Wednesday (tv series) - Basically a What If of Nancy Drew if she was a snarky Goth girl

Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, Wednesday is a horror comedy tv series that is based based upon the character Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, it stars Jenna Ortega as the main character. Also four of the eight episodes are directed by Tim Burton, he serves also as the shows executive producer.

The series revolves around the titular character, who attempts to solve a monster mystery at her school. It mixes dark comedy and horror element with mystery solving element. I was planning to do this review during November but I couldn’t finish the series fast enough. Anyways on with the review and minor spoilers flag is up just in case.

The one thing about the tv series Wednesday that I really like is how it mixes dry humor, dark comedy with the crime solving elements of a girl in an Academic monster school setting. Sure the concept is nothing new as Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and several others have done the same kind of formula. But in the tv series Wednesday it actually works. All this is thanks to excellent script writing and delivery. I went into this show with really low expectations as I am not really a fan of Addams family but it completely blew me away.

Also all of the jokes work since it was said at the right time during the perfect situation. Sure a lot of the jokes are either downright savage or dips at political and social commentary about school, relationship, friendship and morals probably more times than necessary. And yet the tv series Wednesdays does it so smoothly and perfectly that you actually laugh at the irony of the jokes itself without being bored or really offended. Very few can actually pull this off continuously and still be entertaining.

Jenna Ortega fits surprisingly well as Wednesday Addams, bringing out his somewhat dark pessimistic nature yet at the same time delivering her sarcastic on point humor. She makes insulting both funny and sharp. The cast is decent too but falls down the cliché high school trope of annoying best friend and mysterious boyfriend, the cute guy next door and the typical school rival and the overly strict principal. Thankfully one can grow to love them the more episode you go into specially Enid as Wednesday bright optimistic roommate as she develops into a more reliable person.

I also like how everything has that dark somber look to everything even in places outside the Academy grounds itself. I also like that they gave Wednesday her own unique colored…or lack thereof a color school uniform that emphasis that she is the odd one of the bunch. Also hats off to the writers for the dialogue as Wednesday has the perfect set of vocabulary of snarky remark for every situation she finds herself into be it banter between schoolmates or having her life in danger. She may not win a fight but she can throw insult with the best of them.

The show has issues however like Wednesday having a sort of Vision that sadly throws all the detective aspect out the window as most of her crime solving revelation is done cause “she saw it” with her powers. Also theres one scene about Wednesday commenting she will nail someones heart if said person breaks a certain roommates heart but never followed through on it. Personally id love an extra five minutes with Wednesday holding said guy an nail point the next episode but they never got to that. And that’s even after showing that Wednesday does take revenge seriously specially after that pool with the piranhas.

Also the CGI monster looks really cartoony with the bulgy eyes and overexaggerated mouth. I have to re check myself at times to see if Im still watching Wednesday the tv series and not some movie about a same similar looking Ring obsessed creature. I don’t like that they killed off one of my favourite characters in the show too. The side plot of the other character like that certain Siren felt really rushed and badly executed. The show could probably need one more episode just to give it justice.

As a whole despite the shows minor issues it is still a very enjoyable show and something Id easily recommend for those fans of the comedy and horror genre. The Wednesday tv series sets itself apart from the usual Addams family trope by giving it a more modern and fresh approach that makes the characters more grounded and fun. It is definitely something I can easily recommend for the plot and dark humor alone. It is definitely a very entertaining show that could be enjoyed by teens and fans of snarky dark humor.