1x02 For Whom the Pig Oinks

[7.2/10] A perfectly fun little episode. I’m still getting Futurama vibes, but that’s not a bad thing at all. I will say that these episodes could use a little structure. This one kind of had an A-story and a B-story, but there wasn’t much progression or momentum between them, and they all kind of sloshed together into one big hodgepodge eventually.

Nevertheless, the constituent parts weren’t bad. I like Elfo trying to be helpful and remaining pretty naive even when the king and his resident wizard are bleeding him to death. And Bean and Luci trying to figure out a way to eliminate her betrothed (including a humorous trip to a poison shop) is a good beat as well.

Things go a little haywire from there. The premise of trying to get rid of Prince Merkimer by taking him on a party barge near a mermaid island is the sort of comic/fantasy set piece that provides good fodder for comedy. The abuse of poor Elfo, and Merkimer’s Brannigan-esque reaction to the walrus siren song are solid laughs. Him saving the day against a set of sea orcs via his romantic conquest walruses is a fun sequence as well.

There’s just not much to it otherwise. There’s some solid laughs in the episode (including Luci continuing to be a bad influence and everyone still thinking he’s a cat), but there’s not much to build around them. The three main voice actors seem like they still need time to settle into their roles, so the emotional component of Bean having to get married despite recoiling at the prospect of it doesn't really land as well as it should.

But again, there’s promise of neat things to come. Elfo’s blood having body-switch capabilities is an interesting wrinkle, and I suspect that the King has non-selfish reasons for wanting to use the Elfo elixir. (Presumably it’s either to bring his wife back to life or to prevent Bean from dying like she did.) And the show’s leaned a little hard on the physical humor, but balances it out with amusing side characters like the party barge captain.

All-in-all, this isn’t a home run, but it’s a solid half hour of entertainment, which is plenty for a show that’s still figuring itself out two-episodes in.