The penultimate episode of Wednesday‘s second season finds Principal Dort taking off his mask as the Nevermore Gala finally arrives. Through a convenient flashback, it’s revealed that Dort is the mastermind behind the Morning Song cult, recruiting Gideon as the frontman and pocketing the funds. They plan to blackmail Bianca into siphoning Hester Frump’s fortune and acquire the funds for themselves. But, Dort gets greedy, killing Gideon to covet the entire endowment for himself. However, Wednesday plans to thwart this scheme and expose Dort. With the help of Ajax, Bianca gets her revenge, and Dort succumbs to a rocky fate.
Elsewhere, Enid finds the strength to face her alpha dilemma with her real wolf pack — Wednesday and Agnes. After finally dumping two-timing Bruno to the curb, she embraces her potential lone wolf future by performing her planned dance with Agnes, who discovers she no longer longs for Wednesday’s approval.
Finally, the Galpin clan plots a final trap for Wednesday. After securing enough medicine to curb Francois’s sickness, seemingly at Tyler’s expense, Isaac arrives at the gala incognito. Amidst Dort’s downfall and other festivities, the family discovers Pugsley is missing. The clueless Addams family member is reunited with his former zombie friend, who asks for his help before they disappear into the forest.
The strength of this episode, surprisingly, came from the supporting characters. Enid’s show of maturity was a welcome change, as well as her building a truce with Agnes. And Ajax coming through for Bianca proved his true allyship with his friends. As a whole, the long-awaited gala would be the place for all these stories to intersect, and frankly, it felt anticlimactic. As one of the season’s unexpected villains, Dort was too easily taken care of, diminishing any real stakes that storyline had. And saving the bought with Isaac for a lone episode feels unnecessary. The episodes are already about 15 minutes too long. A full hour of Wednesday trying to save Pugsley and learn her mother’s ties to Francois and Isaac already feels taxed with unnecessary twists and turns.
Rating: 7/10