On November 23, the iconic Addams Family returned to the screens: Netflix presented a new series about Wednesday Addams. Other members of the strange family also appear in the frame, but it is the daughter of Gomez and Morticia that is in the spotlight. In this review, we tell you whether the authors of the project managed to create a really interesting story with hints of horror.
Last night, I finished watching the Wednesday series from Netflix and Tim Burton. I already wrote in my personal blog about my impressions after the first series, and now it’s time for a full-fledged review. So, let’s begin!
The series was uploaded to the platform on November 23. On the same day, we watched 5 episodes in one gulp. We would have looked at everything at once, but, alas, work forces us to rest.
“Wednesday Season 1” I have been waiting since the announcement. The cast announcement (and naive hope for Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter), promo shots, teasers and trailers, there was nothing we missed. And here it is the day of the premiere …
Wednesday Season 1, who avenged her brother, is expelled from another school. The last hope is Nevermore – an academy where the so-called outcasts (vampires, werewolves, sirens, gargoyles / gargons and other interesting creatures) study. Wednesday is not happy about this turn of events, which complicates the already strained relationship with the family. Therefore, she immediately declares that she will run away from there.
At the same time, brutal murders begin to occur in the vicinity, which the mayor and sheriff of the nearby town attribute to a bear wandering in the district (knowing full well that this is clearly not a clubfoot). Wednesday very quickly becomes part of this “fun” and begins his own investigation. Well, in parallel acquires friends and enemies.
Everyone. Stranger Things aside, this is the best Netflix series this year (although I haven’t watched 1899 yet) – at least it got me a lot more than Resident Evil, The Night Owl Club, and even Guillermo Del’s Cabinet of Rarities Toro” – and the streaming giant was betting big on them!
Yes, the series is somewhat different from previous productions of the Addams Family story. The main differences are the dynamic development of the plot and the emphasis on one of the family members, and not on all the Addams. But at the same time, he famously gives curtsies to the classics (and I’m not only talking about the role of Christina Ricci now). Black humor also remained in place.
Pleased with the actors: Jenna Ortega in the role of Wednesday is a direct hit in the image. Actually, I would single out Wednesday, her antipode neighbor Enid Sinclair and, of course, the Thing as the main trinity of heroes.
The next thing I would like to draw attention to is the chic visuals. Smooth camera work, pleasant coloring, accurate editing – this greatly played into the hands of the general atmosphere of the series.
What upset you a little?
Edgar Allan Poe’s “just to be” attraction. The academy where Wednesday arrives is named after the refrain from The Crow by the great American writer and poet. Actually, this verse itself has already become a cultural meme, because it appeared everywhere – from the Halloween editions of The Simpsons.
Further, Edgar Allan himself appears in the form of a statue leading to a secret konata. Partly, Wednesday’s solution of riddles in Poe’s book (homage to the “Gold Bug”) can also be dragged in here.
This is followed by competitions in honor of the writer, where the teams are named after the novels of the writer: “Golden Beetle”, “Black Cat”, “Well and Pendulum” and, if I’m not mistaken, “Frog” (those guys in jester costume).
The Raven Ball completes all this – a reference immediately to the “Raven” and the “Mask of the Red Death”.
But why Edgar Allan Poe is so important in the world of outcasts is never explained. Although I may have missed something.
The next minus can be called such with a stretch – there was too little Uncle Fester (played by Fred “Miskuzi” Armisen, although at first I thought it was Ilya Baskin). But his posh motorcycle will be hard to forget – especially Cruella, from whom he stole it. He’s a little skinny here.
Well, Luis Guzman is a character actor and not bad, besides, he kind of looks like Gomez from the original comics – but I prefer the head of the family from the films of the 90s.
So what’s the bottom line?
As a result, we got an updated history of classic characters (as it once was with Sherlock), in which everything is organic. Briefly, I can describe my impressions as follows: a worthy replacement for Harry Potter for the New Year holidays is a good family series in which everyone will find something for themselves.
Honestly, I want to continue and continue to write, but .. You’d better see it yourself once than read someone else’s next opinion.
Wednesday Season 1 meaning: What happens in the last episode of Wednesday?
Genre Detective, Fantasy, Horror, Comedy
Directors Tim Burton, Ganja Monteiro, James Marshall
Cast Jenna Ortega, Luis Guzmán, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Gwendoline Christie, Christina Ricci Netflix
premiere Release year 2022
I watched all 8 episodes of “Wednesday” in these couple of days and decided to share my opinion.
In general, the series is a strong average, there are not enough stars from the sky, but it’s not a complete crap-squeeze agenda from Netflix, as is often the case.
