Review: Teenage Euthanasia “Suddenly Susan”

Overview:

Part of what it means to be a family is that compromises are par for the course. A lot of the time people need to do things that are necessary and for the greater good, but perhaps not what they’d choose to do with their time if they had their say on the matter. Annie is the only child in the Fantasy family, but it often feels like every member of their clan are endlessly juvenile and lacking fundamental social skills. Accordingly, a simple request for Trophy to fulfill her motherly duties and chaperone Annie and her class on a birdwatching trip balloons into an impossibly complex soul-swapping scenario. Trophy comfortably avoids any sense of responsibility when she retreats into a comfort corpse, Susan, but her morbid makeover leaves her oddly indebted to Uncle Pete instead. Trophy’s fresh face becomes the perfect deception regarding Baba’s plan to get Pete hitched into matrimony, but this game of musical souls threatens to leave everyone lonelier than they’ve ever been.

Our Take:

The world can be a scary, overwhelming place, especially in a series like Teenage Euthanasia. The animated show’s heightened depiction of Florida is ripe with despair and negativity. It stands to reason that an emotion as pure as love would become radioactive when filtered through Teenage Euthanasia, but “Suddenly Susan” immediately treats romantic unions like pairings of freaks that are meant to perpetuate unholy anomalies. 

Teenage Euthanasia hasn’t been shy when it comes to Trophy’s various corpse powers, but they’re often not the driving force of an episode. It’s a solid idea to turn to the series’ very premise and return to those powers for episodic hilarity. Abusing such a thing can run the risk of the audience wondering why Trophy isn’t always jumping between corpses when she faces adversity, but “Suddenly Susan” also effectively highlights the temperamental nature of this process. 

Teenage Euthanasia never becomes too saccharine for its own good, but “Suddenly Susan” successfully engages in a larger commentary on the dangers of romantically chasing partners and attempts to force love. Matters of the heart need to happen naturally, whether it’s with wild squirrels, married partners, or just smitten individuals who are on a first date. Teenage Euthanasia hammers in that “love always begins by deceiving yourself and then ends with deceiving others.” It’s a sick, nihilistic conclusion, but one that seems absolutely fitting to all of the characters in Teenage Euthanasia. Just like in several other episodes of the series, Pete ends this endeavor in tears. However, he seems empowered in a way and like he’s learned something, even if he’s not any happier or less lonely by the end of “Suddenly Susan.”

Teenage Euthanasia is still only in its first season, but after five episodes it’s proven itself to be not the most overly sentimental of programs that are on Adult Swim. The apathetic acceptance from Annie that her mother may never again be as warm as she was when she was possessed by the spirit of a random squirrel is actually kind of devastating, but it fits with the sweetly bleak perspective that Teenage Euthanasia has comfortable established as its norm. 

Trophy and Annie ostensibly don’t learn anything in “Suddenly Susan,” and if anything any bonding that’s experienced is actually completely incidental, but that’s still enough of a contact high of progress and development that Teenage Euthanasia’s characters can chalk it up as a win. It’s a glib turn that may frustrate in another program, but for a series that’s as frenetic and grim as Teenage Euthanasia, it amounts to morbid set dressing instead of lackluster plotting. The Fantasy Family is arguably a little more vulnerable and shaken up than when “Suddenly Susan” begins, but they’ve given off the impression of healthy, character-building catharsis and Teenage Euthanasia contends that should be enough to call it a day and enjoy a nice slow drink of cream.

And maybe Pete’s true love is a mannequin. The heart works in mysterious ways…