Her father has arranged a royal wedding, but Princess Tiabeanie "Bean" gets the chance to control her own fate when a demon and an elf enter her life. After a rather artistic opening to show the strange medieval setting, we see that Bean, played by Abbi Jacobson, has tied up her guard and left him as a decoy in her bed, apparently "again."
She is actually at a bar, where she hustles a card player by counting herself along with her "princess" cards. He threatens her with a knife she stabbed into the table, but she easily takes it away, only to accidentally start a fight. She distracts everyone with the gold, and in the ensuing confusion is able to escape, only to find herself at the feet of a royal advisor Odval, voiced by Maurice Lamarche. They subvert expectations by transporting her back tied to the bottom of one of those chairs that servants carry a person in, called a litter. On the way she greets the people, asking a man in a stockade if he wants to trade places and telling a plague doctor she's hoping for death. Zooming out, we get a beautiful look at the strangely designed kingdom, then go to King Zög, voiced by the great John Dimaggio. He criticizes the cake intended for Bean's wedding, demanding that both wedding toppers be made to look like him, then having one taken away. With Bean brought in, Zög demands to know where she was as we see his wife Queen Oona, voiced by legend Tress MacNeille, who notes she had butterflies in her stomach at her own wedding, having eaten too many, then catches a fly with her tongue. Zög brushes off Bean's dislike of the wedding and tells her to change, so she strips and walks out, with him threatening beheading to any who look at her. Bean's maid Bunty, voiced by Lucy Montgomery, gets her in a corset, and, with the princess complaining about not marrying how she wants, says she herself was married off for a goat. King Lorenzo I and Queen Bunny of the kingdom Bentwood arrive for the wedding in a stretch carriage, noting upon a comment from Zög that they are also siblings. Their son/nephew Prince Guysbert, Bean's intended husband also steps out, introduced as her of the Battle Against That Bird That Flew Into The Room One Time. The queen takes interest in him, frills on her neck popping out, while upstairs Bean laments feeling like her life is ending, only for Bunty to happily say they'll just make her cheeks rosy with leeches. Bean's desire for a place where people are happy takes us to Elfwood, where every elf if singing about how happy they always are while they make candy. The oddball out is Elfo, voiced by Nat Fixon, who ruins a conveyor line by making out with Kissy, played by Jeny Batten. Kissy storms off after being scolded, and Elfo admits the assembly job isn't what he wanted, shocking the group of elves around him and saying singing while working is mental illness; not happiness. Elfo shares his desire to go to a place where everyone is miserable, and we head back to Bean, who becomes cursed upon opening a gift. Inside is her "personal demon" Luci, voiced by Eric Andre, who silences her cries for help and proclaims that they'll be together forever. Watching from a fire are a sorcerer and an enchantress who say it might take months or years, but Luci will turn Bean to a path of darkness. Back in Elfwood, Elfo and Kissy get heated as he shares his complaints about their happy home, only for one elf to watch from a window and Kissy's father the Elf King to intterupt, deciding Elfo will be hanged from the Gumdrop Tree. There, Elfo's father Pops, voiced by Dimaggio's fellow Futurama great Billy West, almost executes his son telling a story. Bean tries to get rid of Luci, relenting when she finds he immediately appears next to her after every attempt. Kissy saves Elfo and the two run off in a scene reminiscent of Scooby Doo chases and classic action tropes, but she says she can't leave Elfwood with him. The Elf King pleads with Elfo to not open their gate, as none have left for centuries but the unspoken of "Leavo" and the elf "Returno" never returned. Elf King and Kissy beg him not to go, with the latter saying he'll die and the former deciding all could be forgiven if Elfo lives by the Jolly Code. Elfo decides he wants to experience pain and sadness despite Elf King's mocking and walks out, saying he'd rather "die a big death than live a small life." Once outside, the gate closes and disappears, and Elfo's newfound joy is cut short when a hawk swoops in and carries him away. At the castle, Luci explains he's like the voice in Bean's head telling her to do bad things, and convinces her to rearrange the words "Great Bentwood Dreamland Alliance" on her cake to "Get Bent Dad," to her joy and her father's anger. Meanwhile, the hawk drops Elfo after he annoys it with his talking, and he stumbles into a battle between gnomes and ogres. Having never encountered war, Elfo thinks the two sides are friends as they use conventional weapons along with explosive mushrooms against one another. In the gruesome aftermath, with most lying dead and dismembered and one on fire, Elfo decides he likes war, but is unsure if he loves it. Scavenging, Elfo finds a sword and is catapulted in an arc at an ogre who has a sword in his left eye, landing in his other. He lets go and catapults an ax head, which knocks out the ogre. In Dreamland, Oona tries to give Bean advice about her coming "wifely duties," but her amphibious nature prevents it from being effective. Elfo ends up on the road to Dreamland and is invited to a meal with a simple farmer and his wife. They apologize for their meager food, but Elfo is overjoyed to have something other than candy. The two, insisting that they are humble people, become upset as he praises them and their food, and force him to leave. With the wedding underway, Luci convinces Bean to get drunk. Watching her odd family, Bean sighs and says she's not surrounded by people she cares about. She notes she doesn't even have her real mother, whose statue is in the room, and Luci gives a toast to drinking buddies. MacNeille gives another performance as a religious woman who gives a rather agnostic sermon, with one man commenting on the religion's "early stage," and she notes that if she spoke with certainty, everyone would believe whatever she said. An angry Zög finds