Wednesday, Tim Burton’s macabre story of Wednesday Addams time at the Nevermore Academy, will release season 2 in two batches. Episodes 1-4 are out now. Episodes 5-8 will be released in about a month. There are some minor spoilers ahead.

Sophomore year brought several changes to Wednesday. Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) and her brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) are both enrolled at Nevermore. Much to Wednesday’s dismay, her parents (Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones) hang around in semi-official capacities too. Here’s my review of season 1.

The school is now run by Principal Dort (Steve Buscemi), who has very different ideas about how things should be done. Lurch is now played by Joonas Suotamo. Thing (Victor Dorobantu) isn’t in the photo above, but he’s more important than ever this season.

Enid (Emma Myers) is still Wednesday’s very cheerful roommate. Bianca (Joy Sunday) is still at the school, but isn’t treated very nicely by the new principal.

Wednesday is convinced that she mastered her psychic abilities over the summer. She did not. Black blood streaming from her eyes is just one clue, then she loses her psychic abilities completely.

Jenna Ortega shines as she delivers the snarky, deadpan, eviscerations that comprise her dialog. Even without her psychic abilities, she’s determined to solve some murders of local “normies.” She makes a big mess of things in her detective work. She sends Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) undercover into the insane asylum where outcasts go. It’s run by Dr. Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton) and houses Tyler (Hunter Doohan). When angered, Tyler turns into the Hyde Monster. Wednesday makes him angry. All kinds of outcasts get released from the asylum. It’s mayhem!

Pugsley revived a dead guy, so there’s a zombie running loose, too. Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley was a bit of a scene stealer with his enthusiasm for gruesomeness.

By the end of episode 4, everything is a wreck and poor Wednesday isn’t in great shape herself. That’s a lot of cleaning up to do in the final four episodes of season 2. I can’t wait to see how they work it all out.

There’s a tiny bit of animation used in the series, drawn by Tim Burton, of course. But it’s mostly special effects and CGI creating the scary monsters and gross bits.

I really enjoy the macabre dark humor of this series. It’s streaming on Netflix.