Solar Opposites is back with 11 new episodes, featuring the debut of Dan Stevens as Korvo, as well as the returning Thomas Middleditch (Terry), Mary Mack (Jesse), and Sean Giambrone (Yumyulack). The Shlorpians remain stuck on Earth—more assimilated than ever before, but still dealing with fish-out-of-water scenarios like the sorta-hostile aliens they are at heart.
Here’s what we liked, and didn’t like, about season four, which hits Hulu on August 14. No spoilers here, so read ahead without fear!
Liked: The new Korvo
As has been well-documented, the distinctive voice of Justin Roiland is no longer part of Solar Opposites. While animation fans are still waiting to hear what Rick and Morty will do about recasting Roiland, Solar Opposites leads with the change: the opening scene of episode one is the “voice-fixing ray” bit that was released alongside the news that Dan Stevens was replacing Roiland as Korvo. And then (after covering all bases by noting the change to Korvo’s voice will also extend to flashbacks), the show just moves right along. Korvo now has a British accent, and that’s that—and Stevens is so great in the role it’s easy to forget the character ever sounded any different.
Liked: AISHA
Tiffany Haddish has been playing AISHA, the Shlorpian spaceship’s wisecracking AI, since Solar Opposites debuted, but season four enhances her role, really showing us just how much the aliens depend on her—not just because she stores vital information related to their mission, but also the way she keeps their lives running as smoothly as possible, despite their constant attraction to chaos. Season four’s “The Mobile Aisha Emitter” gives Aisha a romantic interest and a pixelated human form to boot—but even when she’s her usual spherical self, her personality is never less than full-bodied.
Liked: The Wall
Solar Opposites fans have come to expect new drama each season in the Wall, the ant farm-like structure where humans targeted by the replicants’ careless shrink-ray habits dwell within Yumyulack and Jesse’s bedroom. Beyond the visual cleverness of these scenes, which have great fun imagining how teeny-tiny people might repurpose normal-sized objects, the Wall offers high-stakes intrigue that contrasts in tone to the aliens and their goofy hijinks. Season four pushes the fraught conditions among the dueling settlements—the scrappy survivors led by Cherie (Christina Hendricks) versus the Jesse-worshiping religious cult led by the power-hungry Sister Sisto (Sutton Foster)—to outrageous new heights.
Liked: The show’s continuing exploration of what makes a family
Previous seasons have seen the Shlorpians morph from being a team thrown together on an intergalactic mission to becoming a real family unit, and that continues. Korvo and Terry are a full-on couple now—this might be the horniest season of Solar Opposites yet—and Yumyulack and Jesse make some big breakthroughs in their not-quite-sibling connection. While the Opposites still find plenty to fight about (disagreements, simmering resentments, hurt feelings, and outright back-stabbing still propel most the action), there’s an underlying sense of unity that never fails to draw everyone back together again.
Liked: The callbacks and self-referential humor
Four seasons in, Solar Opposites now has established canon, lore, and random recurring characters; while you don’t need to have watched seasons 1-3 to understand the jokes, it’s rewarding for longtime fans to revisit places like Wooden City (never was a place more full of wood or wood-themed puns) and people like the Red Goobler (now running a brewpub in San Diego, still angry as hell). This season’s script also sprinkles in self-aware references to things that happened in earlier installments, a self-indulgent but funny touch that borders on breaking the fourth wall at times.
Liked: How the show’s take on pop culture is both random and weirdly specific
Solar Opposites takes place in an exaggerated version of our world, allowing its alien characters to experience a satirical but still familiar version of human pop culture: a restaurant where you sit around for hours smoking your own brisket, a Sprinkle Museum designed to lure selfie addicts, the off-putting vibe that oozes out of generic stock photography… it’s all skewed, but it all rings weirdly true. Isn’t there already Monopoly: The Wire Edition? If not, why not?
Liked: The Pupa
Yes, his eventual fate is to destroy Earth. But in the meantime, he’s the Opposites’ most intriguing character. Outwardly, he’s a blobby baby, with selfish interests that are decidedly toddler-like, particularly the amassing of toys and snack food. But also, he’s alarmingly intelligent and resourceful when he needs to be, something Solar Opposites has gleefully enjoyed exploring. In season four, we see what happens when the Pupa takes it upon himself to make the world a better place. Does he succeed? Of course! Does he also get a ton of candy as a result? Of course!
Liked: The guest stars
The regular Solar Opposites cast—including new guy Stevens—is reliably funny, and we mentioned the returning Tiffany Haddish, Christina Hendricks, and Sutton Foster already. But season four also brings in some excellent guest stars, including Randall Park, Josh Gad, Daveed Diggs, Spencer Grammer, Jerry O’Connell (who plays himself, a sly choice for a genre that loves to cast celebrity parodies), and many more.
Didn’t like: The SilverCops
The Wall enriches the main plot of Solar Opposites by allowing the show to comment—often very incisively—on the worst human behavior while always staying tied to the goings-on in the alien household. Solar Opposites’ second attempt at bringing in a B-plot was previously introduced last season when Terry and Korvo blasted their annoying, car-obsessed neighbor Glen (Kieran Culkin) into space; there, he encountered the SilverCops, a corrupt intergalactic police force. The SilverCops return in a standalone season-four episode that feels a bit like an unnecessary detour; unlike the characters in the Wall, you don’t really care about what happens to Glen, and the Fast and Furious jokes get old pretty fast.
Didn’t like: The repetitive storylines
While we already said we liked how Solar Opposites continues to affirm its freaky alien family dynamics, in service of that theme, the storylines can feel a bit too same-y. Someone does something that makes someone else angry; sci-fi stuff happens (usually in the name of revenge) that causes a near-disaster; then the antagonist realizes they’ve been being a dick. There’s not a lot of character growth, in other words. Solar Opposites also seems to be reaching further and further to come up with new quirks about Shlorpians; they usually work (the Gooblers are grossly adorable), but can feel like they’re just around to prop up a plot (there are… a lot of Gooblers).
Solar Opposites season four hits Hulu on August 14; there’ll also be a Valentine’s Day special arriving in 2024. It has already been renewed for a fifth season.