“I don’t believe in heaven or hell. But I do believe in revenge.” —Wednesday Addams
Earlier this month Netflix dropped the first four episodes of Wednesday Season 2. The show’s gained an enthusiastic following for its deadpan gothic vibe and especially for its star, the deadpan gothic Jenna Ortega. (Forbes, Wikipedia, Guardian).
Summer vacation is waning. The school room beckons. What better time to drop into Nevermore Academy? Here’s your hall pass…
Jenna Ortega: “The Most Overwhelming Job I’ve Ever Had”
Ms. Ortega’s star has risen, but good things happen if you pay your dues and do your work. Ortega characterizes working on Season 2 as “very stressful and confusing”— the most overwhelming role she’s ever played. It’s no wonder – cello lessons, archery practice, German drills, canoeing before dawn, and stunt choreography place huge demands on an actor’s time and energy.
Wednesday’s an outsider, which is why she’s struck a chord with fans. In a recent BBC interview, Ortega talked about the way that social media leaves young people struggling to find a sense of self. If you can’t find a bit of Wednesday in your soul, then I’m Uncle Fester.
Gothic… Gothic… GOTHIC
Yes. That word. It’s thrown around with great abandon by viewers and critics alike.
Penguin Books describes the hallmarks of Gothic literature, and these qualities can be applied to other disciplines: “a sense of the unfathomable: death and impending mortality; time and its passage; destruction and chaos; the awesome power of nature; supernatural forces; and, indeed, the shadowy depths of our own minds.”
Ensemble Extravaganza
Season 2 gives us the opportunity to catch up with Wednesday and her world. Her brother Pugsley’s now enrolled and literally sparking with static electricity, Morticia (a gloriously hammy Catherine Zeta-Jones) drifts in, Gomez shows up looking perpetually jet-lagged, and Steve Buscemi plays Principal Barry Dort, the type of guy who knits while staring into your soul.
Good to visit old friends, eh?
The Financial Times called Season 2 a “gothic charm revival” [GOTHIC ALERT – GOTHIC ALERT] and “clever, layered, deeply entertaining.” Decider suggests that we “stream it” for Ortega’s brilliance alone.
Whether you dig the show or prefer to dig its grave, Wednesday’s Rotten Tomatoes score jumped from 73% in Season 1 to 82% this round. Dread and gloom to the ratings rescue!
Verdict? Not a Review, But Frankly, Darlin…
The show’s replete with puppets, poetry, psychics, and psychopaths all elbowing for screen time. Ortega remains magnetic, even when the plot threatens to capsize and take all hands with it.
Over the top? Absolutely. But, as the poet/playwright/artist/filmmaker Jean Cocteau once observed, it’s all about knowing far you can go without going too far.
You know you’ve made it when even your school rivals are fighting over when you’ll fall off a cliff. Welcome back to Nevermore Academy, where everyone is slightly unhinged and everything smells like mothballs.
