by Erin Hatch, Editor-At-Large

A normal life is hard to achieve when you are a young human in the big city; and Mark Lilly is no exception. In fact, he has it specially rough. As part of the Social Services department of the Department of Integration, Lilly is constantly surrounded by the evil, the uncouth, and the downright weird on a daily basis. His job is to supervise new arrivals to the city and to make sure that they are able to find legal employment and keep their lives on track, a task that engulfs him in a most unusual life.

I was mildly interested in Comedy Central’s animated show Ugly Americans when it debuted last year, but was unimpressed by the few episodes I managed to catch on air, and stopped following the series soon afterward. However, in anticipation of this review, I went back and re-watched the first seven episodes of the series (which had been made available by Hulu) and came to appreciate the wry (and the not-so-wry) humor, the genre parodies, and the general absurdity of the show. It took me a while to really get in tune with the series, but by the end of the seventh episode (the last available on Hulu at the time) I had developed an appreciation of the series.

So, it kind of pains me to say that the debut of the Second Season (that aired tonight on Comedy Central) is not one of the best episodes of this series. In fact, it fell flat on many, if not most, levels. Maybe I missed some things from the end of the previous season, but for some reason this season starts with the demons and wizards at war with each other, and the Demons plotting to infiltrate the Wizard’s lair on magic mountain. Meanwhile, Mark’s coworker Leonard, a wizard himself, has taken a ward to the mountain to initiate him as his heir. Twayne and Callie, Mark’s demon bosses, trick Mark into leading the Demon army to Leonard by pretending that they want him to run a special demon summer camp, and antics proceed from there.

Part of the problem with this episode is that the characters are no longer interacting in the confines of their office: Everything is taking place outside of the office and mostly outside of the city that provides the colorful backdrop for most of the series. Also, most of the characters barely seem to interact with each other, meaning that the humor doesn’t really stem from established relationships between characters, and at the same time there doesn’t seem to be much of anything new in the episode, though I guess they build upon some of the gags from last season. There were some funny parts, though nothing that was just laugh-out-loud-funny for me. Except for the Army of Bears – This will make sense later.

All in all, this might not be the best episode to introduce new viewers to Ugly Americans. Still, from what I have seen of the series otherwise, I am convinced that there is some excellent talent on the show, and that it really does deserve a chance. Just… maybe wait until next week.

ComicsOnline gives Ugly Americans: “Wet Hot Demonic Summer” 3 out of 5 bear armies.

Stay tuned to ComicsOnline.com for more Ugly Americans coverage and for everything geek pop culture!