Mostly Well Adjusted

They’ve just gotten really good at pretending they are.

“To Make a Long Story Short”

Stephen Andrade’s wonderful pulp-style tribute to Clue (1985)

Of the bills. The responsibility. The emotional labor. The constant pressure of trying to make life work for themselves and the people they love.

I have a little bit of a rep for getting in the know about good tv shows before they really pick up steam. Mostly because I have just about every streaming service except for Netflix, and watch too much scripted television, especially when it's a new show that's not based on an existing franchise and looks like it's going to do something interesting with genre conventions. Earlier this summer I got the beat on Widow's Bay back when it was just 'coming next week' trailers, and six weeks later it was the surprise Emmy darling of the season.

So when I saw a new animated TV series on Disney+ that had received no buzz, had an eye-catchingly dark and gorgeous art style, and had dropped 22 full episodes along with special features all in one day at the end of June? My spidey-senses started tingling. Because this felt like the kind of thing they've pulled to hide The Owl House or other shows that they don't really want to promote.

So I watched the first episode without any trailers or googling.

And it's a fucking masterpiece.

The whole story is filled with love letters to classic horror movies and pastiches, set in a tiny town in France that is bursting with as much of its own personality as the Pacific Northwest had in Gravity Falls. Which makes sense. This show was written and animated by a French-American team, which is part of why we've never heard of the people working on it, and why there's so little crossover buzz. Please. Please help the buzz.

The writing is clever, filled with jokes that work culturally in French but translate well, and the story is compelling from the very first episode. The characters are nuanced and you want to know more about the family situation the 13 year olds have going on than the demonic portal in the woods by the end of the first episode, and if that isn't good writing I don't know what is.

It's Funny. It's Dark. The soundtrack Slaps. Did I mention how Colorful and Gorgeous it is? And there are 22 episodes up right now on Disney+. This feels like a show they are trying to bury with minimal fanfare, that they've sat on for 2 years and released in full at the end of pride month with every episode and special feature dumped all at once.

This show is going to get sold to you as a Gravity Falls spiritual successor in what little print media you can find, and I get why. But please, don't let that be the thing that defines it. It is So unique and its own thing I could cry. And yet the elements of 2010s Cartoons like Steven Universe and Gumball and a dozen others are so obvious even to someone like me who didn't watch those shows regularly.

I've only gotten through half a dozen episodes. I only needed one. I have no idea if they'll respond to a sudden outpouring of fans for a second season if it's popular, but I would like it to at least, be popular.

If you want new comfort media, something easy to pick up and consume, even more so than Widow's Bay but in a similar vein this summer? Try This Show.

[From Instagram]

Unserious groomed Republicans are the danger.