The show “Wednesday” debuted on Netflix November 23rd, with Jenna Ortega taking the role of Wednesday Addams- a gloomy, smart and sarcastic teenager who finds herself in the middle of a small town murder mystery. Ortega took the well-known menacing personality of Wednesday, bringing her character to life. Although Wednesday radiates a heartless persona, she still is willing to make extreme sacrifices to protect her loved ones, making her an interestingly complex character.

After getting expelled from her high school for dropping piranhas in a pool occupied by her brother’s bullies, she is sent to Nevermore Academy where she meets both friends and foes. With the help of her roommate: Enid Sinclair, a boy named Tyler Galpin, and many others, she tries to solve the same mystery that dawned on her parents 25 years ago.

This show was addictive and a definite binge-watch. I thought Jenna Ortega did an impressive job portraying the role of Wednesday especially with the pressure of taking on such a famous role. Ortega stayed true to the character while also adding a modern twist that kept watchers captivated. 

Each character had great depth to their personas and the show took its time revealing each ones unique personalities and dilemmas. This was a concept I greatly admired since shows sometimes fixate on the main character, however, without the side characters, “Wednesday” wouldn’t have been so successful.  The plot was interesting with many layers unfolding about the past, and the dynamic of Wednesday’s relationships. 

The dialogue was a parallel to Wednesday’s personality, adding humorous and serious tones behind each statement. As famously known, Wednesday’s way of speaking is distinct to her, something Ortega portrayed flawlessly. One of my favorite quotes has to be “It’s not my fault I can’t interpret your emotional Morse code”,  as it shows general her monotonous tone towards others and how she isn’t used to dealing with deeper emotions.

When it comes to critiques, I did not like how they incorporated present day social media references in the show. It honestly made me cringe because the dialogue that went along with it was unnecessary and unrealistic. An example of this was when Ajax called Wednesday “a living Instagram filter” due to her being dressed in black and white. Majority of the quotes said to portray the current generation were just inaccurate. Additionally, idea of Wednesday having a love interest was unessential. I understand that it propelled the plot and added to the layers , but Wednesday with Xavier or Tyler just doesn’t seem true to her persona. 

The immediate success following the release of Wednesday came through on Netflix, the show beating Stranger Things to hold the record for most hours viewed in a week with 341.2 million hours (English language series). Thousands of people are praising Jenna Ortega for her phenomenal acting and the show’s thrilling plot-line. The plot-twist that I honestly didn’t see coming with an unsettling cliff-hanger has me anticipating season 2. I would say it’s a must watch for the moment!