r/Wednesday

One of the biggest misconceptions about Wednesday is the idea that because she "likes pain," any violent treatment toward her is something she would enjoy. Which completely ignores the context in which she expresses those feelings

Wednesday's relationship with pain is rooted in control. Most of the pain she embraces is either self-inflicted or the result of situations she knowingly places herself in. For example, the way she and Pugsley play around is rooted in consent of both parties, they like doing dangerous things to each other

Also, she chooses to investigate dangerous mysteries and take physical risks because those are her decisions. A clear example is when she enters the Hyde's cave and tells Eugene "If you hear me screaming bloody murder, there's a good chance I'm just enjoying myself." The humor comes from the fact that she is voluntarily walking into danger and making light of it. She's in control of the situation she chose, and her macabre joke reflects that sense of agency

People often mistake her dry, morbid humor for a literal reflection of her emotional boundaries. In reality, much of it functions as a defense mechanism, something she uses to install fear on others, keep emotional distance, or deflect vulnerability

This becomes obvious with Tyler. His actions are not the kind of "fun macabre" experiences Wednesday jokes about

When he throws her through a window, manipulates her, or threatens Enid, the goal is domination. He is trying to strip away her agency, exploit emotional leverage, and assert control through violence. Wednesday doesn't like that, she answers with cold, calculated retaliation because someone attempted to take away the very thing she values most, her autonomy

A common response is that Wednesday willingly stood in front of the Hyde in s2, so being thrown through the window was simply a consequence she accepted. But that still misses the distinction between choosing to face danger and consenting to someone else's violence. Wednesday accepts physical risk when it serves her goals and is within her control

Jenna Ortega's own interpretation of the moment reinforces this. She explained, "She has to understand that there's no chance. She could run, but it's a huge monster." Wednesday stands her ground because she's realistic, she knows that running is pointless, so she refuses to show fear in the face of the Hyde

So, liking pain under your own terms is fundamentally different from being subjected to violence meant to break you. Confusing Wednesday's dark humor and fearlessness with consent and enjoyment, or assuming she is unaffected by it because she looks stoic, reduces her character to solely a caricature. The show consistently shows that what she values most is agency, and anything that takes that away is something she dislikes

Just to be clear, this is in response to fans who argue Wednesday "likes being hurt." If you don't think that way and you acknowledge the impact those actions have on her character, then this post isn't directed at you

That said, I have seen this interpretation often enough that I think it’s worth addressing. Even if it doesn’t reflect the majority of the fandom, it’s still important to clarify why it misunderstands her character

Disclaimer: This is a thought provoking discussion. If you isolate and read just the portions that refer to the character you're interested in, you might get the wrong idea, I implore you to finish reading, and sorry if I don't have the gift of synthesis!

Hello! The tv show has been in development for over four years at this point, and along the way many people have expressed frustration and unenjoyment surrounding the male characters. While there's ships involving some of them, basically everyone ( including Jenna ) conclude that the love triangles were bad and inappropriate.

I think people are too quick judging the triangles.

Or rather, I wanna point out that judging the whole concept of triangles on the basis of those we got in the show is faulty reasoning.
It implies that what we got is the peak potential, or even a decent example, of what the trope can offer. I don't think it's correct.

Wednesday is, in and on itself, a Supernatural Teen Drama.

It is not wrong to say that it didn't ( to date ) bring anything new to the table. There's endless amounts of parallels with the most popular, slightly older TV shows of the same genre, with The Vampire Diaries being the most obvious of them all.
This isn't a TVD ad or anything so I'm gonna TLDR some parallels just in case you haven't watched it.

- The protagonist's got a doppleganger. Someone that looks visually identical to them but acts shady.
- The protagonist's got dark past and has a best friend that's blonde and bubbly.
- The friend duo is actually a trio, with third member being useful and grounded.
- The protagonist develops romantic interest towards someone who's secretly a supernatural creature.
- The guy has the potential to be healthy, but the evil within his powers is hard to control.

I'm not telling you all this with the intention to de-mean the tv show or strip it from its uniqueness. It's early in development, with just two seasons, and there's potential to be more.

