I have always been a big fan of The Addams Family especially the 90s films, so to see that Tim Burton was to bring out a series with Netflix filled me with a lot of joy because I trusted him with the contents and wondered what he would bring to the screen. Now it wasn’t what I expected at all to begin with, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as the series continued.

Wednesday follows Wednesday Addams as she is sent to a new school that her mum and dad went to when they were younger as a last ditch hope at her finally settling into a school. It is filled with lots of magical creatures including werewolves, gorgons and sirens, and this adds a very interesting element to it because even Wednesday has powers where when she touches people she gets a vision of either their past or their future and has to decipher what is going to happen from that vision. It really had a different feel to The Addams Family that I haven’t personally seen before, as we saw in the 90s they were just normal people who were a bit eccentric and enjoy the gothic lifestyle, whereas here they are so much more.

Throughout the show we see Wednesday battle against a big baddy using what is known as a Hyde, a creature based off of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, to kill people in and around the school. It’s a very interesting murder mystery because you don’t know who is doing it until the second to last episode and so it’s really fun to watch every character try to decipher what is going on with this murderer as well as having to deal with Wednesday coming in and being a complete outcast, even with the outcasts, and trying to find her place in this world where she still doesn’t feel like she fits in.

Throughout the show we see Wednesday go through some romantic interests which I often don’t like because I feel that they can be a bit shoehorned in, but these ones actually really added to the plot and kept the story moving, so while it felt a bit teen drama in areas it definitely had its purpose in the overall arc and I really appreciated that it also helped cement certain characters in the show, as well as twist others into beings that you would never expect them to be. Especially with the big baddy we find out was someone that I suspected throughout but never totally assumed would be the bad guy, so to then find it out in the end and have it all unravel was really exciting.

The actors in this were absolutely perfect, each one fit their role incredibly especially Wednesday herself. I was a bit worried because I’m so hooked on the older Wednesdays, as I said many times already, that I wondered how a new actress could play such a poignant person in my life but thankfully she was incredible and it was such a delight to see her on screen really show something different to what we have seen her in before. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters too, everyone seemed to have a storyline that was going on and that kept everything interesting and flowing, even her parents had their own backstory which was really exciting and added more to the whole Addams Family as a group. You got to understand these characters on such a deep level that they really felt fleshed out and as if they had their own stuff going on besides being side characters to Wednesday’s main quest.

I do hope, as a season two was teased at the end of the show, that it continues to be as strong as this show was for the first season. It has really set up some very exciting storylines and characters that I would love to spend more time with and dive even deeper into their backstories and lives. I also hope, especially with the red herring characters we had in this seasons, that they are fleshed out more now that we know they are innocent and have their moment to shine and show off their powers too.

Overall, while I went in with some trepidation to this show, I was happily surprised at how good it was. All the characters were fantastic, the storyline was brilliant to follow, and as surprising as it is as I usually enjoy watching things as stand-alone seasons I would love a season 2. I think a season 2 would be amazing to continue the storyline especially as it did end up quite open ended and I would just love to spend more time with these characters and see where Tim Burton takes it next. It’s an absolutely fantastic show that any age can enjoy, of course it does have some gory moments and some jump scares which definitely did scare me, but it all adds into that teen drama excitement that you would expect from a show like this and it’s a perfect little bubble of Gothic wonderment that I would happily watch again and again just because I enjoyed it so much.

What do you think of Wednesday?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding