Netflix’s Wednesday has a Morticia problem. It had it in season one, and instead of course-correcting, season two doubles down. In order to frame Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday as the definitive dark, gothic, macabre-minded prodigy, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Morticia Addams is neutered. What was once the most deliciously twisted role model in the Addams canon is reduced here to a punchline. Where Gomez and Morticia’s mutual adoration used to stand as a radical counterpoint to the loveless marriages that defined American sitcoms, in Wednesday, Morticia is mocked for being soft, sentimental, and—heaven forbid—maternal. She jokes about letting Gomez believe he’s the patriarch, while Wednesday and her grandmother, Hester Frump (Joanna Lumley), sneer at her for daring to want a family and a loving, lustful marriage.