A Review of Netflix’s “Wednesday”
The Netflix show Wednesday has quickly become a hit since its debut on Nov. 23. It follows the story of Wednesday Addams when she is expelled from her school and her parents send her to a boarding school: Nevermore Academy. Wednesday rapidly finds herself in the center of a complex mystery surrounding the school, murders occurring in a nearby town, and even turmoil in her own family.
The show was inspired by the original The Addams Family. Although it is an adaptation, it has a unique take on the story of the family. Showing different sides to classic characters, and giving them good character arcs is a difficult task, and the writers of the show accomplished this brilliantly.
Even though it has a darker tone than most other comedies, it has a light hearted sense of humor. It is able to defuse tension in a heavy scene with witty one liners and well thought out jokes. The writers of the shows also made all the characters in the story enjoyable to watch and listen to, helping them engage the audience as the story progressed.
The actress that played the role of Wednesday, Jenna Ortega, was the best part of the show. Ortega was able to embody the classic humor and creepiness of Wednesday Addams while also putting her own spin on it. Ortega shows us a side of Wednesday that we haven’t seen before.
In the original The Addams Family, Wednesday is seen as a cold hearted, but humorous character. We hardly saw her interacting with other people her age except for her brother. If she was seen interacting with other children, she would be tormenting them.
In this adaptation, Wednesday is at first skeptical of being in a boarding school filled with other kids, but she slowly is shown to be warming up to them, gaining friends and stepping outside of her comfort zone. Ortega does a brilliant job conveying the emotions that Wednesday is used to going through in this saga.
The writers of the show not only did a fantastic job with the characters, but the mystery plot was also excellent. They brought the audience to the edge of their seats as Wednesday unraveled an elaborate mystery surrounding her family and her school.
Netflix’s Wednesday was an entertaining and thrillful watch filled with humor, mystery and intrigue, all in a neat 8 episode package. It is definitely worth watching and worth waiting for a potential season 2.
