The Addams Family and the Alien movies have both been around for decades. These days, these two franchises have offered up their latest 21st century versions on the screen, and here are my thoughts.
Wednesday
In season 2 of Wednesday, Wednesday Addams uses her psychic abilities to solve the mystery of the Stalker, a being that uses ravens to do its bidding. Zombies, werewolves, and other creepy monsters stalk this chapter of Wednesday’s life at Nevermore Academy as she hones her preternatural powers.
This season’s story is just as dark as the first season. Although we see the backstory of several characters developed, these episodes don’t seem as charming as the first season. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed season 2, but I have a feeling only big fans of the show will stick around for further seasons. I recommend dialing back the number of characters in the future and pursuing a plot that goes in a whole new direction – one that doesn’t rely on the past storylines.
This season had some excellent villains, whom I won’t say much about because of spoiler reasons. Also, I enjoyed how Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair and Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams got expanded roles. Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams was much more involved this season. One thing about season 1 that confused me. The showrunners cast a big star like Zeta-Jones, but she didn’t have a bigger role. Season 2 more than makes up for that.
Wednesday still has a lot of charm left in it. There’s still plenty of great quotes by the Wednesday Addams character – is somebody writing them down? – and I’d like to see Wednesday and Sinclair, her foil of a roommate, be the center of the show.
Alien Earth
In the near future, powerful corporations rule Earth (wait, don’t they already?). These companies fight over a collection of alien species brought to our world through a crashed spaceship. The corporations fight over the aliens for some insidious purpose. Financial gain? Weapon development? The crash occurred in the metropolis of Prodigy City. A group of cyborgs is sent to collect the dangerous creatures before they are unleashed on the world’s population.
A friend asked if I was watching it, and this is what I told him: it doesn’t have the same tone as the original Alien movie. It’s not as dark. It’s similar to a young adult TV series like Shadow and Bone. It’s not bad, but don’t expect it to be like the Alien movies. It might be closer to the 80s Aliens sequel, which I loved. But it is nothing like Alien Covenant, a film that supposedly occurs in the timeline right before this TV series.
Despite having a vibe of a young adult novel like Hunger Games, Alien Earth grew on me. The relationship between Wendy, the show’s hero, and her brother Joe is particularly noteworthy. Many of the actors are portraying cyborgs with pre-teen mentalities, and they’re doing a great job without being ridiculous.
The last episode of the season is next Tuesday on Hulu. Looking forward to it.
Andrew M. Friday 
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