"Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe" is the first episode of Wednesday and the first episode of the first season. It was directed by Tim Burton and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and premiered on November 23, 2022 on Netflix, along with the rest of the season.
Synopsis[]
When a deliciously wicked prank gets Wednesday expelled, her parents ship her off to Nevermore Academy, the boarding school where they fell in love.
Plot[]
Wednesday strides down the colorful corridors of Nancy Reagan High School, dressed in traditional Addams family black and white. She ignores the mocking laughs as she walks over to a graffiti-covered locker. Inside, she finds her brother Pugsley tied up with an apple in his mouth. Coming into contact with her brother causes Wednesday to have a vision. In this vision, she pinpoints the culprits and heads over to the swimming pool with two bags full of piranhas at the ready. The deadly fish are let loose and chase after the bullies. Wednesday's deadpan stare turns to a smirk as the leader of the bullies, Dalton is attacked.
Later, she refuses to talk to either of her parents as they are making their way to her new school after being expelled from the latest one instead. Her parents escort her to her new home for the year, their old stomping ground, Nevermore Academy, where Morticia and Gomez first fell in love. At the academy, they are met by Principal Larissa Weems, who is revealed to be Morticia's old roommate. Weems is impressed by Wednesday's perfect grades and the family's long history at the school. Thus, she has been accepted at the academy midterm despite having been to eight schools in the last five years.
Wednesday meets her new roommate, Enid Sinclair, who provides Wednesday with a tour of the boarding school, introducing its main four cliques. The blonde girl explains that there are Fangs (vampires), Furs (werewolves, like Enid), Stoners (gorgons), and Scales (sirens). Enid then proceeds to point out the queen bee, Bianca Barclay, and her ex-boyfriend, Xavier Thorpe. Unfortunately, the rumors have already spread about Wednesday, such as that she murdered and ate the kids at the school she was just expelled from. She is once again an outcast at her school.
Afterwards, Morticia leaves Wednesday with a parting gift: a necklace made of obsidian (a substance used by Aztec priests to summon visions) and a crystal ball to use for calls. Gomez's parting gift is hidden from view but is equally as valuable, as he drops off Thing to spy on her. While Wednesday settles in, a hiker in the nearby woods is mauled to death by an unknown attacker, with Sheriff Donovan Galpinand Deputy Ritchie Santiago hot on the case.
Almost instantly, Wednesday argues with Enid, who is vibrant and outgoing in contrast to her dark palette and somber tones. Enid talks about her blog and emojis, then dances to some generic pop music. Wednesday orders her to turn it off immediately, and Enid retaliates by flashing her werewolf claws. Before things could get out of hand, dorm mom and teacher Marilyn Thornhill split up this fight and then doled out the house rules.
The next day, Wednesday quickly makes enemies, fencing with Bianca and then narrowly avoiding her own death when Xavier tackles her out of the way of a falling gargoyle. In the course of these events, she talks with fellow outcast Rowan, later revealed to have telekinetic abilities, and Xavier, whom she happens to know from when they were ten, as he almost got cremated by hiding in his godmother's coffin. Later, Wednesday finds Thing hiding under her covers and makes the hand pledge his loyalty to her.
She is then whisked off to therapy with Dr. Valerie Kinbott, where she puts into practice her plans of escape, taking a drainpipe down to the ground floor. As she crosses the street, she bumps into a man moving apples and has a vision of his death: being hit by a tractor trailer while driving distracted. Without any form of transport to escape in, she asks Weathervane barista Tyler for his help in driving her away from Jericho after she helps him fix his coffee machine. Tyler agrees to drive her once he's finished his shift; in the meantime, she fends off a gang of bullies who work at Pilgrim World. She defends herself with expert martial arts skills taught by her Uncle Fester. Tyler's father, town sheriff Galpin, appears in the aftermath of this battle, warning Wednesday to stay out of trouble. As Principal Weems attempts to whisk Wednesday away, the Sheriff adds that Gomez belongs behind bars for murder, saying the apple most likely doesn't fall far from the tree. On the way back to Nevermore, as Weems tells Wednesday to make friends because she will need them, they pass the accident that Wednesday saw in her vision earlier.
