Wednesday: Woe Thyself Review

Everyone knows who The Addams Family are be from their various TV shows to there various movies or even the original comic strips amongst many other things. There is however one thing that cannot be denied and that is the fact that the Wednesday TV show helped to really make the characters popular again this time for a more modern audience and it something that did work as the show is currently filming it's third season and well I thought that i'd take a look back at one of the more out there episodes from the shows second season and so then join me as I review the episode that might as well be called "Freaky Friday Goth Girl Edition" with the episode in question being called simply just "Woe Thyself" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is when Wednesday and Enid switch bodies after Enid interrupts a meeting that Wednesday is having the ghost of a dead professor with te duo having a few hours to put things right before they both die. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episodes plot for the most part being very much a filler plot with it really tying into the main plot towards the end the episode which to be frank isn't a bad thing as it does give us very much a calm before the storm episode. However tho this episode really could have been a bit more focused as plot wise the episode does seem to be all over the place as the episode has to juggle so many plots from the season which in this case does leave the main plot fighting for screen time and whilst yes this is very much a nothing plot that doesn't mean that it had to be left fighting for your attention as it should have been the main focus of the episode and not left feeling like an afterthought as when the episode does focus on the Wednesday and Enid plot that's when the episode gets to be more fun and that's exactly what an episode like this one needed to be it needed to be fun and yet for one reason or another the episode can't be that fun as when the episode does start to get more fun with its plot it cuts to another plot which is great for the seasons long story arc but it's not great for the episodes main plot with the plot of the episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is one of this shows executive producers Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams and Steve Buscemi as Principal Barry Dort. Also starring in this episode is Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair , Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin , Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay , Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Ottinger , Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropolus , Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams , Owen Painter as Slurp , Billie Piper as Isadora Capri , Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Sheriff Ritchie Santiago , Victor Dorobantu as Thing , Noah B. Taylor as Bruno Yuson , Evie Templeton as Agnes DeMille , Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams , Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams , Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems , Dame Joanna Lumley as Hester Frump , Christopher Lloyd as Professor Orloff , Frances O'Connor as Francoise Galpin , Star Wars star Joonas Suotamo as Lurch , Heather Matarazzo as Judi Stonehearst and Lady Gaga as Rosaline Rotwood.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The fact that we have good acting in this episode is something that really isn't all that surprising as this show does have good acting in all of it's episodes and the fact that it's managed to get an actual dame in Dame Joanna Lumley does speak to how good the acting is as she didn't have to do this show and yet she did it anyway with her turning in a good performance in this episode with the same thing being true for alot of this episodes actors as well as they all turn in a bunch of really good performances in this episode. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair as both she and Jenna Ortega have a really tough job to do in this episode as they both have to play there regular characters but then they have to play each others characters whilst still making it apparent that it's there own characters and while Jenna does also pull this off quite easily Emma is clearly having the most fun with it as she makes the character of Wednesday still very much feel like Enid with her even doing an impression of the voice that Jenna uses for the character which was something that she didn't have to do and yet it's something that sells you on the fact that this is still Wednesday only no it's in Enid's body with her having alot of charm and charisma that really does shine through in this episode. With the acting that's in this episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the CGI for this episode really is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Folks VFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. While the series isn't really known for it's high quality CGI as The Hyde in season one looks so bad here in this episode the effects do look decent with the makers of the episode hiding both The Hyde and Enid's wolf firm mostly in shadows which does do a good job of hiding the effects and making it look all the more better. Yet the episode gives Isaac a really long obviously fake tongue when he's licking the jar of Professor Orloff and while the effects used to bring Professor Orloff to live look really good the effect on the tongue looks a little bit to fake as while there is no way that they could have done practically there could have been a bit more time spend on it to make it look better and while yes The Hyde itself does still look pretty bad in this episode the fact that it is mostly hidden away in shadows does make it more of a better effect as it does show that the makers of this episode had learnt from there mistakes last season where they have the creature be seen in well lit areas which does make the effect itself look really bad but here by hiding it a bit more it does mean that they can get away with making it look a little bit bad which is something that can't be said for the long tongue effect with this being ashame as the effect of Professor Orloff does look really good and heck one could even say that it's the best effect of the season.

The best way to describe this episode is it's essentially The Addams Family version of Freaky Friday as both this episode and that film do share a very similar set up where two characters switch bodies and have to put things right before a certain time with them both learning something that they didn't know about the other in the process. In the case of this episode Enid learns that the reason why Wednesday has been shutting her out all season is due to the fact that she's foreseen Enid being killed and Wednesday is actively trying to stop that from that happening and Wednesday learns that Enid fears being an alpha due to the fact that she thinks it will make her be all alone again something which Wednesday vows to not let happen. While yes the thing that Wednesday learns is a very basic thing for the character to learn it is something that does work for the character as the character had been cold to Enid all season long at this point something Agnes did take delight in reminding Enid all about, heck this is something that does work for these kinds of episodes as it then gives the characters the chance to literally walk a mile in each others shows and while we the audience don't get to learn anything new about either character because of it the fact that the characters get to find out things that they might not have found out otherwise is something that does prove that this type of episode could work, however tho with that being said it is odd that a show featuring The Addams Family would do a body swap episode as quite literally none of the shows and movies had done anything like this before as it's something that doesn't really work in the world of The Addams Family and while it does kind of work here due to how they have it happen it is still an odd thing to see in anything that's related to The Addams Family.

