Sparkle Spackle

The difference in quality between Tim Burton episodes and all the others is really stark in Wednesday season 2. After Burton's episode 4, I was primed for more and proceeded to the next two, which were directed by Angela Robinson. Both were equally braindead. Maybe episode six was a little worse.

Six has a body swap plot in which Wednesday trades bodies with her peppy, polar opposite roommate, Enid. It's a predicament that would be so much easier for the two if they explained it to their friends and family, which seems like it would be the obvious thing to do in a school filled with gorgons, werewolves, and sirens. There's not rational reason for them to go to any great lengths to keep it secret except that it's an allegory for teenage anxieties, which reveals once again the fundamental flaw of allegory that Tolkien famously disliked (and I mean famously, a lot of people seem to point to Tolkien's dislike of allegory these days). The two actresses do such a great job mimicking each other anyway that everyone else seems like moron for not figuring out what's going on.

I noticed episodes five and six have a fairly self-contained plot involving Wednesday trying to track down and neutralise the Hydes. It's more or less resolved by the end of episode six, as though they were clearing the decks to make way for Lord Tim Burton's final two episodes. There's definitely an impression of a firmer hand at the rudder this season.