Quid Pro Woe

Wednesday's friends attempt to celebrate her birthday, but she has other plans.

This is a good episode with some strong character moments.

The central mystery continues to drip feed information at an appropriate pace to allow the filmmakers to showcase a bit of horror movie suspense. This is done well, with great attention paid to the characters behaviour in certain situations as well as the strong visuals on display. It is another chapter that ends with you wanting to find out what comes next.

A big part of the plot is Wednesday's attitude towards her friends and potential love interests. For me, the dynamic with the boys is adequate but not great, as I do not find them particularly interesting characters. What does work is her relationship with Enid, which is credit to the writers for plausibly portraying how this character would react to Wednesday's behaviour. The chemistry between Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers is one of the highlights of the show.

There are some scenes involving Bianca and Lucas that slightly develop the characters more, but I think it needs to lead to something worthwhile for it to be a significant arc. I will reserve judgement until the outcome of this becomes clear.

As ever the cinematography and art design is excellent, with a great soundtrack that enhances everything.

For me it's a 7.5/10, but I round upwards.

Episode 6 of Wednesday starts with Wednesday doing a ritual to summon Goody's spirit so she can help her master her powers. Her call to the dead is interrupted by Enid and someone throwing an anonymous letter under her door asking her to meet at Crackstone's crypt at midnight. Enid instincts on going along with Wednesday and it turns out to be a birthday surprise party for Wednesday. As they sing her happy birthday, she notices the writing on the old fireplace is the same as the writings burned on the school's lawn. She gets a vision and sees Goody warning her about Crackstone's impending visit. She asks Wednesday to seek a place in the vision and tells her that as a raven psychic she will have a solitary path which means she will end up alone unable to trust others. She also tells her they are running out of time. , Larissa visits the mayor and asks for his help tracking down the delinquents who left the burning message in her school. The mayor is happy to oblige and also tells her they are working on finding the person behind the recent attacks. He brings up the idea that it might be someone from her school and Larissa immediately warns him to stop entertaining such ideas. Back in school, Xavier tries to find out the vision Wednesday had in the crypt. Wednesday thinks he is the monster and refuses to divulge any information to her. He tells her that when she changes her mind and needs his help, she knows where to find him. On the other hand, Bianca spots Lucas doing his community work and he is wearing a bracelet from her mother's company. She tells him that the so-called self-help app is a fraud and tells him to delete the app. He asks her on a date later. They later meet up at the cafe and they seemingly get along well. The principal is also not happy to hear that Wednesday has been caught up with a new situation and decides to put the school on a full lockdown and revoke off-campus privileges until further notice. Ms Thornhill comes to Wednesday to comfort her and gives her the Frankenstein book to cheer her up. She warns her that if she continues to defy the principal she might be expelled.

The next morning, Wednesday calls Tyler and tells him that she has reconsidered his offer for a date. His dad hears the conversation and asks him to stay clear of Wednesday. She also tricks Enid to sneak out of the school and have a redo of her birthday party. They sneak out of the school and Tyler picks them up. It was only a matter of time before Enid got angry at Wednesday for her lacking social skills. She has every right to be angry with her as she tricked her and put her life in danger. Hopefully, they will resolve their issues soon but so far Wednesday has been an enjoyable watch, with plenty of mystery, twists and drama throughout.

This episode carries along the narrative quite well, but the inclusion of Fred Armisen just absolutely ruins the experience and atmosphere.

His consistently high pitched, over-acted voice pulls me out of the experience, and reminds me of a poorly thought out Saturday Night Live sketch. I'm honestly surprised they let Fred take on this role, it's just that bad. The constant "inside jokes", bad puns, and tongue-in-cheek dark comments create a much different vibe than the rest of the cast provides.

The entire episode I was waiting patiently for the moment he left the screen, and I could continue watching the show in relative peace.

The previous episode has been a lower point, it seems. This episode was quite interesting again. There are a couple of plot holes (the photographs were too recent, no time for being developed, the house was empty too quickly) but in general it was good.

In this episode, Wednesday is at her peak of selfishness and it shows that she is not only an original spirit but a real jerk. I found that a little inconsistent. She had felt guilty about Eugene even when his attack was not her fault (she told him not to go alone) but the she makes the same mistake, but worse, with Tyler and Enid. And she also asked for Xavier help without reciprocating. And of course she did not acknowledged the good intentions of those who made her a party So, I am glad she hopefully does a little grow up in the close future.

Ep 6 feels like it's trying to get the weirdness back, but it's still not quite the full Burton buffet we had early in the season. The mystery moves along briskly, with new clues, shifting suspicions, and a couple of decent reveals, but the atmosphere isn't as lush or eccentric as before.

Jenna Ortega remains the glue holding it all together - her glare could probably get its own spin-off - while Emma Myers' Enid keeps injecting energy into every scene she's in. We also get more from Gwendoline Christie, whose Principal Weems continues to be both fascinating and slightly terrifying. The Tyler/Xavier/Wednesday triangle simmers on, though it's more seasoning than main course.... thankfully.

The episode does manage a few fun set pieces, and there's a nice sense that the puzzle pieces are finally starting to click. Still, part of me misses the over-the-top gothic staging that made Nevermore feel like a character in its own right.

A solid instalment, but if the Burton magic doesn't fully return soon, the season risks trading its uniqueness for generic teen-mystery territory.