Disenchantment - Sadly describes itself

Disenchantment is a 10 episode Netflix series created by Matt Groening and a majority of the companies and people involved in creating Groening's previous titanic projects The Simpsons and Futurama. The show is largely about the misadventures of Princess Teabeany - Bean for short - as she rebelliously storms through the medieval kingdom of Dreamland chasing drink, drugs and pleasurable company. She's accompanied by Elfo, a naive exile from the land of elves, and Luci, her personal demon and basically reverse conscience, encouraging her to make bad decisions.

Unfortunately, it's not a great show. It should be, but it's not. For fairness, I'm gonna start with the things that are good.

The idea is good. Similar to Groening's other projects, the idea here is to play out a unique scenario situation comedy. The Simpsons uses the modern day as defined by media, Futurama uses the technologically advanced future, which leaves Disenchantment with a wide open space in the fantasy-grounded Dark Ages. Groening has a long history of making successful shows in this genre, and there's definitely an audience for something just different enough within it (to which, the fantasy/Dark Ages blend pulls a lot of work).  The lead character is also good. Bean is probably one of the most nuanced female characters to show up in a Groening show. Yes, she's reckless, often drunk and ridiculously horny, but her negative qualities come from an understandable place and showcase enough emotional depth to make her more than a bit interesting. When used correctly, she can carry the entire show (which, regrettably, isn't often enough). The show's art direction is good.  Groening's particular character shapes and styles are on full display, and it all works well with the intended tone of the series. Finally, episodes 5 and 6 are overall pretty good, mostly due to how they characterize Bean and the complex relationship she has with her father.

We good? Good. Let's get messy.

I won't focus on the stuff I just errantly dislike, even though that's a pretty big list (sound design and mixing, style and timing of humor, everything about Elfo, why is there a larger overarching narrative it doesn't work for this show, etc.). See, most of the aspects I dislike can be fixed moving forward, for which there is ample opportunity (the show got ordered for 2 seasons before it even debuted), and many shows in the adult comedy spectrum usually take a few episodes or even a whole season to get off the ground (Bojack Horseman, Rick and Morty, hopefully Final Space). My primary source of disenchantment with Disenchantment (nailed it) comes from an issue of conceit. For that, we need to talk a little about The Simpsons, Futurama, and Groening.

Part of Groening's particular brand of comedy stems from prominently highlighting the disillusionment of his settings. The Simpsons didn't just observe the life of the nuclear family in a world driven by pop culture, but used it as a way to show how an obsession with pop culture ultimately doesn't lead to the fulfilling life it so often promises. Futurama wasn't just about a man escaping to the future only to find himself trapped in the same kind of life he had before, it's a larger look at breaking this mindset that the future is destined to be "perfect" or "apocalyptic" instead of just more of the same. These are shows of disillusionment, literally breaking the illusions that surround his worlds, and in creating them Groening fashioned a humor born from a real sense of disappointment of "the way things should have been".

So what's the illusion Groening is trying to fracture with Disenchatment? The time period is the Dark Ages, which means everything is already terrible, even with its added fantasy element. There could be an opportunity to do this with Bean, but she already disregards her lineage in favor of trying to discover herself in the larger world around her, often with little success. The closest the show comes to real disillusionment is in Bean's newly made friends, Elfo and Luci. Despite their representations of "purity" and "mischief", neither one has an especially big impact on Bean as a character. So again I ask, what's the illusion? Here's my best guess: "There are no magical solutions that solve all your problems. Anything that can do that probably brings just as many problems with it."

So, without a really focused deconstruction to work with, what is the show trying to accomplish? Well, after about seven episodes of antics, the show took a turn that made it clear that Groening was trying for something different than his usual fare: a larger cohesive narrative. The idea of a progressive story was delicately suggested over the course of the season, but really grabs center stage for the final three episodes of the show and leaves on a cliffhanger for season 2. So, maybe the goal here wasn't to shatter any particular illusions about the setting or the conceit, but rather to expand into a massive epic with lots of moving pieces, kinda similar to that other popular fantasy adult program.  You know, that one about fancy royal chairs on HBO.

Building that sort of story requires a tight focus; most of the show's time would have to be spent fleshing out the characters and world while establishing framework for future events. Disenchantment aims to be a situation comedy, and while it doesn't hold itself to "the status quo is god", it's pretty clear the larger narrative plays second fiddle to the comedy and jokes. As a result, when the big story beats and twists finally arrive in the season's dusk hour, it hits with all the weight of a packing peanut.  I don't doubt that events will develop into something more prominent come season 2, but was it really worth having such a disenchanting 10 episode launch?

Disenchantment in many ways is comparable to its main character Bean: stumbling, reckless, often tipsy and unfocused, but also full of untapped potential waiting to be discovered. If the team and Groening can refine the conceit and get better about locking down either the comedy or story (but not both), a solution should emerge. The problems plaguing the show are not so small that they can all be fixed in a couple episodes - this could very well take an entire season of reconstruction - but the talent going into this project is prodigious. It won't be easy, but I do think Disenchantment has everything it needs to be magical.