Wednesday Review

THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR Wednesday SERIES 1. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Ahead of Season 2 of Wednesday being released (yes, I know, I’m last on the bandwagon again), I thought I’d make a quick post about it, possibly touching on a few subjects I don’t think anyone else has tackled.

I was introduced to the conceit of Wednesday through the Lego Ideas website (a site where fans can come up with their own ideas for models and submit them for review by the Lego company). Successful models which come from Lego Ideas are usually not based on existing IPs, such as the Piano and the Typewriter but that doesn’t mean that people don’t keep trying. I’ve lost count of the number of models of the Muppet Theatre that have been rejected.

Lego has tie-ins with many IPs such as Star Wars and Harry Potter, so certain other IPs look ideal for Lego, but the problem comes with copyright. Every brand tie-in has to be agreed by the legal teams of both Lego and the IP owner.

Anyway, on one occasion when I was looking through the newest models, it seemed like every single model was of Wednesday and Enid’s bedroom. Being at the time only vaguely knowledgeable about the Addams Family (I spelled it right, but that doesn’t mean this blog is coherent*), I understood that the plot was similar to Wicked, with one dark, brooding girl being forced to share a dorm with a bubbly, outgoing girl to force them to get along*².

*In the scene I’m referencing, they’re talking about Enid’s blog, but the subtitles clearly say vlog. Please fix, Netflix.

*² I may also be confusing  Wicked with The Parent Trap

I’ve included one of my favourite examples below (There isn’t much variety to be found, but this one had the biggest window):

However, the model itself doesn’t amuse me as much as the figures which would come with it (When designing minifigures for Lego Ideas, people usually have to improvise using parts of other figures):

figures

As you may have guessed, I’m not excited about Wednesday or Enid’s figures. I believe that Thing Addams would be to date the smallest Lego figure ever made (although not the smallest piece).

However, Lego Ideas is not the reason I started watching. Anyone who has read my Bleak Expectations review will have noticed that I mentioned a hand, which I then compared to the infamous Addams Family character. While researching a link to include, I came across multiple compilations and was intrigued, so I tried watching it properly.

This brings me to the second issue I wanted to talk about: Thing.

Thing is, perhaps surprisingly in modern times, not CGI*. Visual effects are used in his production, but they are used to remove the rest of the actor (Victor Dorobantu) who plays him.

*Thing is CGI for some short scenes, but he’s generally a practical effect.

In the scene where Wednesday first discovers Thing spying on her, she comments that she recognised the smell of his favourite hand lotion. She also mentions Thing’s vanity.

Pic

Is this the hand of someone who moisturises?

In a later episode, Enid says that she and Thing were giving each other manicures. If Enid gave thing a manicure and his nails still look like that, she’s bad at giving manicures. Also, serious question, in previous Addams Family projects, did Thing always have those scars/is he actually a ‘Frankensteined’ being?

My second issue with Thing is secrecy. Obviously Wednesday could not easily keep him hidden from Enid, but what everyone else knows seems very inconsistent. He is secreted in her bag at her first appointment with Dr Kinbott, but as all he does in that scene is pass her a lockpick, it seems like his presence was arbitrary.

In the Poe cup, he openly distracts one of the teams by throwing stones at them and not hiding when they look for their assailant, and not one of the team seems concerned that a sentient hand exists.

After this, everyone at Nervermore seems to be aware of Thing’s existence, and just accepts it.

Also, it makes sense that Wednesday would understand him, having grown up with him, but everyone else seems to speak his ‘language’ after only a few weeks. I get that some things would be fairly easy to understand but try miming “I’m not talking to Wednesday at the moment because she snapped at me for failing to run as fast as someone literally twenty times taller than me. Also, she said a lefty would have done better” with one hand.

By the way, can anyone who knows one-handed sign language (this is different from ASL or BSL) tell what he’s saying in some of his scenes? Despite only having one usable hand myself, all the sign language I know is regular BSL. Maybe one day I’ll tell you why. It’s a surprisingly interesting story.

 

There’s something else that not enough people seem to be talking about: Wednesday and Enid’s relationship. This is a relationship that’s surprisingly wholesome from the get-go. How their meeting would play out in any other show:

Enid: Welcome to Ophelia Hall! [Goes to hug Wednesday]

[Wednesday steps back. Enid ignores her, and hugs her anyway]

Wednesday: I’m not really a hugger [pushes Enid away]

Enid: Well, I am. We’re gonna have the best time together.

