So I’ve been watching Wednesday (the Netflix show based on The Addams Family) recently and I noticed something that I’ve seen before in other movies and TV shows. Something I don’t quite like (quick disclaimer: the show overall is phenomenal. Definitely recommend). But the phenomenon I’m seeing is what I like to call the Nellie Effect, named after Nellie from the hit mockumentary sit-com The Office. It’s when a character is introduced as one we’re supposed to hate and dislike but then gets redeemed in a way that suggests we are supposed to like them. In Nellie’s case, she first appears in Season 7 as a clearly obnoxious character serving an antagonistic role. We, the audience, are supposed to hate her. But later in the last season, she is brought on as a member of the main cast. And suddenly she’s no longer annoying. She no longer fills an antagonist role and her personality gets changed to be a more enjoyable character. This was a pretty mediocre redemption act as far as those go, but that isn’t the only problem. Even if the redemption act was done more carefully, her character receiving the change in narrative didn’t fit the story. Thus it felt odd. Let me explain this in an alternative example. Let us consider Avatar the Last Airbender, which is known for having the best antagonist redemption arc in the history of television. But we are not here to talk about Zuko. We are going to be talking about Azula. She does not get a redemption arc at the end of the show. But let’s for a moment humor the idea that she did get one. It’s a completely doable task. I have full confidence that the writers could have written a deserving and meaningful redemption for her in a way that makes sense in the story. But it will still fail one thing: narrative purpose. Azula serves as a foil to Zuko. While Zuko was “lucky to be born” and has lived a life of failure, we see him change and grow as he becomes a better person. Azula on the other hand, who “was born lucky”, is thus the opposite side of the same coin. Her role in the story was always to lose to Zuko in the end. She has always stood on top looking down. Her unwillingness to change eventually leads to her downfall as she becomes just another pawn in her father’s plans. She doesn’t have a redemption arc not because one can’t be written or that she does not deserve it, but because the story is better for not having it. So that’s what bugs me about characters who are intentionally written to be a person we are meant to hate but then given a change of heart. So my problem with Wednesday is that this happens not just once, but twice (kinda) in the show. Not to an egregious offense on the level of Nellie, but still jarring in a way.