Critic Reviews

Ortega kills as the gifted, nihilistic teen who’d rather hang out in a crypt than a club. ... Gimmicky callbacks to the films and the 1964 TV series are rare and strategically deployed in this streaming iteration of the franchise. ... Burton’s sensibilities and style are all over this irresistibly quirky, sardonic whodunit. ... “Wednesday” is brilliant on every level.

Wednesday season two is an absolute delight… though she’d kill us if she heard us say it.

Wednesday retains all the hallmarks that make the stories and the characters special. It succeeds very well at pushing the story outside its usual genre and into something a little more grown-up, and a little more supernatural, but never loses sight of the heart, humor, and kooky horror that have kept us all double-snapping for decades.

Mystery-wise, the show offers the same kind of thrills that made season 1 so watchable. .... After finishing episode 4, I immediately wanted to learn what would happen in Part 2, which will have to deal with a major cliffhanger and a lot of blood spilled.

Wednesday successfully captures the growing pains of being 16 without taking itself too seriously, serving to be an entertaining and binge worthy addition to this year’s renaissance of teen television. Ortega’s performance is by far the highlight, tackling Wednesday’s complexities with an ease that truly cements her status as the new horror It girl.

“Wednesday” succeeds thanks to its familiar protagonist and her macabre-loving family.

With Ortega electrifyingly glum throughout, Wednesday is worth watching any day of the week.

With a script that doesn’t take itself too seriously, a knowing wink at the audience, some genuinely scary bits and a committed and very funny central performance from Ortega that more than holds its own (even if Ricci and Addams Family Values remain unbeaten), this is a treat.

Although the main character’s name was inspired by the poetic line “Wednesday’s child is full of woe,” “Wednesday” is generally a delight, thanks almost entirely to Jenna Ortega. Having outgrown her Disney Channel days, Ortega makes the Addams Family’s now-high-school-age daughter the coolest humorless goth sociopath you’ll ever meet, in a Netflix series that’s more kooky than spooky or ooky.

It loses something by not setting Wednesday against normality, as the films did, and by having a more fissured version of the Addams clan. The love and unity of the family against the world was always one of the great pleasures, in whatever incarnation you met them. But it has enough wit, charm and propulsive energy for that not to matter as much as it might have.