Review: Brickleberry ‘Miracle Lake’
Spoilers Below
To be completely honest, I was a bit apprehensive toward Brickleberry prior to the first season’s premiere. Really, another cartoon sitcom featuring humans and a token talking, anthropomorphic animal? Hasn’t this been played out a lot lately? (see: Guy, Family; Dad, American; Show, The Cleveland.) But hey, I love animated comedies, and with a cast consisting of names like Daniel Tosh, Kaitlin Olson, David Herman, Jerry Minor, and Tom Kenny (the man of a thousand voices, most notably the bff of kids and stoners alike: Spongebob Squarepants) Brickleberry was definitely worth a look.
And it delivered. Quirky in a child-like way – but inappropriate in every other way – Brickleberry (a creation of Roger Black and Waco O’Guin) is a genuinely funny, well-produced comedy, and a much-needed addition to the lineup of Comedy Central original programming.
After wrapping up the first ten-episode season last December, Brickleberry on Tuesday, September 3rd for round two. In the premiere, “Miracle Lake,” the Brickle Gang discovered that one of the park’s lakes possesses magical healing powers, and attempt to capitalize on this fact by donning religious evangelist garb and performing mass curing sessions, complete with gospel singers. In an alternate storyline, Denzel and Ethel discover a prehistoric cavewoman, whom the former intends to bed as the world’s oldest woman.
Anytime religion is lampooned, it’s generally funny, and this episode was no exception. There were ample gags, beginning with the opening scene, which also featured the nub-limbed and hilarious Firecracker Jim. However, Woody gets the most attention out of any character, and this takes away from a bit of the laughs. In this writer’s humble opinion, the self-absorbed, dim-witted Ranger Steve is a much funnier character, and might have fared a bit better in the episode’s lead role. In the end, he actually gets the least amount of screen time (or maybe second to Connie) and this was a bit of a bummer. Also, I feel like Steve would be a bit more likely to run an enormous ruse anyway (at least from a moral standpoint) than Head Ranger Woody.
Regardless, the cute, cuddly & offensive Malloy managed to get into both storylines for some extra laughs, and it ended up still being an entertaining start to the second season.
Comedienne Natasha Leggero also did a nice job replacing the recently-departed Kaitlin Olson in the role of Ethel, making for a smooth transition from last year.
Although Brickleberry caught some initial flak for its obvious intent to offend with a slew of racist, morally-corrupt, and blasphemous jokes, it nevertheless established a solid base of snarky writing, well-developed characters, and outstanding voice acting. If Brickleberry’s sophomore season can match its first, and perhaps establish its own well-defined niche within the animated series community, this show could become a comedic force for years to come.
Do we know if Hulu will be the only entity to have the dub, or if it will be on other platforms, too? The show in general is definitely going to be on multiple platforms.