Wednesday Season 2 Netflix Series Review

Wednesday (2022-)

Season 2 - 8 episodes (2025)
Watch Wednesday on Netflix
Created by: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Emma Myers, Christina Ricci, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Isaac Ordonez, Steve Buscemi
Rated: TV-14
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Plot
Smart, sarcastic, and a little dead inside, Wednesday Addams investigates a murder spree while making new friends and foes at Nevermore Academy.

Verdict
While I enjoyed season one, this season makes me question that. Has the show really strayed so far? This short season is so busy with many characters and subplots. They seem contrived as they all conveniently involve each member of the Addams family. The plots are less interesting than season one, and Wednesday seems like more of a plot device than character. This season never fully capitalizes on the inherent humor of a macabre teen dealing with the trials of being in school.  
Skip it.

Review
In season one, Wednesday committed to solving a string of murders after being sent to a school for supernatural outcasts. That's the basis for the prior season but there was plenty of drama as Wednesday is still a high school girl despite being the antithesis of a typical teenager. There's plenty of tension with her roommate, her family, and a monster on the loose.

Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) spent her summer vacation tracking a serial kill, but back at school she's a celebrity due to last year much to her chagrin. New principal Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi) wants to capitalize on her fame as part of his fund raising efforts. He's especially interested in soliciting Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her mother. Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) is now attending the school too.

These episode feel long for the type of show. The tone wavers between camp, morbid, and comedic. It frequently feels like characters aren't in the same genre. Wednesday is generally disagreeable and an angsty teenager, but it's like the show doesn't want us to root for her. It could tone it down while still having her as very dark.

Wednesday finds another case that needs solving, a murder that involves crows. That leads her to a psychiatric hospital. She's also dealing with a stalker that may or may not be related. What makes this season feel too busy is that we also have Pugsley and a zombie he finds and reanimates, Dort's fund raising which seems deceptive, and Morticia's involvement at the school.  

This season features plenty of monsters and mysteries, but the season relies on spectacle and surprising reveals more than a well paced story. The first season was about this stranger character Wednesday experiencing the daily life of a teenager. This season swaps that for several mysteries and more characters. There's so much in this season, werewolves, hydes, mad scientists, spirits, zombies,and more.

E6: Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers play Wednesday Addams, Enid Sinclair

Episode six provides a fun sub-plot when Wednesday and Enid (Emma Myers) swap bodies. Earlier this season, Wednesday has a premonition that Enid would die. While she thwarts that threat, now it's an Addams that will die. That just seems too easy. This season finds a way to connect every member of the Addams family into the plot. So many elements feel contrived to involve the entire Addams family. It's too easy. This culminates in this mad scientist gambit across generations that of course involves everyone in the Addams family.

It's an overstuffed season. While the main plot is Wednesday uncovering a conspiracy at the psychiatric hospital, it's more complicated than that. Every secondary character seems to have a subplot, and most of them don't get enough time. I'd rather this slow down and follow Wednesday, a teenager who is dark and mysterious but still struggles with high school issues.