On November 23 (Wednesday, which is ironic), the entire first season of the Wednesday series, the sequel to the famous Addams Family, dedicated to the slightly grown-up daughter of the family, was released on Netflix. You are waiting for a teenage fantasy detective story with a fair amount of black humor. Tim Burton’s Wednesday is more like Harry Potter than The Addams Family. But this has its owncharm.
With all the abundance of comic book adaptations of Charles Addams, this is the first solo album of a single character. In serials and animated series there were only separate episodes about heroes. And even more attention was attracted by the fact that the great and terrible Tim Burton was in charge of the project.
In this, by the way, there is also irony – I have repeatedly encountered the misconception that it was he who shot the famous films of the 90s, although this is not so. Apparently, the image of a gloomy gothic family fit into his style too well. And now, indeed, Burton has shot a series (the first in his life) about the heroine from the Addams.
You can immediately say that he turned out to be very sweet and funny, with a touch of drama and history of the “other” person in society, traditional for the director.
But when watching, the question will inevitably arise: is it exactly about those heroes that we knew? But even that doesn’t stop you from enjoying it.
What is the series about
Wednesday Addams is growing up. Now from a gloomy unsociable child, she has turned into a gloomy unsociable teenager. The girl cannot get along in ordinary schools in any way – in the latter, protecting her brother, she almost killed several students.
Then the parents, against the will of Wednesday herself, send her to the Nevermore boarding school (a reference to the poem by Edgar Alan Poe), in which they themselves once met.
Wednesday feels like an outcast even among the outcast children who are disliked by the entire neighboring town, and plans to quickly escape. But gradually she is drawn into the life of the school.
After all, here you need to punish the arrogant excellent student, then help the neighbor. But more importantly, a monster roams the area, killing everyone in a row. And it seems to have something to do with the past of the Addams family.
Is this really The Addams Family?
This question arose in my first series, and in the future I returned to it more than once. There are several reasons for such doubts.
The plot itself, and the subsequent development of the story, strongly contradicts the fundamental principle – the Addams have always been shown as a strange but friendly family in which parents help children and give them enough freedom for self-expression (I generally consider the Addams Family 1991 to be the best example of healthy family relationships on the screen ).
Yes, the 2021 cartoon has already played with the idea that Wednesday is moving away from his parents. But here they make it literally a starting point: Morticia and Gomez (Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman, who is very similar to the prototype from the comics) do not hear the wishes of their daughter and want to make a copy of her mother out of her.
This can be partly forgiven, since by the middle of the season the situation is corrected: Gomez and Morticia find a common language with Wednesday, and everything falls on familiar tracks. But it is still difficult to get rid of the idea that the problem arose out of nowhere and disappeared into nowhere.
But we must pay tribute: the brief appearance of Uncle Fester is the most “Addamsian” scene imaginable. Fred Armisen, though slender for this character, wins back the reckless nature perfectly well. Oh yes, and Victor Dorobantu fit in perfectly. Don’t remember this? He ” played ” the Thing – the hand, Wednesday’s faithful companion.
But the main difference is this.
The Addams Family has always been a gothic satirical story, but not fantasy. Yes, there were a lot of supernatural elements in the plot: from the abilities of Uncle Fester to strange creatures, but it was just background and humor.
In “Wednesday” the main character finds herself in a typical school with magical creatures: there are sirens, werewolves, the likeness of the Gorgon Medusa and other personalities from fairy tales. She has visions when she touches other people. And the girl communicates with her parents through a magic ball, although some old phone with a bell would be more suitable in style.
So after a couple of episodes, the obvious conclusion suggests itself:
No, this is the new Harry Potter.
Well, or any other similar story about children, a magical school and the riddles associated with it. And you know what? I like it.
I remember that after The Prisoner of Azkaban, many movie fans had a dream that Harry Potter would turn into a franchise, where some cool director would shoot each part: Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton, Robert Zemeckis, then fantasize yourself.
And now, when David Yates finishes off the franchise, we have the opportunity to see what a similar story would look like from Burton – he, by the way, personally directed four episodes out of eight.
If you compare the plot of “Wednesday” with “Harry Potter”, you will find a lot of similarities. There will be a small competition between the students, and a mysterious conspiracy, and a detective part with the search for a hiding monster. And even the division of the world, if not all, but the local one into “outcasts” and “normises” (magicians and Muggles, yes). And all this is connected with the past of the girl herself, who is called the key to defeating the resurgent villain. There will even be analogues of Ron and Hermione. Is it familiar?
But you still don’t want to scold for banalities, because the main character is very different from Potter and makes you perceive the action in a completely different way. If Harry was looking for friends, then Wednesday at first distances himself from others with all his might. Her trademark dark sarcasm and infernal humor will remain the same – fans of such phrases can write out every second statement.
In the series, by the way, other “adult” jokes regularly flash. Not only about death, but also about sex, drugs and other controversial topics. Even the Thing burns out regularly.
But there is also an interesting situation here. The writers, of course, took a heroine very suitable for Burton’s style. But it was still adapted to the director’s typical plots. If in The Addams Family Values Wednesday didn’t even try to settle down at summer camp, here the story is still led to the fact that socialization is important.
In just a few episodes, the heroine understands that she needs to accept the peculiarities of her neighbors, learns to be friends and even experiences romantic feelings. That is, it is rather about the fact that even strange loners deserve recognition in society, you just need to approach them correctly. Almost all of Burton’s characters have gone through this path. Not surprisingly, Wednesday is experiencing the same feelings.
Fortunately, this line only complements the overall plot, without becoming an end in itself, and therefore does not destroy the overall dynamics.
So is it interesting to watch?
Yes, and very much so. I watched all eight episodes in two evenings and didn’t get tired of the show at all. There are several reasons. For starters, Jenna Ortega fits the image of Wednesday perfectly. Yes, this is a slightly matured heroine with more grotesque behavior, but the hit is excellent.
However, the series rests not only on her. There are also many young actors who have chosen interesting images. Although it should be noted that some minor lines sometimes seem far-fetched, and some of them do not develop at all. But perhaps this is the beginning of a second season.
And the stars familiar to all support the youth. For example, Gwendolyn Christie (Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones) appears as the headmistress of the school. And the main bonus is Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in The Addams Family in the nineties (by the way, she and Ortega are the same height).
The plot itself is fast paced and very intricate. There’s a really interesting detective part here with a few suspects.
Sometimes, of course, they go too far with social topics: some of them fit well into the plot, while others flicker as if “for show”. But the series is very far from any Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, so you can simply ignore certain moments.
As a result, “Wednesday” develops into a dynamic detective fantasy with a clear directorial style of Tim Burton and charming actors.
Moreover, the final seems to answer all the main questions, and the series can be viewed as a complete story. But there is potential for the second season – like Harry Potter, the heroine may well return for the next year of study and face a new problem.
