Wednesday with Jenna Ortega comes from the Addams Family universe. The fantasy series convinces with Harry Potter elements, an exciting crime plot and its leading actress, but also has weaknesses.
Netflix has been looking for the big fantasy throw for years, a franchise that can compete with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. Attempts like Fate: The Winx Saga, The Witcher or Cursed – The Chosen were either short-lived, plagued by chaos or failed directly after season 1. Today, a new fantasy series starts with Wednesday on the streaming service. It does a lot, if not everything, right. Whether the 8 episodes are worthwhile, you can find out here in the spoiler-free short check.
What is Wednesday about?
Wednesday comes from the Addams Family universe, which has spawned comics, (animated) series and Barry Sonnenfeld’s two films: The Addams Family and the even better The Addams Family in crazy tradition from the nineties. The Addams clan is characterised by its devotion to the morbid, the haunting and the dark. The family consists of the heads Morticia and Gomez and the siblings Pugsley and … Wednesday. In the two films, the latter was embodied by Christina Ricci. In the Netflix series, Jenna Ortega takes the reins.
Her Wednesday earns herself an expulsion after she feeds her brother’s bullies to a school of piranhas. As a result, the student is sent to Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for teenagers with special powers, which her parents already attended. There, Wednesday not only learns to control her own powers, she also has to solve a murder and confront dark forces.
What’s so good about Wednesday?
Wednesday is a gritty goth thriller with fantasy and horror interludes. If you liked the Harry Potter parts 2 to 4, for example, you will also enjoy the Netflix series: Magic, a boarding school in a quaint castle and a puzzling crime plot. Because in Nevermore there is a monster that kills students, a bit like the basilisk in The Chamber of Secrets. You will also discover many other characters that could have been taken 1:1 from the Hogwarts world (there is a Ron and a Neville).
Wednesday and her sidekick
Wednesday solves the murders in Sherlock Holmes style, resulting in an extremely entertaining mix. The big highlight of the series, however, is Jenna Ortega. The star of You season 2, Scream and most recently X could make her big breakthrough here. The actress tickles great comedy moments out of her cynical, emotionless but extremely competent main character. And if Wednesday is Sherlock, there must also be a Watson: That role is played by the Ice Cold Hand – a trusty, severed, five-fingered limb with consciousness, see image.
What are Wednesday’s weaknesses?
The fact that we haven’t mentioned this before is no coincidence: Master director Tim Burton (Edward with the Scissorhands) directed the first 4 episodes and was thus largely responsible for the design of the first season. Only: You don’t notice much of that. Wednesday, like so many fantasy products from Netflix, seems hastily finished. There was obviously a lack of time and, above all, sufficient budget to create a deep, breathing fantasy world. Especially with a director like Tim Burton, who loves detail, this judgement hurts.
