Review: Fired on Mars “12 Rules for Extraordinary People/Banana Express”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

12 Rules for Extraordinary People

In the aftermath of Reagan’s explosive birthday party, Jeff finds himself at the crossroads, while Jaxton faces the crossroads.

Banana Express

After Martin offers him a job performing back-breaking manual labor, Jeff’s life begins to turn around…until he stumbles upon a dangerous secret.

Our Take:

The show’s first two episodes and Reagan’s birthday party ended with a literal bang last week, but not in a good way. With the co-workers caught in the crossfire due to Jeff’s mistake, you would think the series would abruptly conclude with them facing a fiery death. But, of course, that would leave us with an extremely short series with an inconclusive but mainly unsettling ending. Thankfully, the workers survived the flaming outcome to live another day, which is good because I’m still intrigued by how they will continue the workplace comedy series.

“12 Rules for Extraordinary People” is one of the first episodes in the series that includes a recap since the previous episode didn’t have one for the premiere. Afterward, we see the aftermath of the birthday incident, with Jeff about to face the consequences. That is, until Jaxton steps in to take responsibility, resulting in Jaxton being transported into the sleep tank. Because of this, Jeff unexpectedly gets caught in a lie that has everyone appreciating Jeff and berating Jaxton for the accident.  

Jeff eventually tells everyone the truth, but of course, this leads to Jeff taking Jaxton’s place in the sleep tank. After being saved by Jaxton from the sleep tank, Jeff gets another depressing news that Hannah’s not coming to Mars. This resulted in Jeff planning to reinvent himself by doing various activities. However, his interest in the activities slowly descends, causing him to be even more depressed.

The episode further showcases Jeff’s descent into depression due to the scenarios that don’t work well in his favor. It’s also serviceable for displaying Jeff as a selfless man who puts others first instead of himself, with him taking responsibility for his actions being an example. Additionally, the episode briefly shows a different side of Jaxton. He was once a chubby child celebrity named Little Junior Ellis before reinventing himself as the muscular man he is now. It strengthens the bond between Jeff and Jaxton and serves as Jeff’s inspiration to be a better man, but only briefly.

This brings us to the second episode of the week, “Banana Express”, where Martin hires Jeff to perform manual labor. Jeff is tasked to help Sluggo Buchinsky (Carson Mell) move a pile of rocks to different locations on Mars. The episode also introduces viewers to Crystal (Amara Karan), a scientist performing tests on Jeff following his back-breaking duty. Jeff sees Crystal as an opportunity to start a new relationship, but unfortunately, he later discovers that Crystal is only using him as a test subject. Not only that, but he also uncovered Crystal’s secret club by following the transporting banana crate. This particular timing occurred following the announcement of the upcoming Marsiversary and the incoming arrival of the company’s CEO Falco.

Overall, both episodes continue to provide the compelling drama and adult humor we expect from this potential winner from the adult animation department. The narratives can be a little repetitive, with Jeff finding a silver lining in specific things and then getting immediately rejected, resulting in depression. However, with Jeff being asked to join the mysterious cult, we might see that pattern breaking because he could really use some luck right about now.