The main mystery of the series is interesting, I liked the elements of mysticism in the series.
I liked the secondary characters, I was even a little surprised that the black actress / rival of the main character came out quite interesting, and not just as a role to fill the quota.
Separately, we can highlight Wednesday’s parents (Catherine Zeta-Jones top milf), as well as her uncle + hand and the role of Christina Ricci, which is very nice to look at, she is beautiful.
Hand and Uncle are the best characters in the series.
What I didn’t like was Wednesday’s cringe dialogues for moments, and it didn’t work out very well, in my opinion, to combine modernity and fantasy elements. Evermore School is called a school for outcasts, but in fact it is some kind of school for mutants from the X-Men. Mentions of YouTube and TikTok appear here and there, but it looks out of place and very forced.
Also, the graphics of the monsters in the series are terrible, at some point it turns into a cartoon, but in principle it is tolerable.
One moment that kind of unsettled me a little was when Wednesday kills a few people in the first episode (this is not a spoiler, it was in the trailers), and then he tries his best to justify his father, because he is not so bad as to kill anyone . This caused some kind of narrative dissonance in me??? I don’t know how best to describe it. That is, your character first kills some, and then defends others from murder charges.
Maybe I misunderstood something, then I apologize for this moment.
And so, you can watch and enjoy if you have nothing to do and liked the previous films about the Addams family.
After 15-year-old Wednesday Addams launched a flock of piranhas into the pool with the abusers of her younger brother Pugsley, the girl is expelled from school. Gomez and Morticia’s parents decide to send their wayward daughter to Nevermore Academy. The so-called outcasts study there, that is, vampires, werewolves, sirens and other representatives of the supernatural contingent.
At first, the little rebel will try to escape from this unpleasant place, but the brutal murders in the nearby forest will force her to launch an investigation. In addition, the young heroine will meet with the dark mystery of her own family, which is rooted in the events of 32 years ago, which took place in Nevermore. Now Wednesday will be waiting for terrible secrets and bloodthirsty monsters, but the worst thing she will have to face is growing up.
The story of the seemingly wild but harmless Addams family begins back in 1938. Then the American cartoonist Charles Addams created a newspaper comic that appeared on the pages of The New Yorker magazine. It was published safely until the death of its author in 1988. The work has received a bunch of film adaptations, and one of the most outstanding is the 1991 film by Barry Sonnenfeld. It was a debut for the now famous director.
The current story is no longer very similar to social satire and is more about a pale-faced, gloomy girl with two pigtails. This is a 100% teen detective with elements of fantasy, horror and comedy. In fact, the authors placed the conditional Veronica Mars in a gothic Harry Potter setting.
Half of the episodes were directed by seasoned dark tale connoisseur Tim Burton. Ironically, he was supposed to direct the same film that came out 31 years ago, but it didn’t work out. It will come as no surprise to anyone that “Wednesday” is designed primarily for a teenage audience. Here, the reclusive heroine will have to build relationships with peers, build relationships with friends and learn to trust. In a word, socialize.
The Thing will help her in this – a hand darned from different sides, not embarrassed to show the middle finger if necessary. In general, Wednesday will have to do almost everything the same as ordinary teenagers. Only in addition, she still has to expose the sinister plan and overcome the evil that has risen.
From the point of view of detective intrigue, the project is quite captivating, although the denouement is not at all surprising. The art direction is generally at the highest level: costumes, makeup, gothic locations and the rest of the content of the frame are done perfectly. Also worth noting is the good casting. Luis Guzman and Catherine Zeta Jones make brief appearances but are convincing in their respective roles. The participation of Christina Ricci, who has already tried on the image of the title character, is seen as symbolic.
But everyone else is overshadowed by the young talent of Jenna Ortega, whom viewers could see in this year’s slashers “Scream” and “X”. The camera relentlessly captures her close-ups, while the actress with just a glance makes everyone around her treat the character with fear and caution. Ortega performed a confident transformation, and her Wednesday is able to evoke sincere empathy, even despite the detachment from others and the manipulation of her peers.
The overall result was more than satisfactory. This is a well-acted and well-acted teen series. Not overly dramatized, like some kind of Riverdale, but also not quite childish to be considered a passing fairy tale. And he is stylish and sometimes even a good laugh.
Obviously, the project is not able to stand out from the mass of other projects of this kind. But this is not required when you have all the ingredients to become a good product for your target audience. Wednesday is just that. Good detective story, good cast, interesting main character and her amazing dance, authentic goth atmosphere, funny moments. The general typicality of the plot and the banal denouement.
