Netflix’s Wednesday Season 1 (2022) Review & Summary: A Glimpse of the Good Old Times

Wednesday is so well put together & every detail can be analyzed and studied. Tim Burton brought to life a classic like The Addams Family without tarnishing the original. Jenna Ortega showed everyone that she is the star to look out for in the future and yes, her choreography is exactly how Wednesday would dance.
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Netflix's Wednesday Season 1 Review & Summary - The Movie Culture

The 8-episode series, Wednesday, was released on 23rd November. It is a spin-off of The Addams Family and is directed by Tim Burton, the director of Batman. All the episodes are now streaming on Netflix.

Wednesday Season 1 (2022) Cast

  1. Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams
  2. Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin
  3. Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair
  4. Catherine Zeta Jones as Morticia Addams
  5. Luis Guzman as Gomez Addams

Wednesday Season 1 (2022) Plot

Nevermore is a school for outcasts and the newest student is the definition of too good for society, Wednesday Addams. As soon as she stepped into the premise, the school changed. Ghosts, Monsters, Murders, and Secret Societies, all erupt. So does romance. There is a hand with no body and a mystery that seems to only knock on Wednesday’s door. Yes, there are also werewolves, vampires, and sirens. Nevermore has it all.

Wednesday Season 1 (2022) Review

Restating a point that I have made, 2022 is a year of remakes and sequels. Nostalgia sells and in this day and age, gives people a glimpse of the good old times. The 90s was an important decade for cult classics. The Addams Family is one such classic. Everyone has watched it and with its quirky darkness, it has charmed all.

The simple theme of a weird family is all it took. And the creepiness. The silliness and the perfect sarcasm also helped. In 1991, Barry Sonnenfeld directed a one-of-a-kind story. No one had mastered comedy horror like him. The Addams Family was a Halloween staple in all houses because of how immaculately it captured the essence.

Following in the same footsteps is the spin-off series, Wednesday. Released 31 years after the original, this series is not a remake or a sequel. The spin-off is also only restricted to the series using popular characters. The rendition of which is unique. It is reminiscent of the quirkiness and the old-time setting. At which the year the series is set remains unknown but it doesn’t matter.

Wednesday is doing what Wednesday does best. Letting wild piranhas lose in a pool full of high school bullies. With being expelled from many schools, an accomplishment she fancies, Wednesday is now being dragged to Nevermore. The school that gave us Morticia and Gomez. For Wednesday, life is but a dredge of opportunity and she will do anything to be tortured but remaining in her mother’s shadow isn’t one of them.

The Fame of Nevermore

Morticia was the fame of Nevermore. She excelled and she charmed. Going to Nevermore was a reminder to Wednesday about everything her mother did best. Life was a competition for Wednesday so she had to fight. Upon the death of her beloved scorpion, she had sworn to never cry. Tears do nothing. In Nevermore, she was adamant to flee. From her first outing, she had planned the foolproof way to sneak out of her court-mandated therapy and leave the outcast-forsaken town of Jericho.

This is where the cute barista boy enters the picture. It is a fact universally acknowledged, men adept with the work of caffeine must be the fancy of a sarcastic, bitter, and straight woman. It helps if they are also hunky. Hunter who plays Tyler is a beautiful person. How can a person be a cute and walking embodiment of sunshine while also being so reciprocative of Wednesday’s nature? He helps her navigate her escape which she ultimately ditches. As Wednesday elongates her education in Nevermore, she also leans more toward Tyler. The Wednesday who was more interested in the murder has not one but two love interests in this series. Courtesy of Tim Burton’s perfectly balanced direction, fans also ship Enid and Wednesday. Yes, maybe the 1991 Wednesday would not be onboard with the sudden blossoming of romance.

Wednesday Series is Engaging with Occasional Lag

In terms of story, the series is pretty engaging. As there is a hint of lag, there is a new character introduced or a fascinating gothic dance choreography. It was a little messy in places where things were happening but it seemed to contribute nothing and also lacked enough content to make sense. Some scenes felt like unneeded fillers.

The notable actors were Christina Ricci, the original Wednesday, Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones), the perfect headmaster for Nevermore, and wacky Gordon played by Fred Armisen. Armisen deserved a lot more screen time even though there wasn’t much to that storyline either. The adults of the series were so on point and the fact that Fred was unrecognizable added to the astonishing nature of the series. Luis Guzman is Gomez. He embodied the character so well it is as if he was made for the role. The chemistry between him and the gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones was lovely. They were cringey and in love. Exactly what can be expected from Mr. and Mrs. Addams.

Some storylines continued to be unanswered. There were threads that continued hanging fragmented with possibly no closure in a second season. Hopefully, there is a second season. The hype of the series was definitely justified. If I was a preteen watching this show then I can guarantee that Wednesday would be my entire personality. Jenna Ortega made a character like her the next manic pixie. Goth needed a revival.

Lastly the fashion of the show. My, oh my. The series was a high school palette. All sorts of styles were thrown in. Wednesday’s goth. Enid’s bold and loud colors and Morticia’s dark motherly flowing outfits. There was a bit of everything. A modernized take on traditional aesthetics. While goth is usually understood as only black, in the series, Wednesday wears black and white. The white adds to how her outlook on life is now restricted by the Nevermore norms. At the same time, Xavier and Tyler, the two romantic interests, have dissimilar fashions. Xavier goes for the brooding layered artist look while Tyler is a boy next door with T-shirts that do wonders for his muscular arms. As the story progresses, their costumes also reflect the growing complexity of their relationships and lives.

The Movie Culture Synopsis

Overall, the series is so well put together and every detail can be analyzed and studied. Tim Burton brought to life a classic family like The Addams Family without tarnishing the original. Jenna Ortega showed everyone that she is the star to look out for in the future and yes, her choreography is exactly how Wednesday would dance.