Review: Fired on Mars The God of War;Back in the High Life Again – Bubbleblabber

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)Jeff continues warming up to the secret society hes been inducted into, who call themselves The Buckies. They continue making plans to escape the colony and make their own, with Blackjack and Hookers! Soon, Jeffs given a new task and says goodbye to Mr. Buchinsky, but not before the guy gives him a new prosthetic finger. The new task is feeding hordes of grasshoppers twice a day, as they will serve as proteins in the new colony, and soon after that, he heads out on an expedition to scope out where to place the new colony, but he gets separated by a dust storm with another member, Shiela, and bonds with her, but only seconds after being rescued, Sheila breaks her helmet and dies as a result. However, a new wrinkle occurs: Jeff is named Creative Director in absence of Midori Yamamoto, whos been stranded somewhere. Between all of these changes and experiences, Jeff misses dinner with Jax.Later, Jeff adjusts to balancing his role as Creative Director and meeting with the Buckies. He steals Mr. Buchinskys cuckoo clock to automate the process for feeding the grasshoppers, but Buchinsky soon finds it and the grasshoppers get fed too much, leading them to flood the entire colony. Jeff gets tasked with creating ad material for the Marsversary, but clashes with a fellow designer and has to pivot. On the bright side, he does manage to score a proper date with Crystal, who shares her dreams of creating a civilization on Mars. This tender moment is sadly spoiled when the grasshoppers swarm the place, potentially uncovering the Buckies operation to the rest of the colony.OUR TAKEWhen I first started watching Fired on Mars, my feelings were less than positive. Im all for animation getting more chances to show its more than toy commercials or Family Guy clones, and this show is definitely a bolder step than those. The problem for me, at least at first, was mainly that the character of Jeff was JUST. SO. SAD. Horrible things happened to him out of nowhere through no fault of his own, but then when given opportunities to change and improve, he either wouldnt take them or have even more terrible things happen against his will. All that made me feel for him was pity and morbid curiosity about how things could possibly get worse, not feel very invested in his story. That somewhat changed by the fourth episode, when he found the Buckies, but I had my doubts things would actually move towards the more optimistic and interesting. If youre only ever feeling pity and shame for the lead character, even if thats a different feeling than usual, is that a story youre going to want to keep watching? It really seemed like the only thing coming Jeffs way was more heartbreak and removing tiny appendages.The fifth episode seems to finally be a significant turning point, and thank god for that because were apparently only getting eight episodes instead of ten like Velma got. Instead of trying and failing to fit into the restrictive and demeaning corporate culture he was imprisoned in at the start of the season, Jeff has actually found himself a legitimate cause to fight for, namely breaking free from this colony and pioneering a better life for himself and other freethinkers. But that path is one fraught with peril, failure, and even potential death, which is embodied by people like Sheila, someone who doubts the very prospect of making this whole trip out and even ends up dying because of a slight trip, as well as Crystal, who is just as desperate as Jeff to make sure her life meant something after all. And even then, it seems the corporate world finally has something Jeff wants right before hes trying to leave, the Creative Director position he was likely looking for when he first got there. So, Jeff starts trying to see if he cant have his cake and eat it too, which naturally leads to him now probably having neither, something that will likely get touched on in the final two episodes.My point is that now were seeing Jeff finally being forced to make hard choices, learn more about himself and the world around him, see the risks and potential downsides of dealing with either path, and ultimately making a choice himself that will likely make this brief taste of having a life hes wanted become the precursor to his downfall. Were finally seeing the emotional complexity this show can display and only could display as an animated show. People have made the King of the Hill comparison and I can definitely see it, but as much as Im happy to see an animated show swing for the emotional fences and try something new or at least unorthodox, we also have to unfortunately remember that this show was given no advertising by HBO Max and isnt generating nearly as much buzz, positive or otherwise, as Velma. Perhaps they also already have a second season ready to go, but its wishful thinking at the moment. Hopefully next weeks finale will at least leave us with something special. This is by far going to be one of the highlights of animation this year no matter what, but Id like to hope it will give people reason to feel optimistic for animated shows in the current decade.

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Review: Fired on Mars The God of War;Back in the High Life Again - Bubbleblabber