Wednesday: Season 1/ Episode 5 – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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It’s Parents Weekend at Nevermore, which means Gomez and Morticia visiting, among other parents, and old beefs being addressed.

Recap

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Not All Family Reunions Are Happy – Esther, Murray, Enid, Gabrielle, Bianca, Xavier, Sue, Janet, Eugene, Wednesday, Morticia, Gomez, Pugsley, Thing, Valerie, Larissa

It’s Parents Weekend at Nevermore, and while some, like Xavier, know not to expect their parents, many others are, and some with glee. Bianca isn’t one of them, since her mother Gabrielle is in a cult and married to its leader, with expectations of Bianca to rejoin, but more on that in the third topic. Sticking to the happier reunions, Eugene does with his moms, Sue and Janet, albeit while he is in a coma. But with them meeting Wednesday, who comes to visit, while Thing gives reports, they at least find solace that Eugene made a friend.

Speaking of friends, Enid’s parents show up, and from what it seems, her mom, Esther, runs the household. She is the one who pushes all sort of things to hope and expect Enid to wolf out, while her dad Murray stays mum. Which makes their presence nice but not necessarily something which makes Enid happy.

As for the Addams family reunion? It is to be as expected. Gomez overdoes it, with Pugsley wanting to do the same but holding back a bit. Morticia keeps her distance, but only because she and Wednesday still have a bit of a cold war going on, and Morticia knows any olive branch extended would be set on fire. The same could be said about Morticia’s relationship with Larissa. Larissa is cordial, but she has not moved on the way Morticia has. However, despite Wednesday’s past actions, no move is made for her to be expelled, suspended, or on probation. But Larissa does push for family therapy to be handled by Valerie, and while Morticia isn’t fond of it, Gomez is, so the family goes.

Solving Mysteries Is What I Do – Gomez, Morticia, Sheriff Galpin, Mayor Walker, Wednesday, Garret, Ansel, Larissa

This further opens the door to Sheriff Galpin’s accusation of Gomez killing a young man named Garret, who is the subject of secrecy in the Addams household. But, with the suicide of the coroner, who makes it seem he did something unbecoming to cover up Garret’s death, the truth eventually comes out. Mind you, it takes Gomez being arrested for Morticia to reveal the truth, but Wednesday, who wants nothing but the truth, so help her sense of right and wrong, appreciates the full story.

Now, what is the story? In 1990, when Gomez and Morticia went to Nevermore, Garret, the son of Ansel, one of the wealthiest people in Jericho, was obsessed with Morticia. Reconciling Gomez and Morticia’s version of the story, Morticia was nice to him, and he misinterpreted that, and he saw Gomez as making a move on his girl. So, he began to harass and stalk Morticia, and this was even reported to then-Sheriff Noble Walker before he became the mayor.

However, Ansel’s financial power kept his son from trouble and even covered up the truth surrounding Garret’s death. You see, Ansel sent Garret to poison the 1990 Rave’n, themed “Goth and Glamour” with Nightshade, but upon Garret seeing Gomez and Morticia, his focus shifted, and he went after Gomez. Their tussle, which wasn’t in Gomez’s favor, ended with Morticia accidentally killing Garret to save Gomez, and Larissa, seeing Gomez with the weapon, not Morticia, likely testified against him.

But, with a confession from Ansel, the case was altered and buried so that no one was the wiser, but in modern times, after Wednesday has a vision and solves things with Morticia, they negotiate Gomez’s freedom and even an apology out of Sheriff Galpin, who publicly arrested Gomez. And being that Gomez isn’t one to hold grudges, he lets it go, especially since he knows their children are growing close and who knows what could happen down the road.

Reconciling The Present & The Past – Larissa, Morticia, Wednesday, Gomez, Gabrielle, Bianca, Enid, Murray, Esther, Pugsley

With the mystery solved, Wednesday, Gomez, Morticia, and Pugsley are able to breathe a sigh of relief, and Pugsley grips his sister a little longer than she is comfortable with. After all, he feared the worst for their dad, and she saved them. Gomez, too thanks her, but Morticia and Wednesday have more than a thank you between them. Learning Wednesday has visions means a new connection between the two. Mind you, Morticia’s visions as a “Dove” leads her to see good things happening, albeit, as Larissa said, with some shoddy success rate. Meanwhile, Wednesday, a “Raven” sees more dark things with a power beyond Morticia’s, and unfortunately, Morticia isn’t able to guide her.

However, she does note an ancestor usually does so, and Wednesday believes Goody will assist. Thus leading to a warning since, while Goody was powerful, she was also mad, and Morticia maybe into the macabre and eccentric, but even the Addams family has a line. The same can be said with Enid, who draws one with her mother, Esther, and makes it clear she isn’t going to a wolf camp. Her mother, insulted, walks off, but Murray congratulates his daughter for stepping up to her mom, as Bianca makes it clear she won’t help Gabrielle until the end of the school term, and it won’t be forever. At least, that’s what she thinks, as her mom will still have blackmail material past the summer.

But, while many families end Parent’s Weekend with a new understanding of their child, Wednesday also has one of Larissa. With realizing she is a shapeshifter, it is all coming together about what happened with Rowan. However, with Wednesday threatening to go to the Sheriff, Larissa has to remind Wednesday of the bigger picture, to which it isn’t clear if this will lead to Wednesday backing down or only going harder as her issues with authority flare up.

