CRITICAL REVIEW: WEDNESDAY
Ahh Wednesday Aadams, my favourite little scorpion who really was one of my favourite childhood characters, along with Tommy the green power ranger, Casper the ghost, and Aladdin mostly because of the puzzle I had of the vhs cover photo. I may have been an oddball little girl who preferred to work on her novel in the library by herself at recess rather than interact with the kids who made fun of my accent at the time (I spoke Romanian, French then English in that order due to the many moves we made), not that I cared as I preferred my own company, very much like little Wednesday Aadams! It didn’t help that I actually did and mostly still do look like Cristina Ricci, who was the original Wednesday Adams for those too young to remember and reading this.
That right, I’m a millennial, a geriatric one at that. I was also cleaver, some might say smart, sarcastic and not shy to express my opinions, had odd hobbies like solving and building puzzles, going on dangerous solo excursions in the forest behind my house and bike riding where my mother cant see me, and would often elude death even as a little mignion that I was. I contradictorily had straight A’s and was also the resident trouble maker, like the time I beat up one boy with a dodge ball until I drew blood, on purpose for asking me if I had cooties, or the time I cut all the corners off a girls’ project because she tried to force to me do stuff for her like fetch her boots. I was also in the gifted math and science program along with one other boy as we would plow through the material given to us ahead of the whole class and even as the little immigrant child I was.
One girl even subjected me to a witchhunt, publically accused me of cheating on a grammar test, claiming she very much did see me cheat, and so her mother demanded of the teacher that we retake the test alone in the classroom. We did retake the test alone in the class, at which point I ruined that girls life by acing it and making her cry for being sub par, to me. I explained shes just simple, and that’s ok because the world needs all kinds of people. And never to accuse people of things they didn’t do. She lied and she knew it, needed to be taught a lesson.
So to say that I identify a little bit to Wednesday, would be entirely accurate. My husband kind of pokes fun at me over the fact that I have similar personality traits to what was exemplified in this series, but I take it as a compliment, more or less. Definitely I’ll be going as Wednesday for Halloween next year; I’m surprised I’ve never actually done this yet. Maybe that’s because I kind of just looked like Wednesday anyway most of the time, allergic to colour ha ha ha. In my defence I was not allergic to colour, was just allergic to the hideous patterns and colours that my mother would choose for me to wear, but that’s a complex I could maybe discuss with my therapist.
Anyway, the series was an interesting take on the original and mixed a bit of Harry Potter or Xmen in the pot, though I’ve never seen the former, it’s the general idea that outcast kids are banished to a secluded special school for the weirdos. There are some good psychological perspectives thrown in and the characters are diverse enough to catch your interest throughout the series.
At the very end they probably had a hard time finishing the script as it starts to get a little too fantastical and overtly stereotypical with the demons coming back from the dead and all that. there is also a surprise character involved that I can’t say much more about without being a spoil sport.
Nonetheless Catherine Zeta Jones was an excellent selection for Morticia as was the husband, surprisingly so. I didn’t see it as a good actor to portray the husband at first, but as he developed the role it was quite entertaining. Miss OG Cristina Ricci is featured in the script with an interesting role, though I don’t love the red head nerd look on her.
While it was a little silly at times, it was just the right amount of dark comedy mixed with a light story line that makes you want to solve the mystery and continue to follow along. So while plenty of death was involved, this was a light watch for me. Then again, I relax by watching murder mysteries and the like, so you may not find this to be the case for you.
4.5 out of 5 on this limited Netflix series.