sooo I noticed something

There are these obvious parallels between Wednesday and Enid on the one hand and Morticia and Weems on the other hand in terms of being roommates in Ophelia Hall, being captain and co-pilot at the Poe Cup, their general aesthetics (Morticia + Wednesday = dark hair, dark clothes, dark everything / Weems + Enid = blonde hair, bright clothes) etc.

I think these parallels are also emphasized by scenery:

so at first you would think: there is supposed to be a parallel between Wednesday and Morticia and then Enid could be compared to Weems in some ways

BUT if you think about it and analyze the characters more deeply you could say that in some ways Wednesday has more in common with Weems than with Morticia, whereas Enid has more in common with Morticia than with Weems.

Here are some things I noticed while thinking about this:

#1 their roles at the Poe Cup

This is what initially made me think more closely about the parallels between the four of them: Weems tells Wednesday that the last time Ophelia Hall won the Poe Cup, Morticia Addams captained the team - just like Enid captains the team now. Weems was Morticia’s co-pilot - just like Wednesday is Enid’s co-pilot. This made me wonder: Why didn’t they make the parallels between Wednesday and Morticia more obvious by just having Wednesday be the captain and Enid the co-pilot? The reason for Wednesday being the co-pilot is Yoko not being able to participate in the Poe Cup but instead of making Yoko the original captain and Enid the co-pilot, having Yoko be unable to participate and then making Wednesday the captain and Enid the co-pilot, the writers decided to have it the other way around. Enid now has the position that Morticia used to have and Wednesday has the position that Weems used to have. Which doesn’t put Wednesday in her mother’s position - but in Weems’s position. And Enid in Morticia’s position.

#2 their character traits

Like Wednesday Morticia has a dark aesthetic and is drawn to dark and morbid things. There are obvious parallels. But if you look at their personalities more closely you see a lot of differences. While Wednesday never expresses emotions, doesn’t show any interest in romance and is very aloof in general, Morticia is very likable, very passionate and romantic (in her own unique dark and morbid way of course) and also sentimental and kind of soft. Wednesday doesn’t care about others at all and is a loner whereas Morticia’s love for her husband is unmatched and her family is very important to her. Enid, though not matching the Addams’ aesthetic at all, seems to have more in common with Morticia personality-wise than Wednesday has in common with her mother. Enid is engaging and passionate, enthusiastic and has a high interest in romance. She is also likable and dedicated and emotional, in a way like Morticia. I have always thought, even before Tim Burton’s “Wednesday”, that Morticia Addams could in some ways be described as having a “bright” personality as opposed to her dark appearance. She draws others in, she’s devoted and dedicated, happy and positive. Enid is like that too while Wednesday is completely different. Morticia herself talks about Wednesday’s and her opposing dispositions when talking to Wednesday about her psychic abilities - Morticia's disposition being positive (which causes her visions to be more positive and which makes her a Dove) while Wednesday’s disposition being darker on the other hand (which causes her visions to be more potent and powerful and which makes her a Raven). I think it is very obvious that Enid’s disposition is positive too, just like Morticia’s.

And then there’s Weems. Obviously, Weems and Wednesday don’t have the exact same personality. On the outside, Weems is always nice and friendly, she’s polite and civil. But there is also a different side to her. She doesn’t show it to others but she does have a rather dark and angry side that she is hiding. She is very bitter about her past and seems to hold on to a lot of jealousy towards Morticia. She can also get very angry and harsh. And she is serious, unlike Morticia, who is soft and angelic. Because of her bitterness and her seriousness and the fact that she hides these negative feelings from others (when she confesses to Thornhill that her own Rave’N was only disappointing she then quickly changes the topic and doesn’t want the conversation to get more personal) and especially the throwing-a-yearbook-page-into-the-fire-scene with that evil and hateful expression on her face, I would describe her disposition as rather dark as well. Weems is nice and a good person but she is not light-hearted and carefree, there is a certain severeness to her. Therefore a dark disposition - just like Wednesday. And when you think about it, she is a loner, too. She is surrounded by people but no one is even remotely close to her - just like Wednesday.

#3 their lives at Nevermore

Enid is very passionate about Nevermore and the whole school spirit thing, participates in a lot of school activities, is captain of the Ophelia Hall team at the Poe Cup etc. Morticia was like that too. She was captain of the fencing team, Queen of the Dark Prom and President of the Séance Society (what a legend) and Wednesday says that Nevermore “was the perfect school” for her mother. Just like Nevermore is the perfect school for Enid! Both Enid and Morticia are popular and successful and show a high level of identification with the school.

By the end of the first season Wednesday seems to enjoy being at Nevermore. But she did NOT (and I like that fact and love that the writers did it that way) and will probably never follow her mother’s footsteps. Wednesday has no interest in networking and being popular and taking part in group activities. And while it is nice that she found people she cares about (mostly Enid and Eugene), she will not be like her captain-and-queen-and-president-of-everything mother and prefers to be an outsider, even at a school for outsiders.

I think it is very likely that Weems was an outsider when she was a student at Nevermore too, just like Wednesday. We know that she was always jealous of Morticia because Morticia was popular. When Morticia says that they had good times at Nevermore, Weems basically says “speak for yourself”, implying that her time at Nevermore wasn’t that great, and at the Rave’N she tells Thornhill that all she remembers about her own Rave’N is “disappointment”. The negative feelings she has about her time as a student at Nevermore go as far as to RIP OUT a page of her old yearbook and dramatically throw it into the fire. So like Wednesday she probably didn’t take part in many school acitivities that she was excited about, she wasn’t very popular and maybe even an outsider. I think this is a parallel between Wednesday and Weems - though, of course, Wednesday WANTS it that way while Weems was and still is bitter about it...

#4 Wednesday and Weems being in Morticia’s shadow

There is this huge parallel between Wednesday and Weems about being in Morticia’s shadow and trying to find their own path without Morticia’s ‘legacy’ overshadowing their every move. Wednesday says multiple times that she has no interest in following in Morticia’s footsteps because she couldn’t live up to the expectations based on her mother's legacy anyway. Just like Weems could never compete with Morticia. I especially noticed one scene where Wednesday expresses very strongly that she doesn’t want to be compared to her mother all the time and that she has the need to be her own person. In this scene Weems compares Wednesday to Morticia and when Wednesday tells her that she and her mother are two different people, Weems seems to think about Wednesday’s words for a moment. I don’t know whether I interpret too much into this but I think that Weems’s face shows that she realizes that she is very familiar with the need to be “independent” from Morticia Addams. She knows very well how it is to be in Morticia’s shadow and I think it is in that moment that she realizes that Wednesday feels the same way about Morticia as she does. It was not easy for Weems and it is not easy for Wednesday to be “linked” to Morticia’s legacy at Nevermore because she was perfect - she was popular, well-liked, happy, successful, dedicated and beautiful. So in a way, Wednesday’s experience at Nevermore is similar to Weems’s experience: always being in Morticia’s shadow. And I think that’s what Weems realizes:

Also, Wednesday tells her mother: “I’m not you, mother. I will never fall in love or be a housewife or have a family.” So... she’ll be like Weems then? She’ll choose a whole different path than her mother just like Weems chose a whole different path than Morticia did.

To sum it all up: there is a lot to unpack. Which makes the show so great. And I think about the Wednesday-Weems and Morticia-Enid parallels constantly.