Season Review: Clone High Season Three

The revival of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s cult following, Clone High, offered the same amount of laughs and surprises as when it was first released in 2002. While only a few people were as impressed with the revival as much as the first season, I was one of the few who still enjoyed it for its satirical outlook on melodramatic teen dramas and its voice cast. It may not reach the same levels as the show’s first season regarding its satire, but it’s not without a few intriguing moments that got me interested in its next season. That includes the revival’s season finale, with Joan revealed to be responsible for trying to kill the clones, resulting in her being shunned by the school staff. High school problems, am I right?

Unlike the previous season, which aired two episodes weekly, the latest season of Clone High released all ten episodes in a single day, copying Netflix’s release strategy. Based on previous experiences with specific shows with a similar approach, this usually signifies a streaming service’s lack of faith in its content. On the bright side, though, we don’t have to wait every week to see how Joan could redeem her seemingly irredeemable actions, which served as one of the season’s integral plots. Spoiler alert: it only lasted for the first four episodes. Amid that drama and the characters’ on-and-off relationships, the ten episodes consist of the usual high school mishaps we’ve expected from a series that jabs at its teen drama tropes.

Those include Frida joining Scudworth’s Clone High snorkeling team, Joan becoming principal for a day, and the clones attending a ski trip that almost ended with them trapped in an avalanche. These stories led to the final two episodes, in which Scudworth finally makes his dream of opening Cloney Island a reality. It took that clueless scientist more than two decades to accomplish his mission, so it’s easy to admit that it was worth the wait. Of course, that dream doesn’t last long, thanks to Candide’s missile. Out of the episodes of season three, I enjoyed the third episode, “Bible Humpers: A Much Needed Praycation,” the most, which involved JFK’s intention of being religious, jeopardizing his friendship with Abe. That episode provided slight hints of development for JFK, who seeks to be more than just a hot guy obsessed with sex, and Abe, who learns to put JFK’s needs first. You know, before he went back to his idiotic ways.

The episodes also provided the usual hit-and-miss execution of its satire and structure as the previous season. The third season remains a far cry from season one, but that doesn’t make the journey less enjoyable, mainly due to the season focusing more on the characters’s complicated relationships instead of just Abe and Joan’s from the previous seasons. One example is the humor. As I mentioned countless times, Clone High is always known for poking fun at the high school melodrama shows through its dialogue and visual gags. It also has a couple of film references that gained a few laughs, including Home Alone for the eighth episode and Jurassic Park for the season finale. While some of the season’s jokes have their share of chuckles, the rest struggled to earn a few perfect grades regarding the scripts. Most of the episodes have familiar high school teen plots that the show’s supposed to satirize, but at times, they wind up becoming the ones it’s mocking, losing the longevity and wit that made the show successful in the first place.

The season also ends on another humorously frustrating cliffhanger, and with no announcement of its fourth season, this might be as irritating as the Animaniacs revival’s series finale. Besides that, the third season of Clone High (or the revival’s second season) retains the enjoyability and humor from the previous season to maintain its school record. The voice cast was still delightful regarding their performances, and the satire of its drama tropes was flawed yet amusing. It doesn’t recapture the first season’s lightning in the bottle, but I still had fun seeing the clones returning to the spotlight after their 20-year absence. Let’s hope it doesn’t take us twenty more years to see what happens next.