Smiling Friends S1E1: Desmond’s Big Day Out
Desmond is a wrinkled, balding, and overweight man who perpetually holds a .50 caliber magnum to his head. Can two dudes who have never experienced his level of loss cure his depression? In perhaps the most shocking TV show debut I’ve ever witnessed, the writers of Smiling Friends smack viewers in the face with bizarrely grotesque imagery (even by Adult Swim standards) and uncannily authentic characters.
We are first introduced to Pim and Charlie, employees of Smiling Friends Inc., whose jobs are to make their customers smile. They soon receive a job offer for Desmond, a despondent and nihilistic middle-aged loner who believes that there’s no point in living. While Charlie immediately freaks out at his outlandishly dismal living conditions, Pim stays optimistic and promises Desmond he’ll be smiling by the end of the day.
To that, he monotonously replies, “Okay, but if you can’t help me, I’m gonna f*cking shoot myself and make you two watch.”
Quotes like that only scratch the surface of the unfiltered despair that is juggled throughout the episode. Although the show was created to exaggerate, it feels so genuine in the places that matter: Pim’s family’s bitter feud, facing the reality of aging, and happiness’s transitory nature.
This blurred line between exaggeration and authenticity leaves you not knowing whether to laugh or reflect. At the end of this episode, I could only sit in silence to digest the last twelve minutes.
There is something uniquely surreal about this show, perhaps rooted in how modern its tropes and themes are. Employees of Smiling Friends often congregate in a homestyle kitchen, an unusual place to host some sort of corporate office. Shockingly, the boss’s office feels almost overly corporate with his desk being spotlighted among the pitch-black background that his employees take orders from. Juxtaposed and ostensibly absurd details like this itch a part of my intuition that believes in the writers’ clever intention to illustrate some contemporary idea.
Due to its compact storyline, subtle themes and messages are overlooked as new things are constantly happening. It took me a second watch to notice the surgery scar on Desmond’s chest which adds another layer of context to the poor man’s past. I even overlooked the stark symbolism that was hidden in the presumed absurdity of Desmond’s revolver: people in his condition really do live like they have a gun to their head at all times.
But that’s the beauty of this fast-paced format: you leave interpretation up to intuition upon first watch, creating a personalized easter egg hunt on rewatches. It is the perfect Adult Swim show; caricatured animated characters treading too close to the edge of acceptability, up-to-date pop culture references, and dark, dark, humor.
