when the first episode aired Wednesday It takes some time to introduce Tim Burtonversion of Addams Family universe, Chapter 2 explores the great mystery at the heart of the series. Wednesday in the previous section (Jenna Ortega) Rowan’s (calum ross) murder after smashing a monster boy in the woods. But Wednesday has a hard time convincing people of what he’s seen because the next day Rowan is unharmed and absolutely alive at Nevermore Academy.
Episode 2, “Woe is the Loneliest Number,” solves some of the mystery on Wednesday by finding suspicious links between her family and Nevermore’s dark past. At the same time, the series doesn’t forget that it’s a young adult drama about a magical boarding school, letting Wednesday participate in the Edgar Allan Poe Cup, an annual celebration to prove who’s the best dorm school. So, just like Harry Potter, but mostly with monsters and fear. We couldn’t ask for more, could we?
let the games begin
After Rowan is killed in the woods, Wednesday passes out and wakes up in Nevermore. Morning girl, Sheriff Galpin (Jamie McShane) and Headmaster Weems (Gwendoline Christie) is a monster in the forest. Unfortunately, people think he’s just trying to spread some chaos, which is confirmed by Rowan appearing alive in front of everyone. Wednesday begins investigating Rowan’s past and the book page the boy showed him before he died. These are the only clues Wednesday needs to find the truth about the prophecy that portrays him as the one who destroyed the boarding school.
While he is eager to play Wednesday detective, he is still part of a school and needs to participate in educational activities. Therefore, Weems forces the girl to choose an extracurricular activity before the end of the day. Wednesday uses the opportunity for a school tour to question his colleagues about Rowan’s fate, but Chapter 2 also gives us a better idea of what’s going on in Nevermore. First Bianca Barclay (joy sunday) is the leader of a choir. As for Xavier, he’s part of an archery club, Rowan’s roommate, and has the power to bring his drawings to life. Finally, Nevermore preaches the acceptance of monsters but still allows some students to be excluded, for example Eugene Otinger (Musa Mustafa), a beekeeping club founder.
During the “Woe is the Loneliest Number” events, the entire school also focuses on the Poe Cup, a competition Bianca wins each year. The competition challenges each of Nevermore’s dorms to form teams that must boat to an island, run into the woods, grab a flag, and return to the starting point. Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), of course she is excited about the event but at first Wednesday refuses to join her. However, he accidentally overhears it and changes his mind.
Wednesday sneaks into the boy’s room trying to find the book Rowan ripped off the page from. There, she discovers that Xavier has drawn it in her sketchbook. On Wednesday, Bianca has to hide under Rowan’s bed when she comes to talk to her ex-boyfriend, Xavier. During her speeches, Bianca brags about cheating on her way to victory, preventing any other team from even finishing the course every year. Determined to humiliate Bianca in front of everyone, Wednesday joins Enid’s team and decides to fight fire with fire.
On the day of the competition, Bianca sends one of her siren friends underwater so she can jump over other boats. Luckily, Wednesday had predicted the move and placed a net gun on his boat. He also placed harpoons on the boat that the Black Cats used to smash Bianca’s boat and claim victory. But before that, Wednesday has another vision as he takes the flag of his team. The flags are in the cellar of someone named Joseph Crackstone. When Wednesday touches the stone, he sees a vision in which he sees himself dressed in white, saying that it is the key to something. That’s another clue to the great mystery of the season, which is approaching to unravel Wednesday.
The plot thickens
Chapter 2 gives us lots of new pieces to try and fit into Burton’s weird puzzle. For starters, we now know that Weems tried to cover up Rowan’s murder. This is because, after appearing in front of the entire school, Rowan was immediately expelled and sent home without speaking to anyone. As if that wasn’t suspicious enough, Wednesday sends Thing to follow the boy to the train station, where Rowan enters the bathroom and disappears. Well she doesn’t know what it is but we see Rowan transforming into a man, leaving the bathroom unnoticed, and transforming into Weems when left alone in a dark hallway. It seems that the headmaster of Nevermore is a shapeshifter and is hiding the truth about the jungle beast.
In “Woe is the Loneliest Number,” Wednesday also notices a watermark in the corner of the page he took from Rowan, a symbol depicting a flower with a skull in the center. As Wednesday scours the library for the purple book he keeps seeing in his visions, Marylin Thornhill (Christina Ricci) that the symbol represents the Nightshades, a secret student body that no longer exists. During the encounter, we also learn that Marilyn is a normie, the only human in Nevermore without powers.
Part 2 gives us some more breadcrumbs to follow. For example, Wednesday finds a strange mask in a secret compartment under Rowan’s bed. While searching the woods with Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan), also stumbles upon Rowan’s glasses and sees another vision with the boy, which he discusses with Xavier on Wednesday. However, the most important clues come at the end of the episode, when Wednesday discovers the entrance to Nightshades’ old headquarters.
During the Poe Cup celebration, Wednesday notices the Nightshades symbol engraved on a statue depicting Edgar Allan Poe holding a book. The book contains nine riddles that Wednesday solves quickly in the middle of the night. Wednesday is instructed to “clack twice” by reading the first letter of each of the eight responses. Yes, we all know what that means. Wednesday The Addams Family classic found a way to fit their instant song into the plot!
He snaps his fingers twice in front of the statue, and the stone folds up into a staircase leading down. Wednesday enters the Nightshades headquarters and realizes that he is in a secret library. There, the girl finds the book she is looking for. He also sees pictures of former members of the secret society, including their parents. But before he can put the pieces together, someone puts a black hood on his head. in only two parts, Wednesday it has already brought a mystery and pulled the carpet from under our feet many times. We can’t wait to see what’s next.
