I remembered when I finished season 6, that I read that the showrunner (Adam Muto) had said that season 7 would be less heady, and I was pleased here to find that this is mostly a very good decision. I had enjoyed the previous seasons expanding worlds and characters, and pushing darker ideas within the frame of this colorful kid's cartoon, however some of the stand-alone episodes reminded me that the show could also do great things in 11 minutes without this huge connection. Season 7 doesn't totally lose connection with everything that it has done before and the direction it has gone, but at the same time there is a definite step into standalone episodes which are contained, fun, interesting, and smart.
Although the background of the show is important to watch it, it is not as necessary as seasons going deeper – here there is usually something you'll not get if you are just jumping in, but those episodes will still work for you in that moment. I liked the approach to have more character-driven episodes too – in particular the vampire series early in the season, acting as a sort of mini- series within the season. There are other episodes which standalone in terms of that episode, but that continues to touch on the wider world, draw in other characters, and generally do enough to satisfy fans of the approach of season 6, without doing that type of thing in that way.
It gets this balance right throughout, but at the same time doesn't forget to make the episodes fresh, engaging, and entertaining. I can think of very few this season that did not keep the quality high, and delivers plenty of value in many different ways. The previous six seasons have set a very high bar, but season 7 continues it.
Although the background of the show is important to watch it, it is not as necessary as seasons going deeper – here there is usually something you'll not get if you are just jumping in, but those episodes will still work for you in that moment. I liked the approach to have more character-driven episodes too – in particular the vampire series early in the season, acting as a sort of mini- series within the season. There are other episodes which standalone in terms of that episode, but that continues to touch on the wider world, draw in other characters, and generally do enough to satisfy fans of the approach of season 6, without doing that type of thing in that way.
It gets this balance right throughout, but at the same time doesn't forget to make the episodes fresh, engaging, and entertaining. I can think of very few this season that did not keep the quality high, and delivers plenty of value in many different ways. The previous six seasons have set a very high bar, but season 7 continues it.
