Jenarita Plante
Anchor Staff Writer
Netflix introduced another binge worthy series on Nov. 23. “Wednesday” is a new series that focuses on the well known and well loved character of Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family. The show begins with Wednesday getting expelled from her high school after she unleashes piranhas on the boy’s swim team for bullying her brother Pugsley. Her parents, Gomez and Morticia Addams, decide to send her to their former school, Nevermore Academy, which is located in Jericho, Vermont. Due to her cold personality and dark humor, Wednesday has trouble making alliances within her school. Enid Sinclair is stuck with Wednesday as a roommate and is the complete opposite of her with a bubbly personality.
Wednesday is determined to get out of Nevermore, feeling as if her parents put her there because of their own agenda. It isn’t until a mysterious murder/cover-up that Wednesday decides to stay. As the story unfolds, Wednesday realizes just how interconnected she and her family are to the strange happenings.
The show is overall interesting and binge worthy. Actress Jenny Ortega plays a convincing Wednesday. She honors the role, bringing into the character what other actresses have done before her. The show is labeled as a supernatural coming-of-age comedy horror, which is truly the perfect way to describe it. Nevermore is full of supernatural characters; vampires, gorgons – think Medusa, werewolves and so many more. Wednesday has psychic abilities inherited from her mother.
Others among the cast are Catherine Zeta-Jones, who plays Morticia Addams, and Luis Guzman playing Gomez. Both actors, while great in their own rights, felt a bit out of place in the cast. There is a long list of actors and actresses that may have been better suited for the role. However, one perfect fit was Christina Ricci, a former Wednesday herself, playing Marilyn Thornhill, the botany teacher at Nevermore. It was nostalgic to see Ricci working so closely with Ortega, Wednesday old and new. Gwendolyn Christie, known for her role as Breann of Tarth in “Game of Thrones,” takes on a more feminine role as Larissa Weems, principal of Nevermore and former roommate of Morticia.
Of course, the entire vibe of the show may also in part be attributed to the director, king of weird and creepy himself, Tim Burton. Containing musical scores by Danny Elfman, this show is certainly in the hands of the right people. Season one is out in its entirety on Netflix, and with its wide popularity, season two is already in the works.
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