Surface level stuff first! The premise already was concerning to me when I heard about it. You’re taking ONE of the kids from the Addams family and putting them in show with little presence of the other members of the family, then sticking them into a love triangle?? Ermmm are we talking about the same source material CGI was funny as hell SORRYYY but literally WHAT was Enid’s transformation i was dying laughing. I do like the design of the Hyde on its own but every shot of Tyler turning into it is laughable as well and completely takes you out of the story I liked Enid ig though she sadly fell victim to the “adults trying to write hip and cool teenagers” trope. Same thing happened with Ajax. She was still interesting but could they seriously not afford better writers to write good dialogue for her ?? (mostly talking about the scene where they introduced Ajax since it was the most obvious but it carries on in other scenes too and just makes it hard to watch)

The original gimmick of the Addams Family is that they do not know they are not normal. I think this mentality started to shift in the 90’s movies, after that point the Addams’ seemed to be more self aware of their strangeness. I don’t hate this change, I think it was in some ways necessary for the future of the franchise. The lack of awareness fits PERFECTLY with the original comics and the sitcom, but as you start to tell more complex stories and time passes where more things are generally accepted, it’s harder to keep up that same act with the same effective humor. The problem with a murder mystery show with the Addams Family as source material is it causes a complete shift in tone. Suddenly no character's thoughts on death make sense. Wednesday feels absolutely no remorse for almost murdering a man (in fact, she mentions she doesn’t want people to know she didn’t finish the job), but cares enough to investigate a series of murders? Wednesday throwing piranhas in a public pool is not my problem-

-The problem is her view on murder and violence makes no sense. If we’re going with the idea that Wednesday is fine with violence as long as there is a REASON (like her punishing the boys bullying Pugsley), it still doesn’t make sense. She gets upset when finding out her father was accused of murder but he had a reason. When Tyler mentions the prank he did on Xavier, Wednesday is completely fine with it but Tyler did not have a reason (besides that Xavier was physic, but that wouldn’t be something she would agree with considering she also is). The family likes torture, it their weird way of bonding, but when you widen the pool of who Wednesday interacts with suddenly the morals get muddy. The show cannot figure out what its tone is.

Wednesday would only investigate murders as a side hobby for when she's bored or because of an ulterior motive. ALso if Gomez was accused of murder it would not be hush hush around the Addams house are you kidding me?? He would be bragging about it to Morticia and his kids all the time. And if Wednesday did find out her father was accused of murder from someone other than him, she would be more interested than angry. But I doubt Gomez would hide it from her in the first place??

I also refuse to believe Gomez and Morticia would make Wednesday or Pugsley go to public school for more than a day. In the sitcom (if i remember correctly) there was a whole episode where Gomez was told “actually you kinda do have to send your kids to school” and as soon as Wednesday gets home she’s crying because the knight killed the dragon. And from then on it's implied that they never make either of them go to school again. In the musical, Wednesday mentions being homeschooled. (“No, but see the lover always comes back. Ulysses. Tristan. Romeo.” “Look, I’m homeschooled, what’s your point?”) ON THE TOPIC OF GOMEZ I HATED Gomez in this show so much. Gomez does not work as a character if he is not charismatic. So why the **** did they cast the least charismatic man I have ever seen in my life. In every other incarnation its endearing when he calls Wednesday stuff like “little viper” but it just feels so creepy in this show??

Also WHOS idea was it to have Wednesday have a strained relationship with her parents?? Part of the gimmick of the Addams Family is that they are weird as hell but love each other unconditionally and very outwardly. Part of what makes them so special is that compared to other “normal” families on TV being portrayed as dysfunctional, they are unapologetically affectionate (in their own way lmao). Yeah you could have an interesting plot with Wednesday and Morticia growing apart like every other show or you could have an even more interesting plot with Wednesday being extremely close with her family despite her being a sociopath. And no, I do not give a **** about the natural occurance of teenagers distancing themselves from their parents. Wednesday is not supposed to be a normal teenager. What do you think makes a better show? portraying her as just a quirky goth girl or WEDNESDAY. ADDAMS. Instead we get shots where Gomez looks like he hates Wednesday?? **** that

I actually don’t think that you can’t do a romance plot with Wednesday. The musical did it well (talking about the original musical, not the ones put on by schools since they had to tone down the script pretty heavily, which did not benefit Lucas's character). Wednesday feeling conflicted because she meets someone “normal” she likes and freaks out isn’t a bad concept, a similar thing happened in the sitcom with Pugsley. Gomez and Morticia find out Pugsley befriended a girl and now he’s starting to like poodles and other things he would usually hate (i cant remember if pugsley liking poodles was from that episode or the boyscouts one uhhh).

