So, Disenchantment, I'd say this is the season with the most effective gags so far, but it's not an high bar to pass.
It's strange, this is a cartoon where it seem obvious the writers really wanted it to be a story driven show, but none of them could agree what the actual direction should be like and it sometimes felt like they didn't even talk with each others when writing individual episodes.
With that in mind, they actually do a decent job tying everything back together and it's actually nice of them to give satisfying resolution for basically all of the prominent and even some not-so prominent characters.
For the 3 or 4 people in the audience who actually grow to care for any of those characters, at least they delivered in that department.
They completely removed their big twist due to time. I'm pissed.
Also Mora was a non-character they made her sound like she's the greatest person alive.
I think it was a 50 episodes deal from the go.
>They completely removed their big twist due to time
What big twist?
>Also Mora was a non-character
In season 4, I agree, in Season 5, they actually flesh her out and is a character on her own.
> made her sound like she's the greatest person alive.
No longer the case in season 5.
I fricking fell asleep during most of the episodes of the previous season, wtf. The bear woman suplot, those 2 fricking puppets,...
I was awake but I don't even remember that.
Both of this. I fell asleep a few times but I legit can't remember more than two vague episodic plots even though I watched the first three parts.
Is the final season already up? I wish I could have gotten into the show more but it was too inconsistent for me to keep watching. Like you said, the show didn't know what it wanted to be and it's a shame it never found its voice during its entire run. There are a lot of great people working on this show, which is why I'm so surprised by how mid it is. At least, based on your review, it had a strong finish.
They wanted to be story driven but had no actual story in mind. They tried to do the jj abrams thing of just opening mystery boxes, but, while it’s moronic when he does it and results in a lot of discarded plots, unresolved arcs, and general disappointmentment, he’s at least good enough at it that he can make it work for the first 3/4 of a show (though he biffs the endings). The writers on disenchantment had no fricking clue how to write like this so we just get disjunct mystery boxes that never quite take themselves seriously enough, unresolved plots, and then sudden reveals and lightening fast facile resolutions. There was never a moment where I wondered what would happen or where things were going aside from the end of seasons when on the last episode we’d get some sort of cliffhanger. That only lasted until the very first episode of the next season though, when we”d discover it was the mom. It’s always the fricking mom.
Disenchantment felt like the ultimate college BS paper where you’d spend a whole term dicking around and then suddenly have to pull out a term paper from your ass on the very last night. I don’t know if it’s awfulness was due to executive meddling or too many cooks or what, but if the writing team really came up with this and thought they legitimately did a good job, perhaps they pursued the wrong career. It was about as disappointing as the new Star Wars trilogy (which I didn’t even bother finishing) but worse because at least that had some entertaining visual effects.
>he can make it work for the first 3/4 of a show (though he biffs the endings)
Funnily enough, here I think the opposite happened for Disenchantment:
it failed to work for 3/4 of the show but then somehow managed to nail the landing for the final 1/4, despite most of the fly being a plane on fire.
>Disenchantment felt like the ultimate college BS paper where you’d spend a whole term dicking around and then suddenly have to pull out a term paper from your ass on the very last night.
Kek, good comparison
I watched the first 2 episodes because my mother put it on. She fell asleep and while I liked the aesthetics and some of the gags, the action scenes felt weak and it felt unsatisfying how things would happen just to end up right back where they started.
>I think it was a 50 episodes deal from the go.
I think the most indicative clue that Netflix HAD TO produce 50 episodes to begin with is that they dropped the final season at the same time as One Piece.
It shows how little care they still have for the show and how much they want to be done with it. Wouldn't be surprised if there was a renewal close in the contract in case it performs well enough and released it on that day to make sure it doesn't perform well enough to avoid it.
Can you blame Netflix, though? This show was shit and the writers were fundamentally unable to write anything good.
Yeah I think that everybody fell for the big name and brand meme here. They saw "Groening" and assumed it would be the next big shit that everybody would watch and talk about or at least casually watch an episode of. With the plot-centered storytelling on top of it Groening probably made it sound like his magnum opus and time is money so they bit on its success and ordered 50 episodes from the get go, so that the consecutive parts would be released while the iron was still hot.
It's just that names are never a guarantee for quality, let alone success. I remember that even the VIP ad places like the huge ads in subway stations were featuring Disenchantment here (not even america or uk) before it started and then only a few days after its premiere it was all replaced and nobody irl but one guy I ever talked to watched more than the first few episodes.
Can you imagine being a Netflix executive when this happened? Feeling on top of the world because you've got Groening. And then the show comes out, and it's shit and no one cares and you can tell the writers sure as shit don't.
And then the next season comes out and it's the same.
And you've fricking paid for 50 episodes of this dreck.
I'm amazed none of them tried to strangle the guy.
