Wednesday: the complete first season (TV series review).
I thought it was about time I looked at the ‘Wednesday’ TV series from 2023. Only one season so far. Wednesday Addams (actress Jenna Ortega) had an intriguing start when she discovered her brother Pugsley (actor Isaac Ordonez) bound in her locker. She then exacted revenge on the local college’s swimming team by tossing some piranhas into the swimming pool, asserting that only she could harm her brother.
Following her expulsion, her parents, Morticia (actress Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (actor Luis Guzmán), enroll her in the Nevermore Academy, where they both received their education under the supervision of Principle Larissa Weems (actress Gwendoline Christie). Her new roommate, Enid Sinclair (actress Emma Myers), shows her around, but Wednesday is determined to escape. Knowing this, Morticia leaves Thing, a hand supplied by Victor Dorobantu, to keep a watch on her. Just to add an extra twist, a monster on the outskirts of the academy is regularly killing off members of the nearby town in the forest. Wednesday is determined to locate and stop the monster, and she must identify her suspects.
Artistically, the visuals are good. Gomez especially looks like the Chaz Addams cartoon depiction. Placing the peculiar Wednesday in a school alongside other eerie creatures, such as vampires and werewolves, is more likely to suppress her actions compared to genuine humans, whose exploitative nature seldom extends beyond mere backdrops. I can appreciate her activities are likely to cause problems, and she’s been to seven colleges already, but you would think all the mutilations would have resulted in some time in a correctional facility, no matter how rich the Addams family is.
The problem is that it’s not funny. It lacks the black-humoured humor that Chaz Addams originally envisioned and portrayed. Every age group, including Wednesday, has a pre-established character. As a result, I found myself viewing this series primarily as a drama. There’s a subtle boundary between comedy and murder, but this series doesn’t aim for humor. Wednesday is essentially a gothic teen with blazing hormones, wanting to get her own way and not let anyone get in her way. Said hormones want to discover what the monster is and why the student she saw die was still alive.
There is a bit of a puzzle when Wednesday finds a long nail in the creature’s lair and wants Sheriff Donovan Galpin (actor Jame McShane) to do a DNA match to a sample she provides. Keratin, the dead substance that composes nails, does not carry DNA. The only material likely to be present on it is the blood of any victims.
As with all detective series on a single case, you’re going to get distractions, red herrings (other fish are available), and a long list of suspects. The thing is, I’m into the sixth episode, and there are no obvious choices to choose from. I do have a choice in mind, based on the adage “when in doubt, choose the one you would least expect.” My creature-controller guess was correct after finishing the series. I was less certain about the identity of the creature, later referred to as a Hyde, but I wasn’t overly shocked.
A puzzle through all the generations of Thing: just how does it see? Then, I was surprised to learn that Fester (actor Fred Armisen) had been on a diet and was more of a wanted criminal this time. About the only Addams members we didn’t see were Grandmama and Cousin Itt, but I suspect it would have probably been too much overcrowding. The Academy operated more akin to a traditional American college, offering little distinction to its unconventional students. Early versions of the Addams family were oddities with few relatives. With so many other odd beings around, they appear more conventional and, dare I say it, ordinary.
To be fair, it is watchable, but it is a shame that there wasn’t any black humour. Indeed, I pinpointed the identity of the Hyde’s controller with precision, but I am a writer.
GF Willmetts
September 2024
(pub: MGM/Warner Bros, 2023. 2 blu-ray disks 8 * 50 minute episode. Price: varies. ASIN: 5000310787)
cast: Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Hunter Doohan, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Victor Dorobantu, Moosa Mostafa, Jamie McShane, Christina Ricci, Riki Lindholme and many more
check out website: www.warnerbros.co.uk
