Welcome back to our recap of Frisky Dingo, the Adult Swim series from the creators of Archer for bingers on a TV diet. This week we return to the central trope of season two and the presidential campaigns of Killface and Xander Crews. The political chicanery really heats up in episodes seventeen through nineteen.
1. The Annual North Fork Duck Hunt
Try saying that three times fast. In an effort to court middle American voters, both candidates’ campaign managers have sent their respective presidential hopefuls to shoot birds in a swampy bog. Needless to say, both Killface and Crews quickly find themselves in unfamiliar territory in episode seventeen. Echoing their sewer escapades from season one, which Crews even references, this episode also rekindles the fertile comedy ground of Killface and Crews’s fractious rapport. Like two squabbling siblings, the two get lost as the sun sets, and their reactions to their predicament are for Killface to fend off Crews’ double entendres and to argue over Anthony Hopkins movie titles and who gets to count to three to fire warning shots into the air. It’s in these moments between Crews and Killface that the show really hits its stride as the relationship between Killface and Crews is one not fraught with acrimony one might suspect. Rather they seem to find common ground in their complete lack of attachment to activities that one might consider commonplace. The closest Crews has ever been to hunting is his gray market safaris where he hunts for “the most dangerous game,” pandas, and as the safety vest-wearing Killface admits, he looks like a Push Up. Their shared haplessness in the face of their plight reflects both candidates’ inability to connect with voters in any real way.
2. NASC’UIL
One of the funnier gags that runs through these episodes is Taq’uil’s reaction to NASCAR, a shorthand for things that concern white, middle America. He is repeatedly befuddled at the mere mention of it. “Is that a band?” Once he finally watches a race with Doty, he gets bit by the bug, even going so far as to done a racing suit over the next two episodes. It’s another clever twist on the racial stereotypes in which Frisky Dingo traffics.
3. Born Again Killface
After surviving a point blank assassination attempt by Val at the conclusion of episode seventeen (it turns out she still holds a grudge for being held prisoner by Killface), Killface declares it a miracle and finds religion. This wouldn’t ordinarily be a problem for a presidential candidate, but Killface’s literal reading of the Bible that manifests itself in extreme religious orthodoxy gradually begins to erode his base of voters. Systematically, he alienates every one of his core supporters. In typical religious reactionary tradition he goes so far as to call the global warming, the platform on which he launched his campaign, junk science. He even refuses to campaign in New Hampshire because the state has just legalized civil unions. In other words, it’s not a good look for the Democratic candidate for president. Meanwhile, Crews sits back, on the advice of Stan, and watches the Killface campaign implode. Crews’s biggest concern is trying to wrangle his dream running mate, Fred Dryer, for whom Stan (and a naked Grace Ryan) points out that Crews’s might be having a bit too much of a fascination with courting. This development is a seamless jab at the strange bedfellows of religion and politics.
4. Simon’s Closet
In a development that should be shocking to no one, Simon comes out of the closet to his father over a bowl of morning cereal. Simon’s matter-of-fact mumbles require no translation, but Killface gives us one before unceremoniously dumping his newfound and strict religious dogma. For Killface, it’s just that simple, and just as he recants, a wayward RPG makes a direct hit on his torso. Vengeance of God? Nope, just some clumsy larpers. Haven’t seen those guys in a while, but if you haven’t noticed yet, Reed likes to pick up dangling plot threads and plug them into further plot developments. Killface’s superhuman physiology allows him to survive the missile, but another callback pays dividends as Killface finds himself in the same hospital where he had dispatched the trauma expert in season one after being impaled by a pipe in the wake of the catwalk collapse. Oh, and Killface still doesn’t have insurance so he goes home to recoup. Simon still has had precious little to do in this season so while his revelation is not jaw-dropping, it is welcome character development.
5. The Decepticles
The Xtacles now follow Hooper, formerly android Sin from season one who now dresses in a more voluptuous version of the Xtacles armor with new color schemes. It turns out that Sin has designs on picking up Killface’s global destruction agenda from season one. To his dismay, Crews discovers this shifting of allegiance in the most unfortunate of ways, but in typical Crews fashion, he can’t fault his former disciples for choosing to follow this charismatic, alluring, and shapely leader. Comments throughout this season take jabs at the superficiality of the American electorate, but this development brings it home for Crews as he has now fallen victim to someone else’s capricious waffling. There’s a moment that Crews might have felt betrayed, but our sense is that it is fleeting. If he had been in the same position, his decision to follow Hooper would have been the same.
Just like the Decepticles new theme song, Frisky Dingo finds new ways to be more than viewers bargained for. While plot tendrils flay in different directions, they are also resolved in a kind of weird storytelling entropy, leaving characters worse off but also somehow undaunted. You have to admire their resilience.
Join us next week for the penultimate episodes of season two.
