Disenchantment Part 5 Spoiler-Filled Review

Disenchantment is a mature animated adventure fantasy. Well-known animation producer Matt Groening created the series and co-developed it with Josh Weinstein, who also worked on The Simpsons. Groening and Weinstein are executive producers, along with Rough Draft Studios Vice President Claudia Katz, writer Eric Horstead, writer and producer Bill Oakley, and former Writers Guild of America West president Patric M. Verrone. This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, Disenchantment, being reviewed here, wouldn’t exist. As a warning, this review will discuss trauma, murder, blood, death, mental health, and other related themes.

The plot of Disenchantment Part 5, the final part of this series, focuses around Princess Bean (voiced by Abbi Jacobson). She is not sure what to do with her life since her mother, Queen Dagmar (voiced by Sharon Horgan), attempted to kill her by pushing her out a tall castle tower window. Elfo, Bunty, Mop Girl, and Luci, voiced by Nat Faxon, Lucy Montgomery, Lauren Tom, and Eric André respectfully, praise Bean, and say they have to finish what she started. Elfo refuses to believe Bean is dead. He is right. Bean is kissing her true love, Mora (voiced by Meredith Hagner), a mermaid, in the ocean. She enjoys her time so much that she decides to stay after Mora explains that they can live happily ever after. For the time, she doesn’t return to Dreamland, putting her plan to reclaim power and kill her controlling mom on hold.

There is much more going on. Dagmar is arrogant. She will do anything to maintain her hold on power. She personally oversees harsh interrogations and uses connections through her relationship with Satan (voiced by Rich Fulcher). Satan uses his powers, including hypnosis, to induce Luci’s cooperation. This is a complete failure. Luci knows how to outsmart him. He isn’t like the characters on Velma. They are easily hypnotized. Dagmar tries to bring back “Bad Bean,” an evil manifestation of Bean, to help her rule over Dreamland.

Disenchantment emphasizes drama more than comedy. There are some comedic moments and on-the-nose jokes. Merkimer (voiced by Matt Berry), the pig-prince, is a squealer. In the first episode, Vip and Vap trip Dagmar and smoke a hookah afterward. In the third episode, Mora notes that in animation’s early days, films were so flammable that they’d threaten to start a fire whenever animators wanted to unionize. Such a joke is funny and apt. It comes at a time that some animators have been calling for a strike in 2024, akin to strikes this year by actors and writers. It remains to be seen if The Animation Guild will authorize such a labor action.

From the first episode, the romantic feelings between Mop Girl and Elfo blossom. In that episode, they hide the then-headless body of Bad Bean by pretending to have a romantic kissing session. Dagmar is disgusted and departs. Not even love matters to her. Power is her only goal. She tried to kill her own daughter so she can rule over Dreamland, and beyond, without any opposition.

This changes by the second episode. Dagmar puts the entire castle on lockdown and orders everyone to shelter-in-place, a possible comparison to COVID-19 lockdowns. Bean and her friends try to scheme how they will kill her, and get rid of Bad Bean’s body. Queerness is out in the open. Mora is called Bean’s girlfriend. She doesn’t even bat an eye, or deny it. In years past, such openness would be impossible. In fact, Waylon Smithers in The Simpsons didn’t come out, officially, until 2016.

For the 26 years before that point, the relationship between him and his boss, Mr. Burns, was a running gag. He represented the stereotype of a closeted gay man. As for Bean, she carries Mora in a bridal carry when they are traveling around the castle, even though it is arduous. Later, after they find a place filled with gadgets from the steampunk kingdom of Steamland, Bean drives a motorbike down a church aisle and takes Mora with her. The aforementioned room makes clear, yet again, that Zog’s crown (and crowns of everyone in Dreamland) has a transmitter, as they observe it on a tel-o-visor.

Steamland is a bigger part of Disenchantment‘s Part 5. Its splendor shines as much as it did in previous parts of this series. Steam which allows the city to run comes from Hell. Zog is imprisoned in a Steamland prison, but somehow escapes. He looks for Odval and his son, Derick. Bean and Mora are helped by Oona, following the loss of their motorcycle. Mora brings Bean to a lesbian bar. This implies that Steamland is further along in gender equality than elsewhere, despite the country’s industrial nature which somewhat resembles Victorian England. A bartender gives her a clue about where Zog was taken. Mora notes that she used to wash dishes there and sings about destroying the patriarchy with a “mermaid orgy,” which warms Bean’s heart.

