Wednesday Season 3 Needs A Missing Addams Family Member, But Not Cousin Itt

Wednesday put an ingenious spin on the time-tested Addams Family conceit. Rather than just doing a straightforward reboot with another morbid family sitcom, Wednesday focused on the Addamses’ cynical teenage daughter and planted a Riverdale-style teen mystery in the Addams Family universe. It brings the soapy schoolyard drama of a show like Off Campus to the fantastical, monster-infested school of a franchise like Harry Potter or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Yada Yada Yada.

But honestly, I wouldn’t be averse to this cast doing a straightforward Addams Family reboot. Jenna Ortega is the shining star of the series, defining Wednesday Addams for a new generation (the Christian Bale to Christina Ricci’s Michael Keaton; the Tom Holland to Christina Ricci’s Tobey Maguire), but the show has lined up a murderers’ row of supporting players to fill out the rest of the family. The series brought in two heavy-hitters — Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones — to play Wednesday’s parents, Gomez and Morticia, and they’ve perfectly recaptured the campy comic tone of The Addams Family and the enduring romance between this older married couple.

Victor Dorobantu has brought Thing to life, Isaac Ordonez has provided a perfect counterpoint to Ortega’s moroseness as her sweet younger brother Pugsley, and Fred Armisen is reliably hilarious as Uncle Fester. Wednesday is arguably at its funniest when Wednesday and Fester team up. Last season introduced Joanna Lumley as Grandmama and next season is bringing in Eva Green as Ophelia Frump, Morticia’s younger sister and Wednesday’s aunt.

Even still, there are a few fan-favorite Addams Family characters missing from Wednesday’s cast. There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Cousin Itt will ever show up in Wednesday, but I have a better idea: they should bring in Pubert. Adding baby Pubert to the ensemble would completely upend the family dynamic.

Pubert Could Bring Out A Softer Side Of Wednesday

Wednesday holding a steak on a hook in front of baby Pubert in Addams Family Values

Pubert wasn’t a part of Charles Addams’ original creation; he was added to the cast in the 1993 movie sequel Addams Family Values. While the sequel has subplots involving Uncle Fester’s marriage to a serial killer and Wednesday and Pugsley’s stay at a summer camp (it’s a bit of a mess, that one), the main storyline of Addams Family Values revolves around the family adjusting to the arrival of a new baby.

When Pubert was born, it drastically altered the family dynamic. Pubert is essentially the Maggie Simpson or Stewie Griffin of the Addams Family — the diabolical baby who steals the show — and he’d make a great addition to Wednesday season 3. It would be interesting to see this tortured, vulnerable incarnation of Wednesday wrap her head around having a new baby brother. Pubert could bring out a much softer side of Wednesday. Having a little baby to look after might make her warm up a bit.

She’ll freak out at first, as any kid does when they get a new sibling, but she’ll eventually come to love him and look out for him like she does with Pugsley. It would be much more compelling to see Wednesday adjust to a massive change in the family than to just solve another generic mystery on the Nevermore campus.

Season 2 tried repeating season 1’s mystery schtick and it didn’t work. The season 2 mystery was nowhere near as engaging as the hunt for the Hyde in season 1, and that wasn’t an especially captivating whodunit in the first place. In season 3, Wednesday needs to do something different. It needs more character-focused adventure-of-the-week episodes, like the body swap episode from Wednesday season 2. Introducing Pubert would be a great way for Wednesday to shake up the status quo in season 3.

tvus.info

tvus news

Wednesday Season 3 Needs A Missing Addams Family Member, But Not Cousin Itt

Pubert Could Bring Out A Softer Side Of Wednesday