Summer Camp Island Review: French Toasting / We'll Just Move The Stars

"I'm not ready to share my finances."

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We're officially halfway through this batch of episodes, and Summer Camp Island hasn't demonstrated any signs that it's running out of steam. Even if these two episodes present a handful of issues, Season 2's going stronger than ever, and best of all, it's taking a lot of chances, especially on the front of further incorporating its supporting cast into episodes and finding new, exciting atmospheres to explore. For the most part, too, that makes those occasional issues pretty excusable.

"French Toasting," notably, is SCI's first concentrated effort to make an episode centered around Lucy's character, but like her last notable appearance in "Susie's Fantastical Scavenger Hunt," she's not really at the forefront of the episode. Instead, "French Toasting" unravels as a mystery told from Oscar and Hedgehog's perspective when, after reading a book on secret societies and noticing some strange patterns in Lucy, the former jumps to the conclusion that she's the member of a dangerous secret society on the island. That proves to be a bit of a double-edged sword.

The entirety of "French Toasting" is set up as a question—what is Lucy up to?—that inevitably gets answered by the end, and how vague it is creates the unfortunate downside of preventing Lucy from being able to do much as a character. It feels sad that what could've been a spotlight for her character fails to do that simply because she's not in control of anything that's happening; we get the entire story from Oscar and Hedgehog's perspective, and as Susie makes abundantly clear, the two are stalking her, like stalkers.

Summer Camp Island Review: Tub on the Run / Spotted Bear Stretch

"STOP THE PRESSES!"

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I'm beginning to notice a general trend in Season 2, and a good one. There's always a sense, going from the first season to the second of any show, of reassessing what worked and what didn't, and subsequently correcting the sorts of things that fell flat or left a lot to be desired. Some shows slip this up and go off the deep end, burning off the promise they bore, but a smart show takes everything in stride, and without fail, I'm seeing Summer Camp Island making the right sort of choices, especially in these two episodes. Even if they're not anything too lavish, they're signs that the show's got an upgraded agenda and it's ready to play.

I'll be the first to admit, for instance, that the mere idea of "Tub on the Run" gave me some pause, as I have a lot of conflicting feelings about the relationship between Hedgehog and Max that emerged towards the back of last season. It felt very quick and unexpected, barreling through three or so episodes with on-and-off infatuation and culminating in Hedgehog being turned down without feeling like there was ample time for her feelings to develop or take form.

Summer Camp Island Review: Acorn Graduation / Dungeon Doug

"Chase your dreams, little acorns."

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Our season premiere, "Meeting of the Minds," set up a major development for the fledgling season: Susie as Hedgehog's mentor in becoming a witch. While it's always hard to predict when exactly SCI will choose to follow up on its overarching story (i.e. when the spooky version of the ending credits theme's gonna play), it seems like these latest two episodes have been intent on actually pushing things along into interesting directions, with the former of today's set continuing Hedgehog's narrative development, and the latter being a treat for Oscar's character development—Season 2's other greatest trend.

Let's start with "Acorn Graduation." It's all about that long-awaited first day of Hedgehog's training, met with the expected mix of conflicting emotions from our protagonist. At the very least, though, the deal is sweetened a bit with a letter from Ramona and a little caveat thrown in the mix: a magical punch card that Hedgehog can use to notify Ramona any time Susie gives her grief, which turns out to be... very often, and almost immediately, because she's Susie.

I'll admit that I've always been skeptical of the character in more commanding roles in the series. I feel like it's tough to work with characters like Susie who are powered by their self-absorption and transparent distaste for those around them, and truth be told, all of the episodes where she's been put more towards the front and center—"It's My Party" and "Mr. Softball," most notably—didn't work for me one bit. Her toxicity has always functioned best as either the dissenting voice of reason or the neglected voice of cruel authority, and "Acorn Graduation" really pushes that sometimes. There's an especially difficult stretch where Susie and Hedgehog are butting heads and power-tripping to such an unflattering extent that it becomes hard to really advocate for either character, with Susie being characteristically harsh and dismissive of the training she's putting Hedgehog through, and Hedgehog exploiting her punch card hoping it forces Susie to face hell from Ramona.

