REVIEW: Disenchantment, Season 1 Part Three

 REVIEW: Disenchantment, Season 1 Part Three

This week I completed my viewing of the third part of Disenchantment's first season, so I thought I would gather together my thoughts on all ten episodes into a single post, and provide my overall opinion on the third instalment of Netflix's animated fantasy comedy.

Subterranean Homesick Blues

A fun opener for Disenchantment's third part. After the way Part Two ended I was intrigued to see how the reuniting of Bean (Abbi Jacobson) and her mother Dagmar (Sharon Horgan) would go, and it's every bit as awkward as you would expect.

I mean, this is the woman who not only tried to kill her own daughter but turned the entire Kingdom of Dreamland to stone. It's fair to say that Dagmar isn't exactly the perfect role model for her daughter.

It doesn't stop her from trying to win her daughter over to her side, though, even going to the extent of faithfully recreating her daughter's bedroom and assisting in trying to find out whether Bean's father King Zog (John DiMaggio) is still alive, with the help of Elfo (Nat Faxon). I like these kind of complex relationships in fiction when it involves familial ties between protagonist and antagonist; it shows that deep down there is still that maternal bond, and highlights the similarities as well as the differences.

The scene where Bean, Elfo and Luci (Eric Andre) has to be one of the most inventive animated sequence committed to television. It gets so creative with the animation, and provides some absolutely stunning shots in full 4K.

I really felt for Derek (Tress MacNeille) yet again in this episode; he always seems to get dealt the short straw in this series. Here he is seen to genuinely believe his sister Bean is dead, and is further manipulated by Odval (Maurice LeMarche) into creating a theological society. It makes it all the more pleasing to see the moment where Derek stops allowing himself to be so easily influenced, and just does what he wants as King. Derek really deserves better in this series, and I hope things improve for him in future episodes.

You're The Bean

Blimey, it really isn't an easy time for either father or daughter in this episode! First Zog (John DiMaggio) is still stuck in his own coffin and going delirious, and then Bean finds herself locked in her mother Dagmar's dungeons. By this point Bean really deserves a break.

This episode sees the return of elf pirate captain Leavo (Maurice LaMarche), and his appearance feels largely pointless. He offers little of significance to the plot, and his only real reason to be here is to act as a callback to a previous instalment.

I did like Bean trying to pass herself off as her mother however. The quips about Bean's unconvincing attempts to capture her mother's voice were very funny, as were the various pratfalls owing to Bean being unable to walk in her mother's high heels. I also just love how easy it is to replace Zog in Dreamland. All Odval has to do is stick a walrus in place of King Zog, and poor oblivious Derek buys it completely!

Overall, this was a decent entry in the series. I just wish they had integrated Leavo better into the narrative.

Beanie Get Your Gun

This is another one of those episodes of this show that really makes me feel bad for Zog's son Derek. Not only does Bean act frosty towards him upon her return to Dreamland, despite the fact that Derek was coerced into trying to burn Bean at the stake, but he also gets told he's worthless by the evil Arch-Druidess (Tress MacNeille) and kicked out of the castle. It's really no surprise when he falls in with the wrong crowd.

This episode had some solid gags, including the highly amusing constant lowering and raising of the drawbridge, and Elfo's hilarious prank on Luci, where he pretends to be the ghostly presence of the deceased Pendergast and scares the demon witless. Please give poor Derek a break though, writers! That character has been punished enough!

Steamland Confidential

This was a very entertaining episode, featuring the hilarious return of Malfus the Philosopher (Richard Fulcher) and the Laughing Horse. We get a really fun nod to the movie Elf with Bean's struggles with revolving doors, and a brilliant side story with Elfo accidentally becoming a member of a gentleman's club.

I had no idea Richard Ayoade was a special guest in this episode, so it was a nice surprise when his voice came through the character of Alva Gunderson. His line in particular about hoping Bean doesn't become a psychopath like the rest of her family made me laugh a lot.

Freak Out!

This is probably the strongest episode of Disenchantment's third part so far. I don't know if it was a deliberate Teletubbies gag, but 'Inky Winky' for one of the freak show act names made me laugh a lot. In fact, the whole sub plot regarding Elfo's time at the freakshow circus was great here. His relationship with Edith (Tress MacNeille) was quite sweet, even if it did end in heartache.

Richard Ayoade continues to impress as Alva, who wishes for Bean (Abbi Jacobson) to marry him and create an alliance between Dreamland and Steamland. I really hope he becomes a reoccurring presence from now on, as he is a brilliant casting choice.

Also: Can Scruffles (Billy West) become a regular too please? It's great to finally have an actual talking cat in Disenchantment!

Last Splash

This was a decent episode. I don't have much to say about this one. Not many laughs all-in-all, but some good character development for both Bean and Elfo, with their disastrous love lives. I like Abi's relationship with Mora (Meredith Hagner), and I hope she returns in a future episode.

Bad Moon Rising

A solid episode. It relies a little too heavily on exposition in places, but Bean and Oona (Tress MacNeille) work well together as always, and King Zog's (John DiMaggio) loss of sanity continues to be a great source of comedy. Elfo and Luci's Dad's Army-style battle squad of misfits was a good laugh also.

Hey, Pig Spender

This is a very funny episode. The Merkimers' (Matt Berry) narcissism is hilarious, but then it gets quite emotional too when Pig Merkimer overhears those he cares about making quite disparaging remarks against him. It's a neat twist when he turns his back on them because of said comments and imprisons them in the castle dungeons with the help of Human Merkimer, and it makes the pay-off when he turns against his human form hit harder. Merkimer has truly accepted his life as a pig.

The Madness of King Zøg

Not a great number of laughs in this one, but there's some lovely character drama between Bean and King Zog. You really feel for Zog by the end when he is forced to abdicate the throne and leave Dreamland. A very big decision indeed.

Bean Falls Down

This episode gives us something which this show seems to have been building up to for a while, and that's Bean as Queen. It's a really fun development for the character, as we see her unique solutions to dealing with the invading ogres, such as throwing down barrels and blasting them with beer. The ending, with Elfo taken by the ogres, Luci in heaven and Bean's mother Dagmar taking her daughter in a lift straight to hell to marry presumably the devil sets up plenty of intrigue for Part Four.

The episode also features probably my favourite gag in this series yet, with Alva (Richard Ayoade) watching Bean's coronation through a transmitter and calling it his favourite episode of The Crown. It made me laugh for sure!

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Overall, whilst offering some nice narrative beats and forwarding our characters considerably in terms of their individual arcs, Disenchantment's third part doesn't quite continue the strong trajectory from Part Two. The humour is a little on the tame side here, with some of the gags falling flat, and it feels as though a few of the episodes could have benefitted from a further rewrite. That said, there's some solid new casting choices here, such as Richard Ayoade as Alva, and Meredith Hagner as Mora. The final episode's conclusion also displays plenty of promise for Part Four, with our lead characters in the middle of their own separate predicaments. Let's just hope that the next ten episodes return to the quality of Disenchantment Part Two.

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What are your thoughts on Disenchantment, Season 1 Part Three? Let me know in the comments.