A Man. And His Blog.

Another good episode of the show. Seems like the hard times from the early season is over now. The writers start to connect pop culture with a story, and have rather subtle humor, instead of pushing it all to the limits. But then again, I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t much done with the Justin Bieber parody.

Though it was nice that Dustin was just the reason for Grimes to get his millions of kids to sing in the band Von Rap. It was one of the better stories for Grimes, and though it was not funny, I loved the Dustin moments, and how even in Hell, there is somebody like Justin Bieber to make life a living hell out of the teens and pre-teens. And since I’m not really liking Grimes, I was happy that this story was only the B plot. Otherwise the writers would have obviously invested some more time in getting Dustin funny.

The main plot was likable. The soul looking like scrambled eggs was not really my thing though, but I loved how Mark’s big soul became a problem for Maggotbone Inc., and how Callie’s father was interested in getting the stocks back up, just because Mark happens to have a big soul. Even more funny was the little news story with Mark, where the news anchor said to bring down Mark’s picture, because it was disgusting (and that just because he wants to help people). Furthermore, I liked Mark’s plan to shrink his soul, so that Maggotbone and the whole press is disappointed about Mark (even more than before – it was kinda hilarious to see both sides of people hating Mark for his soul). That just brought the writers to get in on the Charlie Sheen parody. But then again I would have wished Charlie Sheen would be a minor character in an episode, and not just a cameo. It doesn’t hurt, when UGLY AMERICANS is getting sexy a bit more often. Not just Callie has to strip down, it looks like New York is full of sexy comic girls in this series universe.

But at the end, the soul thing could have been done more logical. Especially the connection between Maggotbone Inc. and Mark’s soul should have been more reasoned with, and why Callie wasn’t doing anything to prevent Mark from losing his soul. After all, she loved that Mark, so why would she risk losing him, when he loses his soul? 7.5/10

Face off without Nicholas Cage

This is Charlie Sheen. His parties are the shit.

A pretty good episode. Like I always knew, the series is in its best, when they deliver an actual story, without pushing too much on the comedy and making fun of pop culture. Instead, the writers just used another episode to deepen the relationship between mark and Callie a bit more, and have some clone action in it.

The story with Mark’s clone was good, but the writers could have done a bit better, when it came to bringing Callie into the whole thing. After all, she found Mark’s clone, made him her lover, so they could win the bowling tournament, but at the end there was nothing about this story. Neither Mark’s clone was pretty much involved in anything, nor Mark was wondering the whole time where his clone was coming from. Yeah, he asked the question in the last scene, but it could have been a bigger story. Without it, the episode was just about Mark’s clone wreaking some chaos within the therapy group, as well as Mark on damage control, after he was found and freed.

But I liked those little moments again. Beginning with the glove Mark’s clone was always using, continuing with Randall being freaked about the glove, ending with Mark’s clone’s execution, when the eyeballs were popping out. Nice that there are always those violent moments, which are nothing but hilarious. Furthermore, I loved Ted’s stint, and I was sad that Mark’s clone killed him. He could have been a hilarious recurring character, after finding out he works best where he can shit, and after he told Mark’s clone to bring his mouth. We already had some gay action in this show, but it wouldn’t hurt to have more over-the-top comedy about it. After all, UGLY AMERICANS seems to be best, when they criticize the social life, or make a comedy about it.

Only Grimes and Leonard were boring again. Grimes wasn’t funny this time, and Leonard is still completely annoying me. I don’t know why those two are fan favorite – they aren’t my favorites for sure. But at least Leonard got a few less storylines this season so far, and I wouldn’t mind if it stays that way. And Grimes doesn’t annoy me, he’s just so damn unfunny. he doesn’t get the proper storylines, and he’s always the totally stupid cop, whom you could think of shooting himself, because he’s so stupid. Well, he always shot himself in this episode… 7.5/10

The real Mark has some healthy issues

You can use a clone of your wife as your mistress too

This must be the episode where I don’t understand one fact: Why am I not liking this show as much anymore as I did during the first season? The stories become a bit more ridiculous and less funny, and I have the feeling the writers don’t know anymore how to make their ideas funny anymore. Or it’s just because the premise was interesting enough during the first couple of episodes, but now it isn’t, as well as a theory of mine that the writers don’t know what to do with the show.

Again, the story seemed interesting at first, and again, I wasn’t very much entertained. And again, I loved quite a couple of moments, but again, half of the episode was a total turn-off at the end. The interesting part was how Mark was blended with the ring, and how he always saw the beauty in Beatrice (talk about inner beauty), while everybody else was seeing the fugliest thing in that rotten old princess of old. Furthermore, I loved how slowly Mark transformed into a Shakespearian, and started to talk like a knight under the influence of the ring. Unfortunately, that was the only really interesting side effect of the ring, because Mark carrying out his own power of influence with the help of the ring was pretty much uninteresting and not that funny. Normally, this would be a storyline, where you could bring all sorts of hilarious stuff.

