“I suggest you move quickly. Wolves can smell petulance… and body glitter.”

Justin’s rating: Two finger snaps of dark joy

Justin’s review: In 2013, an up-and-coming Hollywood writer/producer named Melissa Hunter decided to capitalize on her similarity with a certain famous goth girl to create a satirical web series. Thus, Adult Wednesday Addams was born and enjoyed an explosive rise of popularity. Over the course of 15 or so episodes spread across two seasons, the series propelled Hunter’s YouTube account to new highs while institutions such as the LA Times, MTV, and People Magazine doled out heapings of praise on her creation.

Ironically, the rising popularity of the series spelled its death knell. While it may have stayed under the radar of the Charles Addams estate if it remained small, her success earned Hunter a cease-and-desist in 2015. And now with a new Wednesday miniseries coming out on Netflix, not just a few people are recalling how genuis Hunter’s series was just a half-decade earlier.

It wasn’t until the 1991 Addams Family movie that Wednesday Addams became such a huge pop culture fixation, thanks to the hilariously macabre lines that Christina Ricci delivered with deadpan sincerity. Adult Wednesday Addams took the character forward with a simple question: What would Wednesday be like if she was grown up and trying to make it on her own in Los Angeles?

The answer to that is both disturbing and gut-bustingly funny. Wednesday as an adult sports a twisted view of the world and a grim determination to live her dead life the way she sees fit. This results in bizarre confrontations with receptionists, internet dates, driving instructors, dog walkers, and even catcallers. The end result of these interactions is that either the people she encounters gets on board with Team Wednesday or absolutely horrible things end up happening to them. Off-screen, usually.

The three-to-five minute episodes may be short, but they are jam-packed with great characters and wonderfully quotable lines (“My mom says I’m special.” “Your mom exaggerates.”). Adult Wednesday Addams is nothing if not a perfectly written series, with the dialogue revealing the abnormal mindset dwelling between those tight braids.

Yes, it’s a great shame we didn’t get more of these episodes, but at least the series can still be watched and enjoyed as an example of one of the finest fanfics ever made. And I don’t care what the Charles Addams estate says — this title is going into my headcanon as an official entry in the franchise.