Summer Camp Island Review: Molar Moles / Tortilla Towels

"Ooh, we're all about truth now, huh, cookie boy?"

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Whereas the last two episodes were squarely in the middle of the road for me, "Molar Moles" and "Tortilla Towels" find Summer Camp Island at both its most exhilarating and middling. It's the curse of an episodic show, but also something of a blessing at the same time; even if SCI can be somewhat inconsistent, that can also be to the show's benefit since there's no telling what could happen next. You might get a "Molar Moles," or you might get a "Tortilla Towels," but it's a perpetually exciting gamble.

We'll start with the overwhelmingly good: "Molar Moles" is Season 2 demonstrating that it hasn't lost the ability to knock you over the head with an amazing, truly unexpected episode, immediately joining the company of some of my favorites from the series. I think a lot of that comes down to how intoxicating SCI is with its world-building; episodes like "The Soundhouse," "Campers Above the Bed," and now "Molar Moles" showcase the show's ability to create a beautiful, lived-in universe for episodes to take place in far removed from the camp we're so accustomed to seeing. Being able to see this, too, not just through the new environment but through the strange book of morals and laws which its mole inhabitants abide by, allows everything to feel all the more vivid.

Summer Camp Island Review: Meeting of the Minds / Ava's Yard Sale

"Call me spaghetti, 'cuz I'm noodling!"

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I don't think there's a lot of other shows I'm ashamed to have slept on as much as Summer Camp Island. A truly bright spot on CN's current line-up (...at least until it ceased to be a part of the line-up), SCI brought about a strange but immediately inviting change of tone from a lot of other cartoons that I've seen: a sense of serenity and ease bordering on slice-of-life and powered exclusively by the pursuit of a good, happy time. By the end of the first episode, I was entranced, and that excitement persisted long enough that I decided it was time to take the show on for regular review coverage. Hooray!

That's not to say the show is without its bumps and bruises, and indeed, those are evident from these first two episodes; Season 2 bears the same lovable idiosyncrasies and confidence in its brand of adorable weirdness, but also the same road blocks. Neither "Meeting of the Minds" or "Ava's Yard Sale" are the grandest statements of the return of such a quirky show, emanating a "business as usual" vibe, but at least that business is of Summer Camp Island's variety... and it's difficult to do wrong with that.

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.

What It Was Like Seeing Saturday Night Live, Live: Part II: John Mulaney / David Byrne (2/29/20)

"Lin-Manuel Miranda was my first choice!"

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I apologize for taking you to a secondary location.

I realize that this is an amazingly late recount of an SNL line-going experience. It's almost a month past when the episode actually took place, and I went back and forth on if it was something I should even write about at that point... but then all of the COVID-19 stuff happened. SNL got shut down, probably for the season. And that made the experience of seeing the show so close to its unexpected closure all the more special as a moment in time to reflect—I was a lucky audience member for an intimate, one-night only comedy show led off by John Mulaney and David Byrne.

For some reason, the prospects of a leap day episode of SNL immediately piqued my interest; it would be a first for the show's history (and very potentially this could be the only episode to land on such a date), and I'm all for that incredibly niche but ultimately meaningless specificity. Then I found out that episode would be hosted by none other than Mulaney with musical guest David Byrne—because truly, what combo of individuals would be more suited for such a strange date—and I knew that I had to go.

This wasn't my first time seeing the show; the season prior, I got into the Awkwafina episode (and, likewise, wrote a little piece on it). But the stakes for this go-around were far different on account of the host being John effin' Mulaney, a guy who's proven himself to be one of SNL's most reliable hosts in recent history, scoring two out of two instant classic hosting gigs in the span of less than a year. Add in the fun new factor of this trip taking place during the winter as opposed to on a cool, autumn evening and you've got a lot of strange and frightening variables floating around in the air that I had to make sense of quick.