Season Review: Among Us Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

A crew team aboard the spaceship Skeld discovers there is an alien shapeshifter who plans to cause chaos, sabotage the ship, and kill each member.  Thus, the crew must find out which of them is the imposter.

Our Take:

Let me get something off my chest.  The folks at Paramount have absolutely no clue how to take responsibility for their animated products, nor do they even care about animation overall.  It’s bad enough that their upcoming “Avatar Aang” movie was dumped onto Paramount+ and leaked early by online hackers.  Now, they quietly released the long-awaited adaptation of the multiplayer psychological sensation, “Among Us”, on the streaming service without any prior announcement whatsoever.  Heck, I didn’t even know it was already out until I came across it on social media.  That’s how you know the people behind Paramount shot themselves in the foot not once, but twice this year.  Three times, if you count its bizarre plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.  What an odd time to be an animation supporter.  It’s a shame, too, given the fact that it was pretty darn entertaining and even funny.

Consisting of ten 13-15 minute episodes, Among Us follows the same premise as the game it’s based on, where a group of colorful, Rayman-like individuals unravel the perpetrators responsible for unleashing psychological chaos on their ship.  You got the likes of Captain Red (Randall Park), Intern Green (Elijah Wood), Gemologist Cyran (Kimiko Glenn), and so much more, as they confront a monstrous shapeshifter and even themselves.  The thing about this series is that it’s created by Owen Dennis, the writer and storyboard artist for “Regular Show”, but many of us know him as the creator of the underrated Cartoon Network show, “Infinity Train”, which was treated unfairly by Warner Bros. Discovery.  Coincidentally, Ashley Johnson, who voiced Tulip Olsen in “Infinity Train”, voices Chief of Security Purple in this show, so the stars are pretty much aligned for us fans of the creator/voice-actor duo.

Regarding the style, Among Us is more akin to “Regular Show” than “Infinity Train” since it’s more on the comical side of the scenario than the mature aspect of the latter’s storytelling and themes.  While it has some moments of violence, mainly the deaths of the crewmates, they’re all played for comedic purposes, which is appropriately fitting for the source material’s style.  It also helps that it is one of the adaptations that takes plenty of the source material’s elements to heart, especially the overhead segments, and balances it with a narrative bridge.  Like the game, Among Us emphasizes the psychological tension of the murder-mystery angle, which has the characters doubting their trust and teamwork.  It’s a familiar premise by genre standards, but with the blend of “Alien” and “The Thing” thrown in there, and the acid trip scene in episode five, while visually surreal, affected the brisk pace just a tiny bit.  However, the execution of its various styles and humor gave it enough oxygen to elevate the entertainment value and hilarity of its galactic odyssey.

Of course, it isn’t without the voice cast that serves as another backbone of the 10-episode series.  It’s another instance where the A-list celebrities take all the glory instead of other talented voice actors, but it was hard for me to deny the lineup they included.  You got Randall Park, Elijah Wood, Kimiko Glenn, Ashley Johnson, Yvette Nicole Brown, and even Wayne Knight.  It’s a solid list with most of the actors we grew up watching, and they did a respectable job of conveying the self-awareness of the characters’ personalities.  One such example is Randall Park, whose comedic timing highlights Red’s naivety and incompetence in terms of his role as the crew’s captain.  Ashley Johnson was also decent as Purple, even though her character shares traits with her previous roles.  Sure, it’s worth discussing whether other voice actors deserve more jobs instead of handpicking the most popular celebrities, but this is one such occasion where the celebrities they picked are surprisingly fitting for the characters’ respective identities, not to mention charmingly humorous.

Among Us is another game that I don’t usually play, unlike many other gamers who do, mainly because I’m more of an observer of the iconic game.  Fortunately, its adaptation shows that I didn’t need to experience it firsthand to enjoy the space mayhem it highlights.  It’s obviously straightforward to a fault, but it more than makes up for it with a visually charismatic, suitably-paced, and amusingly entertaining take on the psychological murder mystery premise.  In a time where video game adaptations are gradually getting more tolerable despite a few bumps in the road, this is one of the few that ends up being just as fun (and tense) as the game itself.  But again, it’s still a shame that our anticipation towards it was nonexistent, and it will probably get the ax quickly due to the lack of marketing.  Because of that, I completely understand that Owen Dennis deserved better from modern studios regarding “Infinity Train” and now “Among Us.”  If you just heard about this series, either through my review or on social media, I’d advise you to give it a shot before it gets lost in the void of media obscurity.