Review: Dead Pixels “Tanadaal”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

A brand new movie version of Kingdom Scrolls has been announced, but Meg and Nicky are not happy. Vince Vaughn is set to star as the main character Tanadaal, and they have an endless supply of complaints about the casting. They set about changing the news, trying everything from protesting in-game to sending the actor hate on social media. Their struggle ends in success, although it also ends with Vaughn crashing his car into a tree.

Meanwhile, Russell gets in a heap of trouble when he invites a gaming friend to his house IRL. Nicky and Usman try to guilt him over it, until he basically thinks he’s about to be sent to prison. Meg tries to intervene, but ends up egging them on a bit. The episode ends with the young boy coming to the house and getting semi-adopted by Russell and his mother.

Our Take:

The second episode of Dead Pixels continues its blend of gaming and comedy to create an accessible storyline that almost everyone can relate to: complaining about a casting choice in the movie version of your favorite existing property. Nicky and Meg’s plot in the episode really mines the most comedy out of the situation, and it’s a great way to get the two mixing together more than the premiere did. Russell’s part of the episode isn’t quite as interesting, but there’s still some chuckles to be found as he ends up befriending a 14-year-old gamer from Switzerland.

The opening scene, where Meg runs into a girl and tries to play gaming gatekeeper, isn’t a great start to the episode. Luckily, everything that follows is much better. Meg and Nicky’s past relationship was hinted at in the premiere, and in this episode, we really get to see what the two of them see in each other. They’re both equally passionate when it comes to Kingdom Scrolls, and the way they play off each other is sweet. It’s fun to watch their escapades escalate, especially when it comes to Meg and her enlisting the help of a group of alt-right trolls. It may not be her best moment, but the move is effective. Nicky banging his sword around was helpful too, I guess.

Russell’s storyline about inviting a young boy over to his house has its moments, but not all of them are good ones. While the jokes about his ignorance of gaming etiquette is fun, it gets a little weird when the kid shows up at the house and Nicky and Usman almost talk him into ramming the shower door down. (Why was the kid in the shower?) I think the start of the storyline was fine, but the longer it went on, the less funny and more strange it got. Which could be a bonus depending on your point of view.

In its second episode, Dead Pixels does a nice job exploring more of the world of Kingdom Scrolls while keeping things fresh with new situations and characters. So far, I think my favorite characters have been the ones on the sideline. Russell’s mom is wonderfully cheeky, and her harried conversation with him about the Swedish boy is hilarious. But the funniest thing of all in the show to me is Usman and his family. He’s only shown sitting on his couch, with his wife and daughter’s voices heard but not seen. Today, we heard his daughter struggling to hold a ladder, then a warning that Mommy “isn’t moving.” The episode ends with him praising his daughter for successfully opening Mommy’s blue pills.