Well, at least parts of the other stories were okay. If it is true that Doug is secretly an international assassin, and Twayne just blew his cover, then it would be awesome, if the writers continue on this little factor of Doug’s life. He was always hilarious, when he was about to have a nervous breakdown, and now with this information, it would make his character more hilarious. Furthermore, I liked that Callie still sees Mark as the love of her life, though she could have attempted to get Mark away from Beatrice and back to herself a bit more often. I had the feeling she was mostly crying and whining about Mark, but never tried anything to convince that she was his girl. It would have made an impression when the two would be the couple of the series, and eventually the couple of the animated world of television.

Just – and I can’t believe I’m saying that – Leonard came too short. After he disappeared since the season opener, he was part of the story here, but the writers seemed to have focused on Mark getting wed with Beatrice, instead of letting Leonard have cold feet. I’m not mad for putting Leonard in the second row, but when the writers are using one of the other characters as the story origin, they should stay with that character. Or not? 6/10

Randall hammers on his best friend's girlfriend

Doug is a happy Koala today

Waah, the episode could have been so hilarious with the army thing, but it went from hilarious to ridiculous, when Twayne become the ruler during the apocalypse and started to annoy me with his poop thing.

It was actually a neat idea to let Twayne have some hidden daddy issues, and live it out during his basic military training. I was thinking that the writers went with a FULL METAL JACKET parody here, but that seemed to be living for exactly 25 seconds or so, which was a disappointment. I would have loved a FULL METAL JACKET spoof within a demonic animation comedy, especially with Twayne being the one, who has to suffer, even though Mark should have been suffered the hardest logically speaking. But then the story did a 180 and went a total different direction than I would have expected. Suddenly Mark is focused on resolving Twayne’s problems, and seconds later Twayne is suddenly leading the apocalypse? I was probably missing something, because I wasn’t understanding everything.

Unfortunately, the second part of the episode wasn’t that entertaining. I liked the twist with the apocalypse being a pre-enactment though, especially after they were numerous other apocalypse attempts from Hell in the past. The twist was just a bit ridiculous at the end, because it felt like a cop-out to the story. Grimes was killed in front of Mark, Callie was in the middle of a wedding, Twayne was leading the apocalypse… It looked like everything was about to get even more fucked up, but then it was just a pre-enactment. Without any consequences for everybody (especially Mark), even though he started to not trust anybody anymore. If the writers would rely on some character work, they would make it an ongoing thing with Mark not trusting anybody anymore, but I can’t imagine it in this show.

I loved a couple of things though. First off Murray, who gets his various “New York Welcomes” and gets crazy while getting them, followed by the few moments of basic military training with Mark getting the torture, and Grimes getting the torture and liking it. And I had to laugh, when I heard the phrase “Boneraper Anal Fixation”. But at the end, the episode wasn’t a burner. Maybe connecting an original story idea with movie parodies would help? I don’t know… 5.5/10

Army training amongst evils is evil

Mark takes a shot at freedom

Another unsatisfying episode. Even though it reflects, criticizes and spoofs the actual LOST series finale, and even though the episode had a nice story with Grimes, building up an actual character for him, the episode was so damn unfunny, I was yawning throughout the 21 minutes.

And I really wanted to love the road trip, which Mark was taking with Grimes, just so that he can find out what problems Grimes had in his past. Here you could see that the writers were pushing for a story, and wanted UGLY AMERICANS to be more than just a collection of one demon joke and/or spoof after another. And I would really welcome that fact, if the stories would actually be funny. The spoofs in this episode, which were supposed to be funny, weren’t funny at all. In addition, Randall annoyed me this time. His story started good as well, wanting to film Mark’s and Callie’s sex life, so he can distribute it as amateur porn, but his documentary slash movie slash buddy comedy slash buddy cop drama, or whatever the movie was supposed to be at the end, could have carried more jokes. The only thing I loved about the whole story were Grimes’ flashbacks and the running gag of Jimmy getting killed, because Grimes had no idea about the undercover business at all. The moment, when Grimes was flying out of the car and shooting the shit out of the new demon boss, turning out to be Jimmy undercover, was the only hilarious part of the episode.

At least I liked Callie’s story. Like Grimes, she got a character story this time, being forced to take the job of her father, being his successor, but not wanting to be her father at the end, because she likes to be what she is now. That story showed me again that the main plots of UGLY AMERICANS are always the stories, which seem to bore me, while the minor (or major, as the case may be) storylines are the interesting ones (and sometimes the funny ones). I just would have wanted some interaction between Callie and somebody else than her father here, since she tried too often to not step in his footsteps. I don’t know, but maybe it would have been a good idea story-wise to let Mark return early and let him have a say about Callie and the possibility of her becoming the next demon boss in Hell. 5/10

Callie for Earth's destruction! Vote now!

