One of the geniuses behind Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland (Reporters), decided to team up with one of the show's writers (Mike McHanan; Star Teck: Lower Deck), and together they created a half an hour adult cartoon for Hulu called Solar Opposites. Like Rick and Morty, the show is crass, obnoxious, inappropriate, and hilariously funny. Debuting in May of 2020, the show centers around two aliens, their replicants, and the pupa they were assigned to protect when they left their home planet, Shlop, before it exploded. Season Two, consisting of eight episodes, premieres this coming Friday, March 26, 2021.
Korvo (Justin Roiland) is the leader of the alien crew and Terry (Thomas Middleditch; Silicon Valley) is his partner. They crash-landed on earth with their replicants, Jesse (Mary Mack; Twin Cities) and Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone; The Goldbergs), and the Pupa (Sagan McMahan). While Terry and Jesse seeming to enjoy Earth, Korvo spends much of his time trying to repair their ship so they can find another planet to terraform. While they are stuck on this planet though, they enjoy new foods, Jesse and Yumyulack attend high school and Yumyulack uses a ray gun to shrink humans and keeps them in an ant farm-like encasing called the wall.
Season Two begins, Korvo believes he has fixed the spaceship so they can finally leave earth but, alas, Terry once again finds a way to mess things up causing the ship to once again fail to launch. The rest of the season goes pretty much the same way and is more of what one would expect from the series. The "family" deals with summer vacation from school, finding another spaceship and aliens from their planet, and the Lake House device episode that is a spoof of the movie starring Keanu Reeves (The Matrix series) and Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side).
Roiland is no stranger to starring in, as well as, producing a hit animated television series and Solar Opposites is just another vehicle to display his many talents. Korvo is most often the straight man to the other characters but he seems comfortable in the role. Mack and Giambrone are great and complement each other's performances beautifully. Terry tends to be the lazy guy/comic relief who starts much of the mischievous behavior on the show. Middleditch uses his comedic timing perfectly. Pupa rarely says much but when he does it's sure to be hilarious.
The wall also has its own subplot that is interesting, engaging, and a commentary on our society currently. Trying to figure out what Tim (Andy Daly; Semi-pro) will do next, especially with the bomb that is about to be dropped on him, should be fun and entertaining.
Additional voices are portrayed by several guest stars including Tiffany Haddish (Night School), Alfred Molina (Frida), and Christina Hendrick (Mad Men). Haddish's voice is the most recognizable but all of the recurring actors are terrific. Rainn Wilson (The Office) and Alan Tudyk (Firefly) along with other well-known actors portray one-off characters in particular episodes.
Season Two continues the plot and storyline from Season One and offers some funny moments we have come to expect. Out of all the episodes in Season Two, the finale is by far the funniest but all eight have some elements of humor to them. This will put pressure on the writers as Solar Opposites has already been renewed for a third season. It will be interesting to see what stage (pun intended) these aliens and their pupa will be in at that point.
While not quite as funny as the first season, Solar Opposites Season Two still offers fans a wild ride while continuing to entertain.
Grade: B
