Blu-ray Review: WEDNESDAY: SEASON 1

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Mar 25 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Disclaimer: “Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray^TM I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

I think by now most people have some familiarity with The Addams Family, whether it’s the original comics, the 1960’s TV series, the live action films of the 1990’s, or the more recent animated films. That kooky family, that is mysterious and spooky, and all together ooky is back once again in Netflix’s new live action series Wednesday, which focuses on goth teenager Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega).

After pouring piranhas in the school pool to get revenge on the boys who bullied her younger brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), Wednesday Addams is expelled from Nancy Reagan High School, and sent to boarding school at Nevermore Academy—her parents’ alma mater and where Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (Luis Guzmán) first met and fell in love. Nevermore Academy is a school for outcasts, freaks and monsters, with a social scene that generally consists of four groups—Fangs (vampires), Furs (werewolves), Stoners (gorgons), and Scales (sirens).

Wednesday is a dark and dour young woman, who is obsessed with death, and is always dressed in black. She is determined to escape from this prison, especially after meeting her bubbly and colorful roommate Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), a werewolf who has yet to wolf out. However, Principal Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones, The Sandman), who’s a former classmate of Wednesday’s parents, plans to make sure that doesn’t happen, and that Wednesday attends her court-ordered therapy sessions with Dr. Valerie Kinbott (Riki Lindhome) in the surrounding town of Jericho. Gomez also has a plan to keep tabs on his daughter, secretly sending along the family’s sentient dismembered hand, Thing (Victor Dorobantu), to spy on Wednesday and report back—though Wednesday almost immediately spots him and makes Thing swear loyalty to herself instead.

When we first meet Wednesday, she’s very much a loner who doesn’t want anything to do with her roommate or other classmastes—including self-proclaimed Queen Bee siren Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday), gorgon Ajax Petropolus (Georgie Farmer), Yoko Tanaka (Naomi J. Ogawa), bee-lover Eugene Ottinger (Moosa Mostafa) and Rowan Laslow (Calum Ross). She begrudgingly participates in the school’s activities, and slowly becomes “friends” with these people—or at least she tolerates them as she finds ways to make them useful. And while Wednesday doesn’t believe in anything as sickening as love, there is definitely some connection between her and the Sherriff’s son Tyler (Hunter Doohan), a normie who works in the local coffeeshop. There’s also a bit of a love triangle as classmate Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White) seems to like Wednesday as well.

Shortly after arriving at the school, Wednesday started having psychic visions of dark and deadly incidents before they happened. Some sort of deadly creature is lurking in the woods around Nevermore, creating havoc and killing students. However, the parents and teachers seem to be covering it up. Wednesday enjoys writing her own teen detective novels, and sees this as another investigation for her protagonist, Viper De La Muerte. However, as she delves into the case, she soon finds her own life in danger. There are supernatural elements at bay, and what’s happening may somehow be connected to a 400-year-old ancestor, as well as an incident at the school 20 years earlier involving her father. As Wednesday carries out her investigation, she often finds herself at odds with the local sheriff, Donovan Galpin (Jamie McShane), who has some sort of grudge against Nevermore—and Gomez Addams in particular. Wednesday quickly realizes that if she’s going to solve this case, she’s going to need some help, and starts to turn to the other students.

When I first watched this first season of Wednesday on Netflix, I wasn’t really a fan, but having just binged the entire season again on this Blu-ray release, I’m not sure why I had that opinion. I thoroughly enjoyed the series this second time around. It brings a fresh new vision of the classic Addams Family franchise, while focusing on the character of Wednesday. It takes many elements of other popular franchises, and rolls them into one really dark mystery/fantasy with interesting twists and turns, and lots of dry humor. There are the magical school/houses and normie vs outcast elements of Harry Potter, the darker witch and supernatural elements of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the creatures and chosen one elements of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Each episode generally centers around some event at the school, whether it be the Harvest Festival in town, the school’s annual Poe Cup canoe race, Outreach Day, the Rave’N dance, Parent’s Weekend, and so on. At the same time, each episode also furthers the larger narrative of exploring who is behind this monster, why, and how to stop them. Episodes usually end on some big reveal or cliffhanger, making you eager to continue the binge to see what happens next. The writers do a nice job of throwing in red herrings to make everyone look guilty and a possible suspect, which keeps the audience guessing until the end. This first season tells a complete story over the course of 8 episodes, while also building an interesting world that is ripe for so many more tales and adventures.

Jenna Ortega is so delightful and charming as the dark and monotone Wednesday, who has so many hilarious one-liners. While Wednesday starts off as this cold, self-absorbed character, it is great to see her slowly open up and show some humanity (even if she’d never admit it) over the course of the season, while still remaining dark and dreary at her core. Each of the other students is also given a chance to grow over the course of the season. I especially enjoyed Emma Myers as the bubbly roommate Enid, who’s the polar opposite of Wednesday. She really gives off a Willow from Buffy vibe, and the relationship between her and Wednesday is a lot of fun.

Since this series is very much focused on Wednesday, we only get guest appearances from the other family members, including Lurch (George Burcea). The main family members only appear briefly in the pilot, and then show up again later in the season for Parents’ Weekend. We also see Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) appear in one of the later episodes. And as a fun nod to fans, Christina Ricci—who played Wednesday Addams in the 1990s Addams Family films—appears as Marilyn Thornhil, Nevermore’s first normie teacher.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released this first season of Wednesday on Blu-ray and DVD (it is also available for digital purchase in HD). We were sent the Blu-ray release for review, which looks and sounds amazing. Even though the series originally aired in 4K on Netflix, I can’t imagine it looking any better than it does on these discs. The picture is pretty much immaculate, with rich colors and excellent detail. The series comes from director Tim Burton, and the influence of his signature style can definitely be seen. The audio track is also very impressive. Dialogue primarily comes from the front channel, but the wonderful score fills the room with a wide variety of music, from classical to more modern music played on Wednesday’s cello or record player. The stereo and surround channels are well utilized to provide an immersive experience as the action picks up, or the characters find themselves out in a storm.

The 8 episodes of the first season are split evenly across two discs, which are housed on either side of a standard HD keepcase, which is covered by a cardboard slipover. Unfortunately, there is no bonus material or digital copy included.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (6:29:49)

All 8 episodes of the first season.
Disc 1: “Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe”, “Woe Is the Loneliest Number”, “Friend or Woe”, “Woe What a Night”
Disc 2: “You Reap What You Woe”, “Quid Pro Woe”, “If You Don’t Woe Me by Now”, “A Murder of Woes”
1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Korean

Extras:

There is no bonus material included on this release.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

Wednesday is a dark and delightful series that transports viewers in the mysterious and fantastical world of Nevermore, as Wednesday Addams tries to solve a mystery that has connections to her own past. The series finds this perfect blend between thriller, fantasy and comedy to make it a thoroughly entertaining experience you’ll want to binge over and over again. This is thanks in large part to star Jenny Ortega, who really manages to make this classic character her own. Warner Bros.’ Blu-ray release looks and sounds fantastic, and any fan will surely be pleased with the presentation. However, the release is barebones, without any bonus material or a digital copy. That said, it still comes highly recommended based on the quality of the show itself.