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Wednesday 9 February 2022

Kid Cosmic: Season 3 Review

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Kid Cosmic Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.

Kid Cosmic closes the book on its tale of superheroics with a third season that packs as much action as it does emotions. This heavily serialized show makes not only for a very easy binge, but it uses the format in order to tell a grounded, character-driven story about what it means to be a hero. Creator Craig McCracken delivers arguably his greatest TV work to date with a huge love letter to comic books that serves as both a references-filled treasure hunt to hardcore fans, and a great gateway superhero show for younger audiences.

Inspired by Silver Age comics but with the aesthetic of a Dennis the Menace comic strip, Kid Cosmic follows a kid named, well, Kid, who finds a set of powerful stones from outer space and decides to play superhero. Of course, giving a precocious, rebellious tween a bunch of superpowers isn't always the best idea, and Kid discovers being a hero is easier said than done, all while a planet killer starts moving towards Earth. We start Season 3 right where we left off, with Kid and the rest of the gang being proclaimed The Global Heroes by a secret organization called the Planet Protection Group (or PPG, in one of many references to McCracken's most famous work, The Powerpuff Girls). The new gig comes with a massive HQ tower like The Avengers, a Knight Rider-esque talking car, and even some shiny suits that control a giant mech like Battle of the Planets. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and when the big power fantasy meets reality, the show does a big-scale superhero battle on the scale of Infinity War or Endgame.

Each season of Kid Cosmic follows Kid as he learns a different aspect of what makes someone a hero; the first, for example, was about how a hero helps others, and the second was about accepting help and caring about others. This season puts the focus on Pappa G and on the sacrifices a hero makes in the service of others. Make no mistake, this season gets emotional, like ripping your heart out and dancing on its ashes emotional – like Tony Stark's final "I love you 3000" emotional – but it never feels cheap or engineered because we've seen these characters grow and change throughout the episodes. One of the best things about this show is how, from day one, it didn't allow itself to just be a power fantasy. The poster for the first season, after all, read "They're the good guys... but they're really bad at it," as Kid Cosmic presented a story that still had all the thrills and bonkers surprises of Silver Age comics, with fights against aliens, lots of great powers, and ridiculous villains, while grounding those fantastical stories in flawed people that are allowed to learn and improve over time.

Yes, there are plenty of comics that do this already and manage to be more than power fantasies, but the secret to Kid Cosmic is that it does things like a fantastic "For the Man Who Has Everything" homage or a fight against a Thanos-looking alien who is just a massive nerd, while still being aimed at kids who probably don't know about Superdickery. The result is the best animated superhero series aimed at younger audiences since Bruce Timm stopped making Justice League episodes. Kid Cosmic is indeed a giant love letter to comic books and superheroes, from DC and Marvel to even McCracken's first superhero show, The Powerpuff Girls. The latter is represented here by a trio of agents working for the PPG, who share the same visual design as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, and with original voice actors Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, and E.G. Daily voicing the characters.

By the time the finale wraps up, it does so in a satisfactory way that closes every story thread and character journey. This third season of Kid Cosmic argues that even if you save the day, you will probably lose something along the way that isn't easily brought back, and no matter how much good you do, many will not care about what you did. But that's okay, because heroes are not in it for the fame or glory. After the battle to save Earth is done and the dust settles, our heroes have suffered huge losses, and the show doesn't try to lessen the impact with jokes or one-liners, but instead lets the characters sit with the consequences of their actions for a surprisingly long time for a show like this. Yet, that's what makes Kid Cosmic special, as well as one of the best superhero stories of the past few years, regardless of medium or target audience.



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