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Review:
Mission Hill
Written
by James Koonce, September 22nd, 1999
Satire is
an elusive thing these days, especially on television. Precious
few indeed are the programs which can send up a trend, an event,
or a lifestyle without veering into full-on parody. No, satire
takes deadlier, stealthier aim than that, and pierces the heart
of its subject, remarking on its very social worth, not merely
skewering its obvious outward characteristics for the sake of
a laugh. So when good satire comes along, it's important to sit
down and watch.
Which brings
us to the WB's new animated half-hour show Mission Hill.
Is it a good satire? Yes. But not for the reasons you might think.
To begin with, there's really no discernable reason why it should
be borne of pen and ink at all, because its stories and characters
are played so close to the live-action vest that animation serves
little purpose, save a certain antiseptic removal from the realm
of reality. Set in the titular bohemian quadrant of the fictional
city of Cosmopolis, the series centers on budding cartoonist Andy
French and his friends, their watering holes, and their gigantic
loft. Andy may have grand designs on life, but for the moment
he's only got a meager, bills-paying existence. Nonetheless he
richly embraces being young, single, and on the loose in the big
city.
Sound like
Two Guys & A Girl yet? I think you're getting the point. Mission
Hill's premiere sees Andy's idyllic Gen-X life upended with the
arrival of his younger, extremely straitlaced brother Kevin, unceremoniously
dumped on his doorstep along with family dog Stogie following
their parents' decision to move to Wyoming - alone. Andy is thereby
forced to have his style cramped as he puts up with his interloping
sibling; Kevin, seventeen and obsessed with SAT scores, has little
in common with his older brother, so the two are in for a long
uphill battle as they struggle for détente. But life goes on pretty
much as you'd expect in a premiere; Andy's annoyance with Kevin
abates as he gets to know him better, and there's even a lengthy
set piece during which he attempts to inculcate Kevin into the
"cool" lifestyle, getting him roaring drunk, then having to deal
with the fallout afterwards (including passing on his own chance
to bed a fetching co-worker), because he finds that he does care
about his kid brother, much to his chagrin.
In tone and
style, the show closely resembles another animated outing, MTV's
The Downtowners, also about a group of twentysomethings carving
out a niche for themselves in a funky neighborhood. Both shows
find stories in the minutia and ennui of slacker chic, resolving
them in fairly traditional ways. (One character on each series
even has the same irritating Abraham Lincoln beard-with-no-mustache
thing going on.) But ultimately, neither show ever really lifts
above the level of the ordinary.
Getting back
to satire, then, what the heck is the big deal? Ah, well that's
where Mission Hill's real covert brilliance lies. Contrary to
what might seem obvious, it's not a satire of youth culture, nor
of urban living, nor even of families and friends. It's a satire
of television itself. Yet it's all in the details - on paper,
the series is clean. But one viewing and it's obvious that there's
no way anything live-action could get away with what goes on here
- we see two gay men not only kissing, but full-on hubba-hubba
dry-humping in an elevator. We hear the word "douchebag," not
once but three times. And Kevin looks at his brother and proudly
proclaims, "well, time for me to masturbate." Boundary-pushing
incidents all, but hey, because it's a cartoon, it can't really
hurt anybody, right? The subversiveness is shrouded in a kooky,
primary colored world barely on the technical level of a vintage
Scooby-Doo episode, but the sting is still potent. And that's
how the show works its mojo.
To be fair,
Mission Hill isn't the first to exploit this phenomenon, it's
just the latest. The Simpsons has been at it for eleven years,
and King of the Hill and Family Guy are both going strong. In
fact, prime-time has more animation running currently than ever
before, causing an unprecedented boom within a normally fringe-dwelling
industry. But the unforeseen pitfall is, it's a trend with a steep
learning curve. As soon as the edgier, more peripheral animated
programs begin to go the way of the dodo in significant numbers
(and they will), the death knell will toll for the industry in
general, and animated shows will return to what they do best -
being occasional breakout curiosities that buck the trend and
beat the odds.
Which isn't
a bad thing, of course. In order for something to be truly satirical,
it has to exist outside the world it targets. It needs the freedom
to get in its jabs unfettered by the rules which enslave its prey,
lest it be co-opted by the mainstream, its potency neutered. And
with the cyclical nature of entertainment and an ever-shortening
American attention span, the clock is always ticking and the ground
is always moving under our feet.
So in the
meantime, we should enjoy it while we can. March up the Hill.
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