Review: Dead Pixels “Betrothal”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Megan and Nicky are just going about their day, gaming and gaming some more, when their roommate Alison goes and ruins the party by making the living room nicer. They take this as a personal threat against their gamer lifestyles, and resort to taunting Alison from the safety of their rooms.

Later on, they decide to get married. In Kingdom Scrolls, that is. There’s a reward for getting married and spouses gain 15% more XP points, so they up and do it. But while Nicky is really feeling things, Megan isn’t so sure. She slowly starts to cut Nicky out of her virtual life, until the two of them have an intervention staged by Alison. She begs them to resolve their issues, and they do… in the most ‘them’ way possible.

Our Take:

The third episode of Dead Pixels is an interesting departure from the show’s typical recipe. Rather than deliver a ton of laughs with a minor splattering of genuine emotion, Betrothal really ups the emotional ante by featuring Megan and Nick’s relationship at the forefront. This makes for a shake up of an episode that left me feeling a little weird myself. It’s not that I don’t like the characters or appreciate their dynamic, but the way they’re acting just became too much. I guess I’m the Alison here?

To be fair, this is still a very funny episode of television. The first half in particular had me cracking up a good number of times. One of the best ongoing bit is Megan’s cute new co-worker, who still insists on playing with them despite being left out and abused countless times now. They’ve started turning into chairs whenever he enters the room, and it’s pretty hilarious to watch him walk around complaining about how the game put him into a furniture warehouse.

Megan and Nicky’s thing is interesting. We’ve gotten hints at a past relationship before, and this would’ve been a good time to bring it up. However, there’s nothing concrete said, which makes me think that it’s always been like this between them. They clearly feel something for each other, but are too caught up in their virtual world to risk breaking a heart in reality. No matter how much lasagna Nicky buys her, I just don’t think Megan is ready to come to terms with her emotions when it comes to her game partner.

Speaking of relationships, Usman and his family life continue to be the stand out for me. We’re seeing a little more of the gamer dad’s wife and kids each episode, and this time they’re seen standing in the kitchen behind him, albeit softly out of focus. Instead of going on a date night to a band they both like, he pawns his wife off on this cute guy from her work she’s been talking about. It’s a little sad to watch, but you can’t help but revel in the utter cluelessness of Usman.

Betrothal shows that Dead Pixels can break out of its programming, even if it didn’t produce the best results. I’m glad that we’re getting some forward progress with Megan and Nicky now, since the show is halfway over at this point I believe. Maybe next week things will level up even more?