‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Part 2 review: Addams Family secrets carries the teen drama to a satisfying close

It has been nearly a month since Netflix’s Wednesday commenced its anticipated second season. Now, with its final four episodes airing to close out another spooky season at Nevermore Academy, it has never been less clear as to why this season was broken into two halves to be released a month apart. Nevertheless, the show’s second half proves to be marginally stronger and significantly more cohesive than its predecessor. Though Wednesday’s ambitions tend to sometimes veer things off the course.

After Wednesday Addams’ (Jenna Ortega) unintentional asylum destruction in episode 4 last month, which lets loose a bunch of outcasts, episode 5 wakes her out of a coma and drops her back right in the middle of a monster-infested town, and a strained friendship with Enid (Emma Myers). At Nevermore, where Steve Buscemi continues to play a scheming Principal Dort, the previously dead Principal Weems (Gwedoline Christie) returns as Wednesday’s “spirit guide”. In that way, this season tends to revert back to what (and who) made the first one a hit.

Hunter Doohan also makes a comeback as the Hyde monster terrorising the town, and he also gets slotted into what emerges as the overarching theme this season: family drama. Hyde family drama aside, this season’s renewed focus on the Addams’ turns out to be one of the better decisions. Wednesday’s ties with her mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) fray further over their differing opinions on how to handle Wednesday’s psychic abilities. Meanwhile, with Pugsley’s (Isaac Ordonez) re-animated zombie friend (Owen Painter) surprisingly getting to pull some narrative strings this time around, the Addams father-son duo also get their own supernatural mission to chase.

Despite a rather shaky start, Wednesday’s second season manages to somewhat stick the landing. With an Enid-Wednesday cliffhanger setting things up for the third season, the season manages to check off many boxes, while maintaining a tighter focus on the Addams’. While the show may seek to create a successful ‘Outcast Universe’ (this season packs the cast with sirens, werewolves and disappearing teenagers), its best bet remains the kooky, spooky family. That the show manages to finally converge its laundry list of monsters around the family’s storyline is a credit to its ambitious writing.

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have reimagined the early 20th century cartoon of a delightfully gothic family to fit within the post-pandemic cynicisms of the 21st century. It is not an easy task, and there are only so many secrets you can invent for one family before the crypt runs dry. This season’s ending promises an expansion into Morticia’s past, but the creators also appear to be leaning heavily on the outcast cast to carry future seasons. One can only hope that teen macabre drama doesn’t piss off Wednesday Addams too much.

Wednesday Season 2 is available for streaming on Netflix