It's a cold-blooded murder

It was a great episode, and only because of one thing: It had a real story, and the writers had lots of ideas for this one. It already started with showing Callie’s family more, letting her have a sister, letting Lillith be the reason for Callie’s troubles with her father, letting Mark and Callie (well, mostly Mark) test if they are ready for parenting. Or ready for being a real couple. Sometimes I think this episode had one or two ideas too many.

But thankfully the episode wasn’t pressing on the humor and the writers weren’t making it uber-funny. Who knows what a guy like Mike Judge would have done with the Callie/Lillith connection, and the question if Lillith should marry Twayne, or rather make herself available to her “daddy”. Or think about the scene with Twayne holding baby-Lillith, thinking about making love to her at the public altar, which is also be televised. If that isn’t a parody of violent father-figures or being a pedophile, then I don’t know what the writers were thinking when creating this scene. But I believe the episode went a bit too far with Lillith being kinda-adopted by Mark and Callie. I was expecting a real relationship between Lillith and Twayne, showing how both of them appreciate (or not) the arranged marriage, or maybe even going into a parody of lives of couples. The series was always failing in developing the relationship between Mark and Callie, so I thought the episode could have done something good in the Lillith/Twayne connection. But no, the writers wanted to tell a different storyline.

And this is why I’ve had a couple of problems with the episode. Even though I liked the story, there was too much. Callie having a sister, Lillith living her life, Twayne marrying, Mark counseling Callie’s parents, the parents and how they think about Mark in Callie’s life, and on top of it Randall dating Lillith – it’s like this episode was actually five episodes. I really would have wished for one or two of those ideas to have been used in a later episode, because they ere great ideas. And some moments were just wasted, because they were buried under all those other ideas.

The fight between Callie and Lillith was interesting though. That wasn’t just Callie fighting for her honor within her family, or Mark’s honor, but that was also just the destruction of the omen child (nice spoof by the way, and I was laughing about the SHINING spoof also). Unfortunately, that was just another one of those great ideas, which was only used for one minute.

All in all, it was a good episode, despite it being stuffed with ideas. But I can’t remember a stuffed episode, where all the ideas were great. And what I learned during this episode: zombies keep a spare penis in their seat compartment. 7.5/10

The lawyer drama becomes gun action in hell

Hot devil and ugly zombie equals hot date

Well, the episode was kinda good, when I would have been into this show for a couple of weeks already, but I was waiting half a year for new episodes, and then the writers just came with spoofing Harry Potter. Nothing against spoofing, but why not completely focusing on a story? Especially since the spoof didn’t even work… Yeah, Lionel had a British accent, he looked like Harry Potter in the third movie, and he was a 50-year-old wizard, about to become a real wizard and Leonard’s successor. But the story was so … sleepy.

I liked the arc of the wizards being a force of the good for the evils down the hole though. Including the story of Callie, Twayne and all their guys planning to kill off the wizards with an evil plan, which involves Mark and a fake camp. That was the only interesting part of the episode, in addition to all the camp moments and how Mark actually managed to be the leader of a summer camp, which was by definition an abandoned set for a porno movie. Unfortunately, the second part of this story got lost, until the actual war was happening. As if the episode needed something to happen in the second act. No wonder why Callie was half-naked. Unfortunately the writers were missing an interesting plot here, when Lionel was sighting Callie in bikini.

The wizard think was forced though. I laughed about the apprentices getting their powers, after their forehead was cut off (I didn’t get any powers. Damn). I laughed as well about the magic practices of everybody, and Lionel just sat at his table, doing social department stuff for Leonard. But the rest wasn’t really good. Here the writers kinda included Leonard’s “son”, and they failed to mention that exact fact, as well as a proper storyline around the two. That only proves that the writers are not after stories and instead work on the magic of the series’ comedy, eventually showing Callie half-naked, or letting either Leonard or Mark masturbate. Meaning: being sexist, spoofing movies or TV shows, but not telling a real story.

Randall’s story was forgettable though. He mines for gold and uses Mark’s awkward social cases. Not interesting. And kinda not funny. I don’t know, but that was not saving the episode. At the end, the season premiere was underwhelming. Does it already show that UGLY AMERICANS will have highs and lows and highs and lows? If so, I hope one season will be full of highs, so I can cancel the series, when the low season begins. 5/10

Callie in a bikini: super hot

Gay action during a deadly battle: awesome

The first season aired in March/April and October/November 2010 on Comedy Central

It’s mass hysteria as horrifying beasts and science-fiction freaks take over the Big Apple in Ugly Americans. Set in an alternate universe New York City, the animated series follows the life of Mark Lilly, a social worker at the “Department of Integration,” as he helps new citizens, both human and “other”, adapt to hectic city life. There are easier tasks than weaning vampires off blood, socializing land-whales and housebreaking werewolves, but Mark is up to the challenge.

