The Midnight Gospel - Season 1

The Midnight Gospel" is overloaded with so many ideas it often threatens to devolve into one of those ephemeral late-night Adult Swim gambits... but Ward (who directs every episode) always comes back to the plot.

The result is a little like Mr Benn for adults or, if you prefer, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, but with Jerry Seinfeld replaced by a pink cartoon human wearing nothing but a Gandalf hat and a hand towel to conceal his modesty.

There is a lot of activity in the foreground, background and middle ground of the frame, and the series is worth watching twice just to take in the details.

Ultimately, this experiment with narrative and visual forms works, making The Midnight Gospel the rare piece of legitimately daring television available right now.

Duncan Trussell and Pendleton Ward's The Midnight Gospel is unlike anything else on television.

While the combination of creative talent behind the scenes is a winner, this new series is likely only going to appeal to the Adult Swim crowd. Your mile(high)age may vary.

The Midnight Gospel cuts into viewer psyche with what feels like immense precision. In nearly every scene, I found some visual I enjoyed, one sentence I related to, or a feeling I thought only I'd had - no matter how overwhelmed I became.

It pairs a laid-back, talk-heavy approach with lavish, surrealist animation. But much like the podcast episodes it frames itself around, there's not much in the way of an ongoing narrative to reward viewers or justify a binge session.

The Midnight Gospel can be a little amusing at these times, simply for the "what the f--k" shock to your system, but it's not a sustainable concept because like the rest of those shocks, it numbs with repetition and time.

The Midnight Gospel succeeds by subverting expectations of what one might expect from adult Adventure Time - and then subverting them again for one last emotional punch.

It's not the Second Coming of Adventure Time, but it's totally unique and provides plenty of deep food for thought.

The Midnight Gospel made me laugh, think hard thoughts about things I never have, and contrary to many other shows, I can already imagine myself returning to Clancy and his strange, imperfect spacecast multiple times in the future.