Wednesday Review

Ortega is the entire reason it worked. She plays Wednesday with almost no facial movement, delivering cruelties in a flat monotone and refusing every note of warmth the script tries to hand her, and the dance sequence she choreographed herself became the most replayed thing on the service that year. Burton's design instincts are visible in the first four episodes, in the gothic architecture, Thing as a genuinely well executed practical and digital hand, and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman as the parents.

Then the machinery takes over. The plot is a standard young adult mystery with a hidden monster, a secret society, a prophecy, a love triangle and a teacher who is not what they seem, and the reveal is guessable by the halfway point. The other students exist as functions. The visual invention drains away as the season progresses and the last two episodes look like any streaming fantasy. Fun, extremely well cast, and structurally interchangeable with a dozen shows it is much better than.