directed by:
Rae Leonovich, Craig Selbrede, Gabby Jones, Ronan Guilfoyle written by: Craig Selbrede, Liam Gilbey genre: Drama, Comedy |
Am I somewhat surprised to see “Turtletastic” got a season two? Yup! Honestly, I am. While it showed some flashes of promise throughout its first season, by the time it had wrapped up its final episodes, I don’t think I would have bet on it coming back for another round…and yet, here we are. Determination sure counts for something, doesn’t it? I’ll let you in on what I’ve learned by watching the latest set of episodes as we dive into season two, and try not to add in too many spoilers along the way.
No surprise, you’ll find Stone Scriven is powerfully depressed as the first episode begins. Lying on the couch with his stuffed turtle friend Timothy, we’re taken back in time to 2020, where the season begins, then even further back to visit Maggie in 2019 as Stone helps her get rid of some creepy dude that’s coming on way too strong. Lemme say this loud & clear for y’all – if a person ever comes up to you in Maggie’s situation, your mission is to assume the role of a boyfriend or girlfriend so that they can keep these crazies away. That being said, in this particular episode of “Turtletastic,” the creep in question is a truly determined one, who is willing to be the third wheel even after Stone has assumed the role of Maggie’s boyfriend, which seems even tougher for him to pull off, considering he’s a gay man. Believe it or not, Stone ends up getting challenged to a freakin’ DUEL of all things, and the winner would presumably get the hand of the fair maiden Maggie? Bonus points go to Stone in this particular scene for not knowing who Andrew Tate is. Nobody should have to know who that guy is. I wish I didn’t know who he was, but that’s just not the world we’re living in, unfortunately. Anyhow, you can put this all together, I’m sure – Stone’s encountering a form of toxic masculinity. Before he even gets a chance to see what he’s capable of in a duel or debate, Maggie comes off the top ropes to show them both who is really in charge – and it’s believable. I might even fight either of the two dudes as the frail man I am, but there’s no way I’m taking on Maggie; she’s like the end-level boss. With Timothy being kidnapped by a strange government-esque shadow figure, he’s threatened with complete and total incineration. I can see that “Turtletastic” is about to go through some of the same issues that have plagued the series to this point…a few volume/clarity fluctuations in the audio, some standard coherence/cohesive issues in the scripting…But I appreciated that the plot in episode one seemed to do things differently than the series had done in the past, with a more diverse storyline for the show to build upon. As we’re propelled into 2025 by the end of episode one on the way into episode two, Timothy is doing his best to get his bearings and figure out what he might have missed. “Who are you again?” one of the cast of characters asks a guy named Jim who has somehow become part of the group – but like…I think I recognize maybe two of these people outta the seven? Poor Jim, singled out as ‘the new guy’ when they’re like…almost all new to us in this series, aren’t they? Together they contemplate murder and human sacrifice to thwart the…uhhh…are they saying “Zith Gods?” With a combination of audio that’s not always clear and characters somewhat rushing that specific reference, we don’t really know what kind of God they’re referencing. In terms of the potential danger…I’m assuming the risk is next to none - nobody really seems all that concerned. I spent the majority of the second episode fully confused by just about everything going on. Rather than clarify any of the strange stuff goin’ on, we slip back into Stone’s depression & sadness, and we’ve definitely covered that in a variety of ways already. “This is fucking boring,” says one of the new dudes…and he might not be wrong about that. There’s a message from the…ummm…”Zith Gods” on their computer, and apparently they’ve been doing some hacking and such, as you’d expect all alien life forms or Gods from another planet to do with a group of twenty-somethings. The government is overrated, and we already know all their secrets anyhow, so the ”Zith Gods” have invested their time hacking the computers of a bunch of college kids. Which makes complete and total sense as long as you’re not really trying to figure out the logic behind it all. I have no problem at all tellin’ ya that episode two likely will not make any damn sense to the majority of you out there watching, and I am pretty much praying the episodes to follow will make it all make sense. “Turtletastic” has already previously known to write itself in circles…and sometimes you just gotta stick with it & have some faith that it’ll find its way to where it wants to go, even if it seems like it has wandered off way too far to ever get back. Props to Craig Selbrede for upping the look of the show with a massive credit sequence that honestly looks great…it’s entertaining and professional, and I love it. As for the rest of the show, it’s always walking a fine line between watchable & very iffy.
