Review: Mr. Pickles “S.H.O.E.S.”; “Telemarketers Are the Devil”

Let’s give the devil his due.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

“S.H.O.E.S.”

Hollllly shit. So this week Tommy befriends a pair of walking talking shoes named…”S.H.O.E.S.”, the latest in high tech apparel. Turns out, there’s a government agency trying to get these shoes back so a chase ensues all around town and eventually sees the duo get captured after falling for an elaborate ruse consisting of a TV sitcom. Back at the agency’s command center, Mr. Pickles, who was pretty much yesterday’s news for Tommy has he made friends with S.H.O.E.S., makes the save and helps Tommy and a bunch of other pairs of S.H.O.E.S. escape.

“Telemarketers Are the Devil”

Stanley’s entire office gets rounded up and sent to a plantation meant to dehumanize the role of telemarketers, so it’s up to Beverly and Mr. Pickles to save the day. But not before the telemarketers had to deal with a hefty amount of torture that included working the fields and being jerks for the amusement of the landowners. Stanley nearly makes a sale but “The Devil” shows up along with Beverly and a bloodbath ensues.

Our Take

Other than “Telemarketers are the Devil” which needed that grandiose finish to kind of save an episode that was a tad undiscernible, Mr. Pickles’s third season is showcasing a franchise that is not only growing but becoming a standard-bearer for the network. Already, the producers are starting to mess with the show’s opens while the latter episode showed you don’t always need Tommy to make an episode.

The animated choreography is on another level and has probably surpassed the format’s American warriors in this category, and yes that includes the likes of Rick and Morty, Family Guy, and even a lot of anime. As crazy as other seasons of Mr. Pickles has been, this show has pretty much reformatted its prior conventions and delivered an experience that has to be seen to believe. Even the sci-fi elements of Mr. Pickles could draw comparisons to like Star Blazers 2199 or Rick and Morty in terms of sheer scope and ingenuity.

The 2018 year is still very young and a lot could change and we’ve got a lot of shows on the horizon, but Mr. Pickles is darting past the competition as the best-animated series of the year, and quite frankly, probably better than most of what aired on last year.