Review: Universal Basic Guys “The Devil You Know”

Mark insists on teaching his son Darren how to throw a handmade boomerang that was gifted to Darren by his father; the two soon find themselves on a trek deep into the Jersey woods; David is the recipient of a sex doll that he swears he didn’t order.

Our Take

THERE WE GO! You may recall just a few weeks ago I mentioned wanting to see more plots from Universal Basic Guys derived from New Jersey-centric ideas, I give you an episode all about one of the most under appreciated features about being from the Garden State, that being how weird New Jersey is. So much so, we got a whole magazine (and later TV show) about it called Weird NJ.

Show creators Adam and Craig Malamut clearly lean into the spooky-mythos of New Jersey lore with a bit featuring the iconic Jersey Devil (voiced by the just as iconic Jon Glaser). Granted we seem to get a bit of inspiration from “Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty” in that Mark’s stepson Darren eventually bonds with the fabled creature, but Universal Basic Guys does a good job of establishing a first act with a somewhat stereotypical Alpha kid that typically wants to stay inside all day and play videogames, so we get a bit more of conflict to set up the rest of the show that helps differentiate from the aforementioned Rick and Morty episode.

Let’s talk Darren. I really like the kid, and divorced families are a rarity in animated family comedies, so the fact that we’re getting that sort of set up for the possibility of further interesting plot points down the road having to do with a stepfather wanting to connect with his stepson, makes for a far more interesting series down the road. Slowly, but surely, Universal Basic Guys is building out several foundations of which the franchise can continue to kick off new stories down the road and I am here for it.

Clearly, this week’s episode of Universal Basic Guys was meant to be a Halloween episode and I question FOX’s logic airing the episode on a random Sunday night as opposed to lining it up with a Treehouse of Horror premiere so this way you get the theme in for the night, but with the network also eschewing a Halloween episode of Family Guy for Hulu to get, who knows? In any event, I really enjoyed the creepy house with the silly caretakers to boot and enjoyed the ride along to their ridiculous sacrifice. Is it a bit hokey? Sure, but this really is a New Jersey story through and through.

I can’t finish this review without mentioning David and Andrea’s bit with the $6000 sex doll. While the premise and plot were very funny, I can’t help but see some pullback for when the show wants to get a tad more crass. It seems every week the show wants to go there but either the producers are being told to keep everything PG or the network is sending down notes from 1995 and not understanding that in the year 2024 if you want your animated sitcom to really get some attention you have to let your writers and producers loose to do so. Your jobs are to get people talking about your show, you can’t just tap people on the shoulders anymore, you gotta hit people with a sledgehammer to get your point across. So, WHOMEVER, is making THOSE decisions needs to take a seat and not be afraid to get in trouble, because as the whole adage goes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The job of animated comedies is to make noise.

Otherwise, we get another hilarious episode of Universal Basic Guys, and so far this show is dishing out the quality football slices this series should be shooting for.