In episode three, we get more familiar with Mack and his evil twin Zack, the latter of whom the gang has now tied up with a rope as they try to get some answers. Stone, Maggie, and Timothy continue to put in the work to learn more about the mystery at hand, and we get a drop-in visit from Franklin, who seemingly comes out of nowhere and really doesn’t contribute all that much to the storyline. There are a lot of characters in this series that would fit that description, and it’s weird. In my opinion, Selbrede needs to approach every aspect of his material with some kind of intention & purpose…without that, he’s just adding extraneous details for the sake of adding something, but it tends to water down the rest. Comedy-wise, this season is stretching that label to about as thin as it can get – “Turtletastic” is amusing at its best, but to claim that you’d be in for laugh-out-loud types of jokes would be misleading. Maggie seems to feel like Stone needs to talk to Franklin for some unknown reason, and so hey, who knows, maybe we’ll find out in time as to why he popped up randomly within episode three. Timothy continues to be the most interesting character for the most part. However, I’m intrigued about what’s happening with April – she introduces the kind of drama that Selbrede is capable of writing excellently. It’s moments where you see that kind of meaningful material that tends to draw the best out of the shows he’s writing & directing. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that if he just dropped the nervous tendency to hedge his content by trying to add in the humour, this dude could quite likely write up one heck of a serious, dramatic series. For now, we’re kind of stuck with him on this journey where his material isn’t quite enough of one thing or the other. Pick a lane, my friend, pick a lane…and the more you focus on that one idea, the more you’ll get out of it. There’s a whole lot going on in “Turtletastic” already, and he’s shown no signs of slowing down on how much he’s adding into the plotline, which continues to create way more questions than answers. Stone and Timothy have a conversation about what has and hasn’t changed, some of the key differences in the past & present, and Scriven introduces Colorado as part of the plotline, which is kind of a tried, tested and true tactic when it comes to writing. Allude to a place of some kind – sounds mysterious, right? Alright, it probably doesn’t, because we’ve seen a bunch of stuff like that in the things we watch; I just give Craig the credit of making things a little interesting by using Colorado instead of Boston, which is pretty much the place that every other show seems to have its mysteries originate from. I know what you’re thinking – do they, though? Trust me when I tell ya, you’ll notice how much Boston comes up from this point forward in just about everything you watch that has some sort of mystery element to its storyline. Anyhow, in episode four, it’s Colorado…so let’s see if we can find out what that’s all about, and just keep that new information in our back pocket until we do. We get that much-anticipated meeting between Franklin and Stone, which doesn’t seem to really go anywhere. We get to watch Zack, the evil twin, take on Stone in a physical matchup. And the rest of the gang has donned what seems to be…umm…one collective mustache as a disguise as they try to uncover some ‘corporate espionage.’ Zack/Mack guy is starting to grow on me by episode four – he’s becoming a bright spot in this series as far as the acting is concerned, up there with what you see from April and Stone in that regard. It’s always tough to stand out in a short series like this, but those would be my favourite characters, beyond Timothy of course…but I trust you already know that he’s the real star of this show. Episode five deals with Kevin, a guy that we’ve heard referenced along the way throughout this second season. Kevin is somewhat picking up where Stone has left off in the depression and sadness aspect. Kevin also has a stuffed animal imaginary friend, with Kimmy the koala being his own therapeutic outlet. It’s an interesting dimension of the whole story that I kind of wish the series leaned into harder than it does. We’re all living in an age of unparalleled loneliness as far as our relationships go and the text messages we all leave on ‘read’ for days on end, so to see these other forms of interaction that we’ve seen in films like “Blowing Up” or movies like “Her” – I mean, these are realistic possibilities that could very well comfort people in ways that we need. AI still sounds a little scarier by comparison, given that it’s been telling people to kill themselves lately, but I’m fairly confident the algorithm will improve soon enough. I really liked the conversation that happens between Stone and April in episode five – again, his writing seems to excel when it’s focused in one particular direction & especially when that’s dramatic. Even though there are always questionable elements in the writing & the way the show is approached, it does continue to experiment to test the waters and find out what works, and I appreciate that. In spots like the conversation between April and Stone, where they use the camera in a circular motion to help boost the intensity of the visuals, I like that – it’s the right idea. As for the execution of it, this is where the show and its creators are still spreading their wings & figuring it out – that circular camera use is great…and now we just need to learn how