Wednesday 2 and the issues with the Netflix formula Bridgerton-like music, Enola Holmes-like investigations, and that Stranger Things plot twist

The second season of Wednesday has arrived on Netflix. Or almost. As is now standard practice for the platform, the new episodes have been split into a first and a second part, with the grand finale scheduled to drop on Wednesday (fittingly), September 3. For now, subscribers and fans of Jenna Ortega’s character—after catching a brief presentation in Italy with Tim Burton, both at Rome’s Pincio and the Giffoni Film Festival—can enjoy the first four episodes marking the show’s return since 2022, created by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and the father of Edward Scissorhands. Too little to have a full picture of the series’ continuation, but enough to confirm that the health of the Nevermore Academy heroine is more mortiferous than ever. Riding on the success that accompanied its release three years ago—becoming one of the streamer’s flagship titles, blending cross-generational entertainment with the imaginative world of a director as distinctive as Tim Burton (though not directing every episode, still serving as the show’s executive producer)—Wednesday plays it safe while also turning up the heat. While still a suitable watch for most audiences—though perhaps best with kids accompanied—the new episodes crank up the horror factor that was already unapologetically present in the first season, but now runs wild and free in the second. In fact, we’d even say it soars, given the presence of an Outcast (the name for those different from Normies) whose ability is to command crows, a not-so-subtle reference to Alfred Hitchcock’s horror classic The Birds.

And that’s exactly how Wednesday 2 seems to unfold, in a continuous, feverish mix of references and callbacks. Not only to its own DNA, through the genetic line tying it back to the original creator of The Addams Family, cartoonist Charles Addams, but also to a wider landscape that borrows from general pop culture, even Netflix’s own history. It’s telling (if a little repetitive?) that the conclusion of these first episodes hinges on a secret very similar to what we’ve already seen in Stranger Things—and that’s as far as we’ll go to avoid spoilers. It almost feels as though there’s a throughline connecting all the platform’s storylines from the writers’ rooms, especially when they know for sure it will hook the audience by playing it safe. After all, with her detective streak and still within the Stranger Things universe, Wednesday comes across almost like the dark version of another Netflix character played by Millie Bobby Brown—her detective Enola Holmes—while also treading on reworked melodic hits reminiscent of the Regency-era arrangements from Bridgerton. But the references aren’t limited to the protagonist, and it’s electrifying when Catherine Zeta-Jones, as mother Morticia, grabs a rapier and strikes a fighting stance that recalls the iconic duel scene between her Eléna Montero in The Mask of Zorro and Antonio Banderas’ Alejandro Murrieta, the fiery masked vigilante.

Wednesday 2 thus reaffirms itself as a divertissement that knows exactly how to channel the audience’s attention and pleasure and that, more than in the first season—and speaking of sparks and references—truly delivers Burton’s touch when, in the opening episode, it slips in a short animated sequence that feels like a trip back through the director’s filmography. This time, the TikTok-style dances are missing (thankfully?), though perhaps only because we have to wait for Lady Gaga’s arrival in the second part. In the meantime, welcome to the ever-charismatic Billie Piper, and welcome back to Wednesday’s old and eccentric schoolmates. For the rest, we’re all on hold until September.