Little Demon, the adult cartoon from Danny DeVito, his family, and a slew of other amazing talent, finished its first season on October 20th. And though it didn’t garner much attention – aside from that of one fundamentalist Christian congressman – the show told a wonderful story filled with nuance and emotional profundity. Little Demon took a played-out aesthetic of angels and demons and made it enjoyable again by filling it with stories of divorced parents, neglected children, and rites of passage. If you’re a fan of adult animation and appreciate the work of some big names in Hollywood, this is one cult show that deserves your blood sacrifice.
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Hulu’s Little Demon brings together class-A talent you might not usually see working together. Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), Phil LaMarr (Futurama), and Dan Harmon (Rick and Morty) have all put their stamp on this series. These big names lend their prowess to the show’s experienced but relatively unknown creators, Darcy Fowler, Seth Kirschner, and Kieran Valla. Together, they tease you with stories of the apocalypse that have gotten better reviews than Revelations and are much more exciting than the 2nd law of thermodynamics. But despite its obvious merits, Little Demon remains in limbo; it hasn’t been canceled or renewed for another season. But it deserves another bite at the apple.
Little Demon Is the Rick and Morty of Its Genre
20th Television
Little Demon had a bit of a rocky start when a far-right congressman labeled the show evil and warned Christians against viewing it. Though, perhaps it didn’t come as much of a surprise. But the congressman went further, saying that the show glorified witchcraft and demonology, which it did, in the fictional sense. What makes Little Demon great is that, though it tells the story of an average Christian conception of the antichrist, it draws on all types of mythologies and religious traditions to create its varied pallet of magic and myth.
Aubrey Plaza’s character, Laura (the mother of the antichrist), is a powerful witch that uses pagan rites, Norse runes, and kabbalistic blessings to make her spells work. The world of Little Demon is one in which all religions are brought to life. It just happens to focus on the end times of the Abrahamic traditions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. But everything that is even remotely religious comes to life in this show. The angels we see later in the season are based on descriptions found in the apocryphal Christian text, The Book of Enoch.
Little Demon has clearly done its research and has more to it than simple jokes and easy potshots taken at Christianity. It’s the Rick and Morty of religious humor. It’s smart, original, and nuanced. It expects its audience to be at least somewhat knowledgeable of comparative religions or, at the very least, to have an open mind. This show doesn’t cut corners or make excuses for itself. When dealing with its own plot, its characters could have easily done the regular thing, and the show would have still been good. But instead, when faced with predictable narrative turns, writers choose the unexpected path, resulting in tangible growth from 3-dimensional characters. When you take that skill in writing and combine it with the delivery from stellar voice actors, you get something unique.
Little Demon Deserves to be Seen
FX Networks
Not only are you already dealing with a narrative style that will surprise and delight you at every turn, but you’re also witnessing a collaboration from names that wouldn’t typically be seen working together. Where Aubrey Plaza and Danny DeVito, who plays Satan, might be hilarious for different reasons in a live-action project, here you already have them playing separated parents of the antichrist.
Both can exude the energy of a typically dark, eccentric mad-person, if in different ways. Here you get that energy from both of them, directly opposed as if they were meant to be divorced after once narcissistically seeing themselves in each other.
When they come in contact, they despise the negative parts of themselves reflected in the other, which gives their daughter Chrissy so much motivation to be independent. Even better, Chrissy is voiced by DeVito’s real-life daughter, Lucy DeVito, so when you see Satan attempting to relate to the antichrist in a fatherly way, that energy is real.
What you get with Little Demon is skilled writing combined with singular voice talent. It is an enjoyable show for an intelligent audience that perhaps was overshadowed by controversy from radical political groups. It deserves the chance to expand that audience to show people what genuinely good adult animation looks like. Far worse shows have done better with the right marketing. And Little Demon doesn’t need a deal with the devil to be good. It just needs to be seen.
