Season 2 of Wednesday is finally available to watch in its entirety on Netflix. And while the first half introduced a solid return, the second half almost holds up before a messy to-be-continued conclusion.
Tim Burton puts his whole Burtonesque business on full display with a third-act antagonist reveal that both works and doesn’t. The Addams family being at the mechanical heart of another mystery creates a lot of fun lore for Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) to discover about her parents. This time Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) isn’t the only Addams with a dark secret; Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) are also involved.
And it all, of course, ties back to what makes Nevermore the center of the drama, both in its past and in its present. But did it all come together in a satisfying way? Very nearly, as season two’s writers room finds its footing with a good blend of diverse voices led by Miles Millar and Alfred Gough but gets mired by falling back into building an anticipation for more in season three with no solid conclusion to stand on its own.
We loved: Weems’ return
© Netflix
All hail Gwendoline Christie’s return to Nevermore. Weems is the perfect mentor-slash-foil to push Wednesday around as her guide and fight for her legacy at the school. Just speculating here, but if the writers created some woo-woo magic excuse to materialize her enough to be a visible specter, we would definitely accept her coming back as the school’s immortal principal. It’s a supernatural world; let’s do it. Season three without Weems wouldn’t be the same.
We loved: The Addams family matters
© Netflix
If the show wasn’t an Addams Family spin-off, it would be a problem, but truly I love that at the core of a lot of the mystery is Wednesday’s family. They are the drama in this world and we love the goth telenovela aspect of it all. Morticia and Gomez have had murderous haters since high school; all her killings have been in defense of those she loves. They had it coming! Nevermore’s secrets being brought to light because of Wednesday is hilarious because so many of her mysteries would have been solved quicker if she and Tish had a better relationship.
We loved: Bianca and Ajax’s friendship
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As the show finds better ways to balance its concurrent plots, we hope to see more of Bianca and Ajax stepping up as the leaders of Nevermore. While Wednesday has no interest in being a student body leader, they most resemble the archetype to protect the outcasts that Morticia and Gomez were established to have had when they were students. We didn’t get much of Bianca and Morticia bonding over that and I hope it’s seen in later seasons of the show. Ajax babysitting Pugsley and Eugene was awesome. Plus their last act of heroics against Dort really made them the school’s real MVPs.
We loved: Weird Wednesday
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The Freaky Friday body swap between Enid and Wednesday was a delightful way to really help them understand one another. We needed more of them bonding since the first half separated them for so long and this was the perfect way to establish why they are the balance of dark and light at the core of the show. It really worked to set up why Wednesday goes after wolfed-out Enid at the end of the season to save her. Plus seeing Ortega go polar opposite and be a girly girl was too funny.
We loved: Lady Gaga making a monster meal of a small role
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We’re still not convinced she’s Rosaline Rotwood. Why? Because a lot has been hinted about Rosaline and Ophelia’s Raven abilities, with a particular nod to supernatural vulnerabilities that Morticia wants to protect Wednesday from. Seeing Gaga as a trickster apparition who tests her was a joy, and we wouldn’t be surprised if she was a-possessed-by-Rosaline Ophelia. That ending reveal that Grandmama is holding the missing Frump in a secret room with the same white-blond hair makes us wonder if, in addition to possibly being possessed, she can astral project. We’re obsessed and want more Gaga in this universe.
We didn’t love: The ball dance minus Wednesday
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We needed Wednesday to join in and make this the modern-day Mean Girls “Jingle Bell Rock” dance. The song, however? It eats the dancefloor up and we can’t wait to see it recreated online. Thank you Gaga for this spooky gift.
We didn’t love: The Hydes
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Tyler being related to the big bad this season gave off “Palpatine is my grandfather” vibes. Not everyone has to be related! We loved Tyler’s origin as a normie being a journey he could go on as he realized he had a suppressed outcast identity within. It still makes little sense to have him blindly just follow along with anyone who calls themselves his master, first Marylin Thornhill, then his mom and uncle Isaac, who try to use their family drama to pit him against the Addams and force him to be normal. The Isaac reveal as being the rest of Thing’s body therefor also Tyler’s uncle further makes the “everyone is related” trope made the big bad reveal overkill.
Thankfully we got a moment where Tyler and Wednesday break the generational chains and might get a fresh start with their own extended will-they, wont-they. We hope Tyler figures his family drama out and returns with a better sense of maybe belonging among the students at Nevermore alongside Wednesday (we can’t help but ship)—not just trying to kill them all the time
We didn’t love: Enid’s curse
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Finally getting Wednesday and Enid back together was short-lived in order to set up season three. We have to wait a questionable amount of time to see if Wednesday can help her friend return to her human form after discovering she’s an alpha who turned herself into a werewolf to dig Wednesday out of an early grave. From a pacing standpoint, it feels forced to entice fans to watch more but really left us on a cliffhanger that might take years to pick up on.
Wednesday is now streaming on Netflix.
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