to do it without it being picked up by the audio at the same time. If they can pull that off, then it stops us from noticing that the camera is actually there, which is the desired effect, I’m sure. Stone has some of his very best scenes in coming to the defence of April. Now, as of the time of writing this review, the last few episodes have yet to come out. I’ll try to be a bit more vague and generic so that I’m not giving away too much about the unaired episodes. I will tell ya this, though – we get one of my favourite characters back before the season is over when The Void comes in to lend his assistance to Timothy in a conversation that provides a bit more of the humour we’ve been searching for. So, be aware of some spoilers ahead. It was in The Void all along! Stone ends up with some major life decisions to make, but his friends seem completely ready to support him. That said, “Turtletastic” continues to run into the same brick wall in the sense that it gets bogged down by the more far-fetched aspects of what Selbrede tries to be the main framework of the plotline, which are kind of like, way too big and tough to communicate to us in a coherent way throughout a series of shorts. The more that he’s focused himself and his cast on the characters themselves, and the relationships between them, that’s where he’s found the most success for “Turtletastic.” Storylines like what’s happening with Kevin and April, for example, are highly relatable & real – and truthfully, they’re important stories to tell. Even Stone’s own tales of despair provide much more substantial material we can connect with, instead of the extraneous plotline that almost ends up feeling entirely unnecessary. I get it, it’s tough…there has to be something to stimulate the plot and get these characters to do something, at least to a degree – but it’s equally crucial to play to your strengths as much as you can as a writer, and creating characters is really what Selbrede excels at. The more sincere they’ve been, the better they’ve come across onscreen and the better chance they have at making an impact on us, as viewers. Without giving too much away here, I’ll just leave it at this and say that one of the most iconic characters in “Turtletastic” will go through such a profound physical change in the cliffhanger ending of episode six that it could potentially alter the course of the whole series after. So we jump ahead to episode eight, the second season’s finale…where Stone has one of the most Stone-like moments at the start of it all. Rather than be impressed or even seem to register his own friend’s remarkable transformation, he just plows right ahead with the whole Kevin and April saga. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as anxious to get back to that part of the plotline too – but he’s chosen a very bizarre time to do that. Could this be dry comedy? Dry as sandpaper if it is…the last thing you’d ever assume is that Stone is attempting to make you laugh when it’s much more believable that his naturally self-absorbed character is just focused on what’s most important to him at any given moment. Is that a mistake or a misstep this time around? It very well might be. The other side of the coin is that the nature of Stone’s relationship with his friend really hasn’t changed, despite the new dynamic in place. You get a sense of finality, transformation, and change in the air as episode eight starts to snap into gear – and for as much as I’ve complained or criticized this or that, we really do end up attached to some of these main characters as we watch “Turtletastic,” and I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to say goodbye to any of them just yet…though we may have to. Some fisticuffs will ensue, bringing the show back around full circle to yet another duel of sorts. Is it a duel without swords or guns? I’ll let you decide on that. I will tell you this - you’ll get the long-awaited resolution to the Kevin and April storyline. All in all, I still think writers Selbrede and Gilbey would be better served by showing us more than they tell us when it comes to the plotline, rather than backfilling the details after a bunch of quick cuts and revisiting parts of the plot they purposely left out earlier on to help fuel the mystery. It’s a kind of writing that is extremely effective when it’s really well done, but I’m not quite convinced that this particular medium of using short episodes is as adaptable to that kind of overall idea. More often than not, it feels choppy or plays like we missed out on some important details on our side of the screen - and that’s not always the case when it comes to “Turtletastic.” It’s kind of like Selbrede expects us all to see things in the same way he sees them or know what he knows…and of course, we can’t do that. So the more he really digs in, writes those details, fleshes out those characters, and shows us what we need to know, the more the show flourishes. There’s a retrospective piece in the last episode that’ll have you recalling some of your favourite moments and characters along the way – many who were sorely missed in this season. Arguably, it wraps up the multiple-timeline aspect of this story as well…though again, I’d tell ya that adding that element has still been a major stretch the whole time. I’m going with three and a half out of five stars for season two of “Turtletastic” – it remains filled with the potential we want, even if, at times, it doesn't quite materialize. |
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