She beheads her dolls. She wears black from the tips of the braids to the shoes. She types her novel on an old metal typewriter.
She refuses to tap on a cell phone. She releases voracious piranhas into her high school pool to terrorize the jerks on the water polo team.
And though she never smiles, teenage Wednesday Addams (perfect Jenna Ortega) proves endearing and super cool in the miniseries. wednesday by the great Tim Burton, the most popular title on the Netflix platform for two weeks. In French, you will find it under the tab Wednesday.
I was charmed by this macabre derivative of The Addams Family, which centers on Wednesday, a gothic, nihilistic, sarcastic, pale, lonely, borderline sociopathic, slobbery student. This so-called series for teenagers — and for the whole family — constitutes a solid alloy of Riverdale, Gossip Girl and Harry Potter, with a hint of The Vampire Diaries.
It’s clever, witty, hilariously weird, filled with dread, and shrouded in an aesthetic a la Edward Scissorhands. The interpreter of Wednesday, Jenna Ortega, 20, has also been selected in anticipation of the Golden Globes gala on January 10, 2023. She is really killing the small screen. Expect to see plenty of Wednesday miniclones next Halloween night.
The story ? Similar to that of Mean Girls. Expelled from eighth grade in five years, the dark Wednesday lands, against her will, at the Nevermore Academy, a dismal private establishment for vampires, mermaids, werewolves, gorgons and other unidentified misfits.
Even before entering his dormitory there, Wednesday hates this bizarre boarding school, which his parents Morticia and Gomez (camped by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman) attended a few moons ago.
Bad luck: Wednesday’s roommate, a blonde werewolf, loves everything she hates: bright colors, pop music and social media.
Soon, supernatural stuff, a gargoyle assassination attempt and the appearance of a murderous monster in the forest will capture Wednesday’s attention, who will begin to enjoy Nevermore, a Hogwarts-like college that also houses a society. secret as well as a huge hidden library of sorcery.
The school principal, Larissa Weems, played by Gwendoline Christie, alias Brienne de Torth in Game Of Thronesalso has special powers, including the ability to change shape like Sam Merlotte in True Blood. Additionally, the mysterious and refined Larissa Weems served as Morticia Addams’ roommate at Nevermore. Intriguing, all that.
American actress Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets), who played Wednesday in the films The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, released in 1991 and 1993 respectively, also appears in the Netflix series. She slips into the skin of the botany teacher Mme Thornhill, the only Nevermore staff member to be a “normie”. A normie, like a muggle in the world of Harry Potter, is a normal person, devoid of magical powers.
If you know the gloomy universe of the Addams family, you surely know “the Thing”, this severed and scarred hand which serves as a pet for this disturbing clan. The Thing accompanies Wednesday to Nevermore and will help solve his investigations. The special effects that animate the Thing are striking.
Sure, wednesday has one side clueless with its clashing youth cliques and its plots to dethrone the high school queen bee, the mermaid Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday).
In the black humor niche of abnormal teenagers, wednesday is frankly better than a similar Netflix production, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The Meatloaf Tale
Yes, we often complain about ugly advertisements that overwhelm us with banality and clichés. However, we must recognize the quality and effectiveness of some of these advertisements, including the latest Christmas campaign from the IGA grocer, which is both cute and touching.
It’s actually a lovely 90-second animated film starring the charming aunt Loulou, who for years — and with renewed enthusiasm — brings her meatloaf to New Year’s Eve.
The problem? No one around the table likes this dish, which was simmered with love. From Christmas to Christmas, the guests compete with tricks to pass the meatloaf to the dog Léon without Loulou noticing.
The day when aunt Loulou disappears, we saw his death coming, his family pays homage to him by recreating his famous recipe for meatloaf, which is no longer edible, of course. But no matter, it’s the tradition that counts, and the spirit of Loulou lives again in these precious moments of sharing and reunion. Under the table, it’s the nice dog Léon who wiggles because he’s been crazy about Loulou’s meatloaf for all these years.
Impossible to zap when these little colorful men are agitated in our TV. A pleasantly well-executed ad.