I read a lot of reviews for this job, and I write quite a few, too. Every once in a while one really jumps out, like the review of Aubrey Plaza‘s new animated show, Kevin, from The Guardian. The show, which can be seen with a Prime subscription, hasn’t really stood out on the 2026 TV schedule, and I’m not super big into animated shows, but after reading the review, which completely tore the show apart, I was intrigued.
A Well-Written Scathing Review Is Hard To Do
I don’t like writing scathing reviews. It’s not in my nature to completely obliterate anyone else’s art. Even when I don’t like something, I usually try to find at least something good about it. That said, I completely appreciate a well-written takedown of something. One of my favorite reviews here at CinemaBlend came a few years ago from our editor-in-chief, Mack Rawden, when he wrote one of the funniest bad reviews of a movie everyone was slamming, Cats.
Sarah Dempster, writing for The Guardian, gave me a similar joy and chuckle with her review of Kevin. It’s a brutal critique of the show that opens with:
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We need to talk about Kevin…[and] discuss how and why Kevin has happened and what steps must be taken to stop Kevin, or anything like Kevin, from ever happening again.
Right out of the box, I knew this wasn’t going to be a standard review. What followed is about 11 paragraphs of sheer attitude and whimsical disgust at the new animated show with a killer cast about an anthropomorphic cat named Kevin, who strikes out on his own after his human owners break up. Dempster really goes all in on her hatred of the show, ending with maybe my favorite sentence in the review:
What a wasteland of imagination it all is; its heart and soul as irretrievable as Kevin’s anus. Now, please, let us never speak of it again.
Ouch! Those words were enough to make me have to watch the show to see how bad it really is.
Kevin Is… Not Great
Ok, so the review, as harsh as it is, isn’t completely off. I watched the first few episodes of the dark comedy, and I have to agree, at least in principle, to some of Dempster’s critiques. But… I didn’t hate it nearly as much as she seems to have. She writes:
Laugh-wise, it’s a washout. Punchlines collapse mid-punch. Other jokes make no sense.
She’s right. The jokes are half-baked most of the time, and the show tries to straddle the line of being heartwarming and completely crude and off-the-wall. While I did loudly guffaw more than once, it was usually for secondary jokes in the background, not the straightforward jokes. Those hardly made me laugh at all. I also tired quickly of the show’s crudeness and prolapsed anus jokes (and yeah, there are enough of those to get sick of). I love rude humor. I have a potty mouth, and I believe there isn’t a joke in the world that isn’t improved by a well-timed F-bomb, but Kevin just gets tiresome.
After three episodes, I had to stop for a bit. I’ll get back to it. I’ll keep looking for those gems, but it’s going to be a slog. It’s definitely not going to be one of my favorite Aubrey Plaza shows. So my apologies, Sarah, I’m going to speak of it again.