So we got a lot of plots going on. Mostly this episode consists of Wednesday on another creepy murder case which is more necessitated by prophesy rather than Wednesday’s sense of morbid curiosity.
So Wednesday’s old buddy old Pal disgraced Sheriff Galpin has been murder by a murder of crows, which the Wednesday defiantly remarks on. Also with all the crow imaginary I can’t help but be reminded of another show that Netflix preemptively canceled but I digress.
The musical stage version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a very interesting experiment in adaptation. It’s based on a German musical based on an animated movie which itself was loosely based a French novel. The stage musical itself also tired to combine all these sources into one production resulting in a mixed bag, though many people love it.
Another aspect of the this musical is because it went to regionals there are a lot of iterations, some are amateurs productions and some are more professional.
One professionally produced production that is currently getting a lot of attention is the West End concert version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at The Prince Edward Theatre in London. The production staged by Jack Maple.
The reason for this controversy is over the casting of Quasimodo. The role is being portrayed by two performers, Ben Joyce and Oliver Hewing. Joyce sings the role and Hewing interprets the role through BSL and dance. Hewing is meant represent Quasimodo’s inner life This casting is similar to the 5th Avenue Theatre Production as Quasimodo was played by Joshua Castillo, a deaf actor and the singing of the was performed by E.J. Cardona who was dressed like a gargoyle.
Much like Season 1, Season 2 opens with a preamble, a cold open if you will. Wednesday takes down a cold case serial killer with the use of her psychic powers that she has mostly master aside for some black goth tears. This opening does seem like a misdirect for the trailer but it’s fine and the TSA sun-screen gag was at least amusing, felt akin to Addams’ family humor.
The final episode wraps up the Hyde plot which Wednesday quickly figures out in full off-screen. Tyler’s Palpatine to his Vader is Marilyn Thronhill a.k.a Laurel Gates a.k.a. normal-type botany teacher. Laurel’s revenge plot is to resurrect Crackstone to get revenge on Nevermore for taking his land which he took from Goody Addams’ people and the indigenous population. Thronhill isn’t really motivated by the loss of her family, just a century’s old land dispute.
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.
The second episode picks right after the first where Wednesday is nearly killed by a fellow classmate, Rowan but saved by the CGI Burton monster. However all the grown-ups are gaslighting her into thinking that Rowan wasn’t murdered by the goofy-looking monster and instead Rowan ran away/got expelled and that’s there is no monster except for the universal-style monsters who pay tuition.
