SPOILERS AHEAD!!
If you haven't watched the episode yet, click off now!
The new Amazing Digital Circus episode came out earlier today, which means it’s time for a review! (Ignore the lack of reviews for the first 3)
The Episode
I thought the episode was alright overall. The adventure itself was lacking in the, you know, adventure; but generally was an interesting situation to see the characters wind up in. Seeing characters from previous episodes like Gummigoo and the Gloinks show up again was also pretty cool, especially with the fact that this Gummigoo clearly isn’t the same Gummigoo as from episode 2 (which made for a fun little character moment with Pomni). Again, though, I felt like there wasn’t much going on aside from neat references and character development. Not that I’m against character development episodes (I loved episode 3), I just think there wasn’t really enough fun stuff going on between the more “existential” scenes that the series likes to do; which made the episode as a whole kinda drag on in my opinion.
Characters
One thing I will give the episode credit for is the character development, which seems to be the main thing it was going for. Episode 4 is very much a Gangle-focused episode, which is refreshing given that the character hasn’t received much in the previous ones. The fact that the new mask she gets doesn’t actually make her happy, only masks her sadness, kinda makes me think that her regular comedy mask doesn’t either; which I imagine is elaborated on later in the series. Zooble also got some nice development here, actually playing a major part in an episode for once, something that held their character back for me previously. Seeing Zooble genuinely care for Gangle and try to help was nice, even if it didn’t work out the best. Their little moment together at the end was nice too. Other character moments that deserve honorable mentions are Ragatha’s kind facade fading for a while (calling Gangle annoying) and Jax talking to Pomni like a normal civilized person for once (really Jax as a whole in the episode had an interesting little arc).
Episode Ranking
Episode 4 is not bad by any means, but I’d honestly rank it as my least favorite so far. The lack of more action-packed moments previous episodes had really holds it back for me, since the episode ends up feeling kind of like exposition for later episodes. I'd give it an official Waffle-stamped ranking of 3.5/5. Not terrible, but far from a favorite of mine.
Series ranking so far:
- The Mystery of Mildenhall Manor
- Candy Carrier Chaos!
- Pilot
- Fast Food Masquerade