Overview
Stupendous goes to the underworld to visit her old fling Prack; Tyrannis tries to teach Deliria and Shlub the value of human life.
Our Take
The fictional character of Hades, the god of the underworld, has been depicted in a number of ways. Whether it’s the James Woods-depicted take from the classic Disney film Hercules or the more brute and warring Brock Lesnar-looking boss you have to fight in God of War, Hades has had his fair share of depictions in media for eons. This week, Krapopolis joins the fray with a Sam Richardson-voiced effort.
Sam Richardson is a well-respected voice actor in these parts, having done excellent work in series like Velma, Housebroken, Sausage Party: Foodtopia, and a dozen of other shows, but I’m not crazy about his casting as “Hades” for Krapopolis. For the way Hades was illustrated, Sam’s take is almost a bit too bass-heavy and I think I would’ve preferred someone like a Richard Grant or Michael Sheen or even a Jim Rash. In fact, Sam would’ve probably even been a better fit for the voice of Prack as voiced by Holmes than as the voice of Hades.
Even with my slight gripes in terms of the casting decisions for this week’s episode of Krapopolis, this week’s episode has a bit of a identity problem. When even the characters seem to have given up on whatever conflict they were trying to resolve, Tyrannus and the rest of the family was almost not needed this week and as such I think the plot involving Stupendous and Hades was far more adventurous and worthy of more screen time. Even with the time that the story received, it would’ve been fun to continue to experience how this franchise takes on the underworld.
The one cool thing about Krapopolis, it is definitely the most violent of the FOX-produced AniDom lot and I’m here for it. Granted we’re not getting the level of gore detail that Dan Harmon’s Rick and Morty is known for, but this is broadcast television and we’ve got to do the best with what we have. I’m not sure even if the Jake Hollander-directed episode wasn’t further edited after some notes from upstairs, which is odd give that the series kicks off new episodes at 930 pm ET and I could just as easily mosey on over to AMC and see all of the dismemberment I want on whatever The Walking Dead marathon they are airing at the moment.
Normally I’m not even a fan of Stupendous/Hippocampus plots, but this one was pretty good, made even better by June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer voicing Mrs. and Mr. Eurynonos in the end credits for a fun romp.