Waste of time

Don't Believe the Hype

A Disappointing Continuation

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I was working a lot last week, so I was too tired to get to any movies (everything I watched I watched over the weekend). I filled the time with a couple of Adult Swim series, which typically have an 11.5 minute runtime and are therefore easily digestible. In particular, I had recently downloaded two long-since canceled series that I had missed back in the day but had always wanted to catch up with. Lucy: The Daughter of the Devil was created by Loren Bouchard, who was responsible for one of Adult Swim's most popular shows, Home Movies, as well as the recent Fox animated series Bob's Burgers (both of which are available on Netflix Instant). Lucy has much the same M.O.: very lousy animation (think alternative comic strips) backed by a very conversational style of voice acting. Basically, it's a show about people sitting around and chatting it up. This one has a slightly different angle, though, in that it ostensibly has a plot: Lucy is the Antichrist, the 21 year-old daughter of Satan (voiced by Bouchard regular H. Jon Bejamin, who has since gained great fame for voicing the protagonist of the F/X series Archer). Satan wants to dispose of the Second Coming, Jesus (pronounced in the Mexican way), a hipster DJ and David Blaine-like magician. Unfortunately, Lucy, who is dating Jesus, keeps getting in the way. There are also three emissaries from the Vatican who are hunting the Antichrist and trying to find the Second Coming. But, like all of Bouchard's shows, the characters mostly just sit around and talk. This show is VERY funny, maybe even my favorite thing Bouchard has created. The second episode was my favorite, where Satan is trying to encourage women to masturbate (which will destroy society) by opening his new dildo factory. I do believe all 11 episodes are on Youtube. It's well worth 100 minutes of your time.

Pretty much your typical Adult Swim shite-fest.Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil, is your standard pretentious foray into the post-South Park world of television, where there's no need to strain yourself by pandering to an audience that doesn't notice every episode is essentially the same bastion of sexually overtness and talent is substituted for words like THE F-WORD WHICH IMDb ALLOWS IN ITS QUOTES BUT NOT IN REVIEWS and "douche bag". Consider how hard core this show is for not only dealing with the over-saturated market of religion, but also for using the word "dildo" in an episode title. Irony is how "mature" themes don't necessarily make you a more mature person.After South Park, much of television just became the same exact thing, following up on the hells of the old-yet-inexplicably-still-around Newgrounds website, which is notorious for such heavy-handed flash games such as Pico's Sociopathic Public Shooting. This show succeeds at not standing out from any other crap you see on Adult Swim that caters to cheap unshaven beer-belly pot-reeking white trash who listen to obnoxious music and are mistaken in thinking bad taste is an art form.In its favor, this show's characters are very nearly at least one modicum above South Park in the department of sheer interchangeability for its characters. There's the idiotic red guy, and the titular, uninteresting, self-indulgent red-haired bitch, and your ninja/pirate/spy archetypes, but beyond that it's just extraneous use of your basic formula of cheap, crappy renders for the sake of lowering production costs in hopes of increasing profit margins while amusing the bottom 60th percentile. If you're a sociopath who doesn't realize that shock humor went out with the 80s and also hasn't noticed that there have been about a hundred times as many shows with Satan as a sympathetic character compared to shows about any other religion, then you're bound to be easily amused by anything with beer in it. In that case, fornicate yourself and die.Final word: Almost as crappy and pretentious as Twilight, but thankfully not as popular.

Too often are stereotypes utilized to make things easier. In this case, the stereotype would be that Satan is pure evil and thinks only of the demise of good and that Jesus is the opposite. The new Adult Swim show Lucy: Daughter of the Devil tries to destroy those stereotypes. The devil, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin of Dr. Katz and Home Movies fame, is a generally lazy demon who is willing to help destroy the world, but concerned with his own happiness. While talking to his secretary, voiced by Melissa Bardin Galsky, also from Home Movies, Satan shows off his ability to use acronyms, which he explains makes speaking more fun. Despite the fact he is the epitome of evil, Satan shows care for his daughter, half- human, half-devil Lucy, though he clearly doesn't support her lifestyle ("I paid for your stupid art school, didn't I? And I got you a dog. A hypo-allergenic dog, mind you, because you're allergic." "Excuse me, did you just say 'stupid art school?' Dad?" "No." "Yes you did!" "Art is not stupid, Lucy."). That care for his daughter, however, reaches out to her love life, much to Lucy's dismay. After commanding the dog he bought for his daughter to convince her boyfriend to commit suicide, Satan sets his daughter, the anti-Christ, up on a date with a sleazy agent of the devil, a senator, voiced by talented voice actor Sam Seder (who also played roles on Home Movies among other credentials). Lucy immediately finds the man disgusting and becomes attracted to the DJ at the club the two are at. Here's the twist...the DJ at the club is none other than the second coming of Jesus. The end of the pilot finds the Anti-Christ and Christ "getting acquainted." Writer/director/producer Loren Bouchard, also known for his time with Dr. Katz and, again, Home Movies, produces another winning script and overall show with this one, which, though billed as such, is anything but a family comedy.

I did not know what to expect from this show before I started watching it but I must say that it is an instant classic. It may not be for everyone but if you are a Williams Street productions fan, you will love it. The show starts with three priests searching for the anti-Christ. They discover that a woman would agree to bear the child of Satan in exchange for a Datsun 280ZX. The story itself is a twist on a very familiar plot line. In present day we see Lucy, Satan's daughter, who acts like a typical 21 year old woman who is trying to have a life of her own but her father is constantly getting involved. Satan is your typical dad who is consumed with his work and yet is very committed to keeping his daughter happy. Satan is the highlight of entire pilot with his love of Anagrams and Apple Martinis. When Jesus, aka C2 in the ER or S of G (Son of God) comes into the story, he and Lucy hook up and of course her father disapproves. Brilliant writing, great voice actors, and unique animation make this show a must-see. I really hope it is picked up as a series because it has so much potential. Kudos to everyone involved in making this show.