But Doctor, I AM Pagliacci!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

A tiny yellow lizard avoids certain death before finding refuge in a three-eyed skull AND being found by the Nomad. In a flash, a circus surrounds them and forms a tent, unfurling a banner labeled “The Tremendous Twindleweed Brothers’ Traveling Circus”, and followed by many stampeding patrons making their way to the tent while being guided by a triumphant and marketable voice. The Nomad, noticing a sign advertising the attractions as “magic” decides to take a look. Close behind are Skout and Toth, who are without their usual cronies. It’s apparently been weeks since they started looking for the Nomad again (apparently getting some oil from poor mill folks was enough for Don Paragon to put her back on the hunt), and Skout thinks this is just the place to help Toth relax a bit while also looking for a bit of intel and getting some cotton candy.

The show begins with an introduction by the master of ceremonies, Bailey Twindleweed. The audience erupts in applause, but the Nomad has to settle for waving a flag in approval. That falters a bit when it turns out one of the show’s big attractions is having the various freaks and carnies attacking an intimidating likeness of the Nomad, much to the crowd’s joy. These include Killjoy The Clown, Bertha The Bearded Stronglady (RT CEO Matt Hullum), Lazarus the Lizard Tamer (along with a larger version of the lizard seen earlier), and Trixy The Trickshooter (Anna Hullum), making up the Phenomenal Four. The Nomad tries to flee with a cotton candy beard as cover, but is then picked as a member of the audience to join the act. He actually ends up having fun playing along, to the point he ends up clapping himself and bringing a bucket of popcorn to life.

The audience runs off in terror and the Nomad tries to do the same but is stopped by the carnies, revealed to be ex-bounty hunters, and imprisoned with the giant lizard. Toth takes this opportunity to bargain with them for his capture, but they already have to split the reward five ways, and don’t want any goons messing with it. This turns into escalating arguing, which the Nomad uses as a chance to tame the lizard and escape the cage. The Four try to take him on individually, but each fail. He makes it to the exit but is stopped by Toth, who is herself stopped by Twindleweed, who loses his hat and accidentally reveals he’s been embezzling from the rest of the group. They turn on him and launch him through the tent with their cannon, destroying the foundation and finally allowing the Nomad to make his getaway (and helped by the giant lizard he freed) much to Toth’s annoyance. Though at least they got their cotton candy.

OUR TAKE

Well, there goes my expectations. We got a bit of a spark from last week that I was hoping we could blow on to get a fire going, but I guess we’re content to let that go out. That’s not to say I’m against this show having easy-going episodes where the characters can just work off each other and be free of the plot baggage, but I’d rather we actually build up that luggage first. The idea of a traveling circus is always ripe with potential for interesting characters, even if they’re one-offs, but these guys seemed pretty standard. Cocky shooter, controlling beast tamer, dumb strong person, and greedy ringleader. Killjoy the clown seemed the most interesting, though that might be because he, like the Nomad, doesn’t really talk and has to rely on his actions to define his character.

Apparently, the story felt it was a good idea to jump ahead weeks to when Toth is already back in charge of the hunt but then decided to not show any of that before Skout took her to this circus. Not that I absolutely needed to see what happened in the interim, it’s just that I’m becoming confused about what exactly the writers want me to care about more: the characters growing in a potentially interesting and growing world, or just the wacky situations they find themselves in.

This episode is the shortest yet at nearly 11 minutes, which is concerning, given that it was also delayed a whole day, the longest delay yet past the usually scheduled release of Friday at 8 AM CDT. Why that or the previous delays happened is unclear, and I’m not about to make snap judgments or presumptions about the production, but they are beginning to pile up. It’s beginning to look like the extra two weeks was not enough to smooth out the schedule, and hopefully, they can work out a better tempo when they get to Season 2.

Although, that may not be the only thing they need to smooth out if this week is any indicator. The usual clashes with tone and art style are still plain as day, and even the animation seems to be getting pretty choppy in certain scenes (the launching by cannonball parts, for example), though this is lessened a bit this time since this seemed to be intended as more light-hearted and comedic. I’ve read people saying this is meant to be more of an example of the show settling into a formula now that the basics of the premise are out of the way. We know what the Nomad can do, we know who Toth and Skout are, and we have a feel for their dynamic as they continue their hunt.

The problem with that is that, while certain things are more developed and interesting, other things remain ambiguous in tone and unexplained. Why the Nomad is being sought after by El Rey, why Toth and Skout are on this hunt in the first place (other than Skout very clearly being into Toth), or how we’re supposed to feel about the Nomad’s powers (There are probably a lot of interesting implications and threads to follow with how they work, but they never get much thought into the past how they can get the Nomad out of a situation). And while at least you could say the first three episodes laid the groundwork for some interesting developments down the road, this is filler in the worst way: completely disposable. They’re taking a breather when they haven’t even finished the first leg of the race.

I’m really hoping this is not an example of what’s to come for this show, because it’s beginning to feel more and more like a hot and aimless walk through a barren desert. We’re entering the latter two thirds now, so we better be hitting some water soon.

Also, since this is the first episode of the anniversary, we get to see the new RT Animation Logo Sequence, including another small look at Gen:Lock! So, that’s a plus.

Score 3/10