When I heard that Jenna Ortega was starring in a show directed by Tim Burton, I was intrigued but skeptical that it would not live up to the classic. Although I was nervous, the show did not disappoint. I grew to love the characters and the story line, and let’s say as someone who grew up watching The Addams Family and Jenna Ortega I was excited. 

 

Episode  1: Wednesday’s Child Is Full Of Woe

  The first episode opens with Wednesday finding Pugsley in a locker. She very quickly finds out from a physic vision that he was shoved in there by a group of jocks. That saying she finds the jocks at swim practice and dumps a bunch of puranas in or the pool and because of that she got kicked out.

  Due to her getting kicked out she gets sent to the Nevermore Academy in Jericho Vermont. Once the family gets to Nevermore we’re introduced to a few important characters; Principle Weems, a previous student of Nevermore, Bianca Barclay, the queen bee, and Xavier Thorpe, the local tortured artist and one of my favorite characters. Another important character we meet is Wednesday’s roommate, Enid Sinclair. She is a werewolf and a polar opposite to Wednesday. If you’re a fan of Taylor Swift their dynamic is like Lover and Reputation. 

  Pretty early on in the episode we find out that ‘Thing’ followed Wednesday to Nevermore and she convinced him to help her with all her schemes. We also find out that Wednesday has court ordered therapy. During her first session she escapes through a window and goes to the town’s local coffee shop, The Weathervane, and she meets another important character, Tyler Galpin.

  Towards the end of the episode we see Wednesday on her balcony playing the cello and Enid comes outside as a full moon starts and all the other werewolves are “wolfing out” and it’s revealed that Enid physically cannot wolf out. We also see everyone from Nevermore at the town Harvest Festival. While Wednesday is talking to Tyler she sees Rowan, Xaviers roommate, run into the woods. She follows him into the woods and he gets flustered and uses his telekinesis to choke her then right out of nowhere a monster comes out and kills him and that’s where the episode ends.

 

Episode 2: Woe Is The Loneliest Number

  Episode two picks up right where episode one left off. Rowan just died so the police are searching the woods. After the search is over Principle Weems tells Wednesday to join clubs and maybe make friends. She visits a few clubs but the only one that spikes her interest is the beekeeping club, or the Hummers, while she’s there we meet Eugene Otinger who reminds her a lot of her little brother, Pugsley. 

  Later in the episode in class we see Xavier trying to impress Wednesday. Leading us to think that he could have feelings for her. A few scenes later we see Wednesday join Enid’s team for the Poe Cup race. The Poe Cup race is a race with four teams and each team has to row across a lake, get their flag and get back without getting sunk. Ophelia Hall or Enid’s team ends up winning. Everyone else is excited about this except Wednesday because all she can think about is that the last time Ophelia Hall won was when Mortica went to Nevermore. 

  At the end of the episode Wednesday goes into a hallway and sees a statue with a code that needs to be deciphered. She figures it out and the key is to snap twice, which is a reference to the original Addams Family. She snaps and the statue moves revealing a door and through the door is a set of winding stairs. She goes down and sees some familiar faces, Bianca, Xavier and a few others and that is how episode two comes to a close. 

 

Episode 3: Friend Or Woe

  Just like episode two this episode three opens how the last episode closed. Wednesday goes downstairs and sees a bunch of kids in a circle wearing cloaks. It turns out that this group is called the Nightshades, they are very exclusive and not many people get in but Wednesday is invited. She turns them down and everyone is shocked that the new kid would turn down such an offer. The main part of this episode is that it’s Outreach Day so everyone from Nevermore has to go to the local town and volunteer. Wednesday is assigned to an antique store and Enid is assigned to Pilgrim World but Wednesday switches them so Enid can be with her crush, Ajax, and so Wednesday can learn more about the town’s founder, Joseph Crackstone. She goes to the old meeting house to see what she can discover but doesn’t find much. 

  While Wednesday is up to her usual shenanigans Enid keeps on trying to hint at Ajax trying to say that she likes him but he never gets the hint. So eventually she gets tired of this and finally snaps and says that she has been trying to hint that she likes him all day. Ajax finally understands and he asks her on a date for that night. 

