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Someday, media historians will look back upon Adult Swim's legacy, and deem it to be one of the most important creative projects of the early 21st century. It has spawned numerous hit shows that appeal to any and every demographic that's into "funny" and "weird". And somewhere in the shadows cast by giants like Rick and Morty, awaiting your discovery lie a bunch of hidden gems that slipped under the radar due to the sheer volume of AS's output - or just by being too dumb or too weird for the spotlight.
This is definitely in the latter category. It's an icky, Cronenbergian take on the basic premise from Eternal Sunshine, but with tons more ethics and safety violations and a cute talking robot. Each episode splits its 11 minute running time between the interior of the 'clinic' and the rotoscoped interior of a patient's dream world; the animations are crude but effective, and the crudeness sort of fits in with the bargain basement vibe of the whole operation.
It's brisk, low-stakes nonsense that won't make you feel like you've wasted valuable time that could have been spent watching or doing something else. The small cast of characters doesn't have anyone to single out for being annoying or weak, they all do a great job being themselves. Oh, and it's funny! I mean, "funny" is a rather subjective experience - but if you enjoyed the deranged and amoral shtick of The Heart, She Holler, then you'll probably dig this.
Finally, I profoundly disagree with mhennessy's suggestions on how to 'fix' this show by making each episode longer and adding more drama and backstory - the pacing is one of the strongest aspects! So like...if this person watches each episode twice, it's kinda like watching a 20-minute episode once, amiright? Look...I hate to be a jerk, but the kind of person who needs to re-watch this stuff for "comprehension" is not the target audience; frankly, pandering to the limitations of the slow-witted is a great way to ruin just about any story or work of art.
I really hope Adult Swim keeps this one going.
score 8/10
crownofsprats 13 June 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5820800/ |
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