Woe Is the Loneliest Number

Woe woe woe your boat (or canoe) very aggressively and belligerently down the stream (or lake), un-merrily, savagely, combatively, with hostility, nightmares are so much better than dreams (especially if you inflict them on others).

Wednesday's visions plague and swarm, uncertain what they'll reveal or misinform, especially now that Rowan has miraculously reappeared, although it's quite a shallow presentation, with a transformative veneer; the Poe Cup race seeks to add to the distraction, with a Merman tilting scales, through a reflective buoyed refraction, while conundrums are un-riddled making way for exploration, and the darkness doth descend, with very little exclamation.

Edgar Allan Poe, Pilgrims, Witchcraft, 1950s Monster-craze, Black Metal, musical and visual references to The Addams' legacy,.. I don't know if it's just that I am in the correct mindset to be watching this show, still clinging to the Halloween mood I always get even one month it has passed and I'm trying to delay the overwhelming early Christmas they try to smother me with (in spite of how I love Christmas also); but this show knows exactly how to harness that 1990s' goth Tim Burtonesque aesthetic and vibe of morbid and grotesque German Expressionism melded with a common-yet-well-executed "teen arrives to a new quirky school" narrative backdropped in a normal American town.

Friendship, quirky characters with strong and varied traits that make them not only all be different but also fit in and work with one another quite well; the common folk who fear the school and yet it makes it plausible for both to coexist. The perfect blend of cartoony over-the-top tropes and good mystery drama with great dialogue and characterisation. And the performance and writing of Wednesday Addams, who is obviously the highlight of the show as she is tenacious, strong and feisty but also caring, empathetic and flawed that don't diminish her strength and determination but enhances her persona by having more layers than a cynical joke-machine with no heart. A perfect strong female character to praise and fear. All her fighting skills, wisdom and other skillset she may have don't make her a Mary Sue at all, they provide her with the tools she needs to take on the dangers of this world as she also remains flawed when it comes to expressing her feelings and working with others. Couldn't have asked for a better characterisation myself, one to be used as a great example of how to write them.

The No-rules race and picturesque dress up, prophecies and visions, school secrets, student secret societies, Hidden traps, suspicious murders all across town... The Harry Potter influence is palpable yet most welcomed as it doesn't come across tired or copycatted. It is delightful to see the many influences of the show in an aesthetic and narrative way from Tim Burton, like Batman 1989, Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow and more from him; Harry Potter's friendship and magical-world-building-vs-a-normal-world influences, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's teen-mystery-oriented plots featuring quirky characters that aid her or antagonize her amidst the social cliques that exist in the school... With tropes inspired by detective shows, high school dramas and even cartoons, the show has every ounce of entertainment as it has a production value believed to have been almost lost in Netflix. It's very easy for a franchise like the one this show may very well begin (I mean, other than the Addams Family one it's already backdropped in) given its popularity, subject and legacy; to fall into the mainstream, quantity-over-quality-level of production that some famous IPs have become nowadays.

So lets see where this show leads to and I really really hope they maintain the same care in the filmmaking, framing, editing, characterisation and narrative that this show has because I believe it is truly special and unique. And each story thread that opens up or reveals itself adds only more value to the world building of this wonderful world. I always enjoyed the Addams Family world but I've never seen a more grounded and layered yet still comedic version as this one. Keep it up!

Still on our pre-Season 2 binge, my teenage daughter and I dove straight into Ep 2, and the show hasn't lost a step.

Jenna Ortega continues to own every frame as Wednesday, sharpening her deadpan delivery into a weapon. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán take more of a back seat this time, but Gwendoline Christie's formidable principal remains a standout. Emma Myers as Enid (the relentlessly cheerful roommate) starts to shine here, her sugar-sweet energy clashing hilariously with Wednesday's perpetual gloom.

The plot deepens with more of the central mystery bubbling up, mixing murder investigation with teen rivalries and Burton's gothic flourishes. There's a satisfying rhythm now: a dash of sarcasm, a pinch of peril, and a slow-burn sense that the school is hiding more than just quirky classmates. My daughter's hooked on the boarding-school intrigue; I'm enjoying the sly humour and careful character layering.

It still flirts with teen-soap territory, but Ortega's magnetism and the clever, creepy tone keep it firmly in must-watch territory.

Another solid 8/10 from both generations in our house.

Although it's still not fantastic, the second installment in this new Netflix series is manifestly an improvement upon the first, easing in to the story with far less difficulty & enjoying itself a bit more, now the unenviably hard job of world building / obligatory establishment is mostly completed.

However, I'm still not entirely convinced the creators are fully embracing the "Addams Family" concept, nor are they demonstrating their ability to understand why the joke (that their entire premise is based upon) is funny; Wednesday, Morticia, Uncle Fester & Gomez etc. Are all utterly depraved, sadistic & derive enjoyment from things you'd typically associate as being "sinister" - hence, we laugh at the absurdity of their behaviours & reactions to situations a "normal" person would normally find unsettling - due to how unusual & peculiar their actions are. Therefore, it's amusing seeing how their family interacts in a concentrated space, as they're utterly unrelatable & equally, cannot relate to us. In summary, the humour's borne from the fact that they subvert expectations (in a tongue-in-cheek manner) & defy the conventions most others would abide by in any fictional tale being told.

The creative decision to make the title protagonist sympathetic is resultantly a total contradiction & defeats the basic point of her entire characterisation, so although I understand their desire to cultivate a narrative which audiences can emotionally invest themselves in, the plot centres around the development of a lead who (though they may resemble her) is arguably not "Wednesday Addams".

The second episode of this new Netflix show is a big step up from the pilot. It fits into the story with a lot less trouble and seems to have a little more fun now that the hard work of setting up the world and introducing the characters has been done for the most part.

I can see that the writers tried to make a story in which the audience can feel something, but the story is about how the main character grows up, and she is not "Wednesday Addams," even though she may look like her. I can see that the writers tried to make a story that the audience could feel something about.

As mysteries are unravelled one at a time in this episode's narrative, you will find that your attention is piqued. The storyline of this episode piqued my curiosity quite a bit. Although I now have an explanation, it merely creates more questions. To put it another way, the storyline of this episode is not worse than the one that came before it. When seen at the appropriate time, the gags are intriguing in and of themselves as well.

The visuals are really appealing to the eye. Both the cinematography and the way the colours were changed stood out to me as particular strengths of the show.