Jenna Ortega stars in the new hit series as a more modern Wednesday Addams but does the show live up to the fantastic reviews?
Wednesday Addams
Wednesday Addams was a childhood memory and beloved character for many people born in the 1980s and 1990s. The Addams Family was released in 1991, and Addams Family Value was released in 1993. Since then, there have been many more adaptations of this morbid family in animation or TV show format. The latest transformation has been the Netflix series starring Jenna Ortega, best known for her roles in Scream 5, You, and Stuck in the Middle. In the series, Wednesday, played by Christina Rici, was twelve and thirteen years of age. However, she seemed like a grown-up with her intelligence, sarcasm, and I don’t care attitude. These are attributes that both Christini Rici and Jenna Ortega portray beautifully.
One can also see Wednesday’s love for her family and those she holds dear in the TV series directed by Tim Burton. Although the character denies caring for anyone, Ortega portrays her growth throughout the eight episodes of season one amazingly. When I saw Wednesday hugging Enid at the end after nearly a whole season of rejecting her roommate’s hugs, it brought tears to my eyes. Ortega also learned many skills for this role, including how to play the cello and how to fence.
The Plot
This TV show shows a slightly older teenager, Wednesday, who has gone through eight schools in her short lifetime. Five minutes into the first episode, she drops piranhas into a pool full of teenage boys because they bullied her brother, Pugsley. This act causes her to be transferred to Nevermore Academy, a school full of outcasts. The main four groups of outcasts are werewolves, vampires, sirens, and gorgons. When told that one of the boy’s families would have filed attempted murder charges, she responded in typical Wednesday fashion:
“Terrible, they would all know that I failed to get the job done”
Episode 1 Season 1 Wednesday/Netflix
Against her wishes, she begins to like being at Nevermore after being hunted, haunted, and a target of attempted murder. The main plot of this series shows how Wednesday grows as a person from the beginning to the end of season one. She grows in compassion throughout the season. We see her genuinely smile when Uncle Fester appears on screen, and we also see her heartache when Thing, her companion from the very beginning, nearly dies in front of her and our very eyes. These emotions starkly contrast with the stoic Wednesday we have seen throughout the rest of the season.
The Love Triangle
I adore many elements of this show, from the set design to the costumes, from the acting to the storyline. However, there is one aspect of this show that I dislike. Wednesday is about someone who thrives alone, and this strikes me as a show meant to show how a woman can do anything without a man. However, Wednesday soon finds herself amid an odd love triangle. Xavier, the tortured artist, follows her around like a lost puppy, obsessed while she battles her emotions for the ordinary barista working in the local town. This love triangle is unrealistic for a girl like Wednesday, who would not waste her time with petty emotions such as love and jealousy.
The Iconic Dance Scene
Jenna Ortega blew us all away with the dance scene. She choreographed the sequence herself and mentioned in an interview that she was extremely insecure about it, but she did a fantastic job capturing the energy of Wednesday through dance. To achieve this iconic dance scene, she mixed goth dance moves with a little Fosse and a tiny bit of the original 1960s TV show Wednesday. Videos are going viral on TikTok when people dress up like the character and copy her dance moves to Lady Gaga’s hit song Bloody Mary.
In conclusion, the show Wednesday is nothing short of iconic. Apart from the love triangle, this show is incredible. Jenna Ortega did the role of Wednesday justice, and she will hopefully continue to do so in season two! I highly recommend this show to anyone, and it does not matter if you have watched or have not watched the Addams Family movies before; it hits just the same!
