A Delightfully Macabre Return To Nevermore
After a nearly three-year wait, Wednesday is back. The Addams Family spinoff returns with the first four episodes of its second season today, and I’m pleased to report that it’s every bit as good as Season 1.
Jenna Ortega returns as Wednesday Addams, though instead of a newcomer to Nevermore Academy, she’s now the center of attention, something of the returning hero with fans – and stalkers – harrying her every movement. Predictably, she hates this far more than being just another oddity in a school of Outcasts.
Addams Family Values
Wednesday Season 2
Credit: Netflix
The story picks up after the events of Season 1. Summer break has just ended and Wednesday returns, this time with her younger brother, Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) in tow. As if this wasn’t burden enough, her parents decide to stick around as well. The new Nevermore Academy administrator, Principal Dort (Steve Buscemi) asks Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to help spearhead the school fundraising gala, so she and Gomez (Luis Guizman) remain on campus, much to Wednesday’s dismay.
This gives all these characters a lot more time in the spotlight. We also get more time with Wednesday’s beloved Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) and meet her second-favorite relative, Grandmama Hester (Joanna Lumley) who Wednesday adores almost as much as Morticia despises.
Read all about the new and returning cast for Wednesday Season 2 here.
New Mysteries To Solve
In the first season, Wednesday used her special psychic powers and keen intellect to solve a string of murders. We learned that Tyler (Hunter Doohan) was actually a monstrous Hyde being groomed and controlled by Christina Ricci’s Marilyn Thornhill. Now, Tyler has been locked up in the Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital, run by newcomer Rachael Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton). This new location looms large in Season 2, taking on almost as important a role as Nevermore Academy itself.
Wednesday’s return to school, after a busy summer spent hunting a serial killer, corresponds eerily with a new spate of murders. Wednesday also learns she has a stalker, though whether the two mysteries are connected is unclear.
The first four episodes of Season 2 deal largely with Wednesday trying to solve these puzzles, though when she’s cut off from her psychic powers her sleuthing abilities take a major hit. It’s the classic “de-power” trope we’ve seen in other shows like Stranger Things, but used to greater effect. Each episode is roughly an hour long, and is stuffed with entertaining shenanigans. A trip to an overnight camp turns into a rowdy competition with a scout group of “normies” who double-booked the campground. Pugsley and his new friend Eugene (Moosa Mostafa) get into plenty of trouble when Pugsley inadvertently raises a zombie from the dead. And Principal Dort’s enthusiasm for Nevermore is more than a little suspect, though whether it’s pure zeal or something more sinister is a mystery unto itself.
All of this is delightfully macabre. Indeed, there are some genuinely surprising deaths here that I won’t spoil for obvious reasons. There are some surprise returning guest stars as well, though I won’t name names here. Wednesday treats its dark subject matter with just enough wit and humor to create a wonderful tonal dissonance. Ortega remains the perfect Wednesday Addams, her ferociously deadpan exterior masking her obvious compassion for those she cares about, including her bubbly werewolf roommate, Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers).
Far too often, in my experience, the second season of a popular show loses what made the first season special. Writers run out of ideas. Production budgets are slashed, resulting in less attention to detail. The spark fizzles out, the thrill dies, the magic leaks out into the ether. Tim Burton and the cast and crew of Wednesday buck this trend, offering up a sophomore season that is every bit as fun and engaging and mysterious as Season 1.
That being said, given Netflix’s two-part release schedule, it’s impossible to offer up a full critique of Season 2. The second half of the season comes out on September 3rd. Given that the first half ends on quite a cliffhanger, this is a bit of an annoying delay. It’s possible that the next four episodes will pale in comparison to the first, especially since so much is resolved in the first half, but I have high hopes that the entire season will be a worthy successor to the massively successful first.
Verdict
Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 knocks it out of the park thanks to its compelling mystery, dark sense of humor and a stellar cast led by Jenna Ortega. If only we could binge more than four episodes!