I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned this, so I figured I’d give my first take. Just finished semi-binge watching the first season this morning. On the whole, I liked it - the kid who plays the title character plays the role really well - though I’d expect no less given she’s working with both Tim Burton and Nina Ricci.
The rough parts:
- Wednesday’s character can give a strong “Mary Sue” vibe at times. She’s too good at too many things to be real. That might be a legacy from the early 90s movies, but with just her in the spotlight, it hits like a brick. It might balanced by her anti-Mary Sue trait of being emotionally cold, but not well - there are characters who seem determined to be her best buds (or more) even after it should be clear that she’s a lost cause.
- She’s a terrible detective. There was one scene where the whole murder mystery thing suddenly came into focus for me, and frankly, I’m just not that smart. In fact, I’m terrible at mystery games, and I never have a clue while reading mystery novels. After that scene, it was just me waiting for Wednesday to “get it.”
- Messaging. It has it. As someone who leans a little to the left, there were a couple of times where I felt like I’d gotten hit in the face with a messaging beanbag. Snapped me right out of the story without adding anything to it. Seriously, cinema people, it can be done better. It has been done better. Stop pelting me with beanbags.
All that said, the good outweighs the bad IMO, especially if you’re an Addams Family fan. The story is well written overall, and well played. And the set design is delivered straight out of Burton’s brain to your plate.