He's probably mindbroken and making posts like these
Enjoy your slide shows with flat backgrounds
The animation is good, maybe a bit slow during some fight scenes, and I remember people getting hyped when Steamland was first introduced because it look amazing. But the story is bad and the humor and characters fall flat.
You just have no taste it’s ok. I’ll be over here loving King Zog
What a shitty season finale.
What was Dagmar's debt to Hell? Why was Satan supposed to marry Bean? Why was it ok to be Dagmar instead? Why was Satan such a b***h when he was teased as some shapeshifting manipulator? What was the point of the crown?
So Alva wanted to marry Bean to link Steamland and Dreamland oh wait no, he needed her for his super secret mission: going to the moon! What?
Ok so the goo is Trogs brains, fine, and the Trogs need tears from heaven to live, fine. Then why would these frickers fly to the moon?
Also thanks for the Counter-Earth tease, frickheads. So this story didn't take place on our Earth? Is that it?
Why is Dagmar so moronic that she lets Bean's friends run around HER castle causing mischief? She always lets them go away. Hell, when Luci bailed with Bad Bean's head she didn't even follow him. He was right there on the other side of the door!
"Shit we don't know who shot Elfo way back in S01... I know! We'll say that the magic ball that shows the past can also make you time travel. Who cares? Also Elfo shot himself, LOL."
Oh yeah Zog's lineage was cursed too. Everybody forgot about that, huh?
In S03 the Trogs told Dagmar to frick off, but now she can walk around them no problem? They're fine with it?
So Bean wanted to destroy the magic and she did it by not destroying the magic at all? Did I get this right?
And Dagmar only ever wanted to be immortal? Really? And she needed a Bean for that but actually not really?
What did the crone say to Bean? We don't know! Man, what a shitshow.
yes it was a big shitshow, we need a big AMA from the Disenchantment writers to explain everything correctly, because there's a ton of things that doesn't make any sense
Why would they ever do it? For one, they clearly don't care even slightly about this show, because if they did they'd not be such lazy shitheads to write this crap. And for another, they have no goddamn explanation because they bad at their job.
Couldn't help but laugh at the window guy, no matter how obvious what he was meant to be.
Also, literally brick joke.
>no matter how obvious what he was meant to be
It only shows how aware they were that they were making shit. The insecure hacks.
What's the context? I didn't watch it, does he observe what's happening and regularly shakes the head?
He's a stand-in for the non braindead viewers who point out inconsistencies in the story. He always ends up being shot with a flaming arrow.
>that level of self-awareness
Man, this is actually sad.
It feels like the people that worked so hard on this were forced to do so but never got any proper direction because the scriptwriter suffers from dementia or something. They just spent their energy animating and animating without even knowing the purpose of the shit they produce. It actually makes me sad to think about how much talent got wasted on this crap and nobody even likes it so none of the people working on this gain any sort of satisfaction from this.
They don't even need him; everyone talks about their mystery boxes like that.
Thank you. This.
Everything would have been forgiven if they committed to the real world twist because then they can just say "Tia was dreaming so of course it doesn't make total sense." But instead we're left with some hollow commentary that if you hate your mom so much you gotta kill her.
>Everything would have been forgiven if they committed to the real world twist
No, that would have been lame and pointless.
>"Tia was dreaming so of course it doesn't make total sense."
I try to not call writers hack, that complain has been used so often it has rendered the word meaningless, but had they actually do that, I would have called them hacks.
>oh wait no, he needed her for his super secret mission: going to the moon! What?
I think it's simply he thought going to the moon would whoo her. He was simping hard for Bean.
If only it was that easy. He mentions needing Bean's magic for his mission, like he needed her magic earlier to create electricity or some shit.
>So Bean wanted to destroy the magic and she did it by not destroying the magic at all? Did I get this right?
I think it's better we didn't get this way, though.
Destroying magic in those worlds is like getting rid of electricity. Like, sure, maybe it caused some problems, but the overall good surpasses the negatives. It's downright moronic. At least Disenchantment had a better finale than Star Vs.
>And Dagmar only ever wanted to be immortal? Really?
And all powerful with Magic too.
>What did the crone say to Bean?
Oh, I actually know because I am not a native English speaker and I had the subtitles on. she said someone really close to Bean would betray her (I guess it was Bean herself (or bad Bean) being responsible for the death of Mora)
>subtitles
Oh yeah you're right. It translates to "the only one who can betray you is the one you trust the most." So herself? Or Bad Bean yeah, from a certain point of you. Meh.
Technically, it actually works as a warning for Mora rather than Bean.
Many people have pointed out the obvious problems:
>youtube essays
> Why is Dagmar so moronic that she lets Bean's friends run around HER castle causing mischief? She always lets them go away. Hell, when Luci bailed with Bad Bean's head she didn't even follow him. He was right there on the other side of the door!
