“Do you think God stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he’s created?” Since long before this question was posed in Spy Kids 2, various media have tried to put a unique spin on how we got here. According to Exploding Kittens, Netflix’s latest adult animated endeavor, God is far more passive of his creation – until Heaven’s board decides he needs an attitude adjustment. From there, Exploding Kittens turns into a family sitcom that hasn’t quite landed the ‘jokes’ department, but has enough zany cat shenanigans and a genuine family demographic to keep viewers entertained for a while. (And for the squeamish, no kittens end up exploding – though a unicorn does make its messy, rainbow-gore demise.)
God, now going by “Godcat” on Earth, has only one mission if he ever wants to get back to Heaven (and his “rocking bod” he narcissistically flexes at any chance) – empathize with his creation. An unintentional prayer finds him with a family of oddballs disconnected from one another – mom Abbie craves bloody excitement as a former Navy SEAL, while her husband Marv just wants the family to be as invested in tabletop gaming as he is. The two kids are similarly split in personality, with son Travis being obsessed with Internet fame and daughter Abbie being so invested in science it’s surprising she doesn’t have a secret laboratory. As much as Godcat initially loathes all their complicated emotions, a few godly tricks and adventures start to bring the family together again – and perhaps give God a bit of that much-needed empathy. That is if the daughter of Lucifer, Beelzebub, going by “Devilcat” on Earth, doesn’t give him a run for his money.
The series’ art style may seem familiar to anyone who was up on webcomics in the 2010s – the character designs were done by Matthew Inman, who created The Oatmeal webcomic as well as the original Exploding Kittens game. You can feel a bit of The Oatmeal here, both in terms of the humor and character designs. And for anyone who’s just after cute cats – the series’ art style isn’t the most charming, but it’s hard not to find Devilcat adorable when she looks like an evil Pikachu. The series also doesn’t have as much cat-based humor as one might expect, but it sticks the landing a few times, such as Godcat’s recurring uncontrollable urge to knock over a glass any time he enters.
A lot of the show’s comedy is based on pop culture humor – there are various off-hand quips such as the portal to hell being through an Imagine Dragons concert, and humans making pumpkin spice deodorant. The series also finds a bit of humor in God the same way anime series in the Sengoku period find humor in a reincarnated Nobunaga Oda – amazement over how the modern world has evolved. “Who is this Bruce Willis?” Godcat asks at one point in amazement, going through a marathon of his filmography with Devilcat. “Is he some god I don’t know?” While a few of these jokes land, the vast majority of them seem to think that simply saying the name of something is funny, which could prematurely date the series. Furthermore, Godcat being unaware of Bruce Willis for a gag becomes a bit confusing when only a few minutes later he tells Devilcat he’s going to “Marie Kondo [her] organs.”
The series is at its best when it leans into zany antics – the family working together to cover up the unicorn they accidentally ran over with an impressive Diet Coke trick, or having to defeat a giant rainbow ball of teenage emotions. These moments help to round the whole cast together – while the series could’ve leaned more into Godcat and Devilcat’s complicated relationship, it would’ve been a death blow for the family part of the series. I went from being annoyed with and unsure of what the family dynamic exactly was in the first episode to rooting for them and being touched by their genuine, complicated love for one another.
While it’s been branded with a TV-MA rating on Netflix, the series hardly leans into any sort of raunch or excess that the rating would allow. The rare bit of swearing is bleeped – there are a few innuendoes and a bit of cartoon blood, but the average episode of Family Guy is far raunchier and occasionally gorier. The series feels quite a bit like something that Fox would have thrown at the wall for a season (not that Netflix is much better, knock on wood), with easy comparison to something like Duncanville in how it finds humor in its family dynamic while occasionally being able to pull off something heartwarming.
Overall, season 1 of Exploding Kittens is a charming initial start to an adult animated series that feels a bit different than its Netflix counterparts. While the humor doesn’t always land, the zany cartoon antics and developing relationships are enough to keep viewers entertained. The series leaves plenty of room open for continuation, which would also allow for more elements from the original card game to appear in the series. Here’s to hoping that Netflix sees the promise in this one. Perhaps it should come with a disclaimer the kittens don’t explode.
