La Ron S. Readus
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Solar Opposites (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-05-11 20:00:03 +0000 UTC
Yes, I’m aware that there’s a VERY high chance I’ll be spoiling season 1 of Solar Opposites in this video. Do I care? (Laughs) NO.
_________
Readers, I’m not gonna tease you; I don’t care for Solar Opposites
But I am glad that I decided to watch all 8 episodes of the first season, because I learned a few important things
One: Dan Harmon isn’t the reason why I have the problems that I have with Rick and Morty. Justin Roiland is.
Two: It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to be able to turn off my brain and just enjoy a show like Solar Opposites for what it is.
That’s why this past weekend, despite going into it with an open mind and trying to be as unbiased as possible considering this is a brand new IP, I realized that Solar Opposites just isn’t for me
Yes, I watched all 8 episodes.
Yes, I knew not to and actively did not compare them to the seasons of Rick and Morty that I’ve watched.
Yes, I was made aware of the point of the show within the first episode
I did and mentally prepared myself for ALL of these things, but throughout the majority of the antics the four ended up getting into, I was still like:
(Me watching the series with a disgusted look on my face) I hate this...
And while I do admit part of it has to do with my inability to just turn my brain off to enjoy a bit of content that’s clearly meant to be enjoyed a specific type of way, there’s just a lot about the show that constantly irks me that other shows and media have proven to do TEN TIMES better.
Korvo is just another personification of Justin Roiland’s sense of nihilism that’s a BIT lighter than Rick Sanchez, but that’s not necessarily a GOOD thing.
Terry is just...an idiot
And a selfish idiot at that, which makes him even MORE dangerous as the series has shown so far.
And the relationship between Yumyulack and Jesse is just...(huffs) whew chile
Yumyulack is a sociopathic incel that regularly takes his frustration out on his sister Jesse and has no redeeming qualities about himself, and Jesse -- despite her attempts to get him to be more empathic in the first two or so episodes -- just deals with it in hopes he’ll be better later on like the dynamic Sadie and Lars have in the first Steven Universe series; these siblings are absolutely toxic and it’s extremely hard for me to root for any of them when better ones exist!
Like, why in the world would I want to watch these two interact when Dipper and Mabel from Gravity Falls exist and are better?
Oh, you want to keep it to strictly adult animation? Okay. The Belcher Siblings. THE. BELCHER. SIBLINGS. (WTF Shrug)
Honestly, the only member from the main cast of characters that doesn’t constantly make me mouth WTF every 10 seconds is the Pupa
The things it gets up to for the sake of gaining access to...anything damn near gets a good hearty chuckle out of me every time.
It’s like Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb, but more chaotic if that makes any sense.
Minus all the gratuitous and useless violence that’s now common in Roiland’s stuff, it was very hard for me to enjoy a show that personality-wise had characters that were on the Seinfeld level of shitty.
But that’s not to say that Solar Opposites doesn’t have a hidden gem within its 8 episode first season. Because it totally does.
And that comes in the form of the sub-plot of the season, introduced by the actions of Yumyulack and Jesse with their shrink ray escapades in the first 2 episodes.
For everyone whose seen the first season, I’m of course talking about “The Wall.”
After the shrink ray is introduced in the first episode, we find out that Yumyulack periodically shrinks adults he doesn’t like and places them in a giant terrarium that takes up almost the entirety of he and Jesse’s bedroom wall.
And to help them live better inside of it, Jesse periodically puts things like candy in there to help them survive.
/But it isn’t until Yumyulack shrinks down a guy named Tim, played by Andrew Daly, that we actually get a look inside this dystopian society that these people built for themselves. What we think is gonna be a Sea-Monkey gag that’s been used time and time again in better shows like this, ends up turning into a full-fledged story about what will eventually be Tim leading a revolution of citizens from the lower levels of the terrarium overthrowing the corrupted Duke, played by Alfred motherfucking Molina/
Like, every time an episode decided to shift its focus on what was going on in the wall, I was all in
Because for me, everything that was happening in the terrarium, was 10 times more interesting than the premise of the actual show
/They even dedicated an entire episode of the season to the final assault on the Duke written by Dominic Dierkes that held my attention throughout and put me on an emotional rollercoaster/
No, seriously. I got emotional over the death of a mouse...that I was only introduced to...at the beginning of the episode
Then once that episode was over, and the next one aired, I legit went.
“Oh. Right. The show’s about THEM...”
Is Solar Opposites trash tv? Yes. It is designed to be able to allow you to just turn off your brain and enjoy the hijinks of terrible people without feeling guilty about yourself.
However, not all of us are built that way. It’s very hard for me to be able to flick the OFF switch like that when it comes to content like this, for example.
Like, I’m the person in the Pickle Rick meme that’s having Pickle Rick explain to them all the while looking at said explainer like Tommy Lee Jones from No Country For Old Men.
That’s why the wall subplot of season 1 -- if you could even CALL it that -- is such a breath of fresh air to me. It was my reward for dealing with...60% of the first season.
/The worldbuilding was decent. I cared about the characters. The show’s sense of comedy was woven into it in a way that was tolerable. Out of the 8 episodes that consisted of the first season, the entire 2 to 3 episodes that consisted of the wall subplot is a reward for people like me who just can’t gel with Justin Roiland’s concepts and sense of humor./
With that being said: is the 2 to 3 episodes that consist of The Wall arc worth sitting through the antics of Korvo, Terry, Yumyulack and Jesse if you are like or similar to me in this regard? Absolutely not.
There are plenty of mediums that tell the story that the wall arc tells -- better even -- if you want to feel 100% rewarded as opposed to the 40% that consists of the setup and payoff Solar Opposites distributes.
But if you’re currently with someone -- or if you visit that certain group of friends when this entire pandemic is over -- that wants to sit you down and show you this show, just know that while you will indeed be Elastigirl in that one Incredibles meme with Edna Mode watching this show, you’ll be able to enjoy...at least ONE thing from Solar Opposites.
Two if the other thing is the Pupa.
But, I digress Readers. Your homework assignment for the day
If you’ve seen season 1 of Solar Opposites, write in the comment section below what YOU thought of The Wall subplot
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, write in the comment section if YOU have the ability to turn your brain off in order to just enjoy trash
If you can, then please; by all means... (Teach Me scene from Doctor Strange)
