This episode is basically written like a middling Simpsons celebrity special-guest episode. It really feels like this episode's been re-written to purposely make fun of Roiland after his departure from the show. There are a lot of callbacks to previous episodes that aren't really jokes so much as references. For a show that's headed by someone known for his cleverness, this episode misses the mark. I probably laughed...once?
The replacement voice actors were clearly still learning the nuances, and calibrating them well is on the director & Harmon. Cardoni does the best with the challenging character of Rick. The main failure of this premiere is the lack of joy that the actors are bringing to the roles, even some of the regulars.
The animation is still stellar, so I'm giving the episode 5 stars for that, but some of the POVs are still questionable, such as one shot involving Mr. PB that undercuts the suspense of a life-threatening situation necessary for the subsequent joke.
I'm pretty bummed that this show's quality is seeming to suffer yet again. This feels a lot like the Season 4 dragon episode, and I'm wondering if this is just an intentional passive drop in quality to help the show get canceled.
The replacement voice actors were clearly still learning the nuances, and calibrating them well is on the director & Harmon. Cardoni does the best with the challenging character of Rick. The main failure of this premiere is the lack of joy that the actors are bringing to the roles, even some of the regulars.
The animation is still stellar, so I'm giving the episode 5 stars for that, but some of the POVs are still questionable, such as one shot involving Mr. PB that undercuts the suspense of a life-threatening situation necessary for the subsequent joke.
I'm pretty bummed that this show's quality is seeming to suffer yet again. This feels a lot like the Season 4 dragon episode, and I'm wondering if this is just an intentional passive drop in quality to help the show get canceled.