Shit like this made me feel like I missed something in the show because it didn’t make sense. Like when Bad Bean gets killed and Dagmar runs off, but the next scene she’s talking about how she won.
So, did Zog at least get a happy ending? He's the only character I care about and him going through shit for most of the series was sad.
>So, did Zog at least get a happy ending?
Yes. He get to retire as a king and go live in the woods with his bear wife, which he probably frick a lot, as well as his bear son and Vip and Vap too.
Wait I thought his bear waifu died? Or that was just what they wanted me to believe?
At any rate good for him, poor frickers needs to rest after all he went through.
She disappeared in the fire but was actually captured by the Freak Show owner.
>Admits Ursula is his one true love
>The last words she has in the show are "We're going to have LOTS of sex"
>TFW Zøg achieves Nirvana and has all the cubs with the one woman he understands
What of the mermaid?
She's Bean one true love now because they kissed underwater a couple of times.
Bad Bean, with an illusion Spell, make Bean kill Mora.
Jerry kill God with a birck
Luci bring back God to life thanks to finding out some spar lighbulbs
Luci get one wish as a reward and he ask God to bring Mora back to life
Mora and Bean get to go live together on a beach shack. Both topless.
They actually go on a whole rescue mission together and there is an episode where Bean go around carrying Mora in her arm to wander in every corner of the castle.
>whole rescue mission
Yes and Mora was dead weight the whole time, but I guess Bean needed her to find the pawn shop.
Mora used her connections in that lady bar to help find it.
I watched like the first season, my biggest complaint is that it is a parody not made out of love or appreciation for the genre.
The people who wrote for Futurama clearly loved sci-fi and it's evident in their jokes and plots.
Yeah but at least Giggles showed up. He’s so hot.
For me, it's old man Touchy.
I never got past the first season, qrd?
It's mostly shit with no worthy payoff.
doesn't surprise me
I'd say there is pay off if you care more about the characters than the plot. It look like the writers were doing a "best end for all characters" run.
>So what’s your guys opinion on Netflix OP?
Didn't watch it. Never got into One Piece somehow.
>*helicopter noises*
There was no point for this scene except its own sake and I am fine with it.
RIP Voop
>lol, you guys thought we had a plan?
Much subversion. Much whoa.
I will say this, Making the mop-girl the new ruler make at least more sense than how they concluded Games of Throne.
Hmmmmm.
Well, Elfo's father had to go out at some point to frick some orc and then come back, so we knew this wasn't true for a while.
Pops didn't have to be Returno. He could have been Salesmano, I dunno.
IT make sense that the Elf who went away and came back would named Returno, though.
That's true. A bit weird to tell Elfo "your dad never came back" when he did come back, though.
My guess is that Elfo only know his dad as Pops.
What was her problem?
Elfo is the best character and I'm sick of plebbitors hating on him.
I kinda like that they turned the fact that nobody stayed dead in this show in an actual plot point. Or at least tried to.
new season out now? im living under a rock..
It came out at the same time as the One Piece live-action show.
Don’t follow one piece whatever
>this is a cartoon where it seem obvious the writers really wanted it to be a story driven show
I don't know; maybe they just did that because long-form storytelling is fashionable now, especially on streaming services to encourage binge-watching. It could be as bland and cynical a motivation as that.
>What kind of monster would steal our cab. Now how are gonna get around?
>A baby carriage, perfect!
I'll admit that one got me.
I’ll admit a lot of the jokes this season were solid, more so than 3 or 4
Did you mean finale?
Sure.
Disenchantment is a steaming pile of disappointment, that's what it is. For me it had such a strong start but each season it got worse and worse as the serialization progressed, it become clear the show was juggling all those moving pieces let a lot of them simply fall and be forgotten by the finale.
THe entire deal with steamland is basically dropped and made in to a gag, elfo and bean relationship is forgotten and elfo is given Miri as a consolation prize, the entire deal with the mermaid dying is just elfo dying again, but worse and with a even worse pay-off. Lucy is basically also forgotten and becomes another background character despite all the prophecy and the entire deal being about the trio somehow saving dreamland, something that truly never even happens. By the end they are all separated doing their own thing complete detached from one another.
I'm pretty this show got derailed at some point and it become what it did because on the writing theme wanted to do different things with the characters, so midway through they just dropped whatever they had planned to simply do what they wanted and this "final" season is just a quickie wrap it up to rush to an ending because they gave up. Honestly, we truly live in one of the worse timelines.
>elfo and bean relationship is forgotten and elfo is given Miri as a consolation prize
It isn't. They become good friends.
>the entire deal with the mermaid dying is just elfo dying again
Not really the same situation at all.
>Lucy is basically also forgotten and becomes another background character
Uh? He plays an active role in basically every episodes.
