Metalocalypse, Episode 1: Murderface Is a Inconsiderate Dickhead
Best of Wyrd Media, Through GsG Goggles
Wyrd Outlook by Grogh
Ghostwritten by Vikki Vexum — Pocket Librarian of The Wyrd Hereafter
Spoilers for “The Curse of Dethklok,” Season 1, Episode 1.
There is a great deal happening in the first episode of Metalocalypse. A death metal band performs a coffee advertisement before an enormous Arctic crowd. The spectacle becomes a catastrophe. Their chef suffers a helicopter-related disassembly. Eventually, these mighty musicians must confront the terrifying practical challenge of feeding themselves. (tvguide.com, adultswim.com)
Naturally, the detail I want to discuss is Murderface being an inconsiderate dickhead.
Somewhere beneath the carnage sits a petty interpersonal argument that deserves its own spotlight. Toki anticipates needing several personal days to deal with his grief. Murderface immediately objects, reminding him that he already took grieving days the previous week. (scratchpad.fandom.com)
Apparently, somebody has been keeping the attendance sheet.
For the record, I am on Toki’s side. Put that in the minutes.
Murderface Has Appointed Himself Grief Management
Their horribly injured chef is still alive. Toki is anticipating the emotional fallout, and Murderface responds as though someone has submitted a suspicious holiday request. (springfieldspringfield.co.uk)
That is what makes the moment so funny. In a room facing an outrageous medical catastrophe, Murderface finds something wonderfully ordinary to resent: another person getting time off.
His objection comes with the weary familiarity of an ongoing grievance. You can practically hear the earlier arguments rattling around behind it. These people have history. Somebody remembers who took which days, and somebody is still annoyed.
The episode barely needs to explain their relationships. A few seconds of bickering give us the unpleasant intimacy of coworkers who know each other’s habits entirely too well.
Then Murderface makes his own unhappiness about his weight the center of the conversation. (scratchpad.fandom.com)
Ah. There it is.
Toki’s distress requires scrutiny. Murderface’s distress requires an audience.
A Personal Day for Me, a Cross-Examination for Thee
Murderface is keeping score in a contest nobody else agreed to enter.
His selfishness comes through in how he handles emotional space: he challenges Toki’s request for accommodation, then expects everyone to attend to his own grievances.
That behavior is familiar enough to survive every absurd detail surrounding it. Most of us have encountered someone who responds to another person’s difficulty by explaining why their own difficulty is greater. A request for understanding becomes an invitation to compete.
Murderface manages to bring that energy into a scene involving a dismembered chef.
The man has range. Unfortunately, much of it is aggravating.
And yes, I prefer Toki. My GsG goggles come with that adjustment already installed. Murderface is welcome to appeal the verdict, provided he does so during his own personal time.
Meanwhile, the Coffee Concert Has Gone Horribly Well
The premiere establishes the scale of Dethklok’s world with remarkable efficiency. Their fans travel to Norway for a performance of the Duncan Hills Coffee jingle, and the promotional spectacle produces appalling casualties. (tvguide.com)
A coffee advertisement receives the treatment of a world-shaking cultural event. The audience’s devotion and the band’s destructive excess feed the same ridiculous machine.
Then the chef’s injury brings the story down to dinner.
The grocery trip is a lovely humiliation: people with extraordinary resources struggle with an everyday task. Their eventual attempt to reassemble the chef pushes their dependence into grotesque absurdity. Apparently, reconstructing a person is a more attractive proposition than learning to cook. (dethklok.fandom.com)
The spectacle supplies plenty to laugh at. But that little argument gives the chaos a recognizable human pulse.
The Captain’s Verdict
Through my GsG goggles, the premiere’s defining interpersonal revelation is that Murderface is an inconsiderate dickhead.
Toki expresses a need. Murderface keeps score, objects, and redirects attention toward himself. That tiny exchange tells us a remarkable amount about how exhausting he must be to live and work with.
The opening gives us a crowd willing to endure disaster for Dethklok.
The personal-day argument gives us a reason Toki might need a break from them.
Personal days approved, Toki. Murderface can cover the meeting.
Watch the official full episode, or visit Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse page.
Captains Confession: Of course I may be projecting because on my ship—it seems that I was the inconsiderate dick…
