After the astounding success of the first season, fans have been anxiously awaiting the return of Netflix’s hit series “Wednesday,” a spin-off of the classic franchise “The Addams Family.” Season two’s first four episodes debuted Aug. 6, with the last four episodes releasing Sept. 3.
I was excited for this season because I had heard it would focus more on murder mystery elements and less on unnecessary romantic plotlines we’d seen in season one. However, I was greatly disappointed in the lack of originality and intrigue this new tone had.
While there’s not a lot, I did enjoy a couple elements of this season.
Jenna Ortega, who portrays Wednesday, did a phenomenal job with the character. Her talent this season is especially put on display during episode six in which Wednesday and her roommate, Enid (Emma Myers), get body swapped.
This ended up being my favorite episode of the season by far. It was fun but, more importantly, also had a lot of much needed character development for Wednesday and Enid. Ortega’s performance in the episode was exceptional given that she had to play the exact opposite of Wednesday’s character when embodying Enid.
Another element I enjoyed was the return of Gwendoline Christie’s character, Principal Larissa Weems. She added many comedic moments to the show and had an infectious dynamic with Wednesday. I may be partial to the fact that I love Christie in any role she plays, but from the moment she entered the screen, this season immediately got better.
Now onto the bad parts of the season, because there are many.
Every new character was unfortunately annoying, boring, pointless and received far too much screen time.
Enid was a returning character who was an essential part of season one, but I hated her character arc this season. She became annoying, cringey and borderline cruel for no reason.
I think a big factor that made her character so unlikeable was the writing because I was genuinely surprised by how bad it was. While that may be part of the style of the show, the writing for one of Netflix's most successful shows should at least be at the level where the audience isn’t cringing every two lines.
The villains this season were awful, as well. There were about three different antagonists throughout the season, and every one of them managed to be painfully uninteresting. The overarching mystery related to these villains was also terrible. The first four episodes were building up a somewhat intriguing mystery, but the identity of the villain got revealed halfway through the season and was then no longer relevant to the plot.
There was one last hurrah for villain Tyler (Hunter Doohan), returning from season one, teaming up with his mother (Frances O'Connor) and her brother (Owen Painter). While the brother was the mastermind antagonist, he spent the first half of the season being a zombie for a comedic sub-plot, diminishing the perceived threat of his character. Once again, there is barely any mystery involving these characters, and when there was, it was all revealed to the audience immediately.
Something else I didn’t like about this season was how much the Addams family was involved with the plot. The show is called “Wednesday,” not “The Addams Family Show.” The whole point of the series was to do a deep dive into Wednesday’s character, exploring who she is outside of her family. I’m fine with the family making little cameos here and there, but it felt like they ended up being in almost every scene this season. Most of the time, their inclusion did not even make sense within the story, so it all felt forced.
On the topic of cameos, there is the Lady Gaga elephant in the room. The show made a big deal about the pop star playing a character in “Wednesday,” so much so that they kept her character’s identity under wraps to build suspense. And yet, Lady Gaga managed to have less than two minutes of screen time the entire season. While there is a chance she could be playing an important role in season three, this has not been confirmed, so as of right now her involvement was just a disappointment.
I am honestly surprised at how bad this season turned out. Whatever magic sauce was used in season one to make it the success that it was clearly got thrown out when it came to season two.
Originality? Goodbye. Mystery? Au revoir. Good villains? Sayonara. Engaging plot? Adios. This season proves exactly why these elements are needed because when they are set aside, audiences get served up piping hot garbage on a huge silver platter. Even a mystery meat sandwich would probably be better than “Wednesday” season two.
