How do you review a nightmare? That's basically the question in front of me as I try to sum up the first three episodes of Season 2 of The Shivering Truth. Adult Swim's sophomore season of the stop-motion animated series returns tonight at midnight (just after Rick and Morty's new episode) to show off creator Vernon Chatman's latest batch of unfiltered, stream-of-semi-consciousness thought brought to life through meticulous craft and a creative team possessed of surprisingly strong stomachs. It's part nightmare, part philosophical pondering, and all mind-melting enigmatic entertainment. You can get a hint of what's to come in Season 2 by reading my review of Season 1 here.
The quarter-hour animated series is directed by Chatman and Cat Solen; we recently had a chance to chat with Solen about Season 2 in a special Second Life setting which you can watch here. Executive produced by PFFR (Chatman, Alyson Levy, and John Lee) with Solen, and co-executive produced by Lisa M. Thomas, the animation studio is Portland-based HouseSpecial, formerly a LAIKA spin-off team who's now operating on their own steam. All of the hard work that the many hands and minds and internal bodily organs put into The Shivering Truth is on display for you to see in every frame. Just be careful you don't get sucked into the TV itself in the process.
Here's the trailer and synopsis to give you an idea of what you're getting into:
THE SHIVERING TRUTH is a delicately crafted, darkly surreal anthology comedy.
Each episode is a miniature propulsive omnibus cluster bomb of painfully riotous daymares all dripping with the orange goo of dream logic. A series of loosely linked emotional parables about stories within tales that crawled out of the deepest caverns of your unconscious mind and became lovingly animated in breath-slapping stop motion -- in other words, it is the TRUTH (squared).
This season features the voices of Kate Berlant, Mike Birbiglia, Wyatt Cenac, Julia Davis, Chris Elliott, Will Forte, Josh Gad, Miranda July, Jason Mantzoukas, Kyle Mooney, Griffin Newman, Ego Nwodim, Alia Shawkat, and Tierra Whack, along with show creator and writer, Vernon Chatman.
By this point, you're either on board with The Shivering Truth or you've stopped reading entirely, so I'll assume you're going to check out Season 2 and just want to know what kind of insanity you're in for. Well, without spoiling any plot points (because there's no real obvious and coherent thought to the episodes until you really sit down and unpack each scene and sequence), I'll tell you to expect a twisted take on the power of prayer, a new spin on sex dolls, the most original 9/11 reference I've ever seen, and a number of unhealthy romantic relationships. You'll also get Cronenberg levels of body horror combined (sometimes literally) with techno-terror, supernatural psychedelia, and eye-popping physical representations of philosophical ponderings that defy the laws of man, nature, and the universe. And it's all a showcase of both deeply introspective, thoughtful writing from Chatman and incredible execution by the creative team.
The Shivering Truth is tailor-made for stop-motion animation. If nothing else, the attention to detail and sweat equity that goes into each and every scene is beyond impressive. The amount of bodily twisting and turning the characters go through would be prohibitively expensive for most other forms of animation and a particularly painful one for live-action performers. There's a literal fluidity to the scenes that break all sorts of boundaries--physical, biological, chemical, psychological, and even the common sensical--which results in a relentless tension that never quite goes away, because you never know what you're going to see next. So when, say, a character's hands literally crawl away from his body out of revulsion to him, viewers will likely have a stronger reaction to this than the man himself does; that sort of cognitive dissonance tricks your brain into thinking you're hallucinating everything that plays out on screen. It really is a trip.
I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of pseudo-philosophical rants, which is why Dan Harmon's contributions to Rick and Morty aren't my favorite, and why The Midnight Gospel didn't sit well with me. But there's something about the way in which The Shivering Truth explores the mundanity of life through supernatural imagery and nigh miraculous happenings that lulls me into its loose narrative. I think it's because the show disarms your expectations so well that perhaps you're more open to whatever "The Shivering Truth" actually is. It's also a great excuse to just let your mind drift for 15 minutes at a time even if all you ever get out of it is asking, "WTF just happened?"
Season 2 of The Shivering Truth is more ambitious in its return than its initial season, bringing more characters, settings, incredible artistry, and impressive effects sequences to the late-night hour. It's absolutely worth a watch, as long as you've got the stomach for it.
Rating: ★★★★★ Excellent
Dave Trumbore is Collider's Senior Editor overseeing Streaming Content, Animation, Video Games, and all those weird Saturday-morning cartoons no one else remembers. Test his trivia IQ on Twitter @DrClawMD