‘Wednesday’: Zombies, deaths, and a chaotic mess for the second season

It’s difficult to predict when a series will become a hit (or indeed, to quantify what constitutes a hit on television these days). But in hindsight, it’s easier to see the elements that worked in its favor. Wednesday was well-received on Netflix at the end of 2022, so much so that it became a phenomenon. It was able to attract different generations and, thus, a massive audience: it is still the most-watched English-language series in Netflix history. It had an imagery behind it that appealed to adult generations, those who remembered The Addams Family from the 1990s — starring Anjelica Huston as Morticia and Christina Ricci as Wednesday — and those who grew up with Tim Burton’s filmography. The newer version stars Jenna Ortega, who stood out as a child actress and Disney character and was already excelling in more adult productions. It also has a powerful visual identity, allowing anyone to recognize what story it’s from at a glance. And it had something no one could have expected: massive virality. The “Wednesday dance,” which became a viral challenge on social media, prompted many young people who hadn’t yet seen the series to check it out to learn its origins.

Now comes the not-so-easy challenge of the second season. Squid Game knows what it’s like to have achieved worldwide success and then have its return barely generate any buzz: it got good viewing figures, yes, but it’s barely been talked about since compared to the initial explosion. That said, Wednesday knows what its cards are, and it’s set out to make the best advantage of them.

For starters, Netflix has decided not to go all out in one day, and has split the second season into two parts: four episodes on Wednesday August 6 (with the appropriately high-scoring finale to leave you wanting more) and another four on September 3. This is a now common option on the platform, striking a balance between its staunch defense of the self-management of each viewer’s watching pace, and its own timetabling to squeeze the most out of shows and give the content the longest possible lifespan.

Plot-wise, the four episodes of Wednesday made available to the press are a hodgepodge of ingredients that occasionally become a disconcerting, senseless mess. The motto seems to be to ‘keep things happening all the time,’ thus maintaining viewers’ attention. Keeping them off their phones. If that means mixing in several murders, various intertwined mysteries, mother-daughter conflicts, a disturbing psychiatric hospital, crazed birds, and even an out-of-control zombie, then go ahead. The second season of Wednesday is a pot-pourri that borders on narrative horror vacui.

The protagonist is solely focused on the criminal investigation and worried about her powers, in addition to uttering those lapidary phrases that will become gifs and issuing those murderous looks that will fuel memes. There is nothing of the love triangle that Jenna Ortega criticized in the first season, when the actress claimed she changed her character’s lines because, to her, they didn’t make sense. Now the love triangle belongs to her friend Enid (Emma Myers).

There’s also a greater presence for the rest of the Addams Family, who in the first season were purely symbolic. Her brother (Isaac Ordonez) enrolls at Nevermore Academy. Her mother (Catherine Zeta-Jones, who even has a sword fight scene for those nostalgic for The Mask of Zorro) has her own storyline, which involves the introduction of Wednesday’s grandmother (played by Joanna Lumley). Her father (Luis Guzmán) is there as comic relief. And Fester (Fred Armisen) reappears in the fourth episode, where he has a prominent role. Among the new additions are Steve Buscemi as the school’s spirited new principal and Billie Piper as the new music teacher.

If Wednesday is a plot-driven accumulation of events that constantly demands the viewer’s attention, visually it plays its cards well with that gothic esthetic so appropriate for selling Halloween costumes. The first episode, directed by Tim Burton (he also directed the fourth and two more in the following part of the season), even has a stop-motion animation fragment reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which he created, or Corpse Bride. The series moves between fantasy and darkness in a proven combination, with Spanish director Paco Cabezas adding dark touches in the second episode. And as was the case in the first season, music plays a big part, both to emphasize events in a way that sometimes becomes tiresome, and to present popular songs in cover versions or in their original form.

For the second season, a handful of mysteries remain to be resolved: Who is the killer? What will happen next after the events at the psychiatric hospital? What role does Bianca Barclay’s mother play? What happened to Wednesday? Will there be another viral dance party? And how many questions will remain for the already confirmed third season?

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