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The Cuphead Show! Season 3 Review

The third season of The Cuphead Show! isn’t quite as strong as its predecessors, but it came awfully close as it remains a wonderfully charming cartoon.

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“Finders keepers!“

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The Devil’s Revenge! is the first of the season’s eleven episodes and it’s one with the biggest stakes as Mugman is kidnapped and it is up to Cuphead to save him from the pits of Hell. Mugman here basically acted like Cuphead with his annoying, loud and careless behavior, but those moments where he annoyed the Devil were still undeniably entertaining. The highlight here is the escape from Hell, which featured some of the best and most spectacular cartoon action that I’ve seen not just on this show, but in recent memory. Don’t Answer the Door is unfortunately a mixed bag as Baby Bottle has never been my favorite character and this one-joke, one-scenario narrative felt repetitious.

Cup-Staged is all about the competition between the Devil and the two brothers to get an acting role in the theatre. Sally Stageplay is the one holding auditions and she is instantly recognizable for everybody who has played the video game, but I wished for more boss appearances from the game in this particular season. The episode works overall as the rivalry between the three is so much fun. Roadkill is a hilarious episode. Elder Kettle takes the wounded Devil in the house and treats him as a kitten, which produces many funny moments.

Holiday Tree-dition is quite possibly the weakest episode of this bunch as it’s your standard holiday story that never really went anywhere. There were so many moments to introduce any kind of plot here, but eventually the episode decided to abandon them all, resulting in sort of a filler. The wintry scenery was gorgeous, though. A Very Devil Christmas also did not appeal to me. The villain was funny and charismatic as always, but the abundant musical and holiday overtones were frustrating and the plot was just okay.

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Special Delivery was also forgettable, though it did feature some great supporting personalities. This mid stretch was quite a hurdle for this season and thankfully the rest of it was infinitely better. Down & Out is incredible. King Dice is back and he gets such a terrific arc here while the Devil’s appreciation of him was evident here. The script here is among the season’s best. The character-driven stories this season were the highlights.

Joyride is a wonderful prelude to Dance with Danger, which is the most crucial episode of this run. This is where we get to see the backstory of Ms. Chalice and how she became a half-ghost. Her story was tragic and quite memorable while being infused with a lot of retro tap dancing music from the thirties, which I adore. The dilemma that is introduced to her was superb. The Devil & Ms. Chalice concluded the season with flying colors. The final confrontation between the Devil and Cuphead was hilarious in its stupidity and anti-climactic nature. It’s an epic, funny finale that really worked.

This season was very Devil-centric, which made wonders for it as he is easily the greatest character in this roster. But Ms. Chalice also received a superb arc, though the brothers themselves are less memorable here. The animation is absolutely gorgeous and meticulously detailed as always while the score is superb with the opening remaining an instant earworm.

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