‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Is Off To A Rocky Start in Part 1
The Netflix hit television series Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega, returned this past Wednesday after a lengthy three-year hiatus. Along with Ortega, the series brings back a number of familiar faces, such as Emma Myers, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Hunter Doohan, Joy Sunday, Moosa Mostafa, Isaac Ordonez, Georgie Farmer, Fred Armisen, and more. In addition to a hefty returning cast, the series also includes an incredible number of vintage talents such as Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, Billie Piper, Thandie Newton, Lady Gaga, Heather Matarazzo, and Joanna Lumley. But how does Wednesday season 2 stack up against the first season?
[Warning: Spoilers for season 2, part 1 discussed in this review!]
So far, Wednesday season 2 doesn’t quite reach the level of season 1
Wednesday’s first season was a fresh and unique take on The Addams Family, it always felt as if it would be nearly impossible for Wednesday season 2 to match that level right away. By far the biggest mistake in the second season is splitting it in half. The first four episodes are too heavy on exposition and world-building once again and leave off on a cliffhanger that isn’t all that exciting. Not only is the exposition heavy, there are nearly twice the number of new plotlines taking place this season.
The show obviously still focuses on Wednesday Addams. But while Wednesday dominates the screen time, it still feels as though she gets buried under the weight of an overbearing amount of plotlines taking place this season. There are well over a dozen different plotlines introduced, which becomes quite difficult to keep track of at times.
The major plotline this season sees Wednesday investigating the mysterious death of the father of her ex-love interest Tyler, caused by a murder (or group) of crows. Along with the crows, Wednesday sees a vision of Enid’s death relating to the crows. These two occurrences lead Wednesday on a detective hunt that takes her to a psychiatric hospital by the name of Willow Hill.
Willow Hill becomes an important location in season two thus far. Tyler, who also turned out to be the Hyde monster, is imprisoned in Willow Hill. Wednesday visits Tyler to get potential information about his father’s passing.
While Tyler was an interesting character in the first season, it does feel a bit soon to reintroduce the character. Not only is he reintroduced, but in the part one finale he prematurely breaks out of Willow Hill in monster form and escapes into the forest. Tyler overall probably did not need to be included in this season, but with Hunter Doohan being such a fantastic talent, it is understandable why the writers couldn’t resist.
Part 1 is overwhelmingly full of subplots
As mentioned, Wednesday season 2 part 1 includes over a dozen new storylines introduced. As a result, the one character whose development has really taken a hit this season is Enid. While Enid was entirely involved with the main storyline in season 1, she’s been almost completely sidelined in the second season.
The only real storyline featuring Enid this season is the love triangle between her, Ajax, and newcomer Bruno. It feels as though the writers used the vision of Enid’s death as a way to sideline her in some aspects, as Wednesday distances herself from her. It certainly felt as if Emma Myers may have been busy filming other projects while balancing shooting Wednesday this time.
One major side plot in season 2 is the inclusion of Wednesday’s younger brother, Pugsley, with an increased role. Pugsley attends Nevermore with Wednesday this season and ends up rooming with fan-favorite Eugene. What this unfortunately leads to is Wednesday and Eugene not sharing a single scene together this season, after building such a strong bond in the previous season.
Pugsley and Eugene’s plot mostly revolves around a zombie that Pugsley discovers and names Slurp. While not much else happens involving the characters, other than them constantly keeping track of Slurp, we do learn that the zombie is connected to both Nevermore and Willow Hill in the finale of part 1. This plotline simply doesn’t work this season and likely could have been reduced a bit.
Along with Pugsley, both Morticia and Gomez Addams move into series regular roles this season. With the heavy inclusion of Pugsley, Morticia, Gomez, Lurch, and Uncle Fester, season 2 at times begins to feel more like an Addams Family series than a Wednesday Addams series. Outside of Wednesday herself, Morticia Addams gets the bulk of the Addams family screen time. Most of Morticia’s plot revolves around her strife with Wednesday, a plot that through only four episodes already feels a tad redundant.
While these are most of the major plotlines, the first half of Wednesday’s second season features many more subplots including, Wednesday’s stalker, who is revealed to be newcomer Agnes; the friendship triangle between Wednesday, Enid, and Agnes; the strife between Morticia and her mother, Hester Frump; the return of Marilyn Thornhill at Willow Hill; the new Principal Dort blackmailing Bianca; Uncle Fester being admitted to Willow Hill; Bianca and Morticia working together to fundraise for Nevermore; the mystery around Wednesday’s Aunt Ophelia (who is probably played by Lady Gaga); and the secret LOIS (Long-Term Outcast Integration Study) at Willow Hill.
Wednesday season 2 part 2 needs to tie the story together
While Wednesday season 2 has had a bit of a rocky start, we only have half of the picture so far. If the second half ties everything together neatly, then it’s entirely possible this season could be considered another success. To pull it off, the show has to deliver a satisfying second half and bring Enid back into the picture big time.
Now that Tyler is on the loose, it makes a bit of sense to reintegrate him into the story outside of Willow Hill somehow. How they manage to reintegrate Tyler into the show remains unseen, but let’s hope he doesn’t just end up back in Willow Hill again.
The second half of the season should go a bit lighter on the Addams Family and focus more on Wednesday, Enid, and the younger cast of characters continuing to unwrap this mystery and solve it.
Overall, Wednesday season 2 has had a somewhat solid but shaky first half. The world-building continues to be fantastic, and both the sets and costume design breathe an insurmountable amount of life into the series.
While Steve Buscemi feels a bit out of place as Principal Dort, other newcomers Christopher Lloyd, Billie Piper, Joanna Lumley, and Thandie Newton were all welcome additions to an already stacked cast. If part 2 can find a way to bring the central characters back together satisfyingly then Wednesday will continue to be some of Netflix’s best young adult content available.
Also check out: Book Review: The Official Wednesday Cookbook by Mari Mancusi with Recipes by Jarrett Melendez