The queerness of the series is on display in other ways as well. A buff police officer, named Lady Bowmore, who Bean was attracted to, is annoyed that Bean didn’t call her. She is so jealous that she claims that Mora’s song “sucked.” Otherwise, much of the third episode involves getting Zog’s crown from a pawn shop, Bean pushing Mora in a baby carriage, and meeting Alva Gunderson (voiced by Richard Ayoade). Bean doesn’t trust him in the slightest. As a result, electricity flows from her fingers, yet again.

Her instinct  is right. On the 78th floor of his skyscraper, serviced by lightbulb robots, Alva shows interest in Mora because she voices a cartoon character named Squalid Squirrel. He even puts on a “lost” movie reel with her character, wanting her to perform his “silly fanfic.” Bean becomes spooked when she sees a can of food with her face on it and finds a robot version of her. Alva planned this whole scheme. He, and the Arch Druidess (voiced by Tress MacNeille), try to ensure that Bean’s magic powers will power their pet project. This backfires. She becomes so furious that the machines themselves overheat.

Bean, Zog, and Mora escape Alva and the Arch Druidess, and their sadistic plan. However, they still have one task left: rescue Odval and Derek from the so-called “freak show” run by a P.T. McGee (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), a P.T. Barnum-like character. Bean formulates and executes a successful plan, thanks to her magical powers, to rescue Odval, Derek, and everyone else in the cages of this “show.” McGee tries to kill them with a tommy gun, but is unsuccessful. He is angry that they outwitted him. Sadly, Mora and Bean are separated. Zog and Bean fly away in a hot air balloon. Mora attempts to steer a submarine, called an electrofish. In the next episode, she causes it to sink because she doesn’t close the hatch.

However, the journeys of these characters are only beginning. Bad Bean in Dreamland goes wild, thanks to trog goo, even though she is headless. She kills Jerry (voiced by David Herman). He is sent to Heaven. Dagmar makes Elfo question his goals and his life’s value. He travels back in time. He learns that he shot himself with an arrow and realizes that his future self killed his past self. After he reveals this to Mop Girl, she tells him that destiny doesn’t exist. Later, it is revealed that she is an elf!

The romance between Mop Girl and Elfo is a strong sub-plot in Disenchantment Part 5. Both bond and Mop Girl says that she really likes Elfo but doesn’t want to stand out. Although introverted, she is pushed into the spotlight. She becomes leader of the resistance against Dagmar. Later, the army against Dagmar comes together in a camp, but only tentatively. There are many fissures among these rebels. This differs from the Rebel Alliance in the original Star Wars trilogy, or Resistance in newish Star Wars films, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars Resistance. In those series, any fissures are downplayed.

Just as bad, an evil puppet named Freckles tries to take down the entire hot air balloon. While he fails, the Maru’s inhabitants cause the balloon to crash. Underground cave dwellers save Bean and Zog at the last second. It is there that Deborah acts as a bit of a sage. She hopes to teach Bean to teach her how to harness her inherited power over electricity. In an almost Dune–esque scene, Bean harnesses her power in a sandstorm. Then, she uses her powers to destroy the Oracle. She saves her dad from the kidnappers (Becky and Cloyd). Thanks to her actions, the kidnappers return to Dreamland. While this succeeds, Bad Bean is back in force, after her head’s reattachment. She kills the aforementioned evil wooden puppets.

This hero’s journey, also known as monomyth, for Bean, is not unique. The most famous monomyth of the last fifty years of sci-fi and fantasy storytelling is likely Luke Skywalker in Star Wars in 1977, influenced by Joseph Campbell’s writings. Other examples include Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Lewis Carroll’s Alice Adventures in Wonderland, and Homer’s Odyssey, works by Charles Dickens, J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolken, and films such as Interstellar.

