Disenchantment: Season 3 review – IGN

After a mediocre first season, Matt Groening’s medieval-fantasy animated series showed real growth in its second series with a well-rounded batch of episodes that featured higher stakes and strong character development for its three main – Bean. , Luci and Elfo. In Season 3, however, Disenchantment loses some of its forward momentum from Season 2 in terms of comedic and narrative prowess. While there is still a lot of laughs to be had and new places to explore, many important storylines start to lose their power by the time we get to the season finale, and the story picks up immediately after the events that took place. took place in the Season 2 finale, with Bean narrowly avoiding his execution at the hands of Odval and the Archduidess. As the story progresses, we spend more time with Bean’s mother, Queen Dagmar (Sharon Hogan) in her underground kingdom. Unfortunately, most of Bean’s interactions with his mother involve verbal fights that often go on for too long, which is an issue the series has faced since its inception in 2018.

Since Netflix is ​​an ad-free streaming platform, co-creators Matt Groening and Josh Weinstein don’t have to operate within the confines of television, where most animated comedies are relegated to around 22 minutes per episode. . Disenchantment continues to push its run times to (and sometimes more) thirty minutes, which tends to stretch many comedic scenes beyond their welcome.

What continues to work for the series, however, is the excellent voiceover from Abbi Jacobson (Bean), Eric André (Luci), Nat Faxon (Elfo) and many supporting characters, voiced by Groening albums. like Billy West and John DiMaggio from Futurama. In one of my favorite Season 3 episodes, titled “Steamland Confidential,” Faxon does an incredible job as Elfo tries to blend in with high society by joining a club of “high end explorers”, this which leads to some unexpected and hilarious moments later in the episode.

While not as prominent as in Season 2, Bean has some compelling character moments as her journey of self-discovery continues as she spends time away from her father and her. Dreamland’s hometown. The episode “Last Splash” serves as a welcome character study for Bean and his relationship with an adventurous mermaid named Mora. Elfo also receives a comedic soul-searching in this episode as he deals with a tragic loss.

André’s Luci is mostly left on the sidelines this time around, which is disappointing, especially since Season 2 gave him some dynamic character-building moments during his trip to hell with Bean. It would have been nice to explore this thread a bit more in Season 3, but with the show’s ever-expanding narrative, some of the set’s cast is doomed to be left behind.

In the visual department, the animation continues to shine, with new and familiar places to explore in Season 3. The series’ return to Steamland gives the animators a chance to show more of the steampunk-inspired landscape that is teeming with flights. airships and some intimidating bulb-headed robots that you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley. While the locations aren’t as diverse as Season 2, there are still plenty of animated goodies to enjoy throughout.