  Back with Wednesday, she goes to the Waethervane to see Tyler but instead she runs into Xavier who’s volunteering there for the day. Let’s just say that Xavier wasn’t too happy to hear that Wednesday was there to see Tyler and not him. It is pretty clear from this reaction that Xavier definitely likes Wednesday. After Wednesday talks to both Xavier and Tyler she runs into Eugene getting picked on by a few “normies”. She handles them and Eugene is surprised that helped him Wednesday’s response “Hummers stick together” and she also says “You remind me of my little brother, Pugsley”. Clearly Wednesday is warming up to the idea of having a few friends. 

  A big part of Outreach Day is that there will be a statue unveiling in the town square of the town’s founder, Joseph Crackstone. Everyone is required to go so everyone from Nevermore is gathered and Wednesday is up with the Jericho band playing the cello but very quickly things go downhill. Thing and Wednesday set up a scheme, they set the statue on fire. Thing and Wednesday also head off into the woods to try to find something on Joseph Crackstone. They find an old house and Wednesday has a vision. In the vision she sees Crackstone forcing people into a house, the house Thing and her discovered, one of the the people that are being forced into the house is Wednesdays ancestor, Goody Addams. 

  Later in the episode Enid and Ajax are getting ready for their date. Ajax has to put a towel over his mirror before he showers because he’s a gorgon but the mirror fell and he got turned to stone. Enid is unaware of this so before she leaves she says “wish me luck!” and Wednesday responds “if he breaks your heart, i’ll carve out his”. Enid leaves and waits for an hour and Ajax just never shows up, so Enid assumes he lost interest. 

 

Episode 4: Woe What A Night

  Wednesday is trying to find more information about this monster and decides to go look in the woods and finds a shed where Xavier does a lot of art. Specifically pictures of Wednesday and this monster which confuses her a bit and makes her believe that Xavier is the monster. As she’s leaving Xavier walks up and greets her and asks what she was doing. As they’re talking Wednesday is eventually forced to ask Xavier to the Rave’n dance. He gladly accepts because as we know Xavier really likes Wednesday. 

  Later that day Wednesday heads into Jericho to talk to the sheriff, Tyler’s dad, because she thinks she has a lead on the monster. The sheriff doesn’t believe that Xavier is the monster though because Wednesday didn’t bring any evidence with her. A bit later Xavier finds out that Wednesday only asked him because she thought she had a lead and he calls off the date. Xavier ends up going with Bianca and Thing decides to send Tyler a note telling him to ask Wednesday to the dance. So he does and let’s just say Jenna Ortega, or Wednesday, looked incredible so wore a black flowy dress and had her hair a braid crown. 

  While Wednesday is dealing with her little love triangle Enid is also finding a date. One of the normies that was picking on Eugene asked her and she said yes because she and Ajax are no longer together. The dance happens and everyones having a good time, all except Xavier, he’s sitting at a table staring at Wednesday jealously. Meanwhile Enid is actually having a pretty good time with her date, that is until she asks him to dance and he runs out. Apparently he and his normie friends planned to hook up hoses to the sprinkler system so red paint would go everywhere, reminds me of the scene from Carrie. The prank goes down and Wednesday has a vision that Eugene is in the woods and is in trouble. She runs to the woods but it’s too late, the monster already attacked Euegene. 

 

Episode 5: You Reap What You Woe

  This episode starts with Enid talking to Wednesday about how she should go see Eugene in the hospital but Wednesday refuses and blames herself for him getting hurt. They are talking in the courtyard and that is because it is parents weekend. Both girls are dreading it but they suck it up and go see their families. Wednesday is quite cold to her parents and Pugsley as that’s just in her nature but she was also forced to go to this school. It’s suggested that her family joins her at therapy one day, so they do. Therapy is quite awkward, Mortica and Gomez are being obsessed with each other, Pugsley is snacking on candy and Wednesday is glaring at her therapist. 

  Over with Enid she is trying to connect with her parents and brothers but it’s hard because all her mom is talking about is Enid wolfing out. Her dad stays silent; he knows that she’ll wolf out when she’s ready. Her mom starts suggesting that Enid goes to a camp where they’ll teach her to wolf out and that another family member went and when she got back she could wolf out like it was nothing. She says “Come on honey, don’t you wanna wolf out and finally be normal?” People in the LGBTQ+ community really relate to this episode because that scene is what it feels like to come out and not be accepted or being pressured to come out and being sent to a conversion camp.

