'Solar Opposites' Review: While the aliens are funny, the world in Yumyulack’s terrarium makes it binge-worthy
Spoilers for ‘Solar Opposites’
Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan’s ‘Rick and Morty’-like animated science fiction comedy is a treat to watch. With eight episodes, it almost feels not enough, instantly making you crave for more.
The show focuses on an alien family consisting of Terry (Thomas Middleditch), Korvo (Roiland), Jesse (Mary Mack), Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone) and the Pupa, who land on Earth after their home planet (a supposed totalitarian utopia) of Schlorp is destroyed by an asteroid. Their aim was to find a habitable planet that would be terraformed by a full-grown Pupa to replace their home. Unfortunately for them -- well just for Korvo, because he really hates humans -- they found Earth, a planet with depleting resources and a dominant species that cares very little about anything of consequence.
The characters make the show what it really is. Korvo is grumpy and focussed on fulfilling the mission. But no one else is. Terry is more chilled out than a college frat-boy. Jesse is too obsessed with being validated by her peers at her high school (who hate her and bully her for being an alien), and Yumyulack is a malicious little twit who loves to shrink people and add them to his terrarium.
While most episodes focus on unconnected shenanigans they all get into, there is a side-plot that makes the show infinitely more fun to watch: It’s what goes on inside Yumyulack’s terrarium. Being the bag of malice that he is, Yumyulack often shrinks people for the tiniest of offenses (like wearing a shirt whose color he doesn’t like or farting in an elevator). In the process, the terrarium is filled up with tiny people who have to deal with a whole new world.
And this is where the show’s creators do some excellent world-building. Inside this multi-leveled terrarium is a universe that is built upon new rules. What started out as a ‘Mad Max’-like wasteland, soon turns into a civilization. People domesticate mice and sell their milk. They barter goods (candy, and just about anything that Jesse throws inside). They have a religion that celebrates their captors. They also have a dictator that controls the flow of everything.
In a very ‘Snowpiercer’ like manner, the terrarium’s different levels turn into habitats for different classes. And when there is a separation of classes, there is obviously strife between them. We see a revolution led by a man who was shrunk for wearing a red shirt. We see his rise as a rebel leader, his romantic interest, his guilt in the death of others, and his act of war against the supreme leader. And then we see his fall from grace as he ultimately becomes what he was fighting against all the while.
While the adventures of the aliens are hilarious in their own right, it is this story inside the terrarium that manages to hold your interest as a kind of central plot.
Even though the show has the visual aesthetics of ‘Rick and Morty’, Roiland and McMahan have made sure that ‘Solar Opposites’ is nothing like the critically acclaimed Adult Swim series. And there are many reasons for that (read the spoiler-free review), the most important of which is that it does not have a nihilistic, alcoholic, mad scientist with a God complex like Rick Sanchez. While it can be argued that Korvo and Yumyulack are smart, they are also complete morons in many departments, making them very un-Rick.
All in all, ‘Solar Opposites’ makes for a fantastic binge, and what better to do than watch a bunch of bumbling aliens and a world full of tiny human beings, while you’re stuck at home, feeling antsy. It’s a guaranteed laugh-fest.
‘Solar Opposites’ is streaming on Hulu.
