TV Review: Wednesday

TV Review: Wednesday

by Alex Correa

“Wednesday”, the new Netflix melodramatic teen series is a modern take on “The Addams Family,” which was a praised sitcom series released on ABC in 1964. The original show was based off of a 1938 comic by Charles Addams, which appeared in The New Yorker in that same year. “Wednesday” set a new record for Netflix in its first week, entertaining viewers for an astounding 341.2 million hours, beating “Stranger Things”’ season 4 record. 

Wednesday (The original Addams Family character by that name, not the Netflix series) was originally written as a satirical take on the ideal 20th-century family. Wednesday was a morbid, frightening, but not quite murderous character, at the young age of only six years old. She was known as a member of the occult. She still experienced many of the same joys as the average six year old. Wednesday may have enjoyed cutting off heads at this time in her life, but only of dolls, not people. In the new Netflix series, Wednesday has been reimagined as a much more deadpan and sinister version of her childhood self. The change was a major one, but not exactly a surprising one. People do not stay the same as they age, and it was refreshing to see a new take on this famous character. I went into the series excited to see this new Wednesday be developed. 

I, unfortunately, wasn’t exactly impressed with the series’ writing. The plot of the series isn’t exactly sound, and many plot points are left abandoned. The show follows Wednesday trying to solve mysteries and attempts at shocking reveals are made. However, I found myself bored about halfway through various episodes, as clues were made too obvious and the mysteries were far too easy to solve by myself.  The series doesn’t provide the feeling of satisfaction other murder mysteries do, which is disappointing. 

Wednesday is written as an incredibly intelligent and talented character, but sadly, solving mysteries seems to be the one area of life in which she struggles. Wednesday is so talented in almost every regard, and at times, it can grow slightly irritating to see the character succeed. However, the very few times of which she does fail make the character more relatable, which made me enjoy the series slightly more. 

While I was not very impressed with the majority of the actual writing for the show, I will say that Jenna Ortega’s portrayal of Wednesday was incredibly entertaining. Ortega has spent a large portion of her life in the spotlight and was incredibly dedicated to her role as Wednesday. Her performance truly brought personality and life to a character written to be almost emotionless and hard to read. Ortega herself choreographed the ‘gothic dance’ that took over Tiktok during early December, which got the attention of the intended audience for the series. Her dancing drew audiences in, but her acting skills are what made them stay. 

Ortega’s portrayal of Wednesday is just the right amount of human. Ortega only blinks in scenes in which the character is highly emotional, and it brings humanity to an almost devilish character. However, this is probably the only thing that makes Wednesday likable enough for me to root for. This small display of emotion is what I believe holds the series together and cements Wednesday as the protagonist of the series.

While many aspects of the series were disappointing, the worldbuilding and set design were both incredible. There isn’t much to say about either, and in order to understand exactly what was done right about these elements of the series, you’d have to watch it yourself. 

I don’t foresee “Wednesday” going away any time in the near future. This series has proven to be heavily profitable for Netflix, and it is likely that the streaming service will greenlight as many seasons as people will watch. With the support that the series is getting, I have no doubt that season 2 will be much more compelling. If for no other reason, I recommend watching this series for Jenna Ortega’s performance alone. 

Entertainment