Things To Note

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. What kept Eugene alive despite his injuries?
2. Will we ever meet Xavier’s famous father?
3. Where is Bianca’s father?
4. Did Enid’s older siblings go to Nevermore? Also, considering how everyone else looks rather wealthy, is their family middle class?
5. How do most of the Nevermore families afford tuition?
6. Was Goody Addams one of the founders of Nevermore? If not, how did her Nightshade group become a secret society of it?
7. Why isn’t there more security at Nevermore considering how people like Garrett, even Lucas’ friends in the present, can tamper with the building and mess with the kids so easily?
8. Did the principals before Larissa not buy off the mayor and potentially the sheriff?
9. Considering how Morticia and Gomez are all over each other, is anyone else surprised they only have two kids?
10. What incident led to the end of the Nightshade? Who took things too far? Also, where were they when Morticia was being stalked?
11. How did Morticia and Gomez feel about Larissa’s involvement in the murder? Did she know the full truth, as Morticia’s roommate, or was she kept in the dark?
12. Why did Larissa come back to Nevermore and decide to be principal, considering all the ways she could help her kind as a shapeshifter?
13. Was Gomez the guy Larissa liked, or was it, Garret? She mentioned to Marilyn, in the last episode, someone she liked chose Morticia over her.
14. What happened to the principal before Larissa?
15. Does Nevermore have a board of directors, or is Larissa the only authority over the school?
16. Is the reason we’ve only met one teacher purely a budget thing?
17. Is it just me, or did they make Gomez seem more of a lover than a fighter, with very little ability to fight, and Morticia a bit more feminine to the point of losing her edge a bit?

What Could Happen Next

1. Wednesday contemplating the value of exposing Larissa vs. the work Larissa does to provide a safe community, and learning environment, for outcasts
2. Goody appearing to Wednesday to start her training and maybe push her towards finishing what she started
3. Bianca’s secret getting out that she used her son on Larissa, or someone else within the school

Collected Quote(s)

Sometimes a sharp tongue can cut deep.
— Gomez

Review

Notable Performances or Moments

1. Wednesday having moments with her family shows that as much as people assume she doesn’t care and doesn’t wish to be too close, she clearly does. If not, at the very least, she recognizes how to react to someone who has a bond with her and is willing to perform to keep it.

Highlights

The Woe Of A Child, Or Parent, Trying To Live Up To Expectations

It’s becoming clear why Wednesday’s peers feel drawn or repelled by her. Enid knows all too well to deal with expectations she has no desire to adhere to. Wednesday is expected to be social and meet her mother’s precedent, and Enid is expected to wolf out and be yet another Sinclair, a top-tier Lycan. Yet, Enid isn’t that yet and is working on her own timeline, and while Wednesday is brilliant, she is much more selective about who she invests in, since she knows her attachment can be intense.

Then with Bianca and Xavier, they know too well the feeling of disappointment in their parent, as Wednesday seems to feel when it comes to her parents. She leans towards the Addams family’s dark side, knows her parents are more weird than murderers or true psychopaths, as others may see them. And for Bianca and Xavier, their disappointment is in knowing their parents either wish to use them, in Bianca’s case or handle their obligations, like Xavier’s.

In our mind, Wednesday relates to this since, compared to Xavier, Wednesday sees Nevermore as an obligation. One which deals with legacy, maybe ego, and putting Wednesday somewhere that would have her out of the way, and as Morticia said, when not wanting her to focus on the Garret secret, “distracted.”

Then, when it comes to Bianca, let’s not forget Wednesday’s rebellion partly deals with not wanting to become or closely compared to her mother. Bianca doesn’t want to manipulate people for a living but rather wants them to like and love her based on free will, as established in the last episode. Wednesday, too, though she may never admit it, wants to be liked and loved by a select few and feared by all else. But, most of all, she wants to honor who she is, an Addams, while it not defining her.

And it is because of these reasons you can see, by the time the season is over, there is a good chance these four could be close friends. Well, as long as Xavier gets over not being chosen.

Learning Unexpected Things About Bianca

Learning Gabrielle has used her song to extort people and even raised her daughter in a cult was a notable addition to Bianca’s storyline. Add in her running away and likely using her song to get into Nevermore; it only adds to her story in a notable way. In fact, it makes you wonder, beyond Gabrielle, who knows the truth, and has Bianca used her song to create a believable lie or relied on the assumptions which come from her natural intelligence and aptitude?

The Gomez Murder Mystery Pushing The Idea “Wednesday” Might Have Been Better Off With Episodic Mysteries

The investigation into who the monster is, why they kill who they do, and how they do, has long lost its luster, and harming Eugene didn’t bolster it. But, with Wednesday having an open and shut case with her father, it does push me to think maybe shorter mysteries would have been better.

Note: Gomez murdering Garret isn’t something that just popped up; it has lurked about in Sheriff Galpin’s mind and has been noted sporadically in the first four episodes. But whether it is the strength of the story or simply the way it was solved, and filled with strong emotions, it did far better than the monster mystery and really put the pressure on for that to have a satisfying conclusion. Which, honestly, I don’t have high hopes for based on what has been revealed thus far.

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