If you've ever been personally victimised by wednesday Addams, raise your hand.
The antiheroine of Tim Burton's series, Wednesday, has trebucheted through the screen.
Editors are short-sighted.
Coffee is for people who hate themselves and don't have a purpose.
"I don't like writing what you know." There is a hall pass for the imagination-impaired.
If you think I'm in pain over here, just know I'm happy.
The Addams Family's teen sibling is given an executioner's block from which to drop the blade on murder mysteries, evade her family, and survive high school in Burton's eight- episode series.
A damsel in distress is sent off to Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for misfits, after a bloody incident. The Principal of Nevermore is cheerful and cheery, and she is constantly comparing Wednesday to her mother back in the day.
The Addams Family is all here but fleetingly. Luis Guzmn follows in the footsteps of John Astin and Ral Julia as Gomez Addams and focuses on making a great father out of him. While Jones and Guzmn can't keep up with the sexy chemistry of the films, they share a little spark. Uncle Fester, a role made famous by Christopher Lloyd in the films, is played with gleeful creeps and an unnerving laugh by Fred Armisen. Armisen makes it count, rubbing his hands together, drinking from the bottle, and disappearing and reappearing with unnerving regularity, even though Fester only has one episode.
Fam. Credit: Netflix
Beyond the Addams Family, Wednesday's host of new characters makes our gloomy teen's story into a new realm, with multiple mysteries to solve, one of which is a reference to the famous Addams Family double finger snap. There are a lot of mysteries on Wednesday, including secret societies, unsolved murders, and a monster hunt.
Like most of Burton's work, Wednesday deals with the theme of misfits within society, within social groups, and as definitive of our eponymous hero and her spooky family. There is a tension between the Nevermore school and the residents of the town of Jericho.
The series mainly takes place at Nevermore, founded in 1791, which resembles the Addams Family mansion with its Second Empire stone towers. A typical teen series includes a school dance, an athletic competition, classroom subjects, and extracurricular activities.
Enid Sinclair says that Nevermore was founded to educate people like them. "You can fill in your favourite group here." According to the Wiki version of Nevermore's social scene, there are many forms of ostracized at the school, but the four main groups are Fangs, Furs, Werewolves, and Stoners. Vampires avoiding garlic bread in the cafeteria, gorgons avoiding mirrors for fear of getting stoned are some of the challenges that come with their own adolescence.
School sucks, even when you're a vampire. Credit: Netflix
Within the school's social categories, we find our killer teen cast, including Bianca Barclay, who is the closest thing Nevermore has to royalty. Bianca's character is more nuanced than the Queen Bee one, with her tempestuous rivalry with Wednesday and her own dark background.
She is the perfect antithesis to Wednesday. She's contrasted to her gloomy roomie through Mark Scruton's production design and Adrian Curelea's art direction, as well as their shared room, which is divided in half. The dramatic performance by Myers distinguishes him from Wednesday, as he constantly tries to befriend and motivate her to take a stab at the social thing while being aware of Wednesday's tendencies. "If he breaks your heart, I'll nail gun his" is one of the things Wednesday says when Enid is away on a date. It's a sweet thing.
Enid just wants to be BFFs. Credit: Netflix
Wednesday, being an enigmatic spooky being, doesn't fit into any outcast category and is far from interested in participating in "tribal adolescent cliches". The legacy of Lisa Loring in the '60s series and Christina Ricci in the '90s films continues with Wednesday, with Ortega stepping confidently into these hallowed pointed boots.
Ricci's casting in the film as the upbeat, smiley herbology teacher Ms. Thornhill, even more compelling, is due to the fact that Wednesday has all the deadpan disdain of her predecessors, Ricci. She found ways to make the role her own. Every unblinking eye movement is a tack and her performance is spectacularly controlled.
Painting it black. Credit: Netflix
Wednesday's lack of emotions, which she sees as a gateway trait to feelings and tears, are key to her rejection of 'nice girl' behavior ingrained in young women. Watching a teen girl call out people for their stupidity feels fresh. I was excited to anticipate every brutal insult or gruesome retort. She is a great writer because of her stubbornness, single-mindedness, and obsessiveness. She says yes, and also serial killers. Despite the fact that the Addams Family's beloved Thing is missing, his role in the show is one of the sweeter elements despite the fact that his body is severed.
The costume department made a black and grey version of Nevermore's school uniform for Wednesday, just for her, thanks to Colleen Atwood. Wednesday isallergic to colour. The performance is backed up by music. Drawing from Danny Elfman's jauntily macabre theme (it wouldn't be a Burton piece without him), composer Chris Bacon weaves a gloomily bombastic score throughout the episodes, crafting chilling choir vocalisations and melancholicMetallica and Rolling Stones' string covers worthy of Bridgerton
The series makes time for one of the most horrible parts of school: crush. Wednesday resists playing into this emotional adolescent nonsense, regardless of Thing's interference, but the series offers up two bubbling crushes for Wednesday to consistently emotionally pulverise.
Xavier sure turns up at convenient times... Credit: Netflix
Between Wednesday and Xavier, Uncle Fester says you could cut the tension with an executioner's axe, with their interactions involving hormonally charged arguments over him mansplaining her power, and awkward date invitations. Wednesday sees an opportunity for help in her investigations, but turns into something more than free four-shot espressos, if Tyler is to be believed. Even though their chivalry is a tool of the patriarchy, they should be prepared to be stomped on.
Burton capitalising on the teen Addams member in his signature spooky style is part of the Wednesday series. Your neighbourhood may be in for a scare if you leave the series.
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