Krapopolis Premiere Recap: Is Fox’s New Comedy a Gift From the Gods? Grade It!
Fox is mining Greek mythology for laughs in the new animated comedy Krapopolis. But did Sunday’s premiere earn it a permanent spot on your watch list?
The premiere takes us back to ancient Greece, where a boy is hawking “morning vases” with the latest news etched on them. We’re introduced to King Tyrannis (Richard Ayoade), who is much less intimidating than his name implies. He’s a scrawny intellectual who hopes to usher in a new era of civilization by building a city named Krapopolis. (“Cities are going to be huge,” he predicts.) But his brawny sister Stupendous (Pam Murphy) is more inclined to humanity’s brutally primitive side — and in her defense, there are still cannibal hordes roaming the landscape.
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We also meet Tyrannis’ goddess mother Deliria (Hannah Waddingham) and bearded centaur dad Shlub (Matt Berry), along with Tyrannis’ nerdy brother Hippocampus (Duncan Trussell), who seems to be half-fish? Deliria wants a temple made in her honor, hoping to keep up with her hated rival Athena. She also has telekinetic and shape-shifting powers, which she demonstrates by transforming into an ostrich before exiting. (“How is she hot, even as an ostrich?” Shlub marvels.) Tyrannis enlists Hippocampus to develop a written language to push civilization forward… but the townsfolk are more worried about the flaming severed head the cannibal hordes just left as a warning.
Stupendous and Hippocampus take on the cannibal hordes by presenting them with a Trojan horse with a bomb stashed inside. To their surprise, though, the barbarians, led by the exquisitely named King Asskill, love the gift and invite them inside their gates to celebrate their newfound peace. In fact, Asskill puts their oldest women and young children right next to the horse, and that guilts Stupendous and Hippocampus into admitting there’s a bomb inside. Soon, Stupendous and Asskill are both in tears over their ruined friendship… but they both still manage to slaughter many enemies through their tears as Stupendous and Hippocampus escape back home.
Deliria learns from her gossipy pal Hermes that the barbarians are about to invade Krapopolis… and since they worship Athena, if Deliria lets them conquer the city, Athena could get her back into Olympus with the rest of the gods. With the barbarians at the gates, Tyrannis tries to use diplomacy to stop them, but Asskill just wants to know how he’d prefer to die. When Asskill explains that they broke his trust with the Trojan horse, though, Tyrannis says he’ll prove he can be trusted by just… letting the barbarians in to join the new empire he envisions. That sets off Athena, who materializes and gets into a fierce goddess catfight with Deliria, with the two of them wrestling on the ground and turning each other’s soldiers into snakes. Shlub saves the day by riding in on the Trojan horse, which explodes and neutralizes Athena, leaving the cannibals to worship Deliria instead. Problem solved!
Well, there is one more problem: Half the citizens of Krapopolis have been turned into snakes, so Deliria has to painstakingly turn them all back into humans. Sigh, a goddess’ work is never done.
Now we want to hear from you: Give the Krapopolis premiere a grade in our poll, and then tell us if you’ll keep watching in the comments.
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