SiftPop

by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer

When Wednesday debuted back in 2022, it was an absolute phenomenon. Jenna Ortega had burst onto the scene, and her role as the titular character in this Netflix smash was the perfect way to cap the year. 

However, in keeping with a frustrating recent trend in television, it’s been nearly three years since Season One debuted, and in keeping with a recent Netflix tradition for their banner programming, we’re only getting half the season for now. So I’ll admit I was slightly concerned about how Season Two would go. 

Working my way through the premiere, I started to fear I was right to be concerned. 

It is missing that spark. Things get off to a fairly similar start (once we get through the eight-minute cold open that I watched when it dropped during Netflix’s TUDUM event) — including a clear “That dude is so dead” moment to kick things off. From there, things fall flat, like they are trying to capture the magic of Season One all over. The line deliveries just don’t click and the failure to recapture the magic of the first season is perfectly encapsulated in a Wednesday cello practice scene that just doesn’t work the same as it does in Season One. 

Thankfully, things get better from there. Once we get the setup out of the way, and get back into the investigation of the season, and Wednesday struggles with her powers, things flow much better. Much of that is how much I enjoy Ortega in the role. The deadpan character is always going to work for me. If there’s a disappointment, it’s that the interplay between Wednesday and her polar opposite roommate, Enid (Emma Myers), which was such a highlight of the first season, takes a bit of a backseat thus far. There’s a narrative reason for that, but it’s still a bummer. With Percy Hynes White no longer around for… reasons, the love triangle angle I didn’t love from the first season is dropped, but Enid still has a romantic plot line, and again, it’s a weak part of the show. 

When it comes to the rest of the cast, I’m still not sold on this version of Gomez (Luis Guzmán); I do much prefer what they’ve done with Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) this season. The friction between her and Wednesday works much better than in the first season, which is good, because they’re around a lot more this season than they were in Season One. When it comes to the season gap, it feels like Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) and Eugene (Moosa Mostafa) are most affected, and their plot line, though seemingly very important for the second half, is one of the weaker points in Part One. In rounding out the returning Addamses, Fred Arminsen remains a delight as this version of Fester, and Thing is still an absolute scene stealer. 

The show also does a good job of making use of some new faces. Steve Buscemi steps into the role of the principal, and is a perfect fit for the quirky world. Christopher Lloyd, who played Fester in the ‘90s films, is a fun addition as a particularly quirky staff member at Nevermore Academy. Though not a familiar face, Evie Templeton as Wednesday superfan Agnes, is a fun character both in how she affects Wednesday and Enid, and how she showed the lingering effects of Wednesday’s hero act — though her disappearing act does get a bit tiresome the more it is used as a plot point. 

Visually, the show remains a bit of a mixed bag. It’s at its best when it’s leaning into the Tim Burton flair, and he does direct both the first and last episode of this four-episode run. Even though the premiere is the weakest episode of this part of the season, “The Tale of the Skull Tree” animated sequence is one of the season’s coolest moments, there’s some moments where the visuals can really shine and the flashback sequences sprinkled in are a lot of fun. There are other moments when the more visual effect-heavy moments do feel jarring, but it works for the most part. 

As a Part One, these episodes of Wednesday do what they needed to do. The mystery has me intrigued and invested, and kept me on my toes with a couple of reveals in ways that don’t feel cheap. The enjoyment I get from this world is still enough that I’ve got no hesitation returning in a month for the second half of the season. 

Rating: Liked It

Wednesday is currently streaming on Netflix

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You can read more from Jake Bourgeois, and follow him on Bluesky and Letterboxd