This episode is the very definition of the calm before the storm episode as alot of this episode is very comedy focused and is very happy go lucky. While yes it does get more serious towards the end of the episode alot of the time it is just the characters trying to work out how to get out of this crazy situation and this is where the episode does shine as this show is usually very dark and vert bleak and while that is fitting for The Addams Family sometime you do want something that is a little bit more lighthearted whilst still getting all of the things that you'd come to expect from the show and this is something that this episode does do really well as we get both Wednesday and Enid getting into goofy situations whilst in each others bodies which is alot of fun to see as we get to see Wednesday as Enid breaking up with Enid's boyfriend because she knows that he's cheating on her but she can't do it in the way that Wednesday would she has to do it in the way that Enid would. The same thing is true with Enid as she has a few scenes with either Morticia or Morticia and the rest of The Addams Family with Enid being scared that she might be found out ad yet none of them suspect her for a second with Enid not being to able to tell anyone that she's not herself which in off itself does lead to some pretty funny moments during the dinner scene with Gomez punishing Pugsley by either putting him in an Iron Maiden or in the torture rack something which he happily accepts, this episode is filled to the brim with goofy moments like this and they oddly don't feel put of place in this kind of episode as this episode is meant to be a calm before the storm episode and therefor of course things are going to be alot more lighthearted and while given the fact that this episode six of an eight episode season and therefor the show should have been building more to the end of the season taking this little break away from the main plot of the season does work.

While this episode does mostly avoid the season long plot it does take the time to address this time as the episodes subplot. As we do get to see Tyler and his family go back to Willow Hill hospital so that Isaac can finish the experiment on his sister which we find out in Tyler's mother with those scenes being the only scenes in the entire episode where the season long plot gets addressed and that's great as we have had a few episodes in this season that put the season long plot as the main plot of the episode therefore it was great to see a more lighthearted plot take the main focus with it only tieing into the main plot of the season near the end of the episode when Agnes sneak off to Willow Hill with Tyler and his family with Wednesday and Enid having to come to her rescue and that's really it and that's all we needed to have for the main plot of the season. As it could have been pointless for the makers of this episode to include anything that would add to it this late in the game therefor having the season long plot take the backseat to a more goofy kind of plot is something that does work for the episode and while of course the episode would have worked just as well if the season long plot was the main focus as you could have had the bod swapping plot happen with any to character and it would would have worked out just the same having it happen with Enid and Wednesday does also make alot of sense but with this being said the episode would have been all the more better if the main plot with Tyler was the main focus point of the episode just due to where this episode falls in the seasons running order as if it was done much more earlier on in the season then having the more goofy plot take centre stage would have made sense but here at episode six of an eight episode season there did need to be more of a focus on the season long plot.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and nine minuets and sixteen seconds. Whilst this is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have this episode really didn't need to be all that long as there was nothing in the episodes plot that demanded that it be this long as you very easily could have had this episode come in at well under one hour just by cutting out alot of the pointless stuff in the episode that add nothing to either the episodes main plot or the season long plot and yet the episode does throw so many things at you all of which are filler scenes that it makes you wonder why the makers of this episode gave this episode a longer running with the episode having more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet with the episode having this long running time it still doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot and whilst this is still a really bad thing for this kind of episode tho the plot didn't really need to be all that well developed as all you needed to know was how Enid and Wednesday switched bodies in the first place and how long they have to switch back and that's really it and both of those things are thing that episode explains to us any way yet it is still more clear that the makers of this episode gave more thought and effort into the pointless filler scenes then they did in the episodes plot development. The same thing it could be argued is true for the episodes characters development as while both Wednesday and Enid do grow as characters as they both find out things that they other has been keeping a secret from them and they both learn from that none of the episodes other character do grow as characters and wile it could be could be argued that Tyler doesn't really need to grow as a character but given the fact that he is on of the main characters of the episodes side plot he or any member of his family should have started to grow as characters but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episode being alot more goofier with its setup then other episode it does make sense that there would be more of a focus on comedy then what there usually is as nine times out of ten this show focuses more on action and horror and while both of those are still present in the episode there is more of clearer lean towards comedy with alot of the main characters in the main plot of the episode getting a chance to be really funny be with Enid being really sarcastic as Wednesday or Wednesday herself being alot more fun and outgoing as Enid. With the best joke in the whole entire episode being the scene where Enid as Wednesday decides to get revenge for how Wednesday as written the character based in her in her book by dressing up in brightly coloured clothes and make up and going into the schools courtyard hugging and being friendly to every one whilst also dancing this was just a fun way to start of the episode as right away it lets you know that something is up with the character and yet they revisit the scene later on in the episode Enid then gets a reminder that Wednesday is quite literally allergic to color when she starts coming out in a rash which is just the cherry on top for that whole joke with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.  

Overall whilst there are more better plot focused episodes in this second season of the show just interms of having a plot that knows full well that it's goofy and having all of the main actors be in on it those really are things that do make this episode alot of fun to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.