Season Review: Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series Season Two

 

 

Canada’s own poverty-stricken entertainment sensations never stop giving. First premiering in 1999, over 20 years later and the Trailer Park Boys continue to amuse fans the world over. For those that are keeping tally, the Canadian underdogs have now released 12 live-action seasons, 3 feature-length films, 4 TV specials, a spin-off series, a video game and 2 animated seasons. Hundreds of hours of content without even mentioning the live performances that have taken these guys the world over.

Nobody would have expected this low-budget mockumentary to carry such popularity through the decades. Best guess would have had this franchise sizzling out at least ten years ago. However, Trailer Park Boys continues to be as edgy and entertaining as ever.

The franchise expanded further last year when the first season of Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series was released internationally on Netflix. The new format opened the doors for the series to go places that were never possible before. Cashing in on animation’s limitlessness, we witnessed the boys first meeting as children, and spend weeks on the International Space Station.

Needless to say, season one was a rousing success. The Trailer Park Boys once again delivered a critically acclaimed series that gained a healthy 8/10 here at Bubbleblabber. In October of last year, Mike Smith (a.k.a. Bubbles) announced that a follow-up was on its way. The wait was not that long, as season two of the animated series dropped on Netflix on May 22, 2020.

The funny thing about Trailer Park Boys undeniable success is that our expectations never get out of control. The low-budget format of the live-action series assured that fans never expected anything unreasonable from the franchise. When it comes to Trailer Park Boys you can estimate what you are going to get. 

Usually, it includes drugs, schemes, a lot of alcohol, and a few embarrassing injuries. This animated season keeps those promises in spades, which leaves a lot of room for bonuses.

The boys may not make it back to space this season, but the antics are just as wild. Each episode is as unique as the next now that the Trailer Park Boys live in an animated world (which is due to them being high on mushrooms in season one episode one). In one moment, Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles will be pitching their million-dollar idea to the Dragon Tank, twenty-five minutes later they will be debating which one of them will be starring in a gay porno. There is no roof in a season where they buy a jetpack and join a cannabis-growing cult.

Despite the outlandish storytelling, Trailer Park Boys stays true to its roots. Majority of the happenings occur in the trailer park and involve all their friends and family. Ricky takes care of his family, even throwing Mo a birthday bash. As always Bubbles takes care of his kittens, going as far as to become mayor. Even Jim Lahey remains a part of the show posthumously with previously recorded audio from John Dunsworth.

As always, the Trailer Park Boys stay on guard and represent Canada well. The boys deal with local problems including the legalization of recreational pot. Surprisingly, they even deal with the nationwide issue of scammers disguising themselves as the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency), which stole millions of dollars out of the pockets of Canadians. Though these things may be old news in a 2020 filled with drama, it is great to see content with local narratives shared on the world stage.

A tradition for the Animated Series seems to be forming as well. In the first season, we saw a special episode involving the boys as children and forming their ragtag trio. This season another flashback to 1979 shows us the boys as children once more. This time we venture back to the first time that they ever smoked weed. It also happens to be their first scheme and jail time, but the joint is more substantial to these three.

And, if there was any way for the Trailer Park Boys to end a season, they pulled it off this year. In place of bad things happening to your favourite characters, this time around they get to live their dreams. 

The boys come into a cool half-million dollars and go on a shopping spree. Sure, the episode was about fraud and they must fake Ricky’s death, but it is worth it. If you ever wanted to see how the Trailer Park Boys would spend an obscene amount of money, this is the season finale for you.

Some amazing writing went into this season to develop such exciting plots. Unfortunately, the humour of Trailer Park Boys will always be of a lower brow. Fart and gay jokes don’t carry the same amount of humour for many of us as it did in the early 2000s. Cannabis is legal, homosexuality is widely accepted, and the world is a different place. 

Even a show that defines disadvantaged life in Canada should have higher expectations of what is comedy. Thankfully the plots have moved further than the one-liners because the situational comedy carries this series.

Some extra work went into developing the animation for season two and it is a noticeable difference. Not to say that season one’s visuals were flawed in any way. Animated sitcoms tend to have some upgrades after the first season. Where the pressure in a first release involve producing from scratch, the next round allows the artists to add tweaks and details. 

Most of these additions involve an extra panel for a head turn and smoother motions such as that. For the Trailer Park Boys, the extra work pays off in big ways. There are even some ambitious moves including a 3-D animated carousel and a crashed Ferrari.

This franchise deserves to be commended for how far it has come. The animated series is so professionally written and developed it is hard to believe these are the same boys that used to grow weed in the back seat of their car. 

They have come a long way. And as easy as it would be to say that we love them for nostalgia and dedication, this series is better than that.  Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series is great in its own right and much better than you would expect. There is a serious effort put into making the best show possible and that care comes across to the viewers.

What I am trying to say is the season was decent.