Fun Pilot introduces the bizarre family of the title as a representative of the local school, Mr. Hilliard, a truant officer, arrives to question why Gomez and Morticia's two children, Wednesday and Pugsley, aren't going. Gomez, not ready to let the kids go, all involved in his exploding train set, and Morticia, tending to her moonlight-deprived hemlock (while trimming her flowers in the greenhouse, one of which can reach and grab you around the neck!), debate sending the kids to school, soon needing to discuss the hideous use of violence towards the witch in Hansel and Gretel (!) and the dragon's death thanks to the knight in shining armor with Hilliard. The beauty of this series is how cheerful and giddy Gomez and Morticia are about what many consider terrifying and sinister. And the decadent mansion and estate, with its swordfish with a leg sticking out of its mouth on the wall, a bear rug that roars, statues of devils, ghouls, and armored villainy, is as much a character as the grim-voiced, towering Lurch, bald-headed, raccoon-eyed Fester, omniscient hand Thing, and frizzle-haired, witchy Grandmama. Wednesday gives the nervy Hilliard a tour of the mansion (as well as the viewer), as he tries to avoid a dart-throwing Fester and Grandmama, fear of Lurch's elongated arms possibly carrying him to his doom if he says the wrong thing, and near suffocation at the grabby wine of Morticia's plant in her peculiar greenhouse. Allyn Joslyn, as the increasingly terrified Hilliard, finds himself seemingly unable to get away from this family, assuring them that he would try to keep Grimm's Fairytales from ruining the children of the school! Lurch's paddling away at the harpsichord as Morticia moves her demure and sexy figure to a tune while Gomez soon flicks the top of his head in order to get the right melody to take to his own type of romantic dance soon cradling his wife is a highlight as is Fester lighting a light bulb by merely sticking it in his mouth and moving his eyebrows. Thing snatching the mail from an astonished postal worker, soon showing up throughout the house either from its box or a flower pot proves to be quite a character as well, even nabbing Hilliard who attempts to escape his chair. Gomez' crazy eyes, Morticia's pitter-patter feet in that long black dress that hugs her petite body, Fester and his crackling vocals, Grandmama's nutty disposition, Wednesday's sweet face and voice despite certainly remaining very much an Addams, and Pugley who looks nothing like either Gomez or Morticia but nonetheless fit for the last name, Addams, all make up quite a rogue's gallery perfectly fit for a Gothic Horror Comedy. The little asides often shared by the Addams, quite normal to them while others might be mortified-such as how Gomez and Morticia discuss the use of voodoo to immobilize someone they consider troublesome-are part of the black as pitch humor, the macabre existing within a world that would otherwise react often in puzzlement or naiveté. The clashing of the macabre and the family wearing it like comfortable clothes and the outside world that is nothing like them (and yet encounters them throughout the series) is the ongoing recipe of success this series relishes. The cast, snapping their fingers to the memorable, iconic theme, are an absolute treat. The laugh track is my main gripe...it can't manipulate me into laughing out loud to Hilliard tripping over concrete moss.
Review of The Addams Family Goes to School
