It's helpful to think of "Wednesday" as a slightly alternate universe spinoff of the original "The Addams Family" show and films. Here we have a Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) who is high school aged, and has perhaps become a bit too isolated and cynical. Her loving parents (Luis Guzman, Catherine Zeta Jones) decide to send her to a special boarding school for supernatural outcasts, Nevermore, run by the watchful Principle Weems (Gwendoline Christie). Edgar Allen Poe is an alumni, naturally.
A big selling point of "Wednesday" is that it's a return to familiar territory for Tim Burton. He directed the first four episodes, and brought several of his usual collaborators to the project, including Danny Elfman and Colleen Atwood. There's definitely a recognizable Burton aesthetic to the show's visuals, matching the macabre nature of the heroine. At the same time, "Wednesday" fits comfortably into the Netflix YA catalog, with nearly all the action revolving around Wednesday and a troupe of new schoolmates - her gossipy roommate Enid (Emma Myers), queen bee Bianca (Joy Sunday), nerdy beekeeper Eugene (Moosa Mostafa), and two potential love interests - mysterious artist Xavier (Percy Hynes White) and the sheriff's son Tyler (Hunter Doohan) who is notably not a Nevermore kid, but a "normie." The rest of the Addamses only make guest appearances here and there, except for Thing, who hangs around to lend a hand.
To the credit of showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, "Wednesday" keeps a lot of the subversive verve that always made "The Addams Family" so appealing. Even in a school full of outcasts, Wednesday is an antisocial loner. She spends as much time making enemies, and fending off potential besties and romantic partners, as she does working to solve the mystery of the killer monster in the nearby woods. Her acid tongue and contrarian attitude are wielded expertly by Jenna Ortega, who conveys vast amounts of teenage disdain with only her eyes. However, Wednesday eventually does come to respect and value those around her, and she does soften up a bit in the end. Longtime Addams fans may not approve of so much budding empathy, but this strikes me as a perfectly reasonable character arc for Wednesday. She'll always be a poisonous psychopath at heart, but that doesn't mean she can't have friends. This may be the best version of the character, a very fallible Wednesday with far more emotional complexity than any of the others.
I was initially a little worried about the show being set at Nevermore, because there has been a surplus of these Hogwarts-esque magical institutions of learning lately. One of the first things that Enid does is point out the major student cliques - werewolves, vampires, gorgons, and sirens. However, Wednesday has little interest in school matters and is initially only interested in her classmates when she can manipulate them to her advantage. The writers are also very self-aware and aren't afraid to poke a little fun at the cliches. This results in a string of episodes where Wednesday is reluctantly dragged into familiar high school plots like a school dance and a field day competition with unexpected results. It helps that the young actors are a good collection of talent, and some of their characters are genuinely memorable. Enid, Wednesday's polar opposite, is easily my favorite. Her relentless positivity and enthusiasm is genuinely infectious.
As for the rest of the Addamses, the showrunners wisely didn't try to compete with the more familiar screen versions. Luis Guzman's Gomez doesn't resemble the Raul Julia or John Astin Gomezes, beyond being wildly amorous with Morticia (to Wednesday's constant mortification). I like Fred Armisen's take on Uncle Fester, who gets exactly as much screen time as he should. There are plenty of other nods and cameos, and it's clear that everyone involved with "Wednesday" is an Addams fan, but I also like that there's a willingness to let the show go somewhere new and different. Sure, I would have liked a little more guts and glory, personally, but I'm not the target audience here.
"Wednesday" may not appeal to the Addams die-hards, but it's one of the better YA fantasy series I've seen lately, and there's plenty of potential for more. I don't doubt we'll see a proper reboot of the franchise at some point, but for now "Wednesday" is carrying on the family legacy just fine.
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