Ew, Tremors.
Impressions:
It was definitely stronger than the previous episode, and I kind of approve of its attempt to invoke horror tropes. Tremors being the obvious one, but it also did the Jurassic Park scene and Ash/Doomguy’s chainsaw. But that only came about 17 minutes into the episode and lasted for less than three minutes. So it wasn’t a cohesive theme of the episode so much as a joke that just ran a little longer than usual instead of a bunch of screaming. Which is better, don’t get me wrong, but still not as good as if it had done a whole horror themed sendup for the entire episode.
But it also looks like I was correct though, and this is the new normal. Gone is the oppressive melancholic atmosphere of a world in ruin and now it’s just slapstic comedy about trying to appease a family of idiots, starring the chirpy Short Round of the bunch who’s now going to be the centerpiece of everything. Even the premise that they’re bored of the food after a few days as we cut to an immaculately stocked kitchen full of mountains of fresh meat and vegetables just drives home how petty and stupid it is. Overtures of a heavy atmosphere and the dolor of Yachiyo’s desires to be the perfect hostess despite humanity’s extinction don’t juxtapose well with this family of pissy indolents, and I don’t think the few gags it tries to make off that are worth destroying the entire vibe.
