailer, I wasn’t sure if this was made for someone like me. Turns out, I had a lot more fun than I thought I would.
We’re gonna get into spoiler territory here, so as always, see yourself out now or be cursed to know what I found out!
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THE CASTING
When the casting dropped, there was some apprehension. Luis Guzmán is actually the perfect Gomez Addams, with his dark adjective-spewing dotes to his wife and children. Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia brings class and mysterious delicacy with a dash of dark and questionable nature (mostly propelled by her daughter’s continued teenage rebellion and frustration). Isaac Ordonez plays the perfect little brother in Pugsley, though I found him to be the least maniacal of the family. I truly didn’t know how I would feel with Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, but it seems as if he was born to play the role. The interesting part? Everyone got so stuck on this casting that it feels silly now: They’re barely in the series.
Jenna Ortega is the perfect Wednesday. She’s angry and evil in her own perfect way, and when sent to Nevermore, she is still an outcast among outcasts. She’s befriended by resident gossip and Pastel Goth Werewolf counterpart in Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), and has a back-and-forth feud going with multiple adults including Gwendoline Christie as Principal Weems.
All of the classmates she encounters during the series are magical in some way, drawing comparisons to ‘Harry Potter’ in many minds. There’s a kid with Medusa powers that has to keep his snakes contained in a beanie to not turn his friends into stone, a class bully named Bianca who is a Siren and can bend her friends and boyfriend’s will if she removes her amulet, and even a guy who can draw things that he can make come to life.
In her trips to town, she strikes the interest of a “normie” as they’re called, Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan), and his gruff and vendetta-driven father Sheriff Galpin, who’s been trying to pin Gomez for murder for over 30 years. There’s also Christina Ricci playing Marilyn Thornhill, who’s supposedly a normie as well, but as you could expect, there’s no universe in which Ricci was playing just a sweet, plant-loving teacher.
All the characters play very well within the space, and though the show is not as dark as I would have expected with a name like Tim Burton at the helm, it worked well enough to get me to binge the whole series in less than 24 hours.
NOTE: Tim Burton, according to IMDB, only directs 4 episodes, with James Marshall directing 2 episodes, and Gandja Monteiro also with 2 episodes.
THE SET
The sets are pretty solid, and there are recurring locations throughout the series. Nevermore, The Weathervane Coffee, the small town of Jericho, and a series of side spots like the bee-keeping hut and Xavier’s studio.
The Nevermore campus has a perfect gloomy veil, set with old architecture, a campus quad, and even a magical staircase that leads to an underground library belonging to a secret society called The Nightshades.
WEDNESDAY HERSELF
Wednesday. Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in Wednesday. Cr. Matthias Clamer/Netflix © 2022
The character of Wednesday is going through her teenage years. She’s got a soft spot for her brother who’s bullied at school, and her actions get her expelled from that school, finally pushing Morticia and Gomez to send her to Nevermore, where they met. Rooming with Enid, she begins to develop relationships that she’s aggressively resisting, including with Tyler and Xavier both having feelings for her, despite her cold demeanor. She never cracks a full smile and is very dry throughout, but people develop a taking to her, regardless of how closed off she is.
Her one confidant is Thing, who was actually sent to spy on her by Gomez himself, and she immediately enlists him to do her bidding and help her with her mystery sleuthing while writing her novel.
Midway through, she develops a liking for the sole member of the bee-keeping club, a boy named Eugene, who reminds her a lot of Pugsley. He has no other friends, and Addams ends up partnering with him to track down a monster. In a way, Wednesday becomes a darker Nancy Drew, working to solve a big case of a monster terrorizing the school, and causing the normie townsfolk to panic. Much to Sheriff Galpin’s annoyance, I might add, who continuously tells his son Tyler to stay away from Addams (which he ignores), and aggressively tries to get Wednesday to stop messing with his investigations.
Wednesday has been developing visions, much like Morticia has. It’s first shown when Pugsley was being bullied at school, and when she touches him, she finds out who the bullies were and ended up throwing two bags of piranha into the swimming pool and causing one of the bullies to lose a testicle. Her visions continue once she gets to school, and once she finally tells Morticia about them, her mother tells her that because her disposition is lighthearted, she’s able to control them, but because Wednesday is more dark, it’s going to be harder for her to control them or use them by choice.
These visions end up being the saving factor for a lot of situations, including figuring out that the Hyde, the big bad monster that is causing all the havoc, is in fact none other than her new romantic interest, Tyler, the Barista.
At the end, after the monster is caught, Joseph Crackstone is battled (a whole new wrinkle to the story), we see Wednesday has finally relied on the friends she has made, makes another potential love connection with Xavier, and she finally hugs Enid, signaling her actually caring for other people – something she desperately had tried to avoid throughout the whole series.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
I personally really liked it, and I’m about to be 34 years old, but I can fully attest that this feels more young adult than it does for someone my age. I don’t mean that in an insulting way, but it definitely leans more toward the side of teenagers, young love, and hijinx, mixed in with dark motifs, magic, monsters, and more. I found myself rooting for one boy over another at any given time that tried to get close to Wednesday, while still trying to figure out who the Hyde was, and who was pulling all the strings for the mysterious things happening in and around Nevermore.
The show isn’t inherently gory, and as I previously stated, if you were looking for a dark show that had the full Addams Family cast, that’s not exactly what you get. You more so get a coming-of-age story for Wednesday, with an open end that the show could have a second season and seeing Wednesday return to Nevermore. But with the big bad(s) plans foiled, what we’re left with is that Wednesday is still being stalked by someone, and we don’t know who it is yet.
If you were a fan of ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Locke & Key,’ and maybe even ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ you might be into this story, and because it’s only 8 episodes, you can hammer it out really quickly without feeling like it’s an insane time investment.
‘Wednesday’ is streaming now, only on Netflix.
Wednesday. Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in Wednesday. Netflix © 2022