Close Enough Review: 100% No Stress Day

"How long 'til this hits?"

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(7/10/20 Note: "100% No Stress Day," despite being the first episode to be publicly shown of Close Enough, is not the first episode of the proper series, but instead the sixth. While that affects some of my assessments quite a bit, I still stand by my criticisms even if the context needs to be re-adjusted.)

Close Enough has been a show that's fascinated me at every step of its arduous development period. Unveiled in 2017 as a cornerstone of an animation block envisioned by TBS, it was a casualty of unfortunate circumstance; one of its partner shows, developed by Louis C.K., was scrapped for obvious reasons, and Olan Rogers' Final Space was the only show fortunate enough to make it out of the woodwork... until now, three years later on a service that wasn't even announced at the time, and with episodes cut down to half of their initial length. Throughout that interminable grace period, I ultimately formed the opinion of, "I don't even care if this show is going to be good or bad. I just want to see what it even is." And now that I have (the pilot premiered early at Annecy)... how was it?

(NOTE: In light of the fact that this episode has not been formally released, this review will operate under the assumption that you haven't seen the show. As such, there will be no major plot spoilers, but discussion of the show's general direction and the episode's plotting.)

On the plus side, no mistake can be made: this is a J.G. Quintel show, and that alone carries it a long way. Many of Regular Show's most crucial staff members have returned—including Minty Lewis, Calvin Wong, and Owen Dennis (now of Infinity Train fame)—and the distinct art style has been retained to loving effect. Truly, Close Enough is a more untethered version of Regular Show, no longer needing to mask getting high under transparent but creative implications and having the liberty to throw in as many utterances of "bitch" and "shit" as it wants... but that it's untethered isn't necessarily a better thing.