Bean drunk at her mother's statue, and drags her to the altar as Elfo arrives at Dreamland. Though Guysbert quickly says yes to marrying Bean, she, done with listening to everyone else and seeing Guysbert's dim expression, declines. She knocks the ring from his hand and it comes to rest beside the throne, which is made of swords, and Guysbert impales his own head while bending for the ring. Guysbert at first says he's fine, then admits he's dead, sliding down more, and, in a rush to keep the wedding afloat, Zög has a leaving party goer stabbed and arranges for the Bentwood royalty's other son to marry Bean. Though Bean is angered, this prince, Merkimer, voiced by Matt Berry, proclaims she would have preferred him to his brother anyway. Guysbert, still alive, says he'll live if helped, and the woman performing the ceremony shushes him and tosses a handkerchief over his phase. With Zög demanding the new match be finalized, everyone is stunned when Elfo arrives, as no elves have been seen in centuries. Wanting any magic Elfo could have, Zög puts a bounty on his head, and Bean uses the confusion to bust open a stained glass window, escaping with Elfo. The two run off with Luci, and the sorcerer and enchantress was, happy that the wedding failed but surprised by the addition of Elfo. Merkimer and his soldier Pendergast, also voiced by Andre, say they can track Bean, though with less experienced knights, and head out. Bean and the others run through the city, with Elfo revealing a rather creepy crush on the former. Though they escape the guards by cutting through the bar from earlier, also comically ruining the gambler's returned gold pile, they are cornered. With Merkimer closing in, Luci uses some kind of ability to make his shadow appear monstrous, scaring off the knights. Zög bemoans the loss of the money and power he almost had, and after abandoning their burning cart, Bean and the others flee into an enchanted forest. There, they get their goal of finding the "Wishmaster" to get what they want, and are forced to make decisions as Merkimer and other threats follow. To me, Disenchantment seems to thus far be a great follow-up to Groening's acclaimed Simpsons and Futurama. The idea of heading far into the magical past since covering the present and future is a simple way to get a premise, and from there a creative story has unfolded. Bean begins as essentially the typical trope of a princess who wants "more," as we have often seen from Disney, but isn't quite your average princess. Those characters are often seemingly perfect in every way, with graceful movements and attitude, though something about them will "stand out." Bean, on the other hand, is a rough character all around. She has another trope in her true mother being dead, but it actually has a visible effect on her. She is lonely despite having so many people around her, because they don't care about her thoughts or feelings and want to force her into marriage. Her mother is apparently the only one she truly wishes to have by her side, and perhaps her feelings regarding her mother led her down a destructive path. She drinks and gambles, and is constantly crass with everyone, whether stranger or family, even stripping in front of everyone in the throne room. She's not graceful; in fact she escapes her wedding by bashing out a window, then tumbles down to the street below. Then we have Elfo, who, despite wanting to get away from constant joy, is always happy, due to having no knowledge of bad things when they are happening. He's not exactly stupid, given his understanding that constantly singing doesn't make a person happy, but has a naivety that gets him in comical situations like the gnome-ogre war. We set up a typical odd crush as soon as the first episode, with Elfo pining after the human Bean. Luci seems to be a kind of foil to Elfo, as while he will likely become a character who is really more darkly comedic than truly evil, the two are on opposite ends of the spectrum. He mentioned that he is like the dark voice in Bean's mind, and on the other side we have Elfo, who will likely act as more of a conscience. As is typical for a Groening show, the cast is fantastic all around in their roles, as he brings both new voices in to act alongside veteran performers like Dimaggio, Lamarche, Macneille, and West, all of them alumni to his shows. When I was introduced to King Zög, I was honestly praying that he was Dimaggio's character, and was overjoyed to find I was right. The wacky and ignorant king is a perfect character for Dimaggio's boisterous voice, known to many as Bender from Futurama and Jake from Adventure Time. The main trio nail their characters, with Jacobson hitting both Bean's rougher edges as well as the softer areas, Faxon making Elfo believably fed-up with his fellow elves and blown away by the glum majesty of the normal world, and Andre nailing the scheming, demonic Luci. The show obviously takes some cues from both Groening's own work and others, with occasional references that aren't bashed over viewers' heads. One of my favorites came from the wedding, when Guysbert impales himself on the throne, which is an obvious reference to George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones and its Iron Throne forged from hundreds of swords. Elfwood seems to be a combination of characters like Disney's the Seven Dwarves and other similar characters in pop culture, perfectly working in sync while singing. In making candy, they also appear similar to the Keebler Elves. His escape from Elfwood, as mentioned, seems to borrow from Scooby Doo and action tropes, and Prince Guysbert's ridiculous title reveals him as a nobody and goes with the trope of a royal person who is hyped up but has no real skills. A character I look forward to seeing more of, to my surprise, is Prince Merkimer, who I already see as a bit like Futurama's infamous Zapp Brannigan. Berry voices Merkimer well, as a person who obviously means well but is self-absorbed, which somewhat sets him apart from Brannigan, who solely wants just glory. With the group heading to get their wishes and Merkimer in tow, I'm excited to see what more we'll see from the great mind of Matt Groening.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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