 

How their meeting plays out in Wednesday:

Enid: Welcome to Ophelia Hall! [Goes to hug Wednesday]

[Wednesday steps back]

Enid: Not a hugger. Got it.

Instead of forcing her ideals on Wednesday, Enid meets her where she is. Enid doesn’t try to force a hug out of Wednesday again, and only eventually hugs her in episode eight, after Crackstone is defeated. In this instance though, it is Wednesday who initiates the hug.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/F09FEzbLK-E

 

The thing about Wednesday which definitely isn’t being underrepresented is her dance from Episode 4. And you’d better believe I’m hopping on that bandwagon. Firstly, what song is she dancing to?

If you answered Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps, well done. The internet didn’t get you.

If you answered Bloody Mary by Lady Gaga, you have been caught. For you, The Chase is over, and you leave with nothing.

Even though it was Goo Goo Muck in the show, for some reason someone reuploaded it online with a different song, and now the dance is pretty much exclusively associated with that music. Also, not only is it a different song, it’s a sped-up version of the song (I’m not angry that it’s sped up, just confused that it isn’t the original)!

The redubbed dance went viral on TikTok, and now Bloody Mary is so associated with the clip that even the Official Teaser for Series 2 uses it:

Here’s a possibly controversial opinion you won’t have expected to read:

Goo Goo Muck sounds like The B-52s heard Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire once, then tried to sing it while guessing the lyrics.

 

My last point is more of a footnote. In one scene, Principal Weems (Gwendoline Christie) looks at her old yearbook, in which Morticia’s maiden name is listed. As it is onscreen for such a brief time, some people may misread it as Trump, possibly a reference to former first lady Melania Trump. However, the name given is actually Frump, which is not a referential joke created for the Netflix series but is actually her maiden name as given in the original 1964 tv series.

Screenshot

 

I can’t really think of a good way to end this post, so I’ll give a few predictions for Series 2 (Major spoilers aplenty for Series 1 below):

·        Given the popularity of the dance scene, there’s got to be another viral scene in series two, but it might not involve dancing. Other options include:

o   A long monologue to lip-sync to

o   Some kind of costume/hairstyle ideal for cosplayers (side note: look up tutorials for Thing costumes if you’re stuck for Halloween costume ideas)

o   Obviously, there’s more, but I can’t think of any right now.

·        As Principal Weems died in Episode 8, a new Nevermore Principal will be needed, but who? One of the other teachers? One of the students, now graduated? Morticia? The last one’s not out of the question, as it’s been confirmed that Series 2 will focus on Wednesday’s relationship with her mother.

·        The final shot of episode eight involves a restrained Rowan morphing into the Hyde (aforementioned restraints would probably be sufficient to subdue Rowan but wouldn’t have a chance of restraining the Hyde). Now that his true identity has been exposed, he wouldn’t make a good main villain for Season 2, but as the Hyde requires a master, part of the Season 2 plot could revolve around discovering who his new master is.

·        Several episodes (and the new Teaser Trailer) include voiceover/narration from Wednesday. I think that future episodes might lean into that more, possibly as a recap at the start of every episode. This might also be framed as writing her novel, which might parallel the series’ arc.

·        In an interview with the cast, several of them said they would like to see more members of the Addams family included. As mentioned above, there will be more of Morticia in series two, but it might also be interesting to expand the roles of Gomez, Fester, Pugsley, and Lurch. There are also several family members in the head canon who did not appear at all in Series 1.

·        Christina Ricci (Marilyn Thornhill/Laurel Gates) was largely cast because she had previously played Wednesday Addams in several other movies (I’m not going to list them all here), but there are many other actors who have played Wednesday previously. Sadly, Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday and partial inspiration for the iconic dance scene, died in January 2023, so can’t make an appearance, but many of the other Wednesday actors could potentially be included.

·        Enid finally managed to turn into a werewolf in episode eight, but it’s possible that this was just a reflex reaction to encountering the Hyde, so series two might include focussing on her controlling/harnessing this power.

·        Given that Jenna Ortega learned to play the cello specifically for this project, it’s highly likely that it will make a comeback in series two, hopefully with more classic rock covers. Other skills she learned for this project which could make a comeback include:

o   Canoeing

o   Fencing

o   Archery

o   Speaking Deutsch

 

By the way, did you notice the blatant lie in this post? If you didn’t, have another look. It’s not exactly well hidden.

Series one of Wednesday is available on Netflix.