'Disenchantment' Starts Off Slow But That's OK

The second I heard Matt Groening was co-creating a genre series for Netflix, I was ecstatic. Futurama has always been one of my favorite shows, and the creator of The Simpsons making a show led by an alcoholic princess voiced by Abbi Jacobson? Yes please. However when I first started watching Disenchantment, I was disappointed. Matt Groening and Josh Weinstein's new series lacks the rapid-fire comedic pace that defined both The Simpsons and Futurama. At some points it seems to drift more than walk, let alone run.

It took me several episodes before I realized that I was holding the series to an unfair standard. Yes, Disenchantment is at times slower and less funny than its animated comedy siblings. But more often than not the series sacrifices cheap gags for richer storytelling. Disenchantment is a series sculpted around the emotional strengths of some of animation's best episodes; you just have to give the show time to get to its ambitious destination.

Contrast that with Groening's previous creations, The Simpsons and Futurama. Both shows are often defined by their one-liners, their more emotional episodes have always transformed these shows from entertainment to art. "And Maggie Makes Three," the 13th episode of The Simpsons Season 6, starts with a simple question — why aren't there any photos of Maggie in the family's photo album? The answer to that fairly by-the-books question revealed Homer's deep love for his youngest daughter and his willingness to sacrifice his happiness for her. Likewise, Futurama's Season 4 episode "Jurassic Bark" starts as another wacky sci-fi adventure before blossoming into something more complicated. The episode begins with Fry finding the mummified body of his dog from 1,000 years ago, Seymour. At first he's ecstatic to clone his furry best friend, but after he learns that Seymour died of natural causes, Fry gives up, assuming that his pet probably forgot about him. It's only in the episode's devastating final minutes that we learn the truth — Seymour never forgot Fry and he never stopped waiting.

For years Groening's team has buried sweet, sorrowful, and deeply human moments into seemingly typical episodes of these shows. But Disenchantment's status as a Netflix series allows it to transcend past these one-off moments. Because Netflix's model encourages binge-watching and linear storytelling instead of the unpredictability of reruns, the medieval comedy can tell more tell a more ambitious story.

Princess Bean unhappily sits on her throne.
Photo: Netflix

That's ultimately what Disenchantment does. Without giving too much away, Princess Bean (Abi Jacobson) starts the series as a spoiled, drunken princess. As the series goes on she remains her deeply flawed self, but she also slowly starts to realize that maybe her life isn't as difficult as she thinks it is, and more alarmingly, maybe she isn't a hero in this story. Elfo (Nat Faxon) and Luci (Eric Andre) experience similar arcs. In Elfo's case, he realizes that he's certainly not as tough as he previously thought he was, but he's also not as morally righteous. Luci slowly starts to find his heart through his friendship with Bean and Elfo. Since he's literally a demon, it's unclear if that's a good thing.

It's in these small moments, when a character recognizes that they've made this mistake before or says a throwaway line that comes close to contradicting their worldview, that Disenchantment is at its most interesting. This isn't just a wacky comedy about medieval antics. It's a story of slow personal evolution set during a time that now seems defined by its sluggish pace. The Simpsons and Futuramasprinkled their emotional highs into single episodes like "And Maggie Makes Three" and "Jurassic Bark." That concentrated character growth can be seen in Disenchantment's every episode.

This isn't to say that Disenchantment is overly serious or unfunny; it's far from either of those things. There are several laugh-out-loud moments every episode, and the jokes hit a wonderful balance between smart winks to pop culture and being pointedly dumb. But at its core, Disenchantment doesn't entirely feel like an animated comedy. It feels more like an action-adventure epic led by a self-destructive antihero we've never seen before, Princess Bean. If the first few episodes of Disenchantment leave you surprised or vaguely disappointed, keep watching. There's a far more interesting story happening beneath its surface.

Stream Disenchantment on Netflix

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  • Disenchantment
  • Matt Groening
  • Netflix