A Review of Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim has a new animated show in its Sunday night line-up that is sure to offend the churchy set, but if you can't laugh at Christianity's obsession with the Anti-Christ, really, what can you laugh at? In Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil premise is simple. There is a girl, her name is Lucy, and her daddy is the Devil.

After only two episodes, I find myself looking forward to Monday mornings again. Mondays at 12:15 am, that is. Lucy is your typical girl next door, not the kind that plays tennis and is blonde with summer freckles, but rather the girl next door with the cutest little horns that match her red horn-rimmed glasses. She's 21, went to art school, and lives in San Francisco, and really fits into that hipster-slacker motif we all know and love. Father Satan is portrayed as a daddy who really wants Lucy to accept her position as the Anti-Christ as well as bring about the destruction of civilization through mundane efforts like "Kareoke Tuesday" at his Tequila Sally's franchise or by encouraging more women to masturbate because an 8% increase in human self-pleasure has been shown to destroy the world (and "men can't possibly masturbate more"). Oh, yeah, and Satan dresses like Cliff Huxtable.

Rounding out the Lucy cast is the Devil's Advocate, Becky, his erstwhile secretary and advisor, who cannot help but remind me of Allison Janney from The West Wing. And don't forget Jesus. He's a DJ that incorporates minor miracles into his scratching, but really seems more concerned with performing even more minor miracles on hapless girls to get them into bed. Lucy has a crush on DJ Jesus, which is a plot device that serves to bring his antics into light in an irreverent way, as he doesn't really seem too into her.

So you'd think that setting up the Devil as protective father, saying to Lucy, "you know I don't like you hanging around that guy?" when he finds out that Jesus will be working Kareoke Tuesday (with a Harry Houdini twist to bring in the crowds), would be enough of a good versus evil storyline. But enter the Special Fathers (#1 has Martin Scorsese's eyebrows) and Special Sister (who is the Anti-Mother Teresa with a silencer on her revolver). They have been sent out by the Vatican to seek out and destroy the Anti-Christ, as soon as they figure out whom he or she is. Is it a coincidence that they have started their search in San Francisco?

The creator of Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil is Loren Bouchard; one of the creators of another animated cult-hit, Home Movies. However, the animation for Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil, is not the usual cell-animation, but rather CGI-based renderings of slightly pudgy figures that look like the people that you got with Fisher-Price toys back in the day. H. Jon Benjamin (Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Dr. Katz) provides voice-work, as does Melissa Bardin Galsky (Home Movies) and Jon Glaser (ATHF, TV Funhouse).

Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil's humor is witty, but not overly intellectual. The laughs can turn to groans quickly. And obviously, there is going to be some christian referencing, such as in the "Dildo Factory" episode in which Jesus is trying to break the three-day world record for holding your arms out from your side, which he tells us is a lot harder than it looks. If that doesn't make you laugh, well, you probably shouldn't be watching Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil.