Certainly you wouldn’t dump two blood thirsty bags of Piranhas into a swimming pool while the boy who bullies your brother is swimming right? I mean, we have all had the intrusive thought or two to harm someone, but most people don’t actually follow through. Maybe you wouldn’t, but this happened literally in the first five minutes of the new Netflix show “Wednesday.” 

Spooky.

As devastating as the bully, whatever his name may be, not being able to procreate surely is, he’s not a recurring character, so you will have to get over it. The main character is duh Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega). Another possible main character could also be considered Thing (Victor Dorobantu), but his character plot doesn’t have that much development overall so I would consider him more of a funny if not helpful accomplice.

If you have seen the first two versions of the Addams Family, you would know Wednesday has zero interest in boys. Literally none. In the original 1960s version she’s six years old and in the 1990s version she says as much to Joel in “Addams Family Values.” And we love her all the more for it. However, Netflix had the brain numbing idea to give her not one but two love interests. If you can even call them that. 

Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White) and Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan) are Wednesday’s love interests. (That is the most outlandish sentence I have ever written.) While the characters themselves are well written, they could have had so much more potential had they not been made to be love interests to someone that does not want them. 

I have a major issue with Xavier. He had so much potential to be a beautifully put together character, ya know all mysterious and standoffish, instead the writers made his entire personality about being ‘in love’ with Wednesday Addams. Although this is common for Netflix, it’s still devastating nonetheless.

Tyler however does get an actual plot towards the end of the show. If anyone had even a remotely good chance to ‘win’ Wednesday, it would probably have been him. I would not be surprised if the writers for the show decided to make them a couple anyway. Wednesday does seem to have a predilection for danger. I wouldn’t put it against Netflix. 

On a happier and less aggravating note, Enid Sinclair (Emma Meyers) is just adorable. I have no notes for her character. She was beautifully written, she has a backstory and a plot. In a school full of outcasts, Enid definitely stands out, in a very good way, and her yin and yang style friendship with Wednesday makes the show worthy of our attention all on its own. 

It’s made obvious that all of these characters were going to be a big part of the show from the very first episode; however, the characters that most surprised me were Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday) and that one guy Lucas Walker (Iman Marson), the mayor’s son. Both of their character arcs were well structured, but I can’t help but feel it would have been significantly more memorable if they had started their individual story lines way earlier in the series. Now onto a more controversial topic. 

The casting for the Addams Family. 

Pugsly (Issac Ordonez) was very well cast, he embodied his character very well as seen in episode five with his heart to dead heart with Wednesday. Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) was also very well cast, while there were things she did differently than the Morticia’s before her she still held up the fundamentals of the character. Fester (Fred Armisen) was not that great. He had a couple of the essentials I was looking for when he showed up in episode seven; however, it just didn’t feel right. 

Gomez Addams (Luis Guzmán) was the most controversial of them all. He did a very good job with Gomez’s relationship with his children. He was gentle yet encouraging of dangerous behavior, which is very Gomez. He did not truly embody the persona of the suave and homicidal Gomez that most of us are comfortable with. This was made obvious to me with the way he interacted with Morticia. There was a lot of love for her obviously, but the essence of their devoted relationship was better portrayed by the younger versions of them in the show’s flashbacks.

At its core, this show is a mystery. The mystery itself is captivating and has substance throughout. Once you include the actual characters into the story is where it gets a little tricky. The characters make the mystery of the show look more like a long winded story told at a comedy show. Whether this is a good thing or not is really up to the viewer.

Overall, “Wednesday” was very well done and is a great watch for a long holiday break, or Thanksgiving break, or summer break, or you can just watch it instead of doing your homework. Maybe re-watch in preparation for the newly announced season two. Either way it will definitely keep you entertained.