Season Review: Superjail Season Four

Spoilers Below

The word ‘super’ is thrown around a LOT. Before he directed an international blockbuster in Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn directed an outstanding film called Super. The Vapid Bullet is considered a ‘super’ car in GTA V. And Big Gay Al popularized the phrase ‘I’m super, thanks for asking!’ So if I needed one word to describe the fourth season of Superjail in its entirety? I would say..outstanding. What? Were you expecting something else?

To be fair, the first few episodes were good but more or less picked up from last season in terms of quality (which was also very good), but the last three episodes were not only some of the best ever for this series, but the best of anything you would see on Adult Swim. The direction of the series took a BIG leap forward introducing more variety when it comes to sequences in transition. Not only does the over-the-tip action go zero to 60 on a Y-axis, but the show has really learned to master vertical and diagonal transitions as well. In terms of plot and story, this season probably doesn’t have the some weight as season three which saw about as good of a cliff hanger as this series has done, but what you do get is trips to hell and super storms that completely reshape settings that you were already used to.

Where the show’s strengths were always in character and background design, Superjail season four took this to another extreme. Different locales provided for different experiences apart from the ever-growing scale of being in jail. Whether it’d be in hell or another planet as was seen in the first episode, or the storm ravaged remnants of Superjail post storm, we got to have fun with Superjail without actually being in jail. As a result we got to see a plethora of new characters all just as ruthless and strange as anything you’d see in inside the many walls of superjail.

Superjail continues to grow as a steady force on Adult Swim and moreover has influenced others to stretch other boundaries either on Adult Swim or elsewhere. Certainly, the blood and gore of Mr. Pickles will be way more extreme than anything on TV. King Star King is just as weird and random. And Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit manufactures a different brand of prison life altogether. But, Superjail balances the carnage, plot, and art direction better than most and is not only deserving of a fifth season, but more episodes next time around.