Review: Royal Crackers “Craftopia”

Overview

When Matt’s computer is destroyed by a prankster, he takes a job to save up for a replacement.

Our Take

Craftopia describes one of two games inspired by real-life games that are somehow focal points of Theodore’s wraith, but I’ll be honest, I’m completely stumped on how the technicality of it all even worked. That said, this is Titmouse we’re talking about, and if ANY studio can nail the proclivities of two wildly different games, it’s gonna be those guys, so I’m not at all shocked. Regardless, this week, we get a Matt focused episode that features a rather typical plot where the gaming-focused teenager gets a taste of being rich only to find out that there are things more important than money.

But, it’s the pitch perfect delivery that this series showcased where I think this episode could very well be a benchmark for future business. Rick and Morty figured it out by the end of the third season, this show seemed to figure it out much sooner, mixing in the absurdist nature of the comedy with some real heart, followed by a cliffhanger that kept me on the edge of my seat and still has me asking questions. True brilliance.

Royal Crackers has already been renewed for a second season and I’ll go into more detail with the season review, but Royal Crackers, coupled with a Justin Roiland-fronted Rick and Morty (and yes he should absolutely be allowed to come back) is a fantastic one-two punch for half-hours for the Adult Swim network that it shouldn’t want to screw up. The network is getting ready to expand to a 6 pm ET hour starting in September and they are going to need all of the originals that they can muster if they want to keep people glued to the TV. FXX has a dozen or so series with more on the way to just play on a constant basis, a couple of those series are also on Adult Swim, so WB Discovery needs more like this, Velma, Fired on Mars, and others to try to successfully use up all of that channel real estate. Royal Crackers is probably the best of the bunch, especially if the network fucks up and doesn’t rehire Justin to the franchise he co-created.