 

Episode 6: Quid Pro Woe

  Episode six happens to be Wednesday’s sweet sixteen. That being said, ‘Thing’ organized a party in Crackstones Crypt, Joseph Crackstones grave. Everyone was at the party, Enid, Xavier and many others. Enid’s gift to Wednesday was a snood in black and Enid has one as well in rainbow. The next day Wednesday is walking and sees on the lawn that the word “fire” is burned into and as she is looking Xavier comes up and says “You had another vision last night didn’t you?” Wednesday questions if the two are speaking terms again he responds saying that he was at her birthday party after all. 

  Later that day Wednesday decides to invite Tyler and Enid to hang out but instead of a regular hang out Wednesday takes them to Crackstones old house to do some investigating. Both Tyler and Enid are not fans of this but they go along with it anyway. While there they discover that Crackstones younger sister’s room looks brand new almost as if someone has been living there. Then as they are about to leave the monster shows up and attacks Tyler and Xavier also shows up looking for Wednesday. 

  Once everyone is back at their dorms Enid is quite upset and starts packing up her things. It appears that she is moving out. She explains to Wednesday that she has tried time and time again to be nice and include her but it just hasn’t worked and Wednesday just isn’t a good friend so Enid leaves. 

 

Episode 7: If You Don’t Woe Me By Now

  Episode seven is the second to last episode. In this episode Fester makes a guest appearance and surprises Wednesday, which she really needed. I noticed very quickly during Fester’s visit that he is the only person that can make Wednesday smile. During the episode back in Wednesday is back in her room and Enid comes in saying she forgot something and Wednesday makes the observation that she’s forgot something three times throughout the day. 

  Also while Wednesday and Fester are in her room Tyler comes in and asks Wednesday out and she accepts. They go on the date at Crackstones Crypt and it’s a movie date but instead of a horror movie or anything of that sort Tyler starts playing Legally Blonde.  

  Later in the episode Wednesday walks into her room and sees ‘Thing’ stabbed and pinned against the wall. She freaks out, grabs ‘Thing’ and goes to Fester to help. He is able to save him but that still leaves the question, who would hurt ‘Thing’?

  At the end of the episode two big things happen. The first one is that Enid moves back in, finally. She just couldn’t stay away from Wednesday. The next one which actually ends the episode is Wednesday goes to the Waethervane and she and Tyler share a kiss but after they kiss Wednesday has another vision. 

Episode 8: A Murder of Woes

  Sad to say that this is the last episode of the series. In this episode Xavier officially gets accused of being the monster and arrested. Very soon after Xavier is arrested Wednesday realizes that she was wrong and he is not the monster so she’s back on the hunt. The next person she accuses is her therapist but she also realizes that that isn’t true. 

  Later in the episode Wednesday is talking to Tyler and realizes that he is the monster but can’t prove it just yet. So she decides to try to scare him so the monster will come through but his dad, the sheriff, walks in before Wednesday can do anything. It’s also revealed that Tyler is a hyde, so yes he is a monster but there’s someone controlling him and now Wednesday has to figure out who that is. She makes a list and starts talking to people and finds out that the controller of the hyde is Mrs Thornhill, who is played by Christina Ricci who was Wednesday in the older Addams Family films. 

  This entire episode is centered around Wednesday trying to figure out who this hyde is and now that she knows she just needs someone to believe her. Of course Enid and Thing believe her though and they come up with a plan to get all the students out of the school so they could get rid of Thornhill. Unfortunately as everyone is freaking out Thornhill kills Principle Weems. As everyone is running and Thornhill is fighting everyone Xavier nearly gets shot with an arrow but Wednesday jumps in front so he won’t get hurt. Then a second later they are still fighting and Eugene appears, healed from the hospital, with a swarm of bees and attacks Thornhill. 

  Once everyone is out the hyde, or Tyler, is in the woods and then it happens Enid finally wolfs out and attacks him. With that Tyler is attacked but at the very end of that scene Enid is walking back and sees Wednesday and they hug. Wednesday finally let her walls down around Enid. 

  On a happier note, Tyler is arrested and classes are canceled for the rest of the semester so Wednesday is going back home. As she is going to walk out she runs into Xavier and he asks how they plan to keep in touch and she just doesn’t respond and that’s when Xavier hands her a phone and says “Welcome to the 21st century Addams.” and then Wednesday leaves. 

 

  That’s where the show ends. I’m not surprised with Jenna Ortega working on it that it was incredible. I am unfortunately sad that we have to wait till 2024 for season two but I guess that gives me time to rewatch it and all The Addams Family movies. Oh and if you’re wondering, I’m team Xavier.