As much as it would pain Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) to hear me say it, Season 2 of Netflix's Wednesday brought me great cheer.
It's been nearly three years since Wednesday first descended on our Netflix queues like a deliciously woeful storm cloud. And in that time, showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have fine-tuned the show's formula. They've ditched what didn't work (say goodbye to Season 1's much-maligned love triangle) but upped the macabre elements and the involvement of the rest of the Addams family. These moves, combined with the show's ever-enchanting boarding school setting, set the stage for more grotesque fun.
Wednesday Addams has a new mystery to solve in Season 2.
When Wednesday returns to Nevermore Academy (after a summer break spent hunting a serial killer, as one does), it's to horrible news. She's popular now! The horror!
That's right, the most outcast of all the outcasts is now the talk of Nevermore, all thanks to her heroic Season 1 actions. Wednesday's new legions of adoring fangirls make for a fun twist on the dynamic of Season 1, which saw her more on the outs with her classmates. Of course, all this is a nightmare for Wednesday, who would much prefer notoriety to popularity.
But Wednesday has a far more pressing nightmare to deal with. In honing her psychic powers, she witnesses a terrifying vision: Her roommate and bestie Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) is going to die, and it will be all Wednesday's fault.
Burdened with this terrible knowledge, Wednesday sets out to save her friend, soon finding out that Enid's prophesied doom may connect to other murders in the town of Jericho, and to the flocks of killer ravens circling Nevermore. Yes, the ravens add to the Edgar Allan Poe vibes of Nevermore, but would it be too much for them to stop pecking people to death?
Wednesday Season 2 is still filled with dark delights and high school fun.
The killer ravens are just one of the many ways in which Wednesday remains committed to its creepy, kooky roots. Wednesday's visions take a turn for the darker, too, accompanied by black tears that both add to her monochromatic aesthetic and herald that she's pushing her psychic limits to the point of disaster.
This season, Wednesday gets its first zombie: a re-animated Nevermore student known as Slurp. Wednesday renders his backstory in gorgeous black-and-white stop-motion animation, reminiscent of Tim Burton's "Vincent" and Frankenweenie. (Burton directs four of Season 2's eight episodes, just as he did with Season 1.) The brain-guzzling zombie horror proves to be madcap (if, again, murderous) fun, while elsewhere, Wednesday gets extra dark with a storyline involving experiments at Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital.
It's not all doom and gloom, though, even if that's what Wednesday herself would prefer. Wednesday Season 2 continues to find fun in high school traditions, from a school bonfire to a prank day. The Nevermore spirit reaches its peak on a school camping trip that pits Outcasts against Normies, delivering the game "capture the flag" as only Wednesday can.
Season 2 also brings new faculty into the fray, each a treat in their own right. Steve Buscemi, rocking his best Poe look, is clearly having a blast as new Nevermore Principal, Barry Dort. Billie Piper intrigues as new head of music, Isadora Capri, someone who may challenge Wednesday in more ways than one. But bringing in Christopher Lloyd, who portrayed Uncle Fester in a pair of Addams Family movies, to play a professor who's just a head in a jar is an inspired choice.
Lady Gaga is also slated to appear as a Nevermore teacher in Wednesday Season 2, Part 2, but Part 1 is tragically Gaga-less.
Wednesday Season 2 is an Addams Family affair.
Just as the new Nevermore faculty get a chance to shine, so to do the other members of the Addams Family.
Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) enrolls at Nevermore and works on honing his lightning powers by practicing some light resurrection. Meanwhile, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) joins the academy's fundraising committee, meaning she and Gomez (Luis Guzmán) move to Nevermore. The pair truly begin to ignite the spark of chemistry established in Season 1. Although their interactions are nowhere near the raging furnace of prior Gomez and Morticia portrayals, it's a thrill to watch their sweet seductiveness truly come into play. (A tango scene paying tribute to Addams Family Values helps too.)
But the most rewarding relationship on display this season is between Morticia and Wednesday, who clash often over the latter's overuse of their psychic abilities. Just your normal teenage rebellion: A daughter wants to use an old family book of spells, while her mother would rather she find a non-volatile psychic guide. It happens to all of us!
Joanna Lumley joins the family as Wednesday's icy Grandmama Hester Frump, and Fred Armisen's wacky Uncle Fester also gets far more screen time. Jury's still out on Cousin Itt, though.
As Wednesday's take on the Addams Family continues to grow, make no mistake: Wednesday remains the star of the show. Ortega remains the cold, dead heart of the series — and I mean that as a compliment in tribute to Wednesday! With one deadly glare and a dry putdown in voiceover, Ortega's Wednesday is still a force to be reckoned with. (Especially now that she's not burdened with a love triangle!) Watching her detective exploits continues to be pure gothic fun, and that's something worth snapping about.
Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 premieres Sept. 3.
