Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 TV Review: Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton are back for more kooky adventures

Plot: Wednesday Addams, returns to prowl the Gothic halls of Nevermore Academy, where fresh foes and woes await. This season, Wednesday must navigate family, friends and old adversaries, propelling her into another year of delightfully dark and kooky mayhem. Armed with her signature razor-sharp wit and deadpan charm, Wednesday is also plunged into a new bone-chilling supernatural mystery.

Review: The first season of Wednesday became a massive hit for Netflix despite a quintessentially CW-style approach to storytelling. But, armed with the unique visual style of director Tim Burton and a supporting role from The Addams Family movie star Christina Ricci, Wednesday was anchored by Jenna Ortega’s pitch-perfect take on the macabre teenage protagonist. While the story of Wednesday attending Nevermore Academy felt like a horror-tinged take on Nancy Drew, the series had its charms and easily garnered a second season. After three years of waiting, Wednesday is back with a season comprised of two parts, each containing four episodes. In the first half, Wednesday adds much more with The Addams Family and several new characters, almost overloading the limited running time.

Picking up at the start of the next school year, Wednesday finds the title character working to harness her psychic ability that she discovered in the first season. When she begins crying black tears, Wednesday fears something may be wrong. Returning to Nevermore, Wednesday is joined by her brother, Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), a freshman. At school, Wednesday is heralded as a hero for saving the academy from Tyler Gilpin (Hunter Doohan) and his master, Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci), who have been committed to an asylum. New Nevermore principal Dort (Steve Buscemi) welcomes Wednesday back alongside her friends Enid (Emma Myers), Eugene (Moose Mostafa), and Bianca (Joy Sunday). Dort also invites Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to take a bigger role at the school this year, giving an excuse for the Addams parents to appear in more episodes. Right off the bat, Wednesday is faced with a stalker who commands a murder of crows and unveils another mystery for the teen sleuth to solve.

Season two packs a lot into the first four episodes and streamlines the story quite a bit. There are multiple subplots going on, all of which factor into the main storyline in one way or another. Morticia Addams is tasked with recruiting donors to Nevermore, which introduces us to her mother, Grandmama (Joanna Lumley), and gives a backstory involving Wednesday’s long-lost aunt Ophelia. We also get the return of Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) and more time with Thing and Pugsley. Pugsley ties into a storyline involving a Nevermore urban legend that plays into the overall narrative, as do new characters, including music teacher Isadora Capri (Billie Piper), psychiatrist Dr. Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton), science teacher Professor Orloff (Christopher Lloyd), and more. There are also supporting roles by Haley Joel Osment and Heather Matarazzo that are fantastic additions to the season. All of these characters are given substantial parts to play and, surprisingly, they don’t make the four episodes feel bloated in the least.

My issue with the eight-episode first season of Wednesday mostly revolved around the teen-centric aspects of the plot, which often felt lifted from a CW-caliber young adult series. Season two eliminates most of that material and replaces it with a darker, scarier, and bloodier storyline than the first. The sillier aspects of the plot are limited to some characters, notably Principal Dort and Wednesday groupie Agnes (Evie Templeton), who quickly become vital to the story. The return of the better elements from the first season and some surprise character returns add to the quality of season two while still allowing the best part of the series to shine: Jenna Ortega. While the actress has already become synonymous with playing Wednesday, Ortega adds new depth to her character, aided by more screen time with Catherine Zeta-Jones and the other Addams players. Making this series more of an Addams Family series focused on Wednesday, rather than just about Wednesday, has massively helped the tone and plot.

Series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have taken feedback about the first season and honed this second run in every way. The showrunners wrote the premiere episode, with the other three scripted by first-season scribe Matt Lambert, along with Valentina Garza and Lauren Otero. The first and fourth episodes are directed by Tim Burton, with the other two helmed by Paco Cabezas (The Umbrella Academy). Tim Burton once again proves that his style and approach are ideally suited to the world of The Addams Family, and he continues to work well with Jenna Ortega. While Wednesday still does not go into Beetlejuice territory, Burton’s signatures are all over the series. From Danny Elfman’s theme to a nice animated sequence, Burton’s involvement elevates Gough and Millar’s creation. This season is darker than season one, but still maintains the off-kilter humor that has been key to The Addams Family since it debuted as a comic.

I enjoyed the second season of Wednesday much more than the first season, and the two-part release approach does not feel like a marketing ploy at all. The first four episodes all clock in at a full hour and keep the momentum moving briskly, dropping twists and mysterious clues along the way. I watched all four episodes intently, enjoying every easter egg and surprise character introduction more than the last. I do not doubt that the month-long wait that fans must endure to get the remaining four chapters of this season will increase the demand for this series to continue for seasons to come. Wednesday has trimmed the elements that held it back from being a better series and turned it into what it should have been from the outset. The Addams Family is back and better than ever, with Jenna Ortega’s fantastic performance as Wednesday leading this classic creation for a new generation.

Part One of Wednesday‘s second season premieres on Netflix on August 6th, and Part Two premieres on September 3rd.