Review: Teenage Euthanasia “CARS 4”

Overview:

Carpooling has its share of advantages, but a messy crash throws the entire Euthanasia family into turmoil. Uncle Pete may be the one who’s responsible for this accident and stuck with the task of finding a new vehicle, but Annie, Baba, and Trophy all grapple with their own consequences. A sliding scale of trauma and recovery pushes the Euthanasia family to either familiar places of comfort or unexplored territory that’s going to require more than just a trip to the DMV offices..

Our Take:

Uncle Pete is the trickiest character to get right in Teenage Euthanasia and so it’s always exciting when Pete gets to lead an installment and get lost in himself rather than share in someone else’s chaos. Season one’s “Adventures in Beetle Sitting” is one of Teenage Euthanasia’s strongest episodes specifically because it figures out how to maximize Uncle Pete’s frail nature. In many ways “CARS 4” feels like a spiritual successor to “Adventures in Beetle Sitting” that truly pushes Uncle Pete off the rails once he winds up in a Knight Rider or Herbie the Lovebug style shenanigans. One never knows the type of story that they’re going to get in Teenage Euthanasia, especially this season, which has gone to some brave, bold places. Talking sentient car shenanigans are oddly par for the course when it comes to Teenage Euthanasia’s vision of the future and sporadic paranormal corpse powers, but “CARS 4” still takes a broad, innocuous idea that’d be at home in a Disney cartoon and warps it into another thought-provoking Teenage Euthanasia entry. 

Renegade technology has been a frequent source of conflict in Teenage Euthanasia and it’s been interesting to see how season two has embraced satirical technology over Trophy’s supernatural corps abilities. These storylines inevitability reach the same heightened places as any of Teenage Euthanasia’s paranormally fueled predicaments and it’s not hard to picture an alternate version of this story where Trophy or some other lost soul is stuck in Pete’s car rather than it being A.I. that’s run amok. Teenage Euthanasia is a stronger episode for how it mixes things up between its two extremes. Stories like “CARS 4” are able to better hold a mirror up to society since they actually feel possible on some level. It’s harder to feel authentic apprehension for any plot that’s predicated on Crotch Beetles. 

“CARS 4” is a busy episode that engages in some contemplative questions on the topic of nature versus nurture, which slowly works its way into everyone’s incidents. As ludicrous as Annie’s scenario may be, it’s more important to clock how much she thrives when she’s in a fresh environment that’s independent of her family and the typical trappings that hold her back in life. This is all played for laughs, but it’s definitely significant that Annie becomes her best self the minute that she disassociates from her identity and her family. There’s no reason that Annie can’t be a nurse or a doctor other than the emotional and psychological baggage that the Euthanasia family has strapped onto Annie. Plenty of Teenage Euthanasia episodes dwell on Annie’s possible future and what would bring her life fulfillment, but “CARS 4” cuts deep on the topic when it’s not even the episode’s priority.

“CARS 4” also just has an all-around excellent script by Dan Licata that’s laden in TV references and full of A+ dialogue like, “I may be Ba-Ba, but I’m no sheep.” It really helps Teenage Euthanasia fire on all cylinders where the sharp dialogue is just as rewarding as its unconventional plotting or the subtle, yet astute jabs at America’s healthcare system. The idea that Baba’s biggest regrets in life are evidently all of the television–prestige and reality alike–that she didn’t make the time to watch. Baba, you are seen. “CARS 4” is the perfect type of Teenage Euthanasia episode that pulls the trigger on huge ideas, but naturalizes them so quickly that there’s no time to ask questions or demonstrate any doubt. 

“CARS 4” is another Teenage Euthanasia episode that punches above its weight and takes a silly premise to some smart, surprising places. Teenage Euthanasia uses the uniting power of television to tie its characters and ideas together, but in a way that never feels too on the nose. Everyone is in their element here, even during the more perfunctory plots like Trophy’s coma wedding caper, which helps underscore Teenage Euthanasia’s special energy and why there should be more of it. We all deserve to gracefully and fearlessly visit our own, personal, Tailpipe Villages, wherever they may be.

Your move, Pixar.