The Solar Opposites are back on Hulu with another holiday special, the aptly-titled Solar Opposites Halloween Special 2, which also connects directly to Sinister Halloween Scary Opposites Solar Special, their Scary Season episode from October 2022. While the antics of last time caused a Tales from the Crypt cameo, this time around, Korvo (Dan Stevens), Terry (Thomas Middleditch), Jesse (Mary Mack), and Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone) are trying to become members of a country club when a bunch of Halloween-themed bedlam starts to pop off. With the recent Season 5 drop of Solars, the series also announced that it’s been renewed for a sixth go-round.
Opening Shot: The Solars are touring “Fancington Pines,” an exclusive country club with elite amenities. “Bone marrow on tap and an oyster bar?” Jesse (Mack) exclaims. “Is there anything Fancington doesn’t have?”
The Gist: The thing about Korvo is that he’s always been a Halloween hater. That’s what got him into trouble the last time the Solars encountered the trappings of humanity’s scariest holiday, and it’s what’s hard for Terry (Middleditch), Jesse (Mack), and Yumylack (Giambrone) to rectify this episode, especially when their Shlorpian leader barfs up a flappy bat. Worse, if their application to the snooty Fancinton Pines is gonna get accepted, they can’t admit any association with a “low-brow nitwit holiday like Halloween.”
In Solar Opposites land, the very thing they aren’t supposed to do is what gets them into trouble when it invariably occurs, and this latest Halloween special is no different. With Korvo suddenly and without warning transforming into The Great Pumpkin – as a Wicked Witch of the East-type who appears explains, it’s because he’s been imbued with the holiday spirit, Santa Clause-style – the fam must counteract the effects before their meeting with Fancington’s membership board. Counteract? Yeah right. Instead of stopping it, Terry turns into a floaty green ghost – he hates his “sperm tail” – while Jesse is now a candy corn werewolf and Yumyulack is the manifestation of every “sexy cat” costume that Spirit Halloween ever produced.
“Gobble gobble, motherfuckers.” Wait, “gobble gobble”? Isn’t that Thanksgiving? And aren’t Santa Clause references only for Christmas? Things are going completely holiday crazy with the escalation of the Solars’ scary situation. As they meet their potential match in a monster made of giblet gravy and Halloween jealousy, the same witch with a warning for Korvo has become a splotch of reconstituted goo controlled by sentient alien baby thing Pupa (Sagan McMahan) and JK Sevens, the bleepy-bloopy robot added to the crew in Season 5.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Solar Opposites has not limited its holiday laffmaking to Halloween, but the animated specials that accompany each season are spiritually indebted to The Simpsons and “Treehouse of Horror,” the 35th episode of which will return this October.
Our Take: One cool recent thing about Solar Opposites that continues to thrive with this holiday special: nobody remembers disgraced Solars co-creator Justin Roiland as Korvo, because Dan Stevens is so comfortable and funny in the role of the alien family’s leader. Korvo’s loving marriage with Terry is still central to the show – he’s still into his husband, even in ghost form – and the crew gets off a bunch of their trademark one-liners in the course of this latest holiday misadventure, with an extended and subversive homage to Charlie Brown and quick asides that reference Dirty Dancing, Ozempic, and cinematic science fiction canon.
But bits specific to Halloween are what’s most important to this special, and Solar Opposites keeps its cheeky holiday fun going by razzing the traditional hallmarks of trick-or-treating: the elderly dropping unwanted pennies and popcorn balls in kiddies’ bags, eavesdropping on neighbors when they open the front door, and that core legend of the schoolyard, the house that always gives out full-size candy bars. In its brief run-time, Solar Opposites Halloween Special 2 manages to advance its main narrative in anticipation of Season 6 while writing its latest enjoyably crass and unpredictable Spooky Season one-off.
Sex and Skin: Sexual references made by Terry in this episode include giving a name to the bodily fluids that stain his ghostly sheet when it’s held up to a blacklight.
Parting Shot: All’s sort of well that ends the best way it could, and the Solars will undoubtedly continue to be the cause of all kinds of mayhem. Of both the Halloween and other holidays variety, plus your more run-of-the-mill, entire universe-threatening sci-fi stuff. It’s what they’re good at!
Sleeper Star: Out of the all the outer space characters they could’ve gone with, the Alien from Alien (wearing a blazer) and “General Chang from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” are a novel choice to appear as a couple of Fancington Pines’ science-fiction members in good standing.
Most Pilot-y Line: “They just want to make sure you aren’t freaky weirdos.” As it’s been for the Solars for most of their time on Earth, it’s imperative they pretend to be something they’re not so as to impress the country club admissions board. Er, um, there’s absolutely no possible way that they could screw this up, right? Right??
Our Call: STREAM IT. Solar Opposites Halloween Special 2 operates at the madcap clip that most all of the Solars stuff does, with the addition of linking its usual brand of chaos to All Hallow’s Eve. And longtime fans will also get a kick out of this special acting as a direct sequel to the events of Sinister Halloween Scary Opposites Solar Special.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.