“Wednesday,” season 2: “It’s exactly the same thing, but more convoluted”

Murderous crows, gargoyles, and werewolves, all set against a backdrop of mystery, sarcastic humor, and stormy Tim Burton-esque scenery: the second season of Wednesday is back on Netflix, and it's sure to make you want to bring your autumns into summer.

Released this Wednesday, August 6, this second installment explores more or less the same macabre alleys as the previous season. The teenager returns to Nevermore Academy (a sort of Hogwarts but without the wizards), where she must “put up with the stupidity of her classmates while solving a metaphysical murder case,” summarizes the Los Angeles Times .

However, "the magic of the first season no longer works," regrets the American daily.

The pitch for the first four episodes of this second season (the sequel is expected on September 3) is as follows: after spending his summer immersing himself in The Book of Shadows to master his clairvoyant gifts, our eponymous character returns to school. But, (surprise!), nothing is the same as before!

“Wednesday soon finds herself caught up in an unexpected mystery, which leads her to discover disturbing secrets about the village of Jericho and its history with the Misfits,” summarizes Variety .

The problem? The bite that made the series so special is no longer there.

“This second season lacks contrast,” regrets The Hollywood Reporter . “It’s sinister as hell – the production and costumes are still as remarkable as ever – not without humor, and contains some treasures of oddity, as is fitting when you see the world through the eyes of Tim Burton (who directed two of these first four episodes),” concedes the American magazine.

But “the most surprising thing is the speed at which Wednesday seems to have exhausted all its surprises.”

“It's exactly the same as in the first season, but more convoluted and without the touch of Jenna Ortega [the main actress],” the American magazine continues, disappointed.

“The series has lost its morbid charm.”

The American daily Los Angeles Times

“Worthy of a soap opera, the strings create a plot that is sewn with white thread,” laments the British daily The Independent .

“Much less dark than it would like to believe, the series remains desperately conventional: a heroine who doesn't feel in her place, for an initiatory story enhanced with a hint of investigation and a touch of the supernatural to make a good impression.”

The British daily newspaper The Independent

For The Hollywood Reporter, this new season is so conventional that the most difficult task is to differentiate it from the first, and “the almost identical narrative arcs that we have seen in other series like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina , Percy Jackson and the Olympians , or the entire Harry Potter saga . ”

Some critics are more conciliatory: Variety finds the second season as thrilling as the first, and while The Guardian concedes “a few flaws” (which it is careful not to describe to us), it finds this season “deliciously creepy, full of humor and twists.” —