Wednesday

I know it’s Tuesday, but today I would like to talk about Wednesday.

I am referring to the new Netflix series. I just saw the first episode, and I am astonished by how good it is.

We’re talking Andor level good here, and that is very high praise. I am still trying to analyze what makes this show so compellingly watchable, and I think I’m starting to figure it out.

Of course Jenna Ortega is brilliant in the eponymous role, but it’s more than that. I think it has a lot to do with the way the writers invite their viewers to be part of the meta-fiction at the heart of the Addams universe.

The appeal of Charles Addams’ cartoons was always that we, the audience, are in on the joke. The impossibly spooky Addams family manages to hold a perfect mirror up to the “normal” society whose norms it is defying.

Remember that Addams was doing this starting back in 1937. That’s 85 years ago.

And yet his fundamental point still resonates perfectly today: “Normal” society is incredibly weird. We just don’t care to admit it.

The creators of this new show have perfectly captured the humor and wisdom of that brilliant insight. Frankly, dear reader, I cannot stop watching.

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