For Bean and Zog, their journey back to Dreamland involves an inadvertent stop-by at the Twinkleton Asylum after their helicopter crashes. They meet a “reformed” Big Jo (voiced by LaMarche). He reveals that he lashed out because he was a bully for many years. He realizes that Bean has magical powers. This entire episode of Disenchantment, entitled “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment,” serves as a critique of asylums and the mental health system. In group therapy sessions, Bean reveals she wants to kill (and destroy) Dagmar. Other participants note they all killed their mothers as well.

One of the most powerful lines is Bean’s declaration that so-called “insane” people in the asylum aren’t bad after all. She asks how any of them are supposed to succeed when some people have always changed the rules. The head of the group therapy session suggests that society is the problem. He brings them to shock therapy. These methods are unsuccessful because Bean breaks them all out. Disenchantment implies that people with mental illness shouldn’t be locked away. Such psychiatric methods are still practiced, but more safely than in the past. At the episode’s end, Big Jo reunites with Porky, restarting their toxic relationship.

Disenchantment is not alone in criticizing such institutions. In Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, the by-the-book parents of Emma/Melinda try to commit her to an asylum. They think she is out of her mind, even though she isn’t. Furthermore, the social commentary in Disenchantment reminds me of a book by my well-known ancestor, E.P.W. Packard (known otherwise as Elizabeth Parsons Ware), entitled Modern persecution, or, Insane asylums unveiled Volume II. She writes that “insane asylums are our government’s place of punishing the innocent.” In her view, such institutions were a form of capital punishment. Some of her supporters, quoted in that book, noted that asylums were “institutions of cruelty and oppression” and called evils of the asylum “notorious.” In another of her other books, Packard said that these institutions locked up “independent thinkers.”

Another traumatic situation cuts this social commentary short. Bean prepares to battle Dagmar. But her friends begin their attack on the Dreamland castle without her. An elf battle cry calls others to battle. This includes mermaids like Mora. All the while, Alva comes toward Dreamland in a steamship. He prepares to enact his mysterious plan. Alva has his own, strange agenda which involves filling trog homes with goo.

The battle between Bad Bean, who wears a “crown of pain” and assists Dagmar in her mission to terrify the kingdom, and Bean is at the center of the eighth episode. Luci even lends a helping hand. He convinces Satan to not do anything bad anymore and to oppose Dagmar. Bean doesn’t do this alone. Her friends join her, in a huge battle in the Crystal Caverns, with lots of blood and dismemberment. Disenchantment is only one of the many series which has these elements. Helluva Boss, Onyx Equinox, Harley Quinn, and Invisible, to name a few, are just as gory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4YP-lD6R_M&pp=ygUVZGlzZW5jaGFudG1lbnQgcGFydCA1

The events of the eighth episode leads to increased trauma for Bean from the big battle and Bean fatally stabbing Mora. She then kills Bad Bean, who posed as Mora. Even worse, Dagmar slips away. Later, Bean gives Elfo and Mop Girl advice on relationships, saying that once you have “real love” it doesn’t leave you but stays with you. Such trauma is not unique to this series. Protagonists of The Owl House, Amphibia, High Guardian Spice, Legend of Korra, Final Space, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Adventure Time, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Arcane also experienced traumatic events. Often it involved death, near-death events, and injuries.

Disenchantment does a good job of explaining magic within this world. God (voiced by Phil LaMarr) says that magic is the result of a “scientific process” which starts in Heaven. He adds that magic combines holy waters from heaven and steam vapors from hell. In the same episode, Bean states that “stience” (i.e. science in this world) is magic. This is complicated in the next episode: Dagmar declares that Bean is a witch. At one point, Jerry murders God with a brick. He breaks God’s head (a literal light bulb), making the universe godless, throwing everything into further chaos. Such irreligious plot points may anger some, but that’s ok.

The tenth episode of Disenchantment has strong irreligious moments. Luci announces to the angels that God is dead, causing them to lose their minds and cry uncontrollably. This goes far beyond what Bean and Mora did another episode: riding a motorcycle through a church. On the other hand, Luci reinforces this system. At first, he tells Jerry that love is a scam. He wants to smash the light bulbs, which are stored in a secret compartment below God’s chair, so that God can’t come back. However, he changes his mind. He works with Jerry to screw in a new light bulb into God’s light socket. Thanks to this, God grants Luci a single wish.

