Review: Mr. Neighbor’s House 2

Does the sequel top the first chapter?

If you recall, the first chapter of Mr. Neighbor’s House left us in the hospital with questions concerning Mr. Neighbor’s insanity. This time around, we get a few layers deeper in the understanding of Neighbor’s psyche. For starters, we find out that the fact that his parents pretty much ignored him wasn’t the only reason Neighbor lost his grip on reality, and Buddy’s the guy that has to force our hero to confront his demons and admit truths that weren’t supposed to be revealed in the first place. The majority of the episode is spent on the producers pulling back layer after layer on Neighbor’s sordid past and then, in a similar manner as last time around, leaving our jaws dropped at the ending.

For those expecting the number of on-screen puppet characters from the original Mr. Neighbor’s House, the sequel doesn’t serve all that well. Instead, in a manner similar to Rick and Morty’s “Interdimensional Cable” episodes, Huskey delivers on providing more of a sketch show experience pantomiming popular TV show tropes such as game shows, Law & Order, and of course, Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. And while the majority of the sketches provided come off as a tad cliche, with better examples of said parodies being readily available on Youtube by way of Key & Peele, Saturday Night Live, and others, Buddy’s increased importance this episode becomes the white rabbit we need to get through the wormhole that is Mr. Neighbor’s House 2, thereby requiring the viewers’ captive attention.

Show creator and star Brian Huskey could not have a better time than now in releasing the follow-up to his 2016 masterpiece. A new Mr. Rogers Neighborhood doc is in theaters and Jim Carrey’s got a sendup of that show coming in September, so Mr. Neighbor’s House 2 is Adult Swim’s best effort to get in on some of that action and put its stamp on the “children’s show for grown-ups” genre before it gets spoiled, however, since the prequel we’ve had an entire season of Dream Corp LLC with a new season coming this fall, and I can’t help but think that this iteration of the franchise is encroaching more on a lot of the territory THAT show already employs. We’ve seen Brian Huskey play the role of a medical professional before (see: Children’s Hospital), and would’ve liked to have seen some more out of Neighborland given the opportunity.