Well, well, well. That episode, at least for me, seemed significantly better than the first. I'm not sure if I was just in a better mood (occasionally my rating of shows changes due to how I'm feeling) or if this was actually much better, but I definitely enjoyed this episode much more than the last!
Of course, it wasn't perfect. Far from it, but actually not really that far. I feel like the animation, unlike Groening's other two shows, is very high in quality, but also...somehow...kind of poorly done. I don't know how that happens. Both the backgrounds and the characters in the foreground are beautiful separately, but when you put them together, they stand out way too much from each other, and end up looking extremely cheap in the process. The best example of this is when the ogre from the previous episode picks up the monk and drops him off a cliff. Doesn't exactly look the smoothest.
The jokes here, however, were definitely an improvement from last episode. I found myself, at least, chuckling a lot more in this episode, especially in the first half. I do think this was partially because of the pacing. While episode 1 seemed to follow a strict formula of overused and simple jokes, here, the jokes are quite well done (mostly), reference the characters' personalities, and even if the joke includes an unrelated extra few seconds (like Lord Lingonberry getting thrown into the pig pen), it never feels like the plot gets thrown out the window for the sake of a few lame jokes. While every joke doesn't always hit the spot, I definitely think there were more good jokes than bad.
The plot of this episode is actually quite fun, and surprisingly lighthearted! It follows up well to the previous episode, and has a moderately satisfying ending. My least favourite part was honestly all of the mermaid island sequence. It didn't seem to contain many good jokes, and just appeared to me as filler...for an episode that was already basically filler. However, the characters in that scene were surprisingly entertaining, instead of being just a copy and paste annoyance. Speaking of the characters....
The main characters didn't necessarily have much development, honestly. We did, however, get to solidify Elfo, Bean and Luci's characteristics, but, other than that, not much else. Although, I did learn that we can at least have a semi-emotional moment, courtesy of Bean, which is something that the modern Simpsons surprisingly lack. My favourite character this episode was actually Lord Merkimer. I'm so glad we got see more of him, see Bean's view of him, and how much of a d-bag he actually is, before he got...pigified. I must admit, I wasn't really happy with that resolution though. I did want to see more of him. I really thought he could contribute to some of the plots of future episodes. But alas, all d-bags don't last forever.
To be honest, I originally thought that the reason I disliked the first episode so much was because I had high expectations of it, because of the reputations that both Futurama and The Simpsons had, but I rewatched it again, and no, it was just really bad. This episode showed me that Disenchantment still has a chance to be a show that I will, in the future, still enjoy. With fun characters, a decent plot, and some fun writing, I think that this show is shaping up to be a, if not great, pretty good Netflix series!
Oh, and the music is still dope.
Favorite Line: You don't scare me! I was born scared!
Rating: 7.3/10
Of course, it wasn't perfect. Far from it, but actually not really that far. I feel like the animation, unlike Groening's other two shows, is very high in quality, but also...somehow...kind of poorly done. I don't know how that happens. Both the backgrounds and the characters in the foreground are beautiful separately, but when you put them together, they stand out way too much from each other, and end up looking extremely cheap in the process. The best example of this is when the ogre from the previous episode picks up the monk and drops him off a cliff. Doesn't exactly look the smoothest.
The jokes here, however, were definitely an improvement from last episode. I found myself, at least, chuckling a lot more in this episode, especially in the first half. I do think this was partially because of the pacing. While episode 1 seemed to follow a strict formula of overused and simple jokes, here, the jokes are quite well done (mostly), reference the characters' personalities, and even if the joke includes an unrelated extra few seconds (like Lord Lingonberry getting thrown into the pig pen), it never feels like the plot gets thrown out the window for the sake of a few lame jokes. While every joke doesn't always hit the spot, I definitely think there were more good jokes than bad.
The plot of this episode is actually quite fun, and surprisingly lighthearted! It follows up well to the previous episode, and has a moderately satisfying ending. My least favourite part was honestly all of the mermaid island sequence. It didn't seem to contain many good jokes, and just appeared to me as filler...for an episode that was already basically filler. However, the characters in that scene were surprisingly entertaining, instead of being just a copy and paste annoyance. Speaking of the characters....
The main characters didn't necessarily have much development, honestly. We did, however, get to solidify Elfo, Bean and Luci's characteristics, but, other than that, not much else. Although, I did learn that we can at least have a semi-emotional moment, courtesy of Bean, which is something that the modern Simpsons surprisingly lack. My favourite character this episode was actually Lord Merkimer. I'm so glad we got see more of him, see Bean's view of him, and how much of a d-bag he actually is, before he got...pigified. I must admit, I wasn't really happy with that resolution though. I did want to see more of him. I really thought he could contribute to some of the plots of future episodes. But alas, all d-bags don't last forever.
To be honest, I originally thought that the reason I disliked the first episode so much was because I had high expectations of it, because of the reputations that both Futurama and The Simpsons had, but I rewatched it again, and no, it was just really bad. This episode showed me that Disenchantment still has a chance to be a show that I will, in the future, still enjoy. With fun characters, a decent plot, and some fun writing, I think that this show is shaping up to be a, if not great, pretty good Netflix series!
Oh, and the music is still dope.
Favorite Line: You don't scare me! I was born scared!
Rating: 7.3/10