Mora’s death-of-sorts throws Bean into a funk. She loses faith in her fight against Dagmar and declares that nothing matters. She wishes that Mora was back, says that magic brings “nothing but trouble,” and states she will destroy magic forever. This troubled and unstable mental state is further shaken. Magic begins to leak out everywhere, thanks to Dagmar. While defending Bean, Dagmar kills Luci. Satan stands up to Dagmar. This causes her to realize that her mom is not only evil, but an “asswipe.” Their battle at the ninth episode’s end involves a clash between the electricity of Bean and Dagmar. It somewhat resembles a fight between a Sith Lord and a Jedi Knight in the Star Wars franchise, Sailor Jupiter and villains, or many others.

The tenth episode, apart from some cringeworthy moments with the brain-less trogs, has fun scenes. At one point, Elfo, Bean, and Dagmar are high on mushroom spores. Soon, the fighting resumes. Oona cuts off the top of Dagmar’s head, and Bean electrocutes Dagmar with her powers, in an effort to destroy all her magic. What ends Dagmar is similar to what killed Victoria Jones in the final episode of Velma: a huge stalactite falling from the ceiling, after she attempts to make Elfo her servant.

The bittersweet reunion of Bean and Mora seems to go against common fairytales. Bean has to accept the death of her loved one, even after kissing her. There is no fairy like in Persinette, a French literary tale on which Rapunzel is based, which saves Persinette and the Prince. However, this soon comes full circle. Luci starts showing emotion, surprising Jerry, and wishes that Mora should return, to come back for Bean. In his words, Bean has tried so hard, has done so much, and deserves love, adding that Bean’s life is Mora and that he loves Bean (as a friend). This selfless act shows that Luci thinks of those beyond himself. He is even willing to give away his chance to return to Earth, so that Bean can live happily ever after.

The episode ends happily. Bean and Mora reunite, and Bean kicks off a day of victory and celebration. In a possible fourth wall break, Bean thanks everyone for making this possible and announces that everyone can make their own destiny. Loose ends are tied up. Bean finally gets her time away from being a royal. She abdicates as Dreamland’s queen. Mop Girl (whose name is revealed as Miri) becomes queen. She takes Elfo as a consort and Merkemier as Prime Minister. Seeing that everyone is in good hands, Bean and Mora skip out on their own wedding. Instead, Odval and Sorcerio are married. This same-sex wedding is the first one in the series, but not the first in animation.

Other individuals get what they deserve in this series finale. Alva takes a rocket ship to the Moon with the help from the trogs. His plan to kidnap Bean, and bring her with him, is foiled. The trogs are tired of him. They bring along the Arch Druidess instead. The rocket crashes into the Moon. The trogs survive. Alva and the Arch Druidess die. The light bulbs begin running Gunderson Steamworks. Dagmar is trapped in a cage for all eternity with Freckles. P.T. McGee is killed, at last. On a happy note, Zog abandons his royal status. Satan crosses off names from the book of the dead. God attracts a bunch of cats in heaven by opening a big tuna can.

Disenchantment could have ended with a sweet scene: Bean and Mora hanging out in a small shack by the ocean. It does not. Turbish and Mertz close the Dreamland castle drawbridge, following Elfo’s orders. When they do so, the Dreamland castle disappears. It isn’t clear what this means. It might mean that the story is a fairytale, that the castle has a new defense system, or that the series won’t be continued. In any case, Bean and Mora have a happy, and queer, ending, a fitting life for both.

The series ending caused some fans to complain that the story was rushed, a letdown, or disappointing. These views are wrongheaded. The endings that the characters received are satisfying and positive. The visuals are cool (and creative). The show is fun and sweet. It was the end of a wild ride which doesn’t disappoint. I am glad that the series finale, which is 44 minutes long (the length of two episodes) flows naturally rather than having a flash forward. The latter are far too common on finales, especially of animated series. I wish it wasn’t done as much.

