Review: Teenage Euthanasia “Adventures In Beetle Sitting”

 

Overview:

The awkward nature of making friends is put under the microscope in Teenage Euthanasia when nearly everyone in the Fantasy family are presented with opportunities for growth. A destructive domino effect occurs once Trophy’s desire to go out on a date radically affects Annie’s plans and triggers an unconventional role reversal between mother and daughter. Trophy’s fundamental crotch beetles search for greener pastures, which both emboldens Annie’s constitution, while it literally ravages Trophy’s. Both individuals learn the vital nature of confidence and support, yet they might be permanently changed in the process.

Meanwhile, Pete searches for his own external validation, but his new bro buddy doesn’t inspire much confidence in Baba, who begins to worry that a powerful male influence in Pete’s life–even if it’s a doll–could be disastrous.

 

Our Take:

Love it or hate it, family is often a necessary, unavoidable tenet of life, which is subject matter that endlessly interests Teenage Euthanasia. The Fantasy family is easily one of the stranger family units to be featured on Adult Swim, but there’s an obvious level of love that exists between them, despite their dysfunctional nature. Family brings out the best and the worst of Teenage Euthanasia’s cast, but it’s also essential to have a support system outside of one’s immediate family. The characters in Teenage Euthanasia consistently pine for human connection and “Adventures in Beetle Sitting” examines a scenario where Trophy, Annie, Pete, and even Trophy’s crotch beetles all require genuine companionship. It’s perhaps only fitting that the most emotionally cathartic episode of Teenage Euthanasia is also unabashedly its weirdest and grossest installment.

Trophy Fantasy’s crotch beetles are easily one of Teenage Euthanasia’s broadest elements. They’ve been present since the very first episode and while they may not always serve a purpose in the series, the opening title sequence makes sure that the audience never forgets about their existence. Teenage Euthanasia is a series that gleefully operates with a magical, morbid realism that benefits from how it refuses to needlessly explain it. In this sense, the audience has either accepted Trophy’s crotch beetles as a constant or completely turned on them. “Adventures in Beetle Sitting” is the first time that the series actively demystifies these creatures. It humanizes these corpse-feeding insects and turns them into individuals instead of a creepy concept.

Teenage Euthanasia regularly explores themes like codependency, confidence, and validation, but “Adventures in Beetle Sitting” delivers some of the strongest commentary on this territory. The episodic nature of the series means that most of this entry’s progress resets as it preaches that family is more reliable and understanding than friends. This resolution fits, but it comes across as slightly jumbled considering the toxic nature of the Fantasy family. The Fantasy family more or less return to their status quo, yet there’s a greater deal of commiseration felt between them all as their generational similarities inevitably sneak to the surface. 

It may feel like a benign development, but the biggest change that’s present as “Adventures in Beetle Sitting” concludes is that the lone dreamer crotch beetle, Martina, breaks free of her pack and heads forward into an unpredictable life of independence. This conclusion is appropriate, especially since this episode of Teenage Euthanasia is really presented as Martina’s story more than it is anyone else’s. The extra shred of confidence that Annie is able to achieve also goes a long way here. She’s not magically some social butterfly, but she at least has a tiny stable of friends that enjoy her company and don’t run away in fear whenever they get a look inside of her home. 

Emotional maturity often isn’t Teenage Euthanasia’s priority, but this episode concludes in a sweet manner that underscores the undeniable love that crawls around inside of the Fantasy family. Naturally, Teenage Euthanasia subverts this happy ending with a coda that’s consumed by death, but this is actually the perfect representation of the extremes that the series plays with in its funeral home family. With only one episode of the season left, the Fantasy family have never felt more approachable and connected, even if that intimacy makes them all collectively cringe. 

And remember, drunk driving is a leading source of death for crotch beetles, art clowns, and male companion toys. It’s no laughing matter.