With the release of the final four episodes on Sept. 3, Season 2 of the hit Netflix series Wednesday has officially wrapped up.
The story yet again follows titular character Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) [SPOILERS AHEAD] as she attempts to deal with the aftermath of the destruction wreaked by the mystery solved in the first half of the season, while still grappling with her absent psychic powers and navigating several complicated relationships.
Reflecting on where we left off with the first half of the season, episodes five through eight definitely addressed some of my major issues with episodes one through four.
First and foremost, the plot. Unlike the first half of this season, the second half definitely has a more cohesive and a more convincing plot. Instead of being plagued by random, stalker-ish villains, the plot instead draws on several subplots that have been building throughout the season and ties them together in a way that actually makes sense, rather than just bombarding Wednesday and her friends with bad guys out of the blue.
What I felt was unique – and appreciated – about this season’s plot was that it focused more on relationships, characters, and their development, rather than on clues and connections and problem-solving. Many of Wednesday’s “quests” or expeditions to find clues required her to team up with a wide variety of characters or put her in situations where she was forced to rely on others – from her best friend Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) to her mother Morticia Adams (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to classmate Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday) – allowing viewers a unique insight into a more intimate side of Wednesday.
This, of course, brings us to my second gripe with the first half of Season 2– Wednesday’s caustic personality. And suffice to say, the second half of the season made me eat my words. In addition to a much needed verbal dressing-down from Enid, Wednesday is repeatedly forced to interact with other characters in a manner that – in some form or fashion – requires her to actually acknowledge their emotions, which addresses her unnecessary aloofness and harshness to some degree.
Overall, I enjoyed the second half of Season 2 much more than the first half. Not only was the plot more cohesive and the characters more likeable and relatable, but there was just something about these last four episodes that captured that “Wednesday-ness” that the first season had. Whether it was the return of a certain crucial character or the way everything tied together so neatly while still leaving room for questions, part 2 of Season 2 of Netflix’s Wednesday is definitely worth the watch and keeps the excitement alive for the upcoming Season 3.
