Following the murder of the mayor, Wednesday runs into her uncle Fester. Fester tells her that he needs to “lay low” which Wednesday is fine with. Wednesday then informs him about the monster which Fester just so happens to know exactly the monster’s type, it’s a Hyde. Wednesday also learns that Hydes have a master, the one that frees them from dormancy so Wednesday has find two suspects. And because Wednesday is a bad detective she then implicates the wrong people but her exposition vision clues her in at the end of the episode.
In the previous episode Wednesday is told that only Goody can train her and that she’s a Raven type psychic vision-haver-type-outcast person. Basically they are just making it up because Raven sounds cool and all “Poesque.” I had thought comparing Wednesday to a raven and Morticia to a dove was just poetic but no according to a promo for season two and Goody outright calling Wednesday “The raven in my bloodline” Wednesday is a raven. So there is more Poe imaginary…. hooray…
Episode 5 starts with Nevermore’s parent’s weekend, which means the rest of the family is back for a cameo. So there are some interacts between Addams family characters as well as between Enid’s and Bianca’s families which are stained and toxic. Though all these interactions are isolated from each other are more or less B-plots from now.
I haven’t watched any CW-type shows but on some cursory research I learned that a “prom” or some kind of dance episode is a standard for the demographic. For Wednesday’s prom episode there is a school dance is called “The Rave’n” because if there one thing this show loves it’s Poe. I suppose naming a character Lenore would’ve been too obvious.
At the start of this episode Wednesday learns that secret society, The Nightshades, are really just a social club who just like hang out and have mixers which is rather anticlimax which is the joke. The comedic aspects in this show are weak on average as it’s more snark than punchlines.
Season 1, Episode 1 – Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe
Wednesday’s Title Card
The Wednesday’s premier episode has a lot of heavy lifting to do as it has to re-re-re introduce us to the characters and set up new rules for the world that Addams inhabit.
So this was another old request which was to review Netflix’s 2022 Wednesday series. However the reason I’ve decided to review season one now is because the second season is coming out in early August (at least part one) so it seems like a very good time to rewatch the show.
I have a very bad habit of not rewatching shows prior to the release of a new season because I’m under a false impression that I remember the show well enough from my intentional only watch through and I don’t. Example of my false sense of a of great memory would be Arcane and Andor.
3 Versions of Wednesday Addams
So anyway Wednesday Season One review is a go and I think I’m going to aim for an episode a week but we shall could change that. Also of course these posts will be on Wednesdays.
Now for background preamble. I wouldn’t exactly say I’m big fan of the Addams’ Family but I do enjoy their kooky macabre antics. I love the Addams Family Values movie, I quote that movie a lot, and I have seen a few episodes of the 60s show and enjoyed it. I also had a pet named after one of the characters, I shall remain mysterious on which one character. So I do enjoy The Addams Family and their spooky antics, just not a massive major super fan.
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday
I will FULLY admit at first I did not have high expectations for a Wednesday lead show as part of Addams Family’s core identity is that they are a weird eccentric family playing off “normal” society and a satirical reflection of American values. Also they are that they are not some kind of supernatural/cryptid in origin. They could be but that’s not the overall point of the characters or the humor. Separating the family is antithesis of the origin concept and the plots of the 90s movies. So the concept for a Wednesday Addams centric show that had shades of Harry Potter didn’t sound appealing, so I was going to pass on it.
Wednesday Promo Poster
BUT when it came out the word of mouth was positive so I did watch it and enjoying it at the time. I did and still do have criticism of it but we’ll get to those later and I will try to have an open mind.
Will it be better than the first watch or will the mystique be gone?
