From the first scene of the second season of Home Movies, it is immediately clear that this is a different show than it was before. The most obvious change is that the jagged twitches of Squigglevision have given way to the clean lines and flat colors of Flash animation. But in contrast to the streamlined visuals, the show signals that it is about to get far more thematically complex. The season premiere, “Politics”, finds Brendon running for student body president. His win is tainted by accusations that eccentric bully Shannon (voiced by comedian Emo Philips) rigged the election in exchange for a role in the Small administration. Comedy ensues as the non-confrontational Brendon must clear his name without upsetting an unpredictable hooligan. It’s an intricate story that not only kicks off a denser second act of the show, but remains relevant social satire over a decade later.

Politics proved to be an important theme in my own second year of high school, as the 2004 presidential election loomed on the horizon. These were still the early days of the campaign trail, but I was keenly attentive, as this would be the first election for which I was really politically aware (I remember wanting Gore to win in 2000, but I was still more interested in Pokémon than presidents). Our rural North Dakota town ran stereotypically red, but my family was staunchly Democrat, and my friends and I were mostly artist types figuring out what it meant to lean left. Being too young to vote anyway, it felt like a complex and significant battle I could only observe.