Wednesday has been breaking viewing records over at Netflix, and it’s not hard to see why. Wednesday is a fun new take on the Addams Family that’s basically what happens when Tim Burton directs a Harry Potter film for CW. I may not be a CW fan, but anything that scratches that Harry Potter itch with some creepy Tim Burton theming thrown in is well worth the watch for me. Jenna Ortega as the moody Wednesday and Emma Myers as her bubbly friend Enid Sinclair anchored the series with their delightfully polar opposite characters, making each scene fun to watch even when the teen drama became a bit much. Fleeting love crushes aside, what kept me watching was the “magic mystery of the school year” formula that Harry Potter patented, and Wednesday delivered every episode. That is, until the finale, when the wheels flew off the story like Uncle Fester’s Puppy Care motorcycle. Below are the 5 biggest questions that has people scratching their heads.
What was Wednesday’s plan, exactly?
Part of Wednesday’s charm is her total apathy about danger or what people think about her, but she’s also shown to be highly intelligent and more than capable of defending herself. That’s what made her decisions in the finale so confusing, where her entire plan to stop the villains seemed to be 1) stand really close to them, 2) boldly threaten them, 3) immediately almost get killed without defending herself. She tries the above repeatedly and gets stabbed, smashed by a monster, and shot with an arrow, all in the same hour. Without her friends completely and unexpectedly coming to her aid (ghost kid with a new secret healing ability, her friend suddenly able to werewolf at just the right time), there wouldn’t be a season 2. C’mon writers, didn’t you watch Wednesday Addams in her first 7 episodes?!
Why (and how) was Crackstone using magic?
Big Bad Joseph Crackstone was a Pilgrim who hated magic and “outcasts,” so when he comes back from the grave, the last thing you’d expect is him using spells. But there he is, waving a straight-up wizard’s staff around the school like he’s freakin’ Gandalf breaking up an Orc birthday party. He’s also able to turn arrows around like a Force user, and there’s the whole detail of him coming back from the dead with magic. He’s by far the greatest user of magic in the show (and would certainly have been an outcast among the normal Pilgrims), so what’s this guy’s beef with the magic academy?! I’m just not following the line of thought from “Close-minded Pilgrims felt threated by magic” but also “Pilgrims were like, the best users of magic.”
Why Was Crackstone even needed?
Speaking of Crackstone, he’s around for maybe 10 minutes of screentime after being built up for the whole season as an unstoppable force. It’s as anticlimactic as if Voldemort got resurrected in The Goblet of Fire but then got hit by a double-decker bus on his way back to London. I’m just saying, Laurel Gates/Thornhill (Christina Ricci) could have done much more damage if she just poisoned the drinking water with Nightshade like her father originally tried to do. Or heck, just planting a bomb in the school would have been more effective than her painfully complex plan of manipulation and setup. Crackstone couldn’t even kill a tree in the school courtyard before croaking.
Is Thornhill really dead?
Speaking of Thornhill, is she really dead? It was clever to have a former Wednesday actress show up as a villain, so I’m guessing her fate is intentionally ambiguous so she can be brought back if needed.
Why does Nevermore have less security than an elementary school?
Look, all I’m saying is that a school of literal monsters shouldn’t be so easy for anyone to waltz into, from a questionable-looking Crackstone to teenage pranksters. One dude who looks like a low-budget evil leprechaun should have been instantly torn apart by dozens of vampires and werewolves, controlled by a gang of sirens, or literally been turned into stone instantly by the gorgons. JK Rowling understood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that attacking a magic school castle should at least be…difficult. Remember that “Call an ambulance…but not for me” meme? That should have been the Nevermore students leaving the castle to instantly take out one wizard pilgrim and his monster.
Despite the above complaints, I still had a fun time through most of Wednesday, and it’s good to know a second season is coming to keep Netflix interesting post-Stranger Things. But was I expecting too much from the show? Do you have anything to add to the list? Let me know in the comments!
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