REVIEW: CHINA, IL “THE PERFECT LECTURE”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The first time I saw China, IL it was approximately 2AM. Hunkered down within the confines of a war-zone-esque hotel room in Philly post-concert, I was far from sober by any definition of the word. Balls deep in Wawa and surrounded by my inner core of goons and henchman, a China marathon just so happened to be on Adult Swim and was cast into the perfect storm – a cacophony of all that is bro. China not only managed to keep the entire room engaged for multiple episodes, but also got a solid amount of laughs from a diverse crew. I was pretty fuckin’ intrigued. Just the premise of the show alone was enough to initially garner my praise ‘a school where the teachers want to party and the students just want to learn’, but I couldn’t really give my official stamp of approval without a for-serious ‘sit down and watch alone’ session so I laid in wait for this exact moment.

Lets. Fucking. Go.

In this weeks’ episode, the season two premier, we follow Frank around continually trying to re-enact his perfect lecture which was recently achieved by accident. It turns out that in order to lay down the required steez, he needs to re-live the deplorable activities of the night prior exactly – which happens to be hilariously ridiculous. I refuse to divulge this exact process in all its glory so you will need to watch for yourself; it is most definitely worth it.

Meanwhile during Franks delve into madness, which I consider the main plot for this episode, there are three other subplots running loose to pique your interest: Steve trying to put the moves on a new student, Baby Cakes trying to launch a new line of savory snack bars, and Pony trying to shake the notion that she is getting old.

I wasn’t too blown away by the fairly straight forward sub-plots here, but the main storyline revolving around Frank is enough to carry a heavy handed score. Each subtle nuance and ‘everyday life’ reference during Frank’s [eventually] nightly trek to glory was both entertaining and creative. China somehow finds a way to keep things excitingly random when you least expect it without getting totally out of control (like Aqua Teen sometimes can).

Although the voice of Baby Cakes makes me genuinely uncomfortable, I sincerely look forward to what the rest of this season has to offer.  Party on.