Wednesday is Camp, Just Have Fun!

Netflix’s new series, Wednesday, is on track to have the largest release for an English television show in Netflix history, beating out favorites like Stranger Things and Dahmer. And, because I am nothing if not impressionable, I binged this series after hearing this announcement. There has been a lot of discourse on Twitter with disappointed viewers saying they found the show cheesy, but I would disagree. I think that the show is one that is entertaining and doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s why I loved it.

During the first episode, I was certain that I wasn’t going to finish the show. There were many moments of Millennial writing what they think Gen Z sounds like and the outcome is like nails on a chalkboard. As the episode progressed, I became locked in. I couldn’t tell you the moment it happened, but I can say with full confidence that the show gets better with every episode. Each episode lessens the cheesy writing and grabs you with a great storyline. Maybe it is just the part of me that eats up teen dramas as well as murder mysteries, but the show progressed wonderfully. It built real character arcs and side plots that I find a lot of shows lack. I really hope to see more of the cult upbringing from Bianca and the trauma of being the child of a legend from Xavier in the second season. By the final episode, I was fully hooked.

Jenna Ortega also pulled me into watching this show. She has been on my radar since she was a little girl playing young Jane in Jane the Virgin and later on Netflix’s You. She’s always been incredible. So when I saw her name attached to this project, I was all the more intrigued. I think she’s a great actress and she brought a new, more mature violence to Wednesday. In the 1991 film, The Addams Family, Wednesday is younger, and while she is still the witty and scary Wednesday we all love, there is a child-like naivety that is there as well. But Ortega brought a real haunted vibe to Wednesday. When Jenna Ortega is staring at you, unblinking, and says she’s been grave digging since her third birthday, it’s freaky. I think Ortega perfectly captured a Wednesday that is also going through her “I don’t need my mom’s help, teenage angst” period of her life. It is an incredible and fresh lens to view a character such as Wednesday.

Another thing that makes Wednesday stick out from other shows is that it is just easy to watch. It does not take a lot of brain or emotional power to sit through these episodes and in the modern television landscape, that can be hard to come by. It’s entertaining and fun, imagine that! You don’t have to prepare yourself for your own trauma to be brought up in the midst of watching this show, so you won’t finish each episode in tears. And it’s not a comedy that you feel you have to be in the right mood to watch. It’s the perfect amount of funny and drama, and sometimes, overdramatic, but that is just a part of its DNA. The Addams Family has always been over dramatic and campy, so I am not sure why the Internet wanted it to suddenly be an Oscar award winning best drama.

The final episode of Wednesday wrapped with the confidence of a season two announcement which I appreciated. The writers wrapped up everything they meant to in season one and left a few key elements hanging, as well as the introduction of a new story line, in season two. I trust these writers to remember the threads they left undone and carry them into season two (unlike some other shows.. Cough cough.. Euphoria..). It’s a show that is going to leave you satisfied rather than frustrated. For me, season two cannot come fast enough.

I hope I have encouraged you to just watch Wednesday and have some fun! Viewers of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will definitely love this show. It is that same perfect, campy, Young Adult television that I know we all love to binge. (And if for no other reason, to kick Stranger Things out of the most viewed English television show because.. That’s just funny! Love you, Stranger Things!)