Commentary: ‘Krapopolis’ Is Too Smart For Its Own Good

Sophisticated comedy is a tricky genre. It becomes especially troublesome when animation is involved. Writers need to balance the weird and quirky comedy with poignant and relevant commentary. Sometimes this balance can be confusing if one leans too far in one direction or the other. The Fox animated series Krapopolis manages to double down on both concepts at once, which makes the show way smarter than it has any right to be.

A great example of this can be seen in the program’s season one finale. In it, the leader of the new city of Krapopolis encounters a visitor from Athens. In the city-state, they are using a new invention called money. Krapopolis decides to adopt the concept, which quickly creates confusion in the society as they try to decipher how much a dollar is actually worth. The leader visits Athens to see how they handle money only to discover that the city has devolved into chaos because the government created so much money that it became worthless and the population was driven into a state of anarchy.

This is undoubtedly a very sophisticated episode that has relevant commentary on late-stage capitalism and a government’s negligence in regards to its economy. However, the show revels in the comedy its creator, Dan Harmon, is known for. Another show of his, Rick and Morty, does something very similar as it wraps deep themes and characterization in silly and stupid jokes. But the animation of Rick and Morty is a lot more layered and sophisticated than Krapopolis. That’s not to say that the animation is bad. It just feels much flatter, and so it’s harder for its relevant messages to get through. Instead, the style feels more suited to its silly jokes about mythology and sex in ancient Greece than any meaningful commentary on society at large.

Krapopolis is now streaming on Hulu.