4 out of 5

Director: Vernon Chatman, John Lee

Xavier… is mad genius.  Chatman and Lee bring the same unbelievable inanity of Wonder Showzen to Adult Swim (a more fitting home than MTV2) and, unhindered by ANY links to reality, whip up a backwards-knee, bird-beaked, snake-handed, mismatched-eyed furry prophet named Xavier who starts ep 1 off with a telling question, repeated in his over flourished method: “WHAT DOTH LIFE.”  If Xavier’s surfer-boy voice bugs you, or the Sims-esque herky-jerky computer animation doesn’t sit well, you might as well leave.  The Pffr boys bring out all of their drugged-out editing tricks (repeated frames, overlapping dialogue, endless zooms) and abuse it to endlessly escalating inanity in Xavier’s sorta’ quest to find his father’s killer – building up a weird world of randomness and yet strange continuity – almost Lost-ish in mythology (seriously) – that elevates the blend of double-entendres and dumb gags to unparalleled insane genius.  But, as was the case with Showzen, the crew can only maintain this for so long.  Once the main ‘plot’ is ‘resolved’ in season 1, season 2 loses its anchor and leans heavily on sex gags.  It’s funny, and some episodes climb to the level of season 1, but overall it feels more forced (hence my docking a star), and gets some filler with the season’s penultimate ep – similar to the half tossaway half WTF awesome Horse Apples from Wonder Showzen – a mixed up edit of fanmade Xavier videos.  You’ve never seen anything like Xavier.  Like most acquired tastes, you’ll grow to crave it, laughing at the simplest Xavier-ism, wishing Chatman and Lee could find a more consistent venue for their creativity… though I suppose the change-ups are part of the process.