Wednesday – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe

Episode 1 of Wednesday starts with students arriving for classes at Nancy Reagan High School. Among those students is Wednesday who finds her little brother Pugsley is a victim of bullying. The bullies have tied him up in her locker and left an apple in his mouth. As she unties him from the ropes, she gets a vision of what the bullies did and she leaves to deal with them.

Wednesday finds them in the school swimming pool and releases two bags of red-bellied piranhas into the pool. She then watches with sheer fascination and delight as the piranhas attack the boys in the water.

The next scene cuts to Wednesday being driven to Nevermore by her parents and she seems quite unhappy about this. Her parents try to assure her that she will love Nevermore which they think is the perfect school for her.  Wednesday thinks they are taking her there to live out some kind of legacy they left in the school. (Her parents went to the same school and it is where they first met and fell in love.)

Her mom, Morticia insists that they are taking her to the new school because it is a place where her peers can understand her. A magical place like no other. There is also the fact that Wednesday was almost charged with attempted murder after what she did to the bullies in her former school.

They soon arrive at Nevermore and the principal, Larissa, welcomes them. As it turns out she is Morticia’s old roommate. She is impressed enough with Wednesday’s perfect grades and the family’s long history with the school to make an expectation and accept her in the middle of the term. Morticia is concerned about Wednesday’s mental health and informs the principal that Wednesday is required by the court to attend therapy. Larissa says they have a certified therapist and she can meet Wednesday twice a week.

The principal assigns Wednesday to her mother’s old dorm, Ophelia Hall, and takes them to meet Wednesday’s new roommate. Enid Sinclair is a bubbly girl and is excited to meet her new roommate and take her on a tour of the school. Wednesday is not interested in learning much about the place as she has no plans of staying long in the school.

Enid is quick to bring up the rumours about Wednesday’s brush with the law in her former school. Of course, Wednesday calmly confirms the rumours to be true. Enid still shows Wednesday around and tells her about the school’s social cliques which are divided into four namely: fangs, furs, stones, and scales.

The family bids Wednesday goodbye and Morticia warns her about planning to escape the school. Wednesday believes her mom underestimates her and vows to leave the educational penitentiary that they have enrolled her in. Her mother tells her that she is brilliant but she sometimes gets in her way. She leaves her a little parting gift, a pendant made of obsidian, and a crystal ball to contact her on. Her dad leaves her another gift, a piece of a hand to secretly watch over her.

In the woods near Nevermore, a sheriff and another officer discover human remains. According to the female officer, there have been two other similar attacks a week before. The Sheriff wants to issue a warning to keep hikers off the woods and blame the bears. He knows that it was not a bear that attacked the hikers and thinks the murders are connected to Nevermore. Unfortunately has no evidence yet so he will be sticking to the bear attack story for now.

Wednesday has a hard time settling in at the school. She makes a new enemy with the school’s queen B the next morning. She gets hurt and makes a new friend,  Rowan. She nearly dies when a gargoyle almost falls on her but luckily, Xavier saves her. He is returning a favour when Wednesday saved his life when they were ten.

Later that day, Wednesday spots the gift her dad left for her. She decides to make Thing into her loyal helper and her first order of business is escaping the school.

Principal Larissa drives her to her therapist appointment as she wants to keep an eye on her. Wednesday asks to go to the toilet in the middle of the appointment. She escapes through the toilet window and heads to the nearest cafe across the street to get information on how to leave the town.

On the street, she runs into a man and has a vision of his death. The man is rude to her so she decides he isn’t worth saving. In the cafe, she meets Tyler and makes a deal with him. She will fix his coffee machine and he calls a taxi for her. Tyler offers to drive her himself but she has to wait for an hour. She tries to bribe him with money but he says he can’t be bought. She decides to wait for him.

As she waits,  three boys visit the cafe and start harassing her. She fights back and floors them with her fighting skills. Soon after the fight, the Sheriff drops in at the cafe and is shocked to see that she fought off three boys. He asks Tyler(his son) if he helped her but he says no.

The principal soon arrives and hurriedly picks Wednesday up. The sheriff is not thrilled to hear that she is the daughter of Gomez Addams and tells her that her dad is a murderer. The principal advises Wednesday to stop making enemies and start making friends as they drive back to school.

At school, Enid and Wednesday get a bit close and she asks Enid for a favour to use her computer. She sends Thing to Tyler with a message to call her. She recruits Tyler to help her escape during the harvest festival. It is not easy to lose Principal Larissa who is keeping a close eye on her.

Tyler shows up at the festival as planned and gives her the police report on her father. As she and Tyler try to leave, they are approached by the three boys she beat in the cafe. They are looking to settle scores and a rematch. Tyler thinks it is best to lose them in the crowd. They start running from them but she runs into Rowan and has another vision of him being in danger.

She tries to save him but he is trying to kill her because of a picture and a prophecy his mom had 25 years ago. A creature appears from nowhere and saves her by killing Rowan.

At the end of the day, her parents call and she begrudgingly admits she loves being in the school.

The Episode Review

It looks like we are in for an exciting mysterious journey as Wednesday remains in Nevermore to find answers to everything she has discovered there. The show channels a blend of Sabrina and Riverdale, with the usual vibe you’d expect from The Addam’s Family, and it does so to great effect. From what we’ve seen so far, this looks like quite the intriguing watch. Are you excited for the spooky adventures that lay ahead?