It seems that Netflix wanted to create a new idol for the generation of modern grandfathers, but it turned out to reach out to everyone. After unsuccessful attempts to educate their daughter in a regular school, Gomez and Marticia Addams enroll Wednesday at Nevermore Academy, the boarding school they both attended when they were younger. There, she must stop mysterious murders and unravel a supernatural mystery from her parents’ past while solving her teenage problems. For me, the technical component of the image is of great importance. The visuals in general and the florist in particular are simply magnificent here. This gamma, these cold shades are a treat for the eyes. Wednesday is no longer the little girl played by Christina Ricci who was left somewhere on the 1991 Addams Family VHS tapes. Now this is a new, very modern character in the face of Jenna Ortega – a rebel, a typical zoomer outsider with all her quirks.
The Addams family rarely appears on screen in full force, but there are questions about the cast. Luis Guzman as Gomez Addams is an obvious miss.
In my opinion, he does not fit into this image, which is why all further chemistry with Martisha looks unnatural. Why not Danny Trejo, I want to ask?
Important! When I wrote about it, I didn’t know what Gomez looked like in the old comics, and it turned out that they really are very similar to Luis.
Looking through the pages of those magazines, I thought about my negative reaction and realized that the whole point is that for me the image of Gomez performed by John Astin is canonical . I can’t do anything about it and I don’t want to. I am delighted with his type and charisma and it is difficult for me to imagine other actors in his place.
Catherine Zeta-Jones in the role of Martysha has become one of the decorations of this series.
I am glad that with age, she still remains the same incredibly attractive on the screen.
This could go on forever, but there is also Jenna Ortega. Well, it’s the main character. I did not notice her earlier in the cinema, I heard that she starred in some more or less popular films, but I did not remember them.
And then “Wednesday” happens, and how they guessed it! She’s super cute, look.
I noticed one funny detail, no matter who Burton shoots, it still turns out Helena Bonham Carter .
“Thing” is beyond praise, so beat all the situations, gestures, humor. In short, respect and thumbs up to the specialists who worked on this!
Uncle Fester, how I waited for his appearance. Here he noticeably lost weight, freshened up and got involved in all sorts of scams. I hope that in the second season his character will be revealed even better, because every new story from his past makes me genuinely smile.
This is a paradise for little lovers of the aesthetics of “Dark academia” and Potter, Twilight and Twin Peaks, Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. Here you have the old forged gates at the entrance to the school, medieval educational buildings, secret societies, ancient tomes, dungeons, crypts, a foggy forest and a lake.
What about mysterious monsters? And mysterious monsters. One. Very meme. Who is the monster?
Harry Potter – The Boy Who Lived. Wednesday is a girl who survived from a regular school and entered here.
Nevermore is an educational institution for outcasts (non-normises), namely: Scaled (Sirens), Furs (Werewolves), Fanged (Vampires) and Stones (Gorgons).
This has never happened before and here it is again. All matches are coincidental and names are fictitious.
About music
I’ll just say that among the soundtracks there are Apocalyptica covers of The Rolling Stones and Metallica, performed on the cello. This is what we’re listening to!
About references
In addition to the many references to the figure and work of Edgar Alan Poe, I remember the episode with the Raven Ball, it looks like a direct reference to the school ball from Stephen King’s Carrie. Dear!
And the reaction of Wednesday itself to everything that happens, compared to Carrie, is priceless.
They say that there is a lot in store for connoisseurs of Tim Burton’s work, but since I am not fully familiar with his filmography, I only saw Catwoman from Batman Returns (competition costume) and Frankenweenie (scorpion story).
Story point
A question that worries many when it comes to the next creation of Netflix. It is unexpected and pleasant to observe the fact that everything in this story has been kept within reason.
Relationships between students are quite traditional. Guys invite girls on dates, kiss, start relationships, well, that’s all.
Were you expecting a trick? And he is not. Okay, there is a small one. The local botanist has two mothers. Jokes about moms x2.
Now that’s all for sure.
In conclusion
“Wednesday” for me is a very successful rethinking of a classic story, but in modern realities. No, this is not The Addams Family (2022), I suggest forgetting about these comparisons altogether. Yes, we have a certain background, but the shuttle with a new, bright and non-standard character has separated and we see how a completely different universe is being created with his participation.
Memorable female images, attention to detail, multiple references, black humor, a good detective line, the problems of growing up, socialization and other non-childish topics make this series one of the most vivid and memorable this year for me.
“Wednesday” is not outstanding, but good screen time. Although the series is designed for teenagers, even an adult bearded uncle could watch it without much difficulty. And this is already a significant indicator
