Clone High (season 2)

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Clone High (season 2)

This season should have been frozen... Say WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Genre:	Animated sitcom Comedy drama Science fiction
Running Time:	22–26 minutes
Country:	United States
Release Date:	May 23 - June 22, 2023
Network(s):	Max
Created by:	Phil Lord Christopher Miller Bill Lawrence
Distributed by:	MTV Networks/Nelvana
Starring:	Will Forte Phil Lord Christa Miller Christopher Miller Nicole Sullivan Neil Casey Ayo Edebiri Mitra Jouhari Vicci Martinez Kelvin Yu
Seasons:	1
Episodes:	10

Clone High (occasionally referred to in the U.S. as Clone High U.S.A.) is a Canadian–American adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence. Season 2 serves as a revival of the original 2002 series. Produced by Doozer, Lord Miller, MTV Entertainment Studios, and ShadowMachine, the series debuted on Max on May 23, 2023.

"Dinger!" Qualities

The main problem with this season is that it became too much of a social commentary more than a satire comedy. Many of the lessons are meant to be taken seriously instead of being satirical, and it can become very dumb at times.
- The celebrity cameos have become more serious as well and not there for shits and giggles.
The characters from season 1 of the series have become shells of their former selves to the point of being flanderized.
- Joan has become unlikable by becoming even more cynical than her original counterpart to the point where it's not even funny anymore. This is prevalent in the season finale where she sabotages everyone's chances of winning in the Death Maze.
- Abe is still an unlikeable character. He has now become more of a butt-monkey than he was 21 years ago. He is always in the wrong and has to apologize to Joan most of the time, even if he is innoncent.
- Cleo's personality has been changed to a stereotypical alpha mean girl.
- JFK is now even more of an idiot to the point where it caused Joan to turn against the other students.
Speaking of characters, the new ones aren't all that great either.
- Confucius' only personality trait is that he's obsessed with social media. THAT'S IT.
- Frida is a boring hippie wannabe.
- Harriet is a neat freak and wants things done her way. This is most prevalent in "Some Talking but Mostly Songs" where she wanted a play about the game Twister done her way. (i.e Sexy costumes and open-mouth kissing with eyes closed.)
Most of the comedy is subpar that doesn't have the same flare as season 1, and the jokes do not land well, especially the gore and gross-out moments.
- Another main problem with this season is that they don't reference teen drama cliches as much and focus more on generic pop culture cliches.
Compared to season 1 of Clone High, this season has way too many gory scenes, there is one gory moment per episode and it gets tiring fast.
- In "Let's Try This Again", there is a moment where Cleo commits self-harm, which can be disturbing and not a good scene for people who are easily disturbed.
The animation from Jam Filled Entertainment is a downgrade from the Rough Draft Studios animation from season 1, feeling stiff and limited overall.
Just like other TV Shows from 2020s and late 2010s including Bless the Harts (another Lord Miller series), this revival season tries so hard to be modern, cringe and hip for modern audiences.
The season tries so hard to be edgy by as mentioned before, including some violent gore moments but also by having non-censored swearing, which the previous season had it censored by bleeped and was actually funny, here it comes off as unnecessary and forced. The episode "Sexy Ed" is the worst offender of those moments, and is also the worst episode as such.
Mediocre character designs that are too saturated when compared to the original characters, especially Frida. While it understandable as she as based on the actual artist, the character feels more like she belongs in a preschool show about friendship.
Gandhi, one of the best characters from the first season is still frozen. But that can be understandable as he was the reason why the original show got cancelled.
While it is nice to see that the creators of the original Clone High have returned, however here, it seems that they barely had involvement due to focusing more on the Spider-Verse sequel than anything else. And as a result, much like The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder, Teen Titans Go!, Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", Alvin and the Chipmunks (2015) and the first four seasons of Ben 10 (2016), they basically ruined their own revival/reboot of Clone High due to many problems above and lacking any charms from the original. This is sad because reboots are usually bad due to lack of involvement from the original creators.

"Cool!" Qualities

Despite this season's flaws, it feels nice to see the show coming back after 20 years of only having one season.
The voice acting is still decent mainly because the voice actors have reprised their roles. Likewise, the new voice actors do a good job too.
Scudworth and Mr. Butlertron are both the same as they were twenty-one years ago, and they still has the same voice actors. In addition, they also had some of the funniest lines of dialogue.
- Topher Bus is an okay character, while also being wasted potential at the same time.
There are still enough funny moments such as: Mr. Butlertron dropping the biggest F-Bomb when he got fired, Scudworth's re-education song, and Abe making a fake apology video.
Even if Gandhi didn't have a big role in this season due to the controversy surrounding him in India, he does at least make some cameos and mentions.
- On the topic of that, Lord and Miller stated that he could possibly come back if the show gets renewed for a fourth season so there could be a slight chance that he could return.
The last four episodes were an improvement from the first six. In fact, the episode, "For Your Consideration" which explores the origins of Mr. Butlertron, is easily regarded as the best episode of this otherwise lackluster revival season.
Thankfully, the revival got improved in season 3, being more faithful to the first season by having the humor on the same level as the first season, going back to its satirical take on drama, the characters no longer being flanderized (along with Abe no longer being a butt-monkey like in the first and second seasons) and the new characters being more developed.
Despite the animation not being as good as the hand-drawn animation, it still looks great.
- Additionally, the artstyle is a huge improvement from the previous season looking more cleaner.
This is the first time the series goes in high-definition widescreen.