The marketing for this in my country was more or less spot on:
Animated grotesquery that is utterly unpretentious but at it's heart there is indeed some pertinent commentary on the lives we lead.
With it's washed out green-brown-grey color scheme and, shall we say, *efficient* animation, this paints a sordid picture of modern life where hypocrisy, bullying and disappointment hide around every corner.
Jeff is more or less likable as an everyman protagonist when he isn't getting on a high horse. His three room mates provide some gags but over all they're only there to provide the magical/sciency gadgets that enable the episode to become a thought experiment.
It takes that Futurama/Rick and Morty vibe but turns the negativity factor way up. Yes, a lot of the plots are intriguing and satisfying in that speculative fiction way and they apply the old tropes with a certain freshness and all done with schoolboy panache.
I do have an issue with this show (asides its admittedly appropriate animation style) and it's hard to put into words. I like dark humor a lot. I'm usually totally the guy defending the rape and suicide jokes in this and that. You can be conscientious and still have a good laugh at terrible scenarios you know. But this show takes it to a sadistic degree where the darkness BECOMES the humor. I know that sounds pedantic but the number of times, for example, when Jeff through impulsiveness or whatever, misses out on basically living happily ever after. It's that lazy comedy approach where they come up with the superlative reward but snatch it away: "You COULD have had this. But no".
I find that way more distasteful than ordinary dark humor.
I want to praise the Marxian undertones of this series though the bleakness did get a bit under my skin.
Two episodes that didn't appeal as much as the others 1) when Jeff is able to impersonate a teenage girl (it makes sense in context) and his douchebag landlord is just evil.
And 2) an episode that feels like it was funded by the Swedish tourism board. It's nauseating and in addition to that has a really dull premise and a boring gadget concept.
Ultimately, there is a good ending. This show, like many others, was good enough to deserve a season made but not second.
Animated grotesquery that is utterly unpretentious but at it's heart there is indeed some pertinent commentary on the lives we lead.
With it's washed out green-brown-grey color scheme and, shall we say, *efficient* animation, this paints a sordid picture of modern life where hypocrisy, bullying and disappointment hide around every corner.
Jeff is more or less likable as an everyman protagonist when he isn't getting on a high horse. His three room mates provide some gags but over all they're only there to provide the magical/sciency gadgets that enable the episode to become a thought experiment.
It takes that Futurama/Rick and Morty vibe but turns the negativity factor way up. Yes, a lot of the plots are intriguing and satisfying in that speculative fiction way and they apply the old tropes with a certain freshness and all done with schoolboy panache.
I do have an issue with this show (asides its admittedly appropriate animation style) and it's hard to put into words. I like dark humor a lot. I'm usually totally the guy defending the rape and suicide jokes in this and that. You can be conscientious and still have a good laugh at terrible scenarios you know. But this show takes it to a sadistic degree where the darkness BECOMES the humor. I know that sounds pedantic but the number of times, for example, when Jeff through impulsiveness or whatever, misses out on basically living happily ever after. It's that lazy comedy approach where they come up with the superlative reward but snatch it away: "You COULD have had this. But no".
I find that way more distasteful than ordinary dark humor.
I want to praise the Marxian undertones of this series though the bleakness did get a bit under my skin.
Two episodes that didn't appeal as much as the others 1) when Jeff is able to impersonate a teenage girl (it makes sense in context) and his douchebag landlord is just evil.
And 2) an episode that feels like it was funded by the Swedish tourism board. It's nauseating and in addition to that has a really dull premise and a boring gadget concept.
Ultimately, there is a good ending. This show, like many others, was good enough to deserve a season made but not second.