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STUDIO: Cartoon Network
MSRP: $19.98
RATED: Unrated
RUNNING TIME: 101 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Art + Music
• This ain’t a hat, it’s a ragtop for a sex convertible
• Funny Pete stuff
• Bumps
• Dragon Con 2009
The Pitch
Hillbillies Early Cuyle struggle with…..well, being impoverished land squids.
The Humans
Unknown Hinson, Daniel McDevitt, Dana Snyder
The Nutshell
Your favorite hillbilly squids take on growth hormones, homosexuality and Dean Koontz.
The Lowdown
Summing up a season of Squidbillies is not easy. Let me go further and say even summing up an episode is not easy. There’s so much happening that it’s hard to keep up, or even to make sense of the absurdity (sort of like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, also written by Dave Willis). It’s definitely not for all tastes. You need to watch episode after episode to “get it”, otherwise you’ll be in the crowd that lambasts it–though I’m sure even those who have seen several episodes still find it off-putting. And that’s what makes it so entertaining: it’s so absurd and stupid it’s almost charming. For those of you unfamiliar with Squidbillies, it stars Early Cuyle, who lives in the North Georgia Mountains with his family. They’re an impoverished family of earthbound Squids, who are always stuck in some random situation, often trying to survive by earning money in some way. Even that seems like an afterthought to the production. But for fans of Adult Swim shows—myself included—the madness is part of it. And you don’t have to be from Georgia to find it funny.
Koontz, once again, tries to explain the complexities of being a zombie.
In season four, the premiere is one of the funniest episodes of the season, called Lerm”. We have an alien who essentially recites the same lines over and over,”Do you want to go there?!”, and “Death to America”, which ultimately leads him to steer his spacecraft into whatever is forcing him to go there. You can obviously see there’s a bit of bite to the series, which contains numerous satirical jokes (mostly of the political and social nature) on the Republican party and immigration. Another one of the most hilarious episodes, called “The Big Gay Throwdown”, which, as you may have guessed, involves a big gay throwdown. We learn some surprising new information involving The Sheriff, who decides to go undercover into a gay-themed party–he’s looking to find “his most wanted man”.
One involving Dean Koontz and the Squids struggling to battle literacy is hilarious. Early Cuyle strives to end books and reading altogether, since he obviously can’t read at all. Dean Koontz, strangely enough, is also illiterate. In another episode, Rusty decides that taking steroids is a good idea. But soon after, he’s gigantic, and taking on Thunderclap (who has never won a match, apparently, and who is also voiced by Mick Foley). One of the other “socially relevant” episodes is entitled, “The Fine Ol’ Solution”, where Early decides that he should protect crappy, menial American jobs from Mexicans–those who are willing to actually do them, basically. The last two episodes of the season are two parts. After Early pushes Rusty onto relatives of his, he learns that he can no longer receive help from the government. He makes up an excuse that Rusty was kidnapped, and spreads it around on the news–soon after, he’s profiting off of it. Other episodes include: “God’s Bro”, “Atone Deaf” and “Confessions of a Gangrenous Mind”–all funny, but not nearly as good as the others.
Squidbillies is a one-of-a-kind show. Sure, it’s not exactly smart entertainment, but it is knowingly absurd, and that takers a certain “something”. Dave Willis, a native of Georgia, has been working with Adult Swim for some time now. Let’s just hope he continues, because with Willis, it’s more than likely we will continue to get absurd, comically gross shows with some originality. It’s absurd, gross, satirical and raunch–the necessary ingredients for a show that will certainly divide audiences.
The Package
The DVD is unfortunately very lackluster. There are only a handful of extras, which aren’t very long. Easily the most pointless one is where Early’s hat is changing, and it gives us a look at all of his various hats. The commercials are very funny, though, as well as the Dragon Con footage. Not much to see here, otherwise.
Rating: 
Out of a Possible 5 Stars