Lucy: The Daughter of the Devil

So I have seen one other 1 star review on here. I'm not sure I really understood what that person was saying so I figured I'd maybe clarify why someone would not like this show.

My main issue with this show is that it is obviously pandering to this audience. For a show that has a bold, rad name and some pretty interesting art direction, I was surprised at how mundane the jokes and characters were. I get that that's sort of the "joke" but its not done well.

1) Everyone is boring and dull. For starters it shouldn't have been called Lucy: The Daughter of the Devil she's Lucy: The Completely Average Art Student. There's nothing interesting about Lucy. She's just a template that every awkward early 20's female can project themselves onto. She goes to art school. She has a dad who does something corporate. She is more interested in laid back artists than douche bags with money (you know, the only two types of guys that exist, right.) Even her father, the Devil, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin is a pretty weak character. H. Jon Benjamin is great at voicing one type of character: a character thinks he is way cooler than he is. For the perfect example watch any episode of "Home Movies." For examples of hits and misses watch most episodes of "Archer". Benjamin is an actor who nails down the "I'm going to give you life advice that sucks" character. But when he plays the Devil it really makes no sense. Again I get the joke is that the devil is down-played but if you're literally just going to make him an awkward 40-year old corporate father that can't connect with his daughter, then just do that. Don't add needless gimmicks.

2)Lack of the Lisa Simpson/Daria rule. Lisa Simpson and Daria are two characters who are very different than the average person their age. They are blindingly brilliant, quick-witted and impossible to argue with. In short, the average person shouldn't be able to relate to them and thus shouldn't care. But people did and do care, which is one reason their shows lasted so long. And this was because they didn't lose their more human traits. While Lisa would often offer incredibly profound opinions and talk at an analytical level above more 30 year olds she was still a young girl. In other occasions Lisa would still be facing issues that a little girl would face.

An example of this would be the episode "Lisa's Substitute" where Lisa develops a young crush on her substitute only to have her dad embarrass her in front of him and to watch him go. At the end, as her father cheers her up by performing a monkey dance, we see that deep down, even deeper than her intelligence, is just a sweet little girl similar in many ways to one you would meet at any playground. It is this connection that makes us care about this tyke genius. The same thing can be said for Daria but I won't go into it.

Lucy was completely lacking in this. While she did have something that made her exceptional (anything involving hell or the devil) I didn't notice her showing a real human side. Where was the confidence issues? Where was the worry about school, body image issues, balancing her boyfriend and her female friends? She may have dealt with some of these issues but in most cases they were quick-fixes.

If the joke is that the daughter of the devil is really mundane, then make her problems mundane too. Don't make some formulaic garbage so that undergrads can fill out their fantasy of meeting a really cool, laid back musician who just happens to be really important but way too humble to care. Save the fantasies for the RomComs.

I was working a lot last week, so I was too tired to get to any movies (everything I watched I watched over the weekend). I filled the time with a couple of Adult Swim series, which typically have an 11.5 minute runtime and are therefore easily digestible. In particular, I had recently downloaded two long-since canceled series that I had missed back in the day but had always wanted to catch up with. Lucy: The Daughter of the Devil was created by Loren Bouchard, who was responsible for one of Adult Swim's most popular shows, Home Movies, as well as the recent Fox animated series Bob's Burgers (both of which are available on Netflix Instant). Lucy has much the same M.O.: very lousy animation (think alternative comic strips) backed by a very conversational style of voice acting. Basically, it's a show about people sitting around and chatting it up. This one has a slightly different angle, though, in that it ostensibly has a plot: Lucy is the Antichrist, the 21 year-old daughter of Satan (voiced by Bouchard regular H. Jon Bejamin, who has since gained great fame for voicing the protagonist of the F/X series Archer). Satan wants to dispose of the Second Coming, Jesus (pronounced in the Mexican way), a hipster DJ and David Blaine-like magician. Unfortunately, Lucy, who is dating Jesus, keeps getting in the way. There are also three emissaries from the Vatican who are hunting the Antichrist and trying to find the Second Coming. But, like all of Bouchard's shows, the characters mostly just sit around and talk. This show is VERY funny, maybe even my favorite thing Bouchard has created. The second episode was my favorite, where Satan is trying to encourage women to masturbate (which will destroy society) by opening his new dildo factory. I do believe all 11 episodes are on Youtube. It's well worth 100 minutes of your time.

This is pure genius & amazing. Can't imagine giving less than a 10! Huge fan of all L Bouchard!! This and Home Movies are amazing truly! Jesus is awesome and Becky the Devils Advocate- again, genius!

I was intrigued by the premise and will watch almost anything with H. Jon Benjamin connected to it. It didn't disappoint, and I binged 2-3 episodes at a time. Wish there were more.

I wish more people watched this because it's funnier than Bob's burgers. Honestly a shame that it didn't get past one season.