When I heard that the Simpsons and Futurama team were getting back on the horse and making a brand-new show, I can’t say I was expecting anything less than something this good. However, upon release I heard nothing but mixed reviews for the show, shaking my expectations somewhat.

I went ahead and watched it anyway, and after an incredibly slow first few minutes the whole thing just began to snowball with enjoyable characters and plot threads. I warn you, this show is defiantly a slow burner. Being a serialized show, it has one long over-arching story, a very different take for the Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and this is the real strength of Disenchantment.

The show follows a fairly well trodden tale initially, Princess Bean is an angsty drunk who is unhappy with her life and attempting to escape a forced marriage. She finally begins to act when meeting Luci, a personal demon she is cursed with, designed to ruin her life and enable all her bad choices. This adds a interesting dynamic, as they act as fast-friends but all his actions, while fun, could be seen to be damaging her life and the lives of those around her. Luci also happens to be played by Eric Andre, a perfect fit for this manic little daredevil. On her other hand comes new companion Elfo, a happy-go-lucky elf who’s left the sheltered elf village and wants to explore a world with less happy pastures. This contrast normally forms the basis of the episode structures, Luci acts as the literal devil on Bean’s shoulder, while Elfo normally tells her the right thing to do. This would normally be tedious as most shows would end with the character deciding to do the good thing, but normally Bean just sticks with the devil choice and attempts to live with it.

This show is no Bojack Horseman in terms of depth, and no late-Futurama in terms of comedy, but strikes a happy medium. It’s much stronger than lots of new shows are in their first series, and I feel as each episode goes it will only get better. In the same way as Archer does, the constant recognition of everything that’s happened previously adds weight to the events, making it clear that actions do indeed have consequences, and the final three episodes build up to a great creciendo of quality. It starts slow and attempts to play it safe, but the characters pull it though, you might not be laughing out loud but you’ll be smiling the whole way. It’s a little dissapointing at times, as some episodes are very lack luster, made more painful by the limited ten episode run, but the only reason it can be so dissapointing at times is because it’s so close to being something really special.

If they manage to keep up the momentum from the finale into series two then we’ll be in for a great new show to pick up the legacy from Futurma.