Season Review: Kirby Buckets Season One

8) Kirby Buckets

Spoilers Below

Kirby Buckets has already been picked up for a second season by Disney XD, and was already selected as one of top 10 shows of 2014. As 2015 rolled around, it looked like the series was going to run away with the best series of the year category, it really did. Unfortunately, the last three episodes were so bad that it put Kirby Buckets right in mediocrity. Let’s do a break down of the series as a whole

When Kirby Buckets is on its game…IT IS ON ITS GAME. From a production standpoint, Walt Becker is the show’s best director, and Joe Stillman is far and away the best writer on the show. Those guys like to take chances in their respective craft and it shows. Joe Stillman seems to like writing about Kirby’s world like it IS a cartoon. Less school shit, more akin to what you would see in an animated series. The ‘Kick the Buckets’ episode that he directed was the season’s best effort and Joe Stillman directed that, certainly showcasing skills behind the lens in more than just a writing capacity. Walt Becker directs episodes that have more to do with the family, and I like those better than the school plots. For starters, it usually means less of Eli and Fish, and more of Mom and Dad, both of whom I like a lot and always enjoy seeing on the show. I’ve noticed he gets better Dawn episodes as well which makes her more interesting to watch as time goes on.

But, then came the last few episodes. Gone were the original ideas of making a cartoon world and presenting us with original plot lines that were so much fun to follow, and in came common tropes like contests, and Dawn liking guys for ulterior motives, and more Eli and Fish. Ok, Eli I can handle on a case-by-case basis, but Mekai Curtis does for Kirby Buckets what Pesto did for Crash and Bernstein…add nothing positive.

The real hero of the show? Jacob Bertrand. No matter how bad the script seems or how off the rails the show might go, this kid has the acting chops to single-handedly save it. He’s smart, funny, and his charm just pops off of the screen. He plays it cool as a cucumber which is something that Cole Jensen ( one of the stars of Crash and Bernstein) had real issues with. Jacob can definitely carry this show on his back for a few more seasons, but film will be knocking on his door believe you and me.

In the meantime, the second season of Kirby Buckets needs to shy away from some of the shitty formulas that Disney XD shows usually exhibit. It has enough talent on both sides of the aisle to give us enough to make us satisfied, which it did for most of the season. Unfortunately, it’s now how you start, it’s how you finish.

Score

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