Drama
Tempest
Tempest raises some relevant questions about faith, but strong violence may make this Korean thriller a tough watch.
It’s not always easy holding down a job, Bee would say. She’s a 22-year-old woman who’s just gotten fired from her last one. And the one before that. And the one before that.
In fact, she’s gotten hired and fired from every entry-level position the Temporary Employment Agency has. And all that firing is enough to make her feel a bit like a loser. In order to cheer herself up, she begins pondering what her life might be like if she had a cat to take care of.
That’s when pink light shines from above and drops PuppyCat, a cat-dog hybrid, at her feet. Then other magical things start happening, too. For instance, PuppyCat talks in a high-pitched, electronic voice, and Bee’s the only one who can understand it.
Oh, and about that job situation? Well, PuppyCat helps get her a job in a magical void called Temp Space, where she teleports between strange planets to assist in various strange assignments.
And as Bee and PuppyCat begin working these jobs together, they’ll discover that there are quite a few other strange things they’ll need to deal with—including themselves.
In 2013, Adventure Time storyboard and character designer Natasha Allegri released a two-part pilot for Bee and PuppyCat. It followed the mishaps of this duo as they completed various temp jobs across the universe. The reception for the project was so successful that the show’s subsequent Kickstarter event raised nearly $900,000 for an official series, which released in 2014.
But the new series hit a bit of a rocky patch, as its first-season episodes would be slowly and sporadically released between 2014 and 2018. Its second season, “Lazy in Space,” though scheduled to arrive on VRV in 2019, wouldn’t arrive until 2022, when Netflix picked up the show, releasing the rebooted entirety of the series on Sept. 6.
So, what’s this nearly decade-in-the-making show about? Well, that’s a harder question. Yes, at its root, the show features Bee and PuppyCat completing various jobs for money—all while being chased by a mysterious set of antagonists.
But it’s also got a lot of strange subplots that can come across like the equivalent of staring at an abstract painting with a literal worldview: Sure, it may be pretty, but you could entirely miss the point of it if you don’t have the eye for it. Like, why is there a child landlord collecting the image-filled tears of his comatose mother? And what’s with those malevolent shadowy hands that are constantly chasing our duo around?
It seems as if the show is trying to approach the idea of “finding yourself” through each of its characters’ unrelated-yet-interconnected stories. After all, the characters seem to be searching for things that will help them be happy, fit in or accomplish a mission.
And as we scour the literal universe in pursuit of those things, we’ll also have to deal with some content issues. A couple of mild profanities (as well as a few heavier ones that are entirely bleeped out) will be heard. Additionally, occasional vague sexual references turn up too, including a crab that mentions natural occurrences of cleavage (such as between two lumps of sand) and a wrestling woman who references the man who got her pregnant.
In a show aimed at an older audience, those missteps probably aren’t deal killers. But they’re worth keeping in mind when it comes to this quirky, creative, “old-new” series on Netflix.
After Bee is fired from her job, she struggles to find a new purpose. That’s when PuppyCat, a strange cat-dog creature, literally falls into her life.
Bee smacks herself with an umbrella, and she later accidentally hits her friend in the crotch with the umbrella. (We later see him icing the clothed injury.) Elsewhere, PuppyCat steals ice cream from a child. PuppyCat passes gas, too. A woman hits Bee’s friend Deckard.
A giant baby talks about soiling his diaper. Tentacles sprout from the baby’s mouth, revealing a two-mouthed monster which was wearing the baby as a disguise. Bee bites off the monster’s long tongue, and we see blood shoot out. PuppyCat shoots a laser from his mouth, cutting the monster in half.
Bee steals from an office. A cat vomits up a dead bird and mouse. A restaurant bursts into flames. Children jump over poop on a crosswalk.
God’s name is misused once, and “a–” is used once.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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