Season Review: Squidbillies Season 11

Was S11 an inside job?

Another season has come and gone for the show that is technically Adult Swim’s longest running program. Weird, right? Venture Bros started in 2003, but only has six seasons to its name, while Robot Chicken debuted only a few months before Squids, but is only just starting its ninth. This puts the Cuylers on top by a technicality, although I doubt they’d need anything more to take the win. That said, was this the thrilling kick-off to the show’s second decade?

The first highlight of this batch would have to be the premiere, “Dove in an Iron Cage”, which was the show’s third ever double-length episode. Like the previous two tries at that, Season 5’s musical about patriotism vs terrorism followed by Season 8’s self-proclaimed “nuanced and well thought out debate on the controversial practice of fracture mining”, this one also used its backwater premise and tone to tackle another touchy but contemporary subject matter. In this case, a look at the incompetence of law enforcement and the unlawful imprisonment of minorities. Using the squids being used as allegories for minority struggles isn’t a new tool for the show and it has been done to varying degrees of success, but this try handles the topic at hand with surprising delicacy while also balancing it with the better version of its humor and heart, as well as providing a pretty good jumping off point for former Adult Swim producer Pete Smith, who retired earlier this year and provided the voice for convenience store clerk Boyd.

The other “plot” related bit to focus on would probably have to be the stuff at the end of the season regarding the business with the Cuyler’s new-old rival family: the Deweys. Rather odd to add what is now, apparently, a generations-long conflict between the title characters and these two new ones, but this was the time they decided to pull that proverbial trigger. The problem that arises is how much of a status quo has been established in the previous ten seasons, and so, even ending on a cliffhanger like they do, it becomes just a tad difficult to be convinced this will lead to anything permanent (aside from this ending up being the unintended series finale, which I don’t see happening). However, I can’t see myself jumping ship now, so it will be at least interesting to see where this goes, even if it’s just a sudden sweep back to status quo in ten minutes or less.

Even with the quintessentially Adult Swim college stoner nature of the show, there is actually a bit of character work to take a look at. As I said in their respective reviews, Early and Rusty find themselves in similar situations in two different episodes, and both highlight the differences in their personalities. “The Guzzle Bumpkin” has Rusty discovered by executives for his stupid stunts for a high paying job doing those stunts, but quits for his family’s sake over the money. This is similar to Early’s situation in “Debased Balls”, but he revels in the attention he gets parading as an idiot until Rusty outs his past as being not super marketable. In terms of vulnerability, Rusty gets most of this in the previously mentioned premiere, while Early’s is of surprising note in “Ballad of the Latrine Marine”, which has him going through a biological process that forces him to be pregnant, outright negating the masculine image he prides himself on. It’s my personal favorite episode out of the season, if solely for its seeming acknowledgment of a fluid spectrum of gender in its characters, as opposed to an outside force flipping a switch from guy to the girl that would be seen in other shows. And lastly, Granny’s just kind of along for the ride for the most part until her involvement with Dewey Sr. and later Dewey Jr. in the finale.

At this point, Squidbillies is kind of like a musky breeze that passes through every year or so, and if you’re into it, you’ll probably find what you like about it. If you’ve been keeping up with it this long, it’s probably got you until Williams Street finally decides to pull the plug. They’ve certainly managed to find new ways to have more and more fun with it as the years go on, and even impress me at certain points, but it’s mostly treading water. So, here’s to another year, and may the next to be better than the last.