“Wednesday,” Tim Burton’s “Addams Family” spin-off, was released on Netflix on Nov. 23. The show revolves around Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega), a character based on Charles Addams’ popular New Yorker comic strip. Within weeks of its release, it became Netflix’s second-most-watched TV series.
In previous Addams Family-related works, Wednesday has always been a side character and a little girl. Co-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar centered the show around Wednesday’s teenage years with little involvement of the rest of her family. The eight-episode series follows Wednesday’s life, as she fights to adjust to a new school while solving a murder mystery.
Wednesday, as we know, loves violence and revenge. The show opens with her attacking her school’s water polo team with a swarm of deadly piranhas, resulting in expulsion. Her parents Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) see this as an opportunity to transfer Wednesday to Nevermore Academy, the same boarding school where the overly-lovey-dovey couple fell in love.
Nevermore is a school for supernatural freaks and outcasts, yet Wednesday still feels like “an outcast among outcasts.” She is frustrated with the school, and a futile escape attempt leads her to encounter a vicious monster murdering a fellow student. This was not the first murder the small town of Jericho had experienced.
After dark truths about her ancestors, secret societies, and the town’s past resurface, she soon forgets about her plans to escape, and instead, devotes her time to trying to crack the case— and she does. With a little help from Thing, some new Nevermore friends, and her own clever thinking, the mystery is solved, and the antagonists are taken down. However, it can’t be a Tim Burton series without plot twists; the show features many deceiving twists that keep both Wednesday and watchers on their toes.
Ortega’s portrayal of Wednesday in the show is fabulous. She has added a few interesting mannerisms to enhance her character, one of which is not blinking. A closer look at the show reveals that Wednesday blinks a total of nine times in the entire show. Because she rarely blinks, the times she does actually close her eyes stand out and communicate an emotional moment.
Netflix tweeted, “After trying one take where she didn’t blink, Tim Burton was so enamored with the result he told Jenna Ortega not to blink anymore when playing Wednesday. So she didn’t.”
Similarly to the lack of blinking, Wednesday does not smile. There is only one time in the show where she sincerely smiles, and that is when she sees her Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen). This moment of genuine happiness reveals that there are more layers to Wednesday than we know. While she appears to be cold and closed off, we learn that deep down she still has a heart.
Ortega succeeds in playing the role of a growing teenage girl while still keeping that spark that only Wednesday Addams has. We see the truth of her relationship with her parents as she attempts to shut them out of her life. But as the show progresses, Wednesday learns to accept the values of trust and friendship. The girl who could barely stand to look at her own roommate in the first episode ends the season by giving her a big hug. She who once believed that relying on others made you vulnerable now understands the importance of trust in relationships. While we do see a different, more authentic side of the character, Ortega never fully lets go of Wednesday’s passion. Her dark humor and quick wit are still very prevalent throughout the show.
Overall, the incredible plot, acting, and small details of the show are the reason it is deserving of the popularity it has been getting. Despite a few “cringy” lines, the series was very well made, and Burton’s iconic gothic style does not fail.
“Will there be a second season?” is the pressing question that everyone is currently asking. The answer is maybe: while “Wednesday” season two is yet to be renewed by Netflix, renewals typically come within three months of the show’s first season, giving us plenty of time until a confirmation. In the meantime, fans will continue rewatching the show.
Article written by Sahana Thyagarajan of Walt Whitman High School
Press photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter