Cast: Jenna Ortega as Wednesday, Emma Meyers as Enid, Catherine Zeta Jones as Morticia Addams, Luis Guzman as Gomez Addams, Hunter Doohan as Tyler, Joy Sunday as Bianca, Georgie Farmer as Ajax, Moosa Mostafa as Eugene, Isaac Ordóñez as Pugsley, Gwendolyn Christie as Weems, Christina Ricci as Miss thorn hill, Billie piper as Miss Capri, Evie Templeton as Agnes, Steve Buscemi as principal Dorrit, Owen Painter as Slurp, Heather Matarazzo as Judy, Frances O’Connor as Francois, Joanna Lumley as Grandma Frump, Christopher Lloyd as professor orloff, Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, thandiewe Newton as Dr. Fairburn, Haley Joel Osment as Kansas City Scalper, Anthony Michael Hall as Ron Kruger

Length: 8 episodes

Streamer: Netflix

Audio description Produced By: International digital center

Written By: Liz Gutman

Narrated By: Frankie Corzo

What Is it?: Wednesday returns to another year at Nevermore, with a new Principal (Steve Buscemi), and her status as a heroine preceding her. She’s also stuck with Pugsley joining the Nevermore ranks, and her parents being kept close by in a cottage so they can be in more of the season. When Wednesday has a vision of Enid’s grave, she sets out on a treacherous journey to keep that from happening, that will lead to secrets and lies, and reunions she wasn’t expecting. Along the way, she’ll be joined off and on by her family and friends, but also notably a new super fan, Agnes (Evie Templeton) who has a very useful ability.

What Works: Agnes (Templeton) is my spirit guide. Easily the best cast addition of the season, despite some truly heavy hitters passing through (Buscemi, Thandiwe newton, Joanna Lumley). Agnes has the perfect tone to come across as a super stalker, and super fan. You’re not quite sure what to think of her inclusion in the story, but as the season progresses, Agnes really starts to flourish, and as much as Wednesday would hate to admit it, she’s glad to have her around.

Jenna Ortega is the centerpiece holding everything up. this series will run as long as she is willing to come back. As her career grows, and she has less time, it will become harder to say Yes. I don’t expect her to go past a fifth season, if she goes that far. but, considering I grew up with Christina Ricci in the role, and never could have imagined loving any other version of Wednesday Addams, Ortega has brought the right amount of sarcastic optimism to the role. She’s dark, but you can still see that she’s fiercely loyal, and while she and Enid are polar opposites, that is why they make such great best friends.

Meyers as Enid is given her own arc, now having embraced her inner wolf, she finds out that she might be too much wolf, and worries about becoming an Alpha. A hilarious body swap episode between Enid and Wednesday give Jenna and Emma a chance to shake things up. Also, Catherine Zeta Jones continues to be an excellent choice for Morticia, and while Luis Guzman fails to top Raul Julia, I don’t have a problem with him in the role.

Buscemi is a fun addition as a Principal we know nothing about. Gwendoline Christie returns in an interesting capacity, and even Christina Ricci returns to put her character’s arc to rest. Season 2’s storyline was twisty, and featured most of the cast well enough to excuse the few bumps along the way. the dance sequences remind us we aren’t supposed to take it too seriously, and a fun game of Outcasts vs Normies allows the outcasts to find their inner strengths.

What Doesn’t Work: While I’m not a fan of the Fred Armisen casting, he’s the least of my problems. Pugsley is just dead air. I don’t know if it is that they don’t know what to do with him, or he’s miscast, but I hated every moment of his. He detracted from the story, and ends up being a plot device in the end. He’s a catalyst for most of what goes wrong, and his need for screentime ends up absorbing a lot of the scenes some of the other Nevermore kids might have had. I’m not sure why season 2 leaned so hard on the Addams Family aspect, when Season 1 was such a big hit without the whole family.Ortega proved she could carry the show, with the other members only appearing as recurring. While Fester remains recurring, Pugsley, Morticia, and Gomez certainly are not.

they also just promptly wrote off one of the cast from last season, with such a brief nod I’m surprised they even brought him up. With the show already renewed for a third season, I would implore the writers to either make Pugsley more interesting, or bench him. He had way more screentime than Ajax or Eugene, and those two are stronger parts of Wednesday’s Scoobies. With the third season aiming to focus on Wednesday and Enid, they’d make a huge mistake benching Agnes. And for all the hype around the Lady Gaga cameo, it had no impact on me at all. Kind of a waste of Gaga.

The Audio description: Much like the first season, we had more excellent audio description, which captured the creepy and kooky look of the Addams Family, along with the usual stylings of Tim Burton. He’s shot for a blend of gothic inspired, but prominently contrasting looks in his previous films. I assume the same vibe is being aimed for here, and the AD supports that. The few times there’s some horror, like gouged out eyes, or a zombie eating brains, the description doesn’t shy away. Frankie is an excellent choice of narrator, and her voice blends perfectly with the mood of the show.

Why You Might like it: You watched the first season and want more. this is mostly as good, if not better in some regards.

Why You Might Not Like it: Maybe this just isn’t your Addams Family.

Final Thoughts: Driven by a star turn by Evie Templeton in a breakthrough performance, the second season of Wednesday has enough of its own surprises in store to get you pulled in the right direction.

Fresh: Final grade: 8.5/10