Disenchantment, Netflix's new animated show from Matt Groening

All the more optimistic viewers are expecting that the second season will be an improvement. Let's hope that prediction is true.

Seen the whole thing yesterday. It's okay, it got promise. I liked the voice performance. The comedy is a bit weak, though, and the plot doesn't really take off until the very last two episodes. I do hope they'll be able to attract some better writers for the next season, but overall, I'd give it a six-and-a-half for now.

It's what I'd rate it at too.

I honestly wasn't expecting any kind of plot, so the sudden arrival of one was a pleasant surprise. I went in just expecting Medieval Simpsons with a female protagonist and a hilarious devil.

My favorite episode is the one with Tess, the giant grad student that Elfo said was TOTES HIS GIRLFRIEND FROM OUT OF STATE. The way Luci hands Elfo his own bullshit excuse story to try and convince Bean and Luci was pretty funny, and Tess was a really fun character to have around. I was really sad when she left at the end of the episode.

I also love that all of this happened as a result of a vision quest for enlightenment that, unlike pretty much every vision quest in media, really was just a total bullshit hallucination with no secret meaning or purpose of any kind. Bean's delivery of that revelation is perfect. "But I had a vision and it told me—oh, drugs are bad."

I'm checking it out.

Liking it so far to be honest. Getting some good chuckles out of me.

I've been hearing some ho-hum, but my friend gave it a high recommendation and we watched the first few episodes together. Early Futurama is a good comparison, the pacing is slow and the characters seem sedated, but there is a ton of clever lines and sight gags to keep things interesting. I got a good laugh every few minutes, which is refreshing. Other modern animated shows rely on spastic energy to be funny. The gnomes vs. ogres battle was when I really started to get the joke, the whole series plays better if you're familiar with various fantasy/medieval settings (much like Futurama and sci-fi).

Right now Elfo is the standout character, the biggest gag in the first episode is that he is the most cynical elf among elves, but is still overly cheerful among the rest of the world. Bean is the typical "I want freedom" princess, and adding a love of gambling, bar fights and beer is not that inventive. Luci has a number of good lines, but doesn't really factor into the plots very much, just acting as a devil on the shoulder making Bender-like jokes.

I'd argue that's what keeps Luci interesting rather than becoming an overbearing jackass that Bender became for me by the end of Futurama. Luci doesn't exist to DO the evil amoral things in the world. He exists to TEMPT Bean to do the evil and amoral things.

It's probably one of the only times where a character having LESS agency makes them better.

I'm only on episode 4, so I don't quite have full context. But I'm concerned that Luci will just be a Greek Chorus-like commentator, even most of his temptations are pushing Bean in a way she wants to go anyway. It's also a joke that other characters dismiss him as a cat, which adds to the feeling that the character is just incidental to the story. Of course, it is obvious that Luci's handlers will be tied into the Myth Arc "This will take several weeks. We should probably get chairs."

I liked the three core characters a great deal. The series is good. It just has room to grow. It probably would have been better with more episodes, but that would be less Netflix friendly.

I really really REALLY hated Bender by the end of Futurama, so "Toned down Bender" seems attractive to me since he was better when he wasnt such a walking asshole.

Lucie is A LOT more active later on and plays a bit of a Smart Guy (or 'Not-Dumbass' as might be more accurate) role by the end. In fact, of the 3 leads, he's probably the most primed to actually save the day. But, he's also the least developed of the three with Bean and Elfo having a lot more stakes in the plot than he does.

Which its probably good he gets pushed to the forefront during the cliffhanger as that's the best spot for character development and exploration.

He's the kind of character that doesn't need a lot of development, though. Luci isn't supposed to be a fleshed-out three-dimensional person, because he's literally a demon from Hell who exists to tempt Bean. The basic concept of the character is such that a one-dimensional archetype would have served his narrative purpose just fine.

Making it all the more satisfying and intriguing when he does wind up being more two-dimensional and somewhat less single-minded than one might expect from such a character.

I would say that when it comes to the first two episodes that Luci is definitely the weak link, for the reason that meeting him and knowing who he is barely registers as odd to anyone. Especially when its said that overt magic is exceedingly rare, having an actual demon hellspawn wandering around the characters with no questions being asked seems to be a contradiction. In essence it's a Weirdness Censor that nearly breaks the setting.

The third episode with the exorcism was too obviously A Day in the Limelight to give Luci some character development, but at least going forward we understand where he stands. And its clear the show is trying to build stronger relationships between the main trio.

I wonder what we can expect from Season 2.

Hopefully more actual funny bits.

And more Zog. He's the one good character.

I see some theories floating around suggesting that Dagmar (and by extension Bean) are related to Cloyd or the Enchantress. How likely is it that Bean could be the niece of one of these two?

Directly related? No idea. But Dagmar is without question playing for their team. They're aligned with the mice-worshipping kingdom of Maru, which exterminated the snake-worshipping Cremorrah using a petrifying potion. This is the same petrifying potion we see Dagmar wipe out Dreamland with in the season finale.

She and Bean also leave on a ship crewed by demon-looking creatures, and we know the Maru cultists sent Luci to Bean.

I'm about halfway through season one and enjoying it just enough to keep going - I'm especially interested in this season ending arc I keep hearing about.

I also find it sort of funny that we're discussing Luci being a two dimensional character when he's also literally two dimensional design-wise. Maybe there's some deliberate Stealth Pun in there? I like his character design btw - kinda emphasizes that he's not of this earth, and makes him seem like an illustration from some medieval manuscript come to life

I want to see Queen Oona and Prince Derek get bigger roles. I think Oona should at least help Zog and have a better relationship with her stepdaughter.

I agree. Oona and Derek barely played any significant roles for most of the story so far. Even in the episode where they visit Dankmire, Oona was still way too Out of Focus for some bizarre reason (you'd think they would've taken that missed opportunity to explore more of her backstory there). And Derek rarely even had any dialogue throughout the first season. At the very least, they do need to show up more (and interact more frequently with Bean) next season.

They both survived the petrification spell, so I think they'll get bigger roles. Oona of course left for Dankmire, but Derek was rather conspicuously put in a high tower instead of his normal room (which would have been in danger).

I wonder how long it takes until Elfo and all the statues in Dreamland get resurrected just like Dagmar.

I give it one, maybe two, episodes.

I'm looking forward to seeing Bean massively misuse her eventual magical powers.

In fact, I feel like once she actually learns to use them she won't keep them too long, because she's exactly the sort of person to use them all the time.

I think it'd be too easy to get rid of them. Let her keep them and give Luci more sway over her that way.