Woe Is the Loneliest Number

Episode 2 of Wednesday season 1 starts with police officers led by the sheriff looking for Rowan's body in the woods. Unfortunately, they are not able to find it. The sheriff does not believe Wednesday's statement about a monster attacking Rowan and thinks that it was a student at Nevermore. The principal is convinced that Rowan ran away and is not happy about the sheriff's accusations. After taking Wednesday's statement, the Principal wishes the sheriff would leave but Wednesday asks to speak to him privately. The principal eventually agrees to let them talk privately, on the condition that everything Wednesday says is off the record. Wednesday tells the sheriff that she thinks someone is trying to cover Rowan's death. An officer disrupts their conversation and opens the door, allowing Rowan to step into the room. Behold, he is alive! This occurs much to the shock of everyone, especially Wednesday. During her therapy session, the therapist wants to understand why Wednesday lied about witnessing a murder. Wednesday is sure she saw Rowan being killed by a creature but no one believes her. The therapist tries to get through to Wednesday but she is not willing to open up or lose the battle. After her session, she meets Tyler who is shocked to learn she is legally required to go to therapy. Tyler says she believes what she says she saw in the wood before he receives a message and leaves. Later, Wednesday sneaks into Xavier and Rowan's room to look for the book. She finds a mask and before she can leave Xavier returns to the room. She hides under the bed and he gets a visit from Bianca. She overhears the conversation between them and it seems that Xavier was worried that Rowan was planning to hurt Wednesday. She also overhears Bianca's plans to crush Enid in the upcoming competition. Bianca sabotaged Enid, leaving her without a copilot in the competition. Wednesday decides to help Enid so that she can take Bianca down. The next day, Wednesday and Enid team up for the competition. As there are no rules, it is all fair game and Bianca is using this to her advantage. During the contest though, Wednesday has another vision. This time she sees a version of herself and it tells her she is the key. Wednesday continues on, and they use Bianca's underhand methods against her to win. Wednesday decided to stay to solve the mystery in the school. As a fiction mystery writer, it is clear she couldn't resist the urge to go sleuthing. It also looks like she and Bianca will continue to have bad blood through this season.

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".

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!

Super disappointed in the Gomez character He's a fat, pudgy toad. Not the sophisticated, upstanding, poised and stoic figure he's supposed to be. Expected so much more from the father figure from the regular show. Love Morticia! She is the most beautiful, poised, elegant woman in the entire show. Wednesday plays the in the role most excellent way. I have watched the Addams family series from when I was a small child and loved every single episode. I guess to pervert the original character to a toad ( Gomez) is disrespectful way to show the real character of someone. I'm sorry to rant, but expected more realistic.