Later that night, Wednesday goes out to the dorm's balcony area, where she practices her cello. In what appears to be a disused library, Rowan uses telekinetic powers to find a book and then removes a page from it that seems to show a blonde Wednesday being attacked by a man in a large hat; at the police station, Tyler reads Gomez's file; in his office, the sheriff looks over his murder investigation on a chalkboard. In the quad, Xavier pauses painting a raven mural to listen to Wednesday's music; Marilyn feeds her Venus fly trap some worms and smiles at the music as well; and finally, Larissa leans back in her office to appreciate the music.
Enid joins Wednesday on the balcony and is introduced to Thing, partially creeped out and partially fascinated. As the Furs are heard baying and howling in the distance, Enid explains how she is actually a late-blooming werewolf who currently only has claws and no other werewolf abilities. The best lycanologist, who lives in Milwaukee, told Enid that she may never transform, which would leave her a lone wolf ostracized from werewolf society. Enid, crying, asks if Wednesday has ever cried. She tells a story of when she was six and a group of bullies made her watch as they killed her pet scorpion, Nero, by running him over with a bicycle. She says that she cried in the snow after burying what was left of Nero but swore to never cry again because it doesn't fix anything. Enid promises to not tell anyone, and both girls agree they see each other as weird. Wednesday then asks Enid to show her how to use her computer so she can escape and Enid can have her single room back.
At the Harvest Festival fair, Wednesday plans her escape, asking Tyler for that all-important lift (via sending Thing, Enid's video call number written in his palm). Tyler passes her Gomez's police report, and she flees from Principal Weem's watchful gaze. The Pilgrim World thugs appear with baseball bats, ready to finish off what they started earlier.
Wednesday runs away but accidentally bumps into Rowan. This connection causes another vision, and she has a premonition about his death. Wednesday chases after Rowan to warn him, but he attacks her first, pinning her to a nearby tree with his powers. Rowan reveals that he was the one who tried to kill her with the gargoyle, saying he is the one who must protect Nevermore. Rowan then shows her an old drawing that foreshadows the coming of a terrible entity, and the woman in the drawing looks a lot like Wednesday. His mother drew it and told Rowan that his destiny was to stop the girl in the picture from destroying the school. Before Rowan can finish the job and kill Wednesday, a mysterious monster appears, seemingly mauling Rowan to death. Wednesday picks up Rowan's drawing and pockets it.
In the end, Wednesday's parents contact her via the crystal ball for an update. Their daughter thinks to herself about how she narrowly avoided death on two separate occasions, found out that her father may be a murderer, uncovered the fact that she could be the one to destroy the school, and realized that a homicidal monster actually saved her life. All in all, she decides to tell her parents that she thinks she'll grow to love it here.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams
- Gwendoline Christie as Principal Larissa Weems
- Riki Lindhome as Dr. Valerie Kinbott
- Jamie McShane as Sheriff Donovan Galpin
- Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin
- Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe
- Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair
- Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay
- Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropolus
- Naomi J. Ogawa as Yoko Tanaka
- Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill
Guest[]
- Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams
- Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams
- Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams
- Iman Marson as Lucas Walker
Additional Cast[]
- Max Pemberton as Dalton
- George Burcea as Lurch
- James Clay as Ethan Hanson (Hiker)
- Caroline Lawrie as Martha
- Johnna Dias-Watson as Divina
- Oliver Watson as Kent
- Victor Dorobantu as Thing
- Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Deputy Ritchie Santiago
- Calum Ross as Rowan Laslow
- Cezar Grumazescu as Coach Vlad
- Simon Furness as Grumpy Farmer
- Islam Bouakkaz as Carter
- Morgan Beale as Jonah
- Karina Varadi as Wednesday (6y)
- Daniel Himschoot as Hyde Monster
Uncredited[]
- Horia Bazavan as Nevermore Student
- Tudor Stefan as Gorgon Nevermore Student
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Both this episode and the season finale don't have title cards.
- Xavier mentions that his deceased godmother and Wednesday's grandmother were friends. It can be assumed he was referring to Grandmama.