REVIEW: UGLY AMERICANS “FOOLS FOR LOVE”

Guest Cast John Gemberling

Spoilers Below

Its April Fool’s Day and everyone is in to it with the exception of Mark who is looking to give Callie a promise ring to take their relationship a bit more serious. After being brought into a safe room, its here we learn of Mark’s predecessor Barney who used to love dishing out pranks but hated being on the other end so every year on the 1st of April he’s pretty much a serial killer. Oh yea, and Callie used to be in a relationship with the crazed lunatic but she doesn’t much like talking about it. Of course if your a fan of slasher films, where do you go to be safe?? A deserted log cabin next to a lake of course! No way any killers are there, right? Welp, turns out Barney is taking a few cues from Jason Voorhees and is killing everyone on site. Eventually, he captures Grimes, Callie, and Mark and tie them up to play a sick version of The Dating Game. Mark flips out when Callie and Barney start kissing but as it turns out it was all one big prank.

Meanwhile, Leonard won the lottery but he can’t stop off everywhere to cash his ticket because Grimes is keeping everyone under quarantine. When Randall gets wind of the winning ticket, he opts to walk with Leonard back to town away from their log cabin in the woods to cash the ticket in exchange for half the winnings. While on the way back, the guys come across some locals who take them captive. Luckily, they escape and grab Randall’s van to make a break for it in NYC. They actually do make it to a spot to cash the ticket but apparently they ripped it in half on the way over making the ticket invalid.

I’m not a big fan of holiday/calendar day type episodes that air weeks after when they actually happen and this week’s episode definitely gets docked points for that but I really thought the slasher take on April Fool’s Day was really well done. Overall, Season 2 of Ugly Americans felt a lot more polished than Season 1 and I think that’s what you look for in an animated series one that can grow.I also thinks this show plays better opposite South Park versus Futurama mainly because it offers a good contrast to the long time Comedy Central stalwart whereas two shows with alternate takes on NYC might be too similar. This one’s a keeper, and judging by the ratings it looks as though me and creator Devin Clark will not have to make that Kick starter campaign after all. PS Kudos to Callie and Mark for the Buffalo Wild Wings shout out!

(8.0 out of 10)