Episode 01: Pilot
I already reviewed this one in March as part of the midseason pilot reviews. Click here to read it. 6/10

Episode 02: An American Werewolf in America
Haha, first I LOL’d about the episode title, then I LOL’d occasionally during the episode. And how hilarious was the Mindangel Freak gag? I mean the one with the rebirth on stage? Completely hilarious, I couldn’t stop laughing. So goddamn unrealistic, idiotic and ridiculous yet hilarious. I just hope the rest of the series is the same.
The stories of the episode were actually interesting. Not just that the mindfreak slash angel slash whatever he is, was Leonard’s brother, but Randall wanting to eat Mark and literally using every good opportunity was hilarious as shit. Even after Mark died he eats his toes – gross. But the trick with Mark dying and brought back to life was a bit lame and predictable, since I saw the “nobody cares” from the get-go. At least Callie was shown again, since the girl with the filthy mouth was missing here.
The little werewolf plot was nice, that was a real anger management story. So, if you get your arm ripped off by a werewolf, try to understand him, and the two of you can be the best friends. LOL. 7.5/10

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OMG, this was easily the best episode of the second season half. Hilarious at best, only one story (combined with four different storylines though), and the perfect episode for a season finale. Sure, it had no elements of a season finale, but I was glad that it was this episode, and the first season ended with a bang. So, the episode “Demon baby” gets a counterpart now, because this was the highlight of the season, and probably one of the best series episodes I’ve watched recently.

The man birds were totally hilarious. I loved their history, and I loved how their discoverer was “accidentally” teaching the man birds to speak. I was laughing all the time, when they were saying “Suck my balls” without knowing that the man birds already invented a dialect. And every time they were saying “Suck my balls”, they were saying something complete different. I loved how Callie had to translate one of the man birds, who was only saying “Suck my balls”, but he was actually telling a tale about the guy who beat him to the ground, and the loss of his son. That the writers finally brought Grimes into a bigger story (as the guy who almost killed the man bird with his penis – LOL) was nice as well, and I loved how all of this was actually some sort of revenge story for the man bird, and Grimes had to take the pain for it.

The episode had some hilarious moments, thanks to the man birds. Like Randall’s “training camp” on the roof, where the man birds were benchpressing, or pressed free weights with their “penises” (though they weren’t their genitals, instead “something else”) – it looked just way too hilarious for me. Or the scenes, where Mark’s little man bird pissed himself, or just the almost-nudity scenes, when Grimes was punching the man bird with his dick, and the episode delivered two frames of his shaved hair down there, as well as half of Callie’s nipples. Or Doug disappearing again, and whining on the ground, when Grimes did his action moves, while all the blood was splashing all over the place.

I hope this was not the last episode with the man birds. They were just too hilarious. 9/10

The most sexy demon in television right now: Callie takes a bath

Mark develops fatherly instincts for this little man bird

Finally! The series goes back to the Mark/Callie relationship, and delivers a ton of wedding/marriage metaphors for this episode: how easy it is to be confused that you are going to be married, which means that your soul gets sucked out of your body in the universe of UGLY AMERICANS. So, to all the marriage-haters out there: You will like this episode!

But despite having to focus on the always interesting Mark/Callie relationship, the episode wasn’t as much of a highlight as I wanted it to be. Instead it got kinda confusing during the middle part. I didn’t understand what the puzzle box had to do with all of this, and I didn’t understand the “dreams come true in reality”-twist, though the scene with Mark and his mom was hilarious. Somehow I didn’t find a reason why the scenes were actually in this episode – except Mark bringing all his fear to one spot, when he realizes that him giving Callie the puzzle box has a negative outcome for him. But the last part of the episode was quite nice, when Callie kinda stood up for herself, and showed her soul. Though I don’t believe that mark would accept Callie in her demon form. The CARRIE node was awesome though.

The side plot was hilarious too. I just loved the plot of a robot trying to bring on the semen of his builder, and how the episode wanted me to believe there was a bit of KING KONG in the J9/Randall relationship. But somehow the story got lost during the second half (when the episode was focusing on the soul sucking thing), and I lost interest in the story of J9. Furthermore his “love-making” scene with his builder was more awkward than funny.

Hm, somehow this episode failed, but still was good. Somehow. 7/10

A crazy chick with a knife can't kill Leonard - sadly

There's an unbelievable bond of friendship between Randall and Mark