TV Review: Wednesday
There are very few reasons for me to fire up the Netflix app on my AppleTV these days. They might have a ton of content, but only a little grabs my interest. They renewed "The Sandman" for season two, so they have my patronage for at least a while more. The plethora of content makes me more selective with what I consume. I was interested when they announced "Wednesday," a show about Wednesday Addams. Jenna Ortega, an actress whose work I have liked, was cast to star. Netflix also announced that Tim Burton would direct a few episodes and The Addams family seemed to fit his sensibilities.
After an incident at her school, Wednesday (Ortega) is forced by her parents to attend Nevermore, a boarding school that they went to when they were younger. While there, the eldest Addams child discovers a town with a disturbing past that resents all the students who attend Nevermore, a history of coverups from school officials, and there is a monster attacking people.
The best description of this show I have heard is from a guy I follow on TikTok named Michael Collado. He said the show is a CW show for people who don't want the CW logo in the corner. Many of those shows are targeted a younger audience, are full of melodrama, and can be formulaic. Some performances are poorly acted, and some side characters are broadly written. This show falls into all those categories. It's not a bad thing. There are a few shows on the CW that I have liked. On the whole, I enjoyed this. The mystery of the monster was intriguing enough, but it did feel like those CW shows.
Ortega, as Wednesday, is absolutely the best part of this show. She never jokes, uses sarcasm, or shows more emotions other than annoyance with others. The trick with the character is that Wednesday is entirely deadpan and unflappable. She doesn't let much throw her, and when problems arise, she finds a way to solve them.
Overall, I enjoyed the show, but some somethings kept the show from being something worth the Netflix subscription. If you are looking for something easy to watch and enjoy a little of the macabre, then you could do worse than "Wednesday."
