Review: Clone High “Let’s Try This Again/Sleepover”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Let’s Try This Again

Decades after they were frozen, Abe, JFK, Joan, and Cleo are suddenly thrust into 2023, where they find it difficult to navigate new societal norms.

Sleepover

Attempting to repress her feelings for Abe, Joan finds solace in Harriet and Frida. Meanwhile, Confucius teaches JFK about the internet.

Our Take:

After being frozen for twenty years, the cult animated series about clones of historical figures attending high school has been revived for another series of teen drama mishaps. Out of the new content being released along with the redesign of “Max”, Clone High is one that we animation fans have been anticipating. It launched the careers of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who went on to direct and write such animated classics as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. More importantly, the show delivers a clever and hilariously bizarre parody of the soap opera teen drama shows that we’re obsessed with back in the day.

But, of course, the revival series does come with concern since everyone is now aware of its outdated stereotypical humor and other PC-related issues, including the voice cast. Thankfully, the creators took that criticism to heart for the revival. For example, the original voice actor for Cleo, Christa Miller, was replaced by Iranian-American actress and comedian Mitra Jouhari from Big Mouth for its second season. Instead, Miller is voicing a new character that’ll likely pose a threat to the teenage clones. Another noticeable change is the absence of Gandhi (voiced by Michael McDonald) due to India criticizing his wild party animal personality. Instead, he’s replaced with clones of Confucius and Christopher Columbus.

These changes are shown in its first episode, “Let’s Try This Again”, where the original group of clones encounters more teenage versions of historical versions like Harriet Tubman (Ayo Edebiri) and Frida Kahlo (Vicci Martinez). Additionally, Clone High marks another revival featuring characters adapting to modern-day traditions and technology after being used to the ones back in the 2000s. Beavis and Butt-Head used this approach effectively in its latest revival series while maintaining the dumb old-school charm from its earlier seasons. Fortunately, Clone High managed to pull off this similar feat as well.

The first episode did a great job recapping the previous season for newcomers who don’t have time to binge-watch it beforehand. Afterward, we get another series of visual gags and well-written self-aware jokes consisting of fourth wall breaks and today’s societal traditions. “Let’s Try This Again” sees Abe attempting to tell Joan how he feels about her but gets bombarded by JFK wanting to make Joan his girlfriend and even cancel culture. Meanwhile, we have Principal Scudworth meeting his match in the form of his new supervisor/love interest, Candide Sampson (Christa Miller), who’s tasked by the government to watch over him while preparing for “Operation: Spread Eagle”. If you enjoy Scudworth’s physical slapstick as much as I did in the previous season, you’ll be pleased to see that nothing has changed.

The second episode, “Sleepover”, further expands on the new friendships between the old and new clones that’ll come into play in future episodes. The main focus is Joan, who befriends Frida and Harriet while filling the “cool teen” role. The second episode consists of Harriet and Frida inviting Joan to a sleepover to get her to spill the beans about Joan’s wet dream about Abe. Unfortunately, their harmless game of “Never Have I Ever” turns deadly when Joan discovers that Harriet and Frida accidentally murdered a guy named Fredericko, only to learn that their accident made him more open toward other people about his secrets. But, of course, the episode hasn’t strayed away from the boys, as JFK forms his first “guy friend” with Confucious, who helps JFK battle Topher Bus through internet trolling.  

Overall, the first two episodes of Clone High are a welcoming return of the cult animated series that shows the potential of being the best revival series in animation since Beavis and Butt-Head. The main characters are as dumb and lovable as they were in season one, with enough modern surprises to maintain their personalities without straying far into the stereotypical territory. Additionally, the new clones were enjoyable enough to join in on the ridiculousness, with Kelvin Yu’s Confucius and Neil Casey’s Topher Bus being suitable replacements for Gandhi. The animation retains the same style as season one but with some modern tweaks, and the humor still packs a hilarious punch regarding the scripts, mainly for the self-awareness and depictions of current traditions, including online bullying. In short, the new school year is going to be tons of fun.