I am probably the last person who should be reviewing anything Addams Family related.
I am predisposed to like it. I learned to read in part with the collections — there were many — of Charles Addams cartoons from the New Yorker that my grandmother had in her home. Those are the source for all of the movies and TV shows ever since. (The whereabouts of those volumes after my grandmother died was a controversial family drama but, since I’m not sure about the statute of limitations on such things, that’s all I have to say about that.)
As you might suspect, I have fond memories of some of the best cartoons; they helped form my sense of humor. Those and the old Charlie Brown comics, which were much darker and meaner than what they became later. Ever seen the Addams Family cartoon where they’re up on top of their house, about to pour boiling liquid on the Christmas carolers below? That’s a pretty good example of the kind of thing Addams drew for the New Yorker.
When does ‘Wednesday’ come back to Netflix?
“Wednesday,” the hit Netflix series starring Jenna Ortega in a star-making performance as the title character, returns Wednesday, Aug. 6. And the series taps into some of that. (I hate to call it negative energy because it’s so delightful, but there is the cartoon where Gomez and Morticia are cuddling, and he says, “Are you unhappy, darling?” And she says, “Oh yes, yes, completely!”)
Some of it. Not all of it. Tim Burton, who directed four episodes of Season 1 and 2, brings the Gothic weirdo energy you would expect from the director of “Edward Scissorhands” and “Beetlejuice,” which means that there is a touch of whimsy included that is largely missing from Addams’ original cartoons, which leaned more toward the quaintly evil.
Why this appealed to a kid only old enough to be beginning to learn to read, I will leave to the judgment of others. But I loved those cartoons.
I liked the first season of “Wednesday,” largely on the strength of Ortega’s deadpan performance. If you liked it, you’ll like the second season, as well — at least the first half of it, which is what critics were provided for review. Because in a lot of ways it’s more of the same.
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday in episode 202 of “Wednesday” Cr. Jonathan Hession/Netflix © 2025
What happens in Season 2 of ‘Wednesday?’
Ortega is now a big star and receives an executive producer credit; happily, after the first episode or so of Season 2, the notion that “Wednesday Addams is a deadly threat to society and all who come into contact with her” is downplayed as we delve more deeply into the murder mystery.
Oh yeah, that. As in Season 1, Wednesday finds herself at the center of a supernatural murder mystery at Nevermore Academy, the boarding school for “outcasts” — werewolves, vampires, sirens, gorgons, etc., that she attended in Season 1. With all that murder, you wonder, even with the clientele it serves, why any parent would send their child there.
Wednesday is a legacy, of course — her parents, Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), are alums. And Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) is enrolled for the first time this year. He likes people more than Wednesday does. The trouble is, not many people like him. His predilection for eating bugs and rodents may have something to do with that.
Enid (Emma Myers), Wednesday’s bubbly, budding werewolf roommate, is back and figures into the mystery. Wednesday spent the summer honing her psychic abilities, and one of her visions involves a premonition of Enid’s death. So Wednesday sets out to prevent it.
Spoilers lie beyond that, so mum’s the word on what transpires.
Emma Myers returns as young werewolf Enid Sinclair in the second season of Netflix’s “Wednesday.”
Who are the new cast members in ‘Wednesday?’
Fred Armisen returns as Uncle Fester, a delightful bit of casting. Additions include Steve Buscemi, uncharacteristically broad and goofy, as the new headmaster; Joanna Lumley as Grandmama; Evie Templeton as a Wednesday superfan; Billie Piper as the new music director at Nevermore; and, eventually, Lady Gaga as a Nevermore teacher (she is not in the first four episodes).
There are still strong “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” vibes — fine by me, because I liked that show a lot. But “Wednesday” works best when it leans most heavily into its history, a strange family happy in the misery they bring onto themselves and to others. To each their own.
It’s a really fine line. I think of the Addams cartoon in the New Yorker where a man is at a movie, sitting behind a woman with two heads, straining to see the screen. He says, “Why does everything always happen to me?”
The layers are what make the joke work, of course. It is an unfortunate seating arrangement, yes, but the woman’s situation suggests that bad things happen to other people, as well. Toss in the complaining — man, I love a good complaint — and you pretty much have the recipe for what makes me laugh.
Dark humor needs both halves of that equation. “Wednesday” still struggles a bit to find that balance. Ortega is still really good at bringing deadpan life into her character. But I hope the second half of Season 2 goes further afield in trying to find that level.
What would Charles Addams do? That’s a good place to start.
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How to watch ‘Wednesday’ Season 2
The first four episodes of Season 2 stream at midnight on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
The last four episodes stream at midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 is still good, but I wanted darker