Netflix’s new hit show Wednesday, is one I have heard a lot about both in the media and from other Spartans recently. The show has been on Netflix’s top ten television series viewed in the United States since its release in late November and frankly, I have been itching to watch it to see what the hype has been about. Fortunately, the show exceeded my expectations and I’m thrilled to be able to recap and review my thoughts on the show.

Disclaimer, this review will contain spoilers for Wednesday but don’t worry there will be a spoiler-free section if you are interested in hearing my thoughts before venturing out and watching the show. Spoilers will be marked in order to not spoil those who wish for specific aspects of the show not to be disclosed to them. Without further ado, onto the review!

Spoiler-Free Review

The synopsis of Wednesday by Netflix states, “smart, sarcastic, and a little dead inside, Wednesday Addams investigates a murder spree while making new friends — and foes — at Nevermore Academy”. This describes the main conflicts that happen to Wednesday Addams throughout the show which are the murder mystery that she has thrust herself into as well as her hard time navigating the social scene at Nevermore Academy.

I think the show had amazing acting that occurred throughout the show that ultimately captured a well-written story. The murder mystery that takes place throughout the show was well executed and leaves you questioning each and every character that is introduced. I don’t believe that they were truly any filler episodes as every episode in some way connected to the grand ideas mentioned in the synopsis. Through all the twists and turns, I found myself truly enjoying the journey that this show took me on. The characters were well-fleshed out with Wednesday overall being a pretty fun protagonist to follow. Her uncanny, morbid, and driven personality made her a very fun character to look into and follow as she aims to find the murderer. Her wittiness also allowed her to be in situations that she could think out of with creative actions that helped the audience be able to follow and understand her motives. Overall, Wednesday was a well-written, acted, and executed show and definitely worth the watch if anything mentioned here has encouraged you.

Spoiler Review

Wow, I don’t even know where to truly begin with the spoiler review of the show. I think the best place to start may be with the big reveal and end of the 1st season of the show: Tyler being a hyde, the monster responsible for all of the murders, controlled by Ms. Thornhill, the only non-outcast teacher at Nevermore who is actually Laurel Gates, Joseph Crackstone’s descendant. Now as convoluted as this may sound it was explained well in the show and I partially guessed some of it correctly. My theory after watching episode 5, which was about Gomez having killed one of the Gate kids while at Nevermore, was that Tyler was the true monster and rather than be controlled by Thornhill, sought revenge against Wednesday and the other outcasts due to the death of his mother, Laurel Gates, as well as the rest of his family. Obviously, this was not the case, but it was nice to partially have guessed something correctly. Overall, I did like the twist and think that the writers of the show did a good job at both planting the seeds of who the people behind the murders were as well as throwing us off with other side characters to make it seem as if they had done. The constant back-and-forth attempting to navigate the true culprits was something that I thoroughly enjoyed.

In regards to the arcs that we see throughout the series, my favorites would have to be Enid and Wednesday’s friendship as well as Wednesday realizing the similarities between her and her mother and acknowledging that she does not have to be in her shadow. Both of these arcs were really well developed and executed with storylines that didn’t feel cringy but rather felt very relatable considering the actions of the characters which is something that Netflix shows are hit and miss on. 

Enid and Wednesday’s friendship was really fun to watch as their conflicting personalities made their relationship comical as we were constantly trying to figure out how their dynamic would work. It was also interesting to see how the two helped each other with Enid helping Wednesday open up more and Wednesday helping be more confident in herself and her Lycan (werewolf) abilities. All in all, the portrayal of these two characters was really well written and provided an entertaining and comical relationship that we got to watch develop on screen. 

Wednesday and her relationship with her mother were one of the side plots that I was really interested in. At first glance, their relationship seems like a conflicting teenager and parent relationship, but it’s actually much more than that. Morticia unknowingly put Wednesday in a position where she has nothing left but to contemplate who she was in the shadow of Morticia. I don’t think that was purposeful, but at the time, Wednesday saw herself as someone very different from Morticia and every hobby or idea she could have thought of her mother had already completed and succeeded at it. Having Wednesday and Morticia see the similarities between one another was really well written and acted as it provides a discussion that Wednesday needed about being able to succeed in her own way while also doing things that her mom also took part in like fencing and the school tournament. Thus, the relationship between Wednesday and Morticia was well-developed and entertaining to watch due to its realistic nature and how it ultimately affected Wednesday’s character at that time.

The side characters were a very big aspect of this show as Wednesday was continuously suspecting people of the crimes. I think this show had a really good cast to work with because it gave lots of room for lots of guessing and interpretation as well as people we knew for sure would be on Wednesday’s side. For example, I already mentioned Enid, but Thing and Eugene were great characters that we knew without a doubt would be there for Wednesday and were able to both call her out when needed as well as support her through her investigation. I liked Bianca as a character. I feel that her original antagonistic personality wasn’t necessarily addressed, but it’s nice to know her backstory and the cult that her mom wants her to be a part of. There is lots of room to expand on her as a character while also explaining why she was the way she was in the beginning. Speaking of antagonists, Principal Weems was really good at playing the middle and I’m a bit upset that she died. I liked her motives of doing everything to protect the school even though placing a larger target on one of its students was something that was really well developed and acted throughout the show causing me to almost believe that she was the real antagonist of the show. Also, the therapist whose name I can’t remember was a good character to have in terms of potential antagonists because for a second it did seem really plausible for her to be behind the murders. Both she and Weems were well-developed characters who had some antagonistic traits which made it fun to decipher whether they were truly behind the events of the show.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, Wednesday was a really well-written show with great acting talent and potential for lots of future content due to the success of this first season. I really enjoyed all of the twists and turns it took me on, with me partially guessing the true antagonists correctly. I would definitely recommend this show to anyone interested in things like a murder mystery, or simply wants a fun show to watch to distract from the stresses of high school. Although I wasn’t able to discuss everything that occurred throughout the show, I hope you have enjoyed my review of Netflix’s Wednesday.