Tyler and Wednesday have a very similar dynamic to Lucas and Wednesday from the musical and I do think they did a great job of making Tyler charismatic. “I can be impulsive, I just have to think about it first!” “I’d rather die than live without you.” “Ok. Prove it.” “What.” “Prove it.” “How long have you been standing in the shadows?” “All my life.” (surprised this was not included in the confrontation between Wednesday and Tyler it would have been one hell of a reference lmao) Like it is so “normal” guy seeing wednesday threaten to murder them and going “thats hot” (surprise suprise that man is “secretly” unhinged) they are actually the same So yeah the musical is proof Wednesday romance plot CAN work ^^

But when I heard there was love TRIANGLE?? Luckily I didn’t have to worry because I’d hardly call it a love triangle. I don’t know if Xavier was supposed to have chemistry with Wednesday but he seemed just like an obvious red herring. Both Larissa Weems and Xavier were hard for me to care about because they only felt like they were there to be obvious “bad people” to throw you off track. Which all goes to say, like most Tim Burton adaptations, it’s a TERRIBLE Addams Family adaptation. It felt less like an adaptation and more like a show that wasn’t originally intended to have a source material but they needed a reason for people to watch it. The Addams Family works because it’s a direct opposite of a standard nuclear family (ESPECIALLY compared to the families being portrayed on TV at the time). The Addams Family doesn’t take itself too seriously. BUT it doesn’t stop it from having complex and interesting characters.

It’s my favorite type of media, you take an outlandish concept –like a family the exact opposite of the standard nuclear family or mutant turtle brothers who live in the sewers and fight crime– and turn it into a comedy you don't expect to end up crying over. Tim Burton does not understand this I am a TMNT fan, believe me, I do think changes are necessary with new adaptations. When I say it's a bad adaptation, I’m not saying that because it has changes from the source material, I’m saying it because it fundamentally doesn’t understand what makes the source material WORK.

Wednesday also falls into the modern Tim Burton directed media trap. It presents an allegory of outcasts and prejudice without the gumption to make any character canonically lgbtq. Not to mention a “colorblind” approach to race and a racist director. This is what happens when you have a white, cishet, accomplished director with a victim complex. That being said, I am extremely happy that Gomez and the kids were cast as latino actors for the first time (even if I despise Gomez in this show).

So anyway, I’ve established I think it's a bad adaptation. But as a stand alone murder mystery show? It’s predictable honestly That being said, I did like parts of the show!! but I think it being such a half-assed adaptation of a very nostalgic media for me just really threw me off Maybe i’ll rewatch it idk because there were parts i liked, i just wish Tim Burton could understand the source material he’s adapting for once in his career. Trying to separate it from previous iterations and appreciate it as its own show. The show also has problems with writing outside of it being a shit adaptation (mainly the cringe “teenager talk” and inconsistent tone) but whatever. The actors were carrying that show on their backs!! Heard a lot of stuff was cut/rewritten because Jenna Ortega was straight-up like “no.” which THANK GOD could you imagine what the show would be Sadly one actor cannot change the trajectory of a show/character, but good for her honestly!!

Tyler was probably my favorite character. Boy next door with repressed anger and daddy issues?? Hell yeah thats a cool character. I am also a sucker for jekyll and hyde adaptations/stories (confrontation from the musical has been ̶s̶l̶o̶w̶l̶y̶ rapidly driving me insane) so honestly love that for him. The plotline of him being groomed by Thornhill was very interesting, and I hope he gets a redemption arc since the show seems to make a point that Hydes are a separate being from their human counterparts. Either that or we fully commit to the Jekyll and Hyde story and he kills himself while he still has control. tyler galpin apologist sorry not sorry 😬

hey so fun story guys!! I did not realize i wrote this much lmao i couldnt sleep last night so i wrote this and figured i’d post it in the morning but who was i thinking was reading all this 😭 Congrats if you got all the way through my nonsensical ramblings Maybe I’ll fully collect my thoughts and make a video essay or smth ??

ALSO FORGOT TO MENTION the finale makes no sense?? ah yes, crackstone, whos known for being against all outcasts, gets RESURRECTED (sorry doesn't seem very normal to me) and has witchy powers?? literally what that is so hypocritical???

anyway i gtg to therapy bye bye

Gomez made me want to rip my hair out in every scene he was in cgfhbjk