One of the most off-the-wall shows from the past decade kicked off its third season last Sunday, back with its same unique artstyle and humor, but with a few new elements in play.

“Smiling Friends,” created by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, premiered back in 2022 on Adult Swim. It follows the daily life of Pim and Charlie, a pair of friends who work at a company called “Smiling Friends,” as they go out and cheer up people who need a smile on their face even if they don’t accomplish the task in the way they originally intended.

Hadel and Cusack were both originally YouTube animators before they made a splash onto the TV, which explains much of their absurd humor. This, combined with sprinkles of painfully realistic dialogue, mixing of different animation styles and live action, the character dynamics between the main cast and much more has contributed to what makes the show succeed. 

While comedy is the main focus, there is a definite sense of narrative and character development throughout the series, keeping viewers seated for something beyond just the laughs. 

Coming into the new season, I knew that if the show followed the same formula, I would enjoy it. 

But then they did something a bit different that threw me off in an amazing way. 

The season premiere, “Silly Samuel,” followed Charlie and Pim trying to help the titular character figure out how to be taken seriously, despite his zany appearance. In this case, they ended up being unable to help him, but a freak accident caused by the other members of the “Smiling Friends” company acted as the duo’s backup, giving Samuel a chance to make it known that his appearance did not undermine what he was saying. 

The second episode of the season, “Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille”, brought back a recurring fan favorite character, Mr. Frog. Here, after causing insane amounts of mayhem in the previous seasons, Mr. Frog realizes he’s achieved all he can and becomes depressed, so Pim and Charlie try to show him how there is still plenty left to strive for.

In the end, Mr. Frog ends up going back to his family, but is disowned and kicked out by his father for making a fool of the family. After sitting in the silence of a swamp, he essentially achieves nirvana and eats “The Bug of Knowledge” while in this peaceful state. He then proceeds to change into the appearance of a realistic frog, seemingly giving him what could be a happy ending to his character arc.

Both of these episodes hit it out of the park for me, but “Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille” was one of my favorites of the entire series.  

That’s not to say that the first episode isn’t great. “Silly Samuel” was a great taste of the series to come back to after its short hiatus. It follows sort of the same formula, but continued to leave me on the floor belly-laughing from the humor they were able to pull off.

From a hyperrealistic close up of Silly Samuel’s face to a building inspector spontaneously turning into sand, there were very random moments that left me with giggle fits for the next five minutes. 

It wasn’t just the “random is funny” humor trope that made these scenes great. They were backed up by dialogue that completely downplays the absurdity that just happened, like Charlie walking into the sand cloud of the building inspector and in his casual tone saying “Hey, did that guy just turn into sand?”. Sometimes the dialogue is used, other times it’s the character performing the action acting like nothing happened. 

While “Silly Samuel” left hilarious scenes ingrained into my memory, “Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille” was more out of left field and was one of the first episodes that really struck an emotional chord.

The episode may be a more absurd version of this idea, but it followed Mr. Frog through an existential crisis that people can relate to, minus the parts with becoming a dictator and eating people whole. 

It found a way to make this concept humorous while also somewhat depressing, which shows true versatility and layers to unpack for this absurd comedy. 

“Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille” felt a lot more depressing than most episodes, but still found ways to keep the balance,which really showcases the writers’ talent.

Season three of “Smiling Friends” has started out very strong and continues an upward trend in quality with the series. These episodes have set a great precedent for the series moving forward, which leaves me very excited to see where Hadel and Cusack take us next.

Official Scores: 

Episode 1: 8/10

Episode 2: 10/10

Categories: Arts & Entertainment