Netflix's Exploding Kittens series is lost in translation

As many TV critics have said recently, it’s the so-called golden age of video game adaptations, thanks to HBO’s The Last of Us and Prime Video’s Fallout. However, tabletop games haven’t been given the same due, despite Dungeons And Dragons’ big-budget film last year and Margot Robbie’s promised Barbie-style Monopoly film. (A potential Settlers Of Catan: The Series remains a pipe dream for board game aficionados). On paper, Netflix’s adult animation series Exploding Kittens, based on the hit card game, promises to challenge this.

Made in collaboration with the team behind the popular game (its co-creator, cartoonist Matthew Inman, is also one of the showrunners), it’s a Rick And Morty-esque adventure series mimicking the game’s same bright colors, cute but evil characters, and violence. It’s amusing, although fans of the original may be disappointed by the lack of connection to its source material. Instead, entirely new characters join the fray. The show begins with God (voiced by Tom Ellis, best known for playing the devil himself in Lucifer) sitting with his feet up at his office in the sky, a.k.a. Heaven Inc. He’s the textbook image of the all-seeing deity: A big white beard, bushy eyebrows, white suit, and gold tie. But he’s sassy and swears, and God’s bad behavior hasn’t gone unnoticed.

After nearly burning down half of Heaven while making a pizza and destroying unicorns (or “ponies with face boners,” as he calls them), he needs some rehabilitation. As punishment, a council of angels sends him to Earth to sort out humanity and live as one of them. Well, sort of. God lands on the ground, but when he looks down at his hands, he sees tiny pads, comparing them instantly to baked beans. Yes, God turns into a cat, promptly known hereafter as Godcat. The washboard abs are gone, but the beard remains.

On Earth, it’s Godcat’s job to answer the prayers of one unsuspecting believer, mom Abbie Higgins (Suzy Nakamura), who initially hears the feline speaking and takes him to animal control. But he isn’t having any of that and barges his way into Abbie’s life. His task is to save the family if he wants to save himself. (“Save a human family? That’s why I created sexy firemen,” Godcat replies.) And boy, do the Higginses need saving.

The disconnected, dissatisfied family includes Abbie’s genius daughter Greta (Ally Maki), who spends her time doing freaky experiments in her room, and son Travis (Kenny Yates), a former child internet sensation now trying and failing to recreate lofty viral heights as a live streamer. Abbie’s hapless husband Marv (Mark Proksch) is trying to keep the family together. Abbie’s prayer, it turns out, was her exhaustingly proclaiming “Dear God!” Godcat tells her, though, “Any phrase that’s qualified with it counts as a prayer.”

Exploding Kittens is packed with religious jokes, the kind that lead to a small smile but rarely makes anyone laugh out loud. An “omnipotent” versus “impotent” mix-up could be seen a mile off and is annoying in its unreasonable obviousness. The smarter, edgier stuff comes in the form of pop culture references integrated into the script. Godcat describes a pigeon (or “trash bird”) as “disease-ridden yet so alluring, like a buffet in Vegas or Timothée Chalamet.” The portal to Hell is found in an abandoned rancid porta potty (or an Imagine Dragons concert). It’s a joke structure that is rarely strayed from, so even if the script doesn’t boast much finesse, there are nuggets of comedy gold in there.

As God, Ellis opts for the same smooth-talking, seductive posh tones that won him legions of fans in Lucifer, even if it doesn’t show all that much variety. Having far more fun is Saturday Night Live’s Sasheer Zamata as God’s shape-shifting nemesis Devilcat, who shows a lot of range. Zamata’s Satan, as it just so happens, has also been sent to Earth in cat form. Both Godcat and Devilcat face the same problems in their new form: A desire to be all-knowing beings if only they weren’t constantly distracted by laser pointers and birds.

It may be occasionally fun, but it’s hard to know who this adaptation is for. The vibrant cartoon style might impress fans of adult animation, but despite its swears and odd punchy insult, the writing is tame. Even in a few snappier jokes, the targets are obvious. Take the one where we’re told Devilcat loves Florida and invented open-mic nights—things that are normally poked fun of. The writing lacks the bravery of other animated series.

Fans of the Exploding Kittens game will particularly struggle with what to make of the series. It’s disconnected from the cards, and weirdly, the games themselves are used as a punchline. Marv claims to love complex strategy games, but his wife and kids don’t care to keep up with the lengthy rules. “We’re just slowly growing apart one board game at a time,” Abbie dejectedly admits. It’s not controversial, but the knowledge that the company behind Exploding Kittens specializes in quick, easy-to-play party games (as opposed to longer-form, more intense ones), makes such comments feel cynical and like a marketing ploy. That a special “Good vs Evil” edition of Exploding Kittens inspired by the Netflix game is already on sale only adds to this.

This lack of direction prevents the show from being memorable. Instead of the fast-paced, lighthearted adaptation similar to the card game, Exploding Kittens feels like learning the rules itself. You can swear you’re interested, but nothing else is going on to keep you hooked.