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Disenchantment writers should be recognized for their work in light of end of the writer’s strike. The new contract between the studios and Writer’s Guild of America guarantees increased compensation, minimum wage, pension funds, size of writing teams, better residuals, and requirements for use of artificial intelligence, and other terms. Show writers include Bill Odenkirk (wrote one episode), Josh Weinstein (wrote three episodes), and Matt Groening (wrote one episode). Others aren’t as well-known. For instance, Jean Ansolabe once wrote on Puppy Dog Pals, Miles from Tomorrowland, Pound Puppies. Jamie Angell was a writer for two Simpsons video games. Michael Saikin wrote for Futurama.

Furthermore, Joanne Lee wrote for Coop and Cami Ask the World and Andi Mack. Jameel Saleem was series co-producer from 2019-2022 and co-executive producer of Bob’s Burgers from 2021-2023. Similarly, episode directors did laudable work as well. Some, like Peter Avanzino, are well-known. Crystal Chesney-Thompson, Jeff Myers, Ira Sherak, Dwayne Carey-Hill, and Andrew Han, worked on many series, often as directors, animators, or even storyboarders. This included Futurama, Phineas and Ferb, The Simpsons, Big Mouth, and Fired on Mars. There is some overlap in the shows worked on by both groups.

The voice actors are just as talented. Abbi Jacobson voiced Katie Mitchell in The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Emily in BoJack Horseman, and starred in her series, Broad City. Eric André previously voiced Mark Bowman in the same aforementioned (and overrated) film. Nat Faxton voiced Captain Underpants/Mr. Krupp in The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants. John DiMaggio has voiced many characters. This includes Jake the Dog in Adventure Time, Bender in Futurama, The Scotsman in Samurai Jack, Stumpy in Amphibia, Gled in Cleopatra in Space, and Glenn Dolphman in Inside Job.

Otherwise, there’s Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, David Herman, Phil LaMarr, and Lauren Tom. Many of these people voiced characters in Futurama, specifically Mom (MacNeille), Calculon (LaMarche), Zapp Brannigan (West), Scruffy (Herman), Hermes Conrad (LaMarr), and Amy Wong (Tom). In addition, LaMarr famously voiced “Jack” in Samurai Jack, Static in Static Shock, and John Stewart / Green Lantern in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Tom voiced Yoshiko in Kim Possible and Leader Lois in My Adventures with Superman.

Then there’s Rich Fulcher, Matt Berry, Sharon Horgan, Jeny Batten, Lucy Montgomery, Noel Fielding, Richard Ayoade, and Meredith Hagner. While Horgan and Hagner are known for their live-action roles, Berry voiced Butt Witch in Twelve Forever. Fulcher voiced Zarkon in Kid Cosmic. Montgomery voiced Gerda Gustav in Hilda. Batten was a writer and co-producer on the series. Fielding voiced Guy Pleasant in Twelve Forever. Ayoade voiced Herbert Sims in Neo Yokio.

A largely-circulated spreadsheet in which people anonymously described their conditions in animation studios, does not mention The ULULU Company. Previously known as The Curiosity Company, it is an animation studio which produced this series. The company is known for Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999), Futurama: Bender’s Big Score (2007), Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Futurama: Bender’s Game (2008), and Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009). Hopefully, the ULULU Company is treating employees fairly.

The practice of posting all ten episodes of Disenchantment on one day is an almost death knell. If two episodes had been posted each week, then the series could have ended its run on September 29 instead. This could have engendered more engagement with the series by fans and critics. Posting all ten episodes in a day promotes a binge model which Netflix should move away from. It hurts the voice actors, crew, and the audience. While this episode drop would explain the lackluster activity on the show’s subreddit, there are over 180 fan fics on Archive of Our Own. However, most were written before Part 5 aired.

In a previous review of Disenchantment Part 4, I argued that it deserved a watch for its queer content, strong voice acting, storytelling, art, animation, writing, music, and focus on mental health. I still agree with that assessment. In addition, Part 5 is more queer than parts 1, 2, and 3. Maybe Groening’s other series, such as The Simpsons and Futurama, can be ended in similarly respectful ways. While a part 6 would have been rad, Part 5 effectively brings the story of Disenchantment to a close, without a need for continuation.

Disenchantment is currently streaming on Netflix.