“Wednesday” is an intriguing, dryly witted, and darkly presented show which takes on the gray, ghoulish, and gothic to make a wonderful murder mystery that supports drama and dark humor for an entertaining and intriguing experience.
Created by Charles Addams in 1938, according to “Pennsylvania Center for the Book”, the original comic has been created into several adaptations. They all follow a wealthy, creepy family as they embrace the strange and grotesque in their everyday life. Wednesday diverges a bit from focusing on the whole family and puts the spotlight very closely on the eldest child of the family.
The show’s main character is Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega, who also appears in Stuck in the Middle and Insidious Chapter 2. Wednesday is kicked out of her average, public school and is sent off to Nevermore Academy, a school made for misfits/monsters. At Nevermore, her parents Morticia and Gomez Addams think she will be able to blossom. While staying there, she meets a large cast of misfits and normal everyday people who both are more malicious than they let on.
Throughout the show, Wednesday comes into conflict with monsters, her parent’s past, and the town of Jericho where Nevermore lies. She also struggles with her new and old relationships.
Tim Burton, who directs the series, has had lots of experience directing movies about misfits, such as Alice in Wonderland (2015), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016).
The gothic setting is very castle-like. Akin to fictional schools like Hogwarts, it gives off an old-school horror feel, with the town around it seeming to be full of people willing to start an angry mob if bothered by the misfits attending Nevermore. Jenna Ortega’s performance as Wednesday can be enjoyable as well, with the character having to be deadpan and creepy, but still relatable and sympathetic. The side characters can be engaging as well, with their quirks and own internal dilemmas. The show does a good job of making them all feel peculiar, but also relatable.
Though there are a couple of jokes that miss every once in a while and a CGI budget not of the highest quality, Wednesday contains an engaging ghoulish mystery that will most likely keep individuals intrigued with a great main lead and eye-catching story.