Jenna Ortega in 'Wednesday' season 2. Courtesy of Netflix Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Did you watch the first season of Netflix's Wednesday and come away wishing for more mystery and less humor, more of the secondary members of the Addams family and less of Jenna Ortega's Emmy-nominated performance, more of the supernatural world of outcasts and less of the real world for contrast? It's OK not to remember exactly. Wednesday premiered nearly three years ago, a duration also known as "adolescence" for most of the underaged supporting cast. Wednesday The Bottom Line Creepy enough, but far less kooky and ooky. Airdate: Wednesday, August 6 (Netflix)Cast: Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Isaac Ordonez, Steve BuscemiCreators: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar Fortunately, and conveniently, few of the specific plot details from that well-received season are all that relevant. There are enough expositional reminders here for a general catch-up, but the truth is that the new season of Wednesday is so generic that my biggest challenge was separating my memory of the first season from nearly identical dynamics that played out in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the overall run of Harry Potter. Related Stories TV Molly Shannon Boards Will Ferrell's Netflix Golf Comedy, Ramy Youssef Exits TV 'My Life With the Walter Boys' Season 2 Trailer Teases Return of Love Triangle Going back to my first paragraph: I think it's completely legitimate to have had those particular preferences, in which case the first four episodes of this two-part Wednesday season will probably satisfy you. But if you found most of the appeal of the first season to be Ortega's breakout performance, a few of the supporting turns and residual traces of Tim Burton's darkly comic eccentricity, this is a large letdown. It's more of the same, only more convoluted and less Ortega-y - which, I assume, was what the busy young thespian wanted, but not what this viewer hoped for. The Alfred Gough and Miles Millar-scripted premiere catches us up on Wednesday's summer vacation, which involved refusing to edit her novel, mastering her psychic abilities and using them to track down a serial killer. Sure. Why not? Autumn brings Wednesday back to Nevermore Academy, where she has become a school-wide celebrity after her killer-catching summer and all the various things that happened last season. Wednesday's roommate and bestie Enid (Emma Myers, the first season's other breakout) apparently spent her summer doing werewolf things and exploring new love (Noah B. Taylor as a character whose name might as well be Fresh Love Interest), but she's happy enough with her pal's notoriety. Wednesday, unsurprisingly, is less pleased to be famous and even less pleased than that to be used as a school mascot by Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi), the just-arrived Dumblebore to this Slogwarts. She's more pleased that bodies are starting to pile up in the community of Jericho - odd things make Wednesday happy - all with their eyes plucked out by crows and most with some connection to Wednesday. Adding to Wednesday's discomfort - which isn't nearly as funny this time around - is the injection of the entire Addams clan into the Nevermore scene. Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), who shoots electricity from his fingertips, is now an enrolled student, for whatever reason. Meanwhile, Principal Dort has decided that the key to his crucial fundraising initiative is getting money from Morticia's (Catherine Zeta-Jones) apparently wealthy mother, and that the best way to do that is to put Morticia in charge of the fundraising committee, and the best way to do that is to put Morticia up at an on-campus cottage. Gomez (Luis Guzman) has nothing else to do, so he's there too. So whereas my original review of the first season praised Wednesday for having the restraint and focus to not simply become The Addams Family... Wednesday has simply become The Addams Family, complete with a recast, still underutilized, Lurch (Joonas Suotamo) and the always handy Thing (Victor Dorobantu). Only Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) hasn't become a full-time member of the ensemble, but he appears in the "midseason" "finale" (words have lost all meaning). Though a bunch of key characters from last season's murder mystery have been written out or written into guest appearances, there are lots of new additions, including Billie Piper as a music teacher; Thandiwe Newton as a doctor at a nearby asylum (with Heather Matarazzo as an administrator at the same asylum); Christopher Lloyd as a head-in-a-jar; and, in the non-stunt-casting department, wide-eyed Evie Templeton as Wednesday's No.1 fan. Even if Burton hadn't already made a movie celebrating his appreciation of big eyes, you'd