Wednesday review: Tim Burton directs an entertaining mesh of ideas old and new

Tim Burton, that most quirky and vain of American Directors is back in familiar ‘acquired taste’ gothic territory. Netflix’s Wednesday is a re-imagination of The Addams Family saga that places Wednesday, the daughter of the infamous, dead-on-the-inside family at the heart of a new world. By the yardstick of creative risks, this is a big one, but in the assured hands of Burton and co, this series mostly sticks the landing. There is enough to like about the deadpan humour of a show that pits the Addams Family intrigue against weirder territory. The aforementioned charm of the original films was contrasting the absurdism of the close-knit family against the ‘normalcy’ of more recognisable humans. And though this new recalibration loses something on the way, it re-energises a dated franchise by illustrating the possibility of doubling down on the weirdness of the material.

Wednesday, played by Jenna Ortega is obviously a rabble-rouser, a nefarious if lifeless conductor of pain. “I don’t believe in heaven or hell, but I do believe in revenge”, she says at one point in the series. Wednesday exacts revenge by feeding a teenager’s genitals to carnivorous fish. Her punishment is to be relocated and bunked in with the ‘freaks’ at Nevermore – a sort of school for the outcasts. While this sounds like Professor Xavier’s school for the naturally gifted from the X-men franchise, here weirdness isn’t measured through indefinable superpowers. Wednesday, for one, doesn’t have one except maybe the inherited inability to commit to emotion. That makes her imperfect, but also the right person to query the history of Nevermore.

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Nevermore is full of a diverse band of rowdy, but also woke teenagers. There are vampires, wolves, but also introverts and nerds. The definition of outcast is elastic here and Wednesday expectedly stretches it by “becoming an outcast in a place for outcasts”. The school, unsuspectedly becomes the subject of a murder investigation. A creature has been attacking ‘normies’ and ‘weirdos’ alike and the task of identifying him/it befalls a reluctant Wednesday who constantly questions her unidentifiable desire to pursue the case at all. It’s not as if she cares. Which is where this show straddles multiple themes, and though they can at times force the legs of the narrative into wobbling, they just about fit right.

What works for this episodic series is its bullish aspiration to merge several ideas. There is horror here, quirky plotlines – at one point there is an Edgar Allen Poe-themed rowing contest that obviously goes to dark lengths – teenage angst, historic revelations and just the right amount of sarcasm that the source material has always been known for. The fact that a school full of weirdos dampens the impact of that previously famed friction between two worlds puts the onus on the Wednesday to seem as human as she would also seem lifeless. Thankfully, Ortega is up to the task and delightful in a role that for a change endeavours to do more than the usual.

There is also a great supporting cast on display here, including Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Christina Ricci (who played Wednesday in the 90s films). Where the series falters to an extent is, however, a problem of its own making. Too many stories and threads begin to cross after a point and none of the side-characters are allowed time to grow on the viewer. Nevermore Academy’s mysterious history and heritage is promising material, but it begins to rush past you like the wind because far too many thematic leaps turn the show into a bit of a mess. It’s still well sutured together, and incredibly restrained despite the kookiness of the world, but Burton’s expert craft, his unique experience in setting worlds only he can imagine, can’t always replace the noisy roll-on effect of a narrative that can at times feel unfocussed.

That said, Wednesday is an impressive, if jagged mesh of things that appeal to distinct tastes. It’s a brave concoction that might dizzy and frustrate in equal amount. The only problem with it in fact, might be the fact that it never quite becomes about one thing, and kind of loses its temporal impact as it continues to flitter and flirt with different aspects of a genre-bending voyage. Sometimes it’s the supernatural task of identifying a mythical creature, sometimes it’s the morbidly human task of bunking with an annoying roomie. Pack too many ideas into one bowl and you’re inevitably going to churn out the kind of broth that is delicious, but also unspecific. To which effect, Wednesday is never not watchable but it can also at times feel overwhelmingly chaotic. It’s still unique, though, as almost everything Tim Burton does it.

Wednesday is streaming on Netflix

Manik Sharma writes on art and culture, cinema, books, and everything in between.

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