Wednesday’s biggest mystery is Nevermore Academy’s curriculum
Netflix’s Wednesday follows the same basic formula as Harry Potter: The protagonist attends a boarding school for kids with supernatural powers and solves mysteries that revolve around figuring out which faculty members are secretly evil each year. But Wednesday’s overstuffed second season entirely misses one of the key elements of the supernatural school genre — the actual schooling.
[Ed. note: This article contains major spoilers for Wednesday seasons 1 and 2]
Wednesday got a big budget boost for its second season, and the show’s new Nevermore Academy set delivers Hot Topic Hogwarts vibes and cosplay-ready uniforms. Last season, Nevermore students had to get their caffeine fix in the neighboring normal town of Jericho. This season, they have the Tell Tale cart on campus serving ludicrously decorated drinks. They spend a lot of time hanging out sipping these concoctions, flirting, and trying to convince Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) to let them help. But what do they actually study?
We know Nevermore at least used to have botany classes because that’s what Christina Ricci taught in season 1 when she wasn’t plotting the school’s destruction. We even saw her classroom and the school’s library! Did Nevermore get a new botany teacher when she was sent to prison? Who knows. Presumably there’s still a library somewhere since a collection of books is used in a riddle for Wednesday, but we definitely don’t see any kids going there to study.
In season 2, Billie Piper plays Nevermore’s music teacher and tries to get Wednesday to join a band, while Christopher Lloyd is a head in a jar that teaches biology and runs detention. So that’s two fairly conventional high school classes and an extracurricular activity. But what else is on the lesson plan? Wednesday is an aspiring writer who refuses to change a word in her manuscript. That intransigence would make English or creative writing classes pretty heated, but I’m not sure if she’s taking them or studying the subject at all.
Nevermore’s new principal, Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi), wants to raise more money for the school, but rather than try to encourage parents and alumni that the school is maintaining its academic rigor, he organizes presumably pricey events like a welcome bonfire and a camping trip. He actively pushes a scholarship student to ignore her studies and make fundraising her top priority. That involves using her siren powers. Maybe that’s a practical education?
Beyond that, the operations of Nevermore are incredibly vague. Season one made a point of grouping the students into cliques based on their creature type: sirens, vampires, werewolves, and gorgons. The vampires never got much attention and seemingly disappeared in season 2, replaced with a new group called DaVincis who can whip up complex props on demand.
Is Nevermore just a school where kids with powers learn typical high school stuff without freaking out the normies, or do they actually practice their special abilities at all? Eugene Ottinger (Moosa Mostafa) can control bees in season 1 and command all arthropods in season 2, keeping his bug collection in a shed. Is that an independent study? If so, it’s not being checked on regularly, given Pugsley Addams (Isaac Ordonez) winds up stashing a zombie there.
Hogwarts was a dangerous place too, but at least it was always clear the kids were learning. Nevermore’s attitude towards academics and safety feels ridiculously lax. The school year ends early in the season 2 finale following the death of the second principal in as many years. Maybe Nevermore should shutter for good in season 3 considering how little the show’s writers seem to care about what actually happens there.