Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Season 1 of Wednesday.Netflix’s Wednesday, from Miles Millar and Alfred Gough and based on the characters created by Charles Addams, follows Jenna Ortega as the titular Wednesday Addams on her unexpected adventure upon her arrival at Nevermore Academy. As if being a teenager isn’t hard enough, particularly for a teenager like Wednesday who is so outside of social norms (on purpose), Wednesday is thrust into a growing murder mystery. Before her arrival, multiple deaths had already occurred, leaving Wednesday as the only person who surely isn’t involved. This mystery expands further than Wednesday is capable of handling on her own as the lore surrounding the outcasts and the dark history of the school deepens. It threatens Nevermore’s future, the normies, and the outcasts in the surrounding area, and most importantly Wednesday’s own life as the creature seems unreasonably interested in her.
Needing help in her misadventures through this dangerous purgatory to track and identify the beast, Wednesday relies on her new friends for support, best friend and roommate Enid (Emma Myers), local barista and Sheriff’s son Tyler (Hunter Doohan), and occasional help from others like Xavier (Percy Hynes White), Bianca (Joy Sunday), and Eugene (Moosa Mostafa). The adult women in her life — Principal Weems (Gwendoline Christie), normie teacher Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci), and her mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) — also aid Wednesday in her quest, though the relationships are strained, and sometimes the help they provide isn’t exactly what Wednesday is looking for. However, while nearly everyone plays a part in saving the day, there is one person that provides Wednesday with the most useful information: Goody Addams (also played by Ortega).
Who Is Goody Addams?
Goody Addams is a long-deceased ancestor of Wednesday’s, one who shared the powers/visions that have run in her mother’s family and plague Wednesday while at Nevermore. (Though how Goody has Wednesday’s father’s surname of Addams while being from her mother’s family line is an unanswered and somewhat inexplicable question for the powers that be.) Goody helped to save the outcasts when they were being targeted and victimized by a man named Joseph Crackstone (William Houston), one of the deeply religious leaders of the nearby town who hated the existence of outcasts in the world entirely.
Throughout the season, the ghost of Goody Addams repeatedly visits Wednesday to deliver crucial information as her investigation gets more complex. One vision takes Wednesday back to Goody’s time where she sees, firsthand, what Goody was fighting for and the incredibly sophisticated enemy she was up against. Another leads her to the old Gates house, where secrets await her (like the jars of body parts stolen from the Hyde’s victims). While the visits and the knowledge gained seem relatively unconnected to the monster that roams about, Wednesday understands that these visits are preparation for the long-foretold fight between her and the maniacal Joseph Crackstone… she just doesn’t know how or why she’ll have to face off against a man from centuries prior. Wednesday doesn’t have to wait too long to find out.
What Happens to Goody Addams in the Season Finale?
In the season finale, Goody visits Wednesday one final time. When Marilyn a.k.a. Laurel Gates (the distant ancestor of Joseph Crackstone) uses Wednesday’s blood to open his crypt, it's revealed that Goody had used her magic to put an end to Crackstone during her time. She ended his life and magically sealed him in his crypt, understanding that one day he would potentially be set free to continue his mission to rid the world of outcasts. However, Laurel resurrects him, bringing forth the madman — this time with magical abilities of his own — to set fire to Nevermore and kill the outcasts that call it home. Wednesday, learned in the art of fighting, attempts to stop him right then and there in the crypt, but his magic gives him the upper hand.
Crackstone renders Wednesday unable to move and stabs her in the abdomen, leaving her to bleed out on the floor of his ancient crypt as he and Laurel head to Nevermore to enact their vengeance. With Wednesday’s life force rapidly leaving her body, Goody returns to give Wednesday one last piece of information. She advises Wednesday that Crackstone’s weakness is his black heart, which doesn’t make sense to Wednesday at the time. But, before Wednesday can ask further questions, Goody confesses that the only way for Wednesday to survive is for Goody’s spirit to go through her body and restore her. Unfortunately, doing this causes the spirit to disappear forever. With the knowledge Goody has given her, though, Wednesday is able to stop Crackstone and save Nevermore for the next battle.
What Does Goody Addams' Disappearance Mean for Wednesday's Future?
Goody vanishing means Wednesday is nearly completely on her own to learn more about her mysterious abilities and visions. Wednesday’s powers seem to far outweigh those of her mother, as the two discussed in an earlier episode. Morticia only receives positive, happy visions, showcasing the beauty of life. (How lucky.) Meanwhile, Wednesday is the “Raven” of the family, whose abilities are much more useful and important in the grand scheme of things.
As has been teased of her powers thus far, Wednesday may be stronger and keener to the evils in the world, but it comes with a cost. These visions could potentially drive her mad. Her personality makes her a little more equipped to deal with the nightmare of it all, but it doesn’t completely solve the issue. Without Goody around to help guide her, Wednesday no longer has that well-informed support to rely on. While Wednesday may be fine for now, especially as she has stopped Crackstone and Laurel from enacting their evil plans, it won’t last long. Tyler has seemingly escaped from custody, certain to come back and cause chaos for Wednesday at some point. We don’t know exactly what happened with Laurel. Plus, Wednesday has a stalker that begins to taunt her in the final moments of the season, someone that wants her dead and has been the cause of some trouble. Without Goody, can Wednesday figure out everything she needs to know on her own?
Every episode of Wednesday is now streaming on Netflix.