[7.2/10] A little better than the season premiere. It’s nice to finally get Elfo’s family history. The story of his Pops as a traveling candy salesman who figured out the perfect pucker-y sour candy to delight the ogre of his affections is a sweet story. Their idyllic life with cute baby Elfo living in a treehouse away from both their peoples is a pleasant interlude. There’s a bit of good mythology gags, like Grogda being the one who inadvertently gives the little guy his “Hi, I’m Elfo!” catchphrase. There’s not a ton in the way of actual reveals, since the show had hinted pretty hard in this direction previously, but it’s still nice to get the confirmation.
But man, both Pops and Grogda mistaking the other one for dead feels pretty damn convenient. Disenchantment at least tried to set it up. What appears to be Grogda’s death turns out to be an arrow deposited into the box of candies we saw Pops give her earlier, which is something. Likewise, baby Elfo’s cavorting establishes that the local monkeys like to steal his clothes, so Grogda finding small burned bodies that are wearing her family’s clothes and thinking her husband and son are dead is at least mildly plausible. But the whole thing’s a bit contrived.
Still, the two old paramours reuniting, and Elfo getting both his mom and dad together for the first time is sweet enough to pass muster. His fight to the death with his brother ogre isn’t much to write home about, but there’s at least a good beat of him winning the fight unexpectedly, but not wanting to kill his brother, even if the ogre king ends up dead by accident anyway. Just a random guess for future episodes on my part but: Now that Elfo is part of a royal line via his maternal lineage, does he become a prince who gets married off to Bean for political purposes?
Bean, Jerry, and Luci’s misadventures in Steamland and on Alva’s dirigible are fine. Alva’s an amusing fellow, and him getting bested by their sorry lot is a laugh. I find it suuuuper convenient that they just so happen to run into Luci’s headless body in the airship, but I guess it’s good to have Luci outside of a bottle, so I’m not apt to complain too loudly. And the gang just so happening to fly over Elfo’s family’s treehouse area, in time for the crew to pick him up against his will, is another very contrived plot point, but I guess it’s necessary table setting.
All-in-all, the Elfo family backstory was pleasant enough to lift this one up a bit, with a few good gags to liven the proceedings, despite some narrative shortcuts that drag it down a little.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-01-09T03:55:43Z
[7.2/10] A little better than the season premiere. It’s nice to finally get Elfo’s family history. The story of his Pops as a traveling candy salesman who figured out the perfect pucker-y sour candy to delight the ogre of his affections is a sweet story. Their idyllic life with cute baby Elfo living in a treehouse away from both their peoples is a pleasant interlude. There’s a bit of good mythology gags, like Grogda being the one who inadvertently gives the little guy his “Hi, I’m Elfo!” catchphrase. There’s not a ton in the way of actual reveals, since the show had hinted pretty hard in this direction previously, but it’s still nice to get the confirmation.
But man, both Pops and Grogda mistaking the other one for dead feels pretty damn convenient. Disenchantment at least tried to set it up. What appears to be Grogda’s death turns out to be an arrow deposited into the box of candies we saw Pops give her earlier, which is something. Likewise, baby Elfo’s cavorting establishes that the local monkeys like to steal his clothes, so Grogda finding small burned bodies that are wearing her family’s clothes and thinking her husband and son are dead is at least mildly plausible. But the whole thing’s a bit contrived.
Still, the two old paramours reuniting, and Elfo getting both his mom and dad together for the first time is sweet enough to pass muster. His fight to the death with his brother ogre isn’t much to write home about, but there’s at least a good beat of him winning the fight unexpectedly, but not wanting to kill his brother, even if the ogre king ends up dead by accident anyway. Just a random guess for future episodes on my part but: Now that Elfo is part of a royal line via his maternal lineage, does he become a prince who gets married off to Bean for political purposes?
Bean, Jerry, and Luci’s misadventures in Steamland and on Alva’s dirigible are fine. Alva’s an amusing fellow, and him getting bested by their sorry lot is a laugh. I find it suuuuper convenient that they just so happen to run into Luci’s headless body in the airship, but I guess it’s good to have Luci outside of a bottle, so I’m not apt to complain too loudly. And the gang just so happening to fly over Elfo’s family’s treehouse area, in time for the crew to pick him up against his will, is another very contrived plot point, but I guess it’s necessary table setting.
All-in-all, the Elfo family backstory was pleasant enough to lift this one up a bit, with a few good gags to liven the proceedings, despite some narrative shortcuts that drag it down a little.