It’s the end of the world. A giant planet is on a collision course with Earth with no way to stop it. With seven months and thirteen days remaining, what would you be doing?
For Carol the answer to the question is a lot harder to find than one would expect. Having never really found her place in “normal” society, Carol struggles, finding it difficult to adjust in this new world where jobs are redundant, money is meaningless, and the clock is ticking. It seems everyone is finding thriving except Carol. People are travelling the world and living out their greatest fantasies, all the while, Carol is stuck in the past, but she’s not the only one.
It’s within the chaos of Armageddon that Carol finds her place in the world. A place of order and comfort. A place of regulations and normalcy. A place known only as “The Great Distraction”. This is where things really started to take a turn for the weird as somehow mild-mannered Carol ends up driving a motorbike, aiming guns at people and making lots of friends along the way.
I think the show to most closely align with the core themes and intent of Carol & The End of The World is possibly The Midnight Gospel, in that it makes something remarkable out of something more commonly considered unremarkable. It also reminded me of Tuca & Bertie as things spiralled out of control, because there was still an important message hidden behind the chaos. Carol’s need for structure and routine are never presented as a bad thing, rather, her dowdy design and uncomfortable nature are what drive the plot and make it kind of special.
As much as this is Carol’s story, some time is also spent with other characters, but I’ll leave them for you to discover. There are some great cast members though, and some great performances. From Carols nudist parents going on a cruise, to the loss of a new acquaintance, every little thing seems to snowball into something bigger and catastrophic, yet weirdly wholesome at the same time.
The animation is not as flat and wiry as other Netflix shows and the writing doesn’t need to rely on juvenile prop comedy or shock factor to get the jokes in – my favourite joke from the series is one you probably won’t even catch unless you have subtitles on. That being said, I spent more of the series in a state of awe and confusion than I did grasping my sides laughing. A lot of the laughs are pretty subtle and come out of nowhere, but it’s the mystery behind “The Great Distraction” that kept me watching. There were just too many questions not answered and I’m dying to know more!
I know this won’t be a series everyone watches and enjoys, and being labelled comedy may prove its undoing as Netflix seem to just lump everything animated under one header these days and hope for the best. However, if you enjoyed more subtle comedy with deeper beats such as Tear Along the Dotted Line, The Midnight Gospel or Tuca & Bertie, then you’ll enjoy Carol & The End of The World. If you want crude humour and fart jokes, try F is for Family or Paradise PD.
Season One of Carol & The End of The World just aired its first ten episodes over on Netflix, so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for news of a season two.
Platform: Netflix
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