Review: Doomsday Brothers “I’m an Intern 4 You”

Overview:

Gabe and Rafe clean up on poker night.  As part of their winnings, they inherit a new slave, Buttercrunch.  They quickly try to set the slave free but agree to help him get on his feet first.

Buttercrunch’s goodwill and helpful nature make him too good to give up.  And when the rest of the town begins mistreating the “unpaid intern” Gabe calls a town meeting, vowing to ban slavery.  Though after releasing Buttercup, the town realizes the value of a good slave.

Meanwhile, Judith continues her attempts at escaping the advanced bunker.  After finding AENUS’s “hole” she fakes her death so she can get thrown out with the rest of the trash.  But when the AI struggles through grief, Judith may have to change her plans.

Our Take:

For a show that is at least fifty percent jokes about masturbation, Doomsday Brothers does get better the more that you watch.  I understand that many American viewers have been curious about this series, and it is getting harder and harder to say if you are missing out on much.

Doomsday Brothers is not one of the greatest animated series to come out of Canada by any means.  It can be a little redundant and timid when it comes to pushing the boundaries.  But there are some things that the series is getting right.

While each episode has a different theme and plot, there is a serialized story playing out.  On the first couple of watches, you can get pretty confused with the multiple characters and locations.  But as things progress the full story begins to take shape.

Almost every episode offers a new piece of the puzzle with how things got to where they are.  And if you are not paying attention you may miss something.

Additionally, the episodes are never as predictable as they seem at first.  This one is a good example.  At the start, you believe this new slave is going to create a problem for the townspeople.  Things take a quick turn to put the starring characters in a terrible situation.  And as that fleshes out, it takes another turn to offer an unexpected conclusion.

The downfall of this serialized season is the side story involving Gabe and Rafe’s mother, Judith.  While those scenes are the ones that often offer the biggest giveaways to the aforementioned puzzle, they don’t offer much else.  Every story involving Judith and the AI, Aenus, are all almost identical in theme.  They all tell the same story of her attempting to escape but finding a bond with the machinery.  It is tiresome to watch the same plot play out each week and it would be nice if the show shakes things up for Judith sooner rather than later.

The rest of the episode held up and delivered another unique tale from the apocalypse.  We also got to see many of the villains and side characters come together for the first time.  This episode did something different with their main characters than it has been doing, which was refreshing.  And we learnt a lot more about the world that they are living in compared to the minor tidbits they have been dropping us for most the series.