In a new series about the world of “The Addams Family,” Wandina confronts the dilemmas of adolescence

Smart, sarcastic and a bit of an insider. This is how Netflix defines its new beloved character of the moment: Wednesday, or Wandinha in a non-literal translation into Portuguese.

Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar in The Addams Family, the series is named after protagonist Wandinha (Jenna Ortega) a 16-year-old teenager with an unconventional personality. Unquestionable success!

Currently, it gathers a record 341,230,000 watch hours, which makes the series rank in the global top 10 as the most watched in 93 countries, such as Brazil and the United States.

After an incident at school, the eldest daughter of Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez Addams (Luis Guzmán) is “invited” to transfer to the boarding school “Never More”, which houses non-normative teens, such as mermaids, werewolves and mediums.

Teenage life is not easy, even more so if you are considered outside the box. In the case of Wandina, the youth’s rebellion finds resonance in the sense of being eclipsed by a mother figure. At the new school, which he initially tried to escape from, at the same time as he began investigating a series of murders, he deals with the difficulties of socialization.

If we take the lens of horror and mystery entirely from the Tim Burton series (known for his grim, geeky touch in productions like Corpse Bride), we realize that it works with elements all too common in other productions that also attempt dialogue with this transition — familial projection, social demands, and especially for For women, dilemmas of the heart.

According to educational psychologist Bruna Fonseca, the period Wandina encountered is marked by preparation for adulthood. “It’s normal for teens to feel lost at this point, trying to feel like they belong to something or somewhere. There are several changes: physical (body maturation), emotional/psychological, social, spiritual. All areas of life change,” he explains.

In eight episodes, by expanding the world of pop culture’s most iconic family, the Wandinha is a good attempt to woo the new generation so they too can become “disappointed” with the antithesis of the North American family of Coca-Cola commercials.

A pleasant surprise for the most nostalgic is the co-star of Christina Ricci, the Wednesday Addams flick from the 1991 and 1992 films that also included Anjelica Huston (The Witches’ Convention), Raúl Julia (Street Fighter) and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future). The verdict: It’s worth the Andina marathon and hope for more seasons.