But I never feel he makes part of all the background drama going on, he had so little to do with him they just throw him as somehow son of satan to give him any sort of drama.
He is just there, he still funny and he still appears but he has no important role in what is happening until the end, that is basically thrown at him just so they can say he had anything.
The entire deal with god dying is so far removed from everything that might as well not happen, you have all this drama about dreamland, magic and b***h and oh yeah, "god died and no realises lol".
In the first season he had an active actually clear goal, he has Bean shoulder demon there to corrupt her to the dark side, he drops that and becomes her friend but ultimately since he died he lacks any real plot purpose. And normally I wound't even care but the show explicitly says and tells you all the time how important the trio is, but by the end they aren't even together. Is just disappointment.
This whole show just feels like a missed opportunity. The plot was always bad, but even the main trio of bean, elfo, and luci never seemed to really work well either.
Every time I watch this show I just wish I was watching The Simpsons instead
Why the frick did the insane asylum episode hype up “Bean has to completely erase Dagmar from existence, possibly at the cost of her own existence”, and then completely disregard it in the final fight? Bean doesn’t even bring it up or think about it again. Dagmar doesn’t even die. It’s like the writers are actively trying to have every aspect of this show make zero sense
>Dagmar doesn’t even die.
Let's talk about this a bit more. Manifestly, Dagmar is now immortal. She can live without her brain (like the immortal Trogs she fed on for a while) and survived being impaled.
Dreamland is still magic since in the end Bean didn't destroy shit, so what are we left with? We're left with a witchy, immortal Dagmar in a cage she can leave whenever she wants (she fits between the bars) and who still has access to magic.
How is this a win again?
did you not remember what the trogs said? they have to continuously suck rock to stay alive. she will eventually die.
>she will eventually die.
She can leave her cage easily, anon. There's nothing stopping her from harvesting some heavenly tears.
That was the original plan for the series. Bean decides to rid the universe of all magic because Dagmar is only vying for power because she's got magic. It's a wiser choice because it means Bean and Dagmar can still exist. Bean rids the world of magic and wakes up as Tia in the real world. The Dagmar of reality is just as manipulative as she was in Dreamland by abusing legal loopholes and paying off people she finds useful.
Source?
I need, NEED, to frick that evil mom.
Dagmar's pretty hot alright.
I couldn't bear finishing "season" 3. I think I have rarely ever seen such a weird fricking show in my life. Boring weird, sadly, not bizarro weird.
I cannot even explain it. It feels like a young newb that absolutely wanted to create a story too one day had noted all kinds of shit ideas down to implement them but had no idea how to actually write them in and connect them. It also feels inexperienced, like baby's first deconstruction of fantasy that little kids would come up with to make fun of fantasy.
>It's strange, this is a cartoon where it seem obvious the writers really wanted it to be a story driven show, but none of them could agree what the actual direction should be like and it sometimes felt like they didn't even talk with each others when writing individual episodes.
Like the time South Park went for serialized storytelling it feels like older writers jumping on the bandwagon without knowing how to do it.
At least SP did it at the height of the Netflix-fueled serialization fad; today there's more of a backlash in favor of episodic storytelling.
Meanwhile, say what you will about the Selman-era Simpsons, he went the other way and encouraged the writers to just take advantage of the fact that every episode resets and no one ever remembers anything they learned, and concentrate on making high-concept episodes.
Dagmar reminds me of someone I know. Same speech pattern and mannerisms.
>not her looks
Too bad.
The whole show is underwhelming and nothing has weight behind it. The villains can have be on the verge of total victory but have their plans ruined at the last second and just seem mildly annoyed about. There is almost no commitment to characters dying and characters that should be half way around the world casually run into each other making the world seem so small. Concepts like time travel can be discovered and discarded within the same episode with little more than a shrug. I understand that they were rushed to end it but I don’t feel that much sympathy given that they wasted so much time in the past seasons doing nothing.
>the writers really wanted it to be a story driven show
No. Or if they did, they were too incompetent to manage anything, and I don't think it's some sort of disagreement either, just that they simply aren't capable of writing a story driven show.
Yeah it was a Groening show, they thought they had something there. Then it turns out the writers don't know how to handle fantasy because they're shitty scifi nerds, and they also don't know how to write anything but self-contained episodes so trying to set up a storyline through a season, never mind multiple ones, would never work.
Watched the first two episodes of this season, laughed more than I have at the vast majority of everything else coming out today and was once again impressed by the effort put into the dynamic and detailed animation. It’s nice to have further reaffirmation that Cinemaphile doesn’t know its butthole from its elbow.
What I hate is how the series gets better on pacing for each episode from part 3-4, but at the same time, they threw the story out because they had no chapters left. Parts 1 and 2 were really slow and the chapters were too long, I like more how it works when they have limits for each episode, like Simpsons or Futurama