Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 returns to the eerie halls of Nevermore Academy with a flourish of mystery, macabre fun, and the ever-magnetic Jenna Ortega. Spanning just four episodes, this half-season is a gorgeously plated appetizer: stylish, suspenseful, and thoroughly addictive.
Jenna Ortega remains the beating, gothic heart of the series. Her deadpan delivery, incisive timing, and growing nuance bring depth to Wednesday, morphing her from teen sleuth into a full-blown force of nature. She’s still the misfit we fell for in Season 1, but now she’s commanding every frame with magnetic menace.
The visual style leans even harder into its gothic roots. Tim Burton’s fingerprints are unmistakable: brooding sets, haunted corridors, and lush cinematography that make Nevermore feel more immersive than ever. Every element of production design works overtime and it pays off.
The mystery remains compelling and ambitious, with new layers of supernatural lore enriching the narrative. That said, a sprawling ensemble and added subplots sometimes bloat the storyline, and Wednesday’s journey can get a bit diluted in the chaos. Still, when Wednesday delivers, it truly delivers. The mystery grips, the humor lands more often than not, and Wednesday is among the most compelling characters on TV.
A fun aspect of this half-season is the introduction of Agnes DeMille (Evie Templeton), a new Nevermore student with invisibility powers and a fierce devotion to Wednesday. As it unfolds, Agnes is revealed to be the stalker behind creepy games and elaborate riddles. While her methods teeter on the edge of unsettling, it's fascinating to watch her blend admiration with mischief. What initially presents as obsession evolves into something more intriguing: an unexpected ally. In one of the season’s most surprising developments, Wednesday learns to harness Agnes’s powers to her own advantage, turning her once-invisible fan into a covert partner in investigation.
One of the most frustrating aspects this time around isn’t in the story itself but in how Netflix is choosing to release it. Dropping just half a season, with the rest to follow later, feels like a poor compromise between binge and weekly models and it satisfies no one. It’s annoying to settle into the world, get invested, and then be left hanging mid-arc with no resolution. A weekly rollout would have built suspense without cutting the narrative in half, and a full-season drop would have preserved the flow that made Season 1 so bingeable.
Overall, Season 2, Part 1 of Wednesday is a visually striking return with standout performances and creative energy. It stumbles a little in pacing and scale, and the split season format is divisive, but if the second half brings tighter plotting and emotional payoff, this season has the potential to outshine even the first. Fans seeking creepy, kooky chaos will be rewarded, with the caveat that they’ll have to wait just a bit longer to see how it all comes together.
Part 1 is available now, with Part 2 to follow September 3.