But truthfully, as of right now, going to someone who's a TVD fun and telling them Wednesday is TVD with Hydes instead of Vampires, woudn't be too far from truth.

Except when isn't the truth, of course.

Because what most Supernatural Teen Dramas have that Wednesday smh hasn't, is well developed men:

- Gomez: This is the poorest iteration we ever got in all Addams media. Truth be told, he's visually the closest we got the the comics. But this isn't a plus, given the show doesn't aim to emulate the feeling of the comics.

On screen, this Gomez is a parody of himself. The guy climbed the tower in 2x08, fully knowing his family was in danger, then went back down to "call the police" leaving his wife fight the villain on 8 inches heels ( lmao! ). Lets not forget Morticia's quote in 1x05: " I let your father think he's in charge of the family. " Since when do the Addams have a leader? The very reason it got popular was due to Gomez and Morticia being equals.

- Ajax: The literal nice guy. He can't keep up: Too unsure of his feelings, to late in catching other's. He's also clumsy. He's got one of the strongest powers in the show and yet he stones himeslf ( 1x03 ) and goes melee range to a hyde ( 2x05 ).

- Bruno: Zero background information, zero screen time, " you're being hunted outside your cycle " then 15 mins later melees the hyde outside of his own cycle ( 2x05 ). Never transforms, never fights, doesn't get distracted by socials and stuff yet STILL can't spidersense Agnes.

Why of course the love triangles in this show aren't good. Have you double checked the male interests?

Let's talk briefly about Tyler:

Many people like him. I don't HATE him, and he's def somewhat better than the others up in the list, but there's many, many issues.

First of all, those who like him, I think, do not exactly like HIM, but the person they think he's destined to become: The guy who breaks free of his chains, the one that gets the girl, the one that will carefully explain on screen what happened behind courtains in season 1, how Thornhill just told him "get the girl" and he was smart enough to understand anything about her. Immense, right?

I agree. It will indeed be immense. When it will happen. But it hasn't happened until it happens, and for now all we have is someone whose lore got him stuck obeying old women, massively shrinking lifespan upon transforming, then losing fights because the women of his same kind are, for some reason, three times his size.

Again, the potential's there. But I'm very practical. The dude left 2x08 in yet another woman's car, I don't see him breaking free of anything until season 4.

There's people who say they don't want him to get with Wed because he's "toxic and evil".

He isn't any more evil than LeFou from the Beauty and the Beast, really. He's evil in so far the stuff he's forced to do is evil. That's not actual evil.

That said, Wednesday DOES need to get with someone. Her words against her mother's lifestyle in 1x01 were too strong of a signal. If she says she doesn't want love and ends the show without love, the moral of the story will be that the protagonist was right up from the start and therefore no character development. She NEEDS someone.

Can that someone be Enid? I don't know. The point I'm making with this post is that if you think it should be Enid because "love triangles are annoying", "I can't deal with one more season of these boys", you're right.

But you're right in so far these men are atrocious, not in so far manhood sucks.

THAT idea, the one that men should be weak because this is a women led show, is actually misogynistic if you ask me.

If you try not to be misogynistic and make a women led show where men are bad, you're actually tryharding so much it circles back. Wednesday is very intelligent, Enid is very strong, and they can show that to us by having intelligent and strong men lose to them.

Because, I say this as a woman: women CAN do that, you know? We don't need "men are stupid" type of motivation to beat them. That's false. Men aren't stupid. Men are smart. And sometimes we're smarter than them. That's what Wednesday's tv show should be about.

TLDR: Triangles are bad because THIS SHOW'S specific triangles are bad. Give us some Damon Salvatore/Sam Winchester type of men, given you're already at it at mirroring these shows. Then you'll see if people want or not want triangles.

In my dreams if a s4 was ever made they'd do filming in SF for Enid (and cause I live on the west coast) id try to apply.

I would LOVE to be an extra on this show more than anything 🥲

Pretty clearly Jenna Emma and Hunter are the “stars” at the forefront of the show. Who would be the 4th character if you had to pick? For me the next that comes to mind is Ajax.