OR

Email Address

Password

Forgot password?

The Midnight Gospel

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 8 Critic Reviews

See All

82

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 60 Ratings

See All

8.0

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8.0	Your Score
8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 60 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

The Midnight Gospel

Now Playing: The Midnight Gospel

The Midnight Gospel

Series Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date: April 20, 2020

Summary: Podcaster Clancy is forced to leave his home to interview beings in other worlds after his multiverse simulator malfunctions in this adult animated series co-created by Pendleton Ward and Duncan Trussell.

Genre(s): Animation, Drama, Science Fiction

Watch Now

Stream On

Recent Episodes

tbd
S1:E8. Mouse of Silver
Air Date: April 20, 2020
tbd
S1:E7. Turtles of the Eclipse
Air Date: April 20, 2020
tbd
S1:E6. Vulture With Honor
Air Date: April 20, 2020

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

82

Positive:

7

Mixed:

1

Negative:

0

Critic Reviews

100

Entertainment Weekly

Darren Franich

May 7, 2020

Season 1 Review: Gospel's not for kids, but it reflects the ecstatic innovations that made Adventure Time such a trip. Ward directs every episode and finds moments of religious astonishment alongside gloopy horror, all of it served with chatty humanism and palpable sweetness. ... The result is a new kind of masterpiece: easy to like, easier to worship. Read full review

100

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Apr 14, 2020

Season 1 Review: Every episode approaches sophisticated ideas while stuffing them into an astonishing psychedelic cartoon, so that “The Midnight Gospel” forces you to push beyond the distractions of its many moving parts and appreciate the substance at its core. The resulting trippy sci-fi adventure is a feast for the eyes and mind at once. Read full review

100

Los Angeles Times

Robert Lloyd

Apr 20, 2020

Season 1 Review: It is an ambitious, extraordinary, dreadful, beautiful thing. Read full review

70

Decider

Joel Keller

Apr 21, 2020

Season 1 Review: It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but The Midnight Gospel is fascinatingly strange, and if you listen to what is actually talked about, you may come away with some insight into the human condition. Read full review

70

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Apr 23, 2020

Season 1 Review: It can be legitimately transcendent at times – Ward has so much creative energy that the frames burst with detail and Trussell is a great podcaster in terms of how much he truly engages with his subjects. It can also be damn overwhelming. I don’t recommend binging all eight because the onslaught of new age ideas and hyperactive visuals can be a bit much to take consecutively. Read full review

62

Paste Magazine

Jacob Oller

Apr 20, 2020

Season 1 Review: While there’s plenty of merit being preached in The Midnight Gospel, I don’t find the delivery method of its sermon particularly convincing, digestible, or enjoyable. But, hey, as someone who watched the show stone-cold sober, your religious mileage may vary. Read full review

40

Collider Dave Trumbore

Apr 20, 2020

Season 1 Review: The Midnight Gospel lets Ward go nuts without any network censors or content restrictions, and the team over at Titmouse absolutely runs with it. So 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. Read full review

SEE ALL 8 REVIEWS

Write a Review

8.0

User Reviews

10

Emme_0

Apr 22, 2020

Spanish review:
Increíble show! Cada plano de esta serie muestra la creatividad del director y lo mucho que se esmeran los ilustradores y animadores.
Trata de temas transcendentales y tabús, en cada episodio se requiere de un 100% de atención para captar cada detalle y frase importante.Spanish review:
Increíble show! Cada plano de esta serie muestra la creatividad del director y lo mucho que se esmeran los ilustradores y animadores.
Trata de temas transcendentales y tabús, en cada episodio se requiere de un 100% de atención para captar cada detalle y frase importante. También muestra el universo desde diversos puntos de vista contando con el nihilismo, budismo y hedonismo, entre otros. *Una serie que no puede gustar a cualquier persona* pero sin duda se admira poniendo en un hilo de fonambulista la vida misma cuestionando esta.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

10

Jackalemo

Apr 25, 2020

This show is like 2 shows in each episode. Chose to listen to the dialogue and you'll get an interesting conversation about death, life, and everything in between. Chose to watch the chaos on the screen and you'll have some pretty fun and trippy visuals. It's a masterpiece.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

10

stevesdrop

Apr 30, 2020

Absolutely must see. Stunning dance of visual imagination and profound conversations.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

9

zoldick

Jan 13, 2022

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's fact that there is a good moment for animations. The popularity of adult cartoons is high and animations for a young audience is taking about themes more matures that is consideraded inapropriate for kids or teenagers. The animation industry is putting faith in animations. The Midnight Gospel, the most recent Pendleton Ward's serie, the creator of Adventure Time, is a retrat of this: a animation produced by the biggest movie and serie streaming of world, Netflix. The animation, now, is consumed like any other arte like cinema, literature or music, with capacity to tell stories and bring ideas and concepts.

The Midnight Gospel is not only possible in XXI century because of the ascention of animation in entretenimaint market, but because of it was produced in a time when the midia formats is intersects, when image and video, audio and draw is mixed, a fenonemo tipic of comunication and information of pos-modernity. In the case of Netflix animation, this intersect happen between image and podcast. In fact, the cartoon was baseaded in Duncan Trussel podcast, humorist that make Clancy voice. The Midnight Gosple is only possible in a frenetic world, when the information is created all the time, when art, culture and entreteniment talking each other thought metalanguage and any references in only episodes. A refletion about the velocity of information, passing in many midia formats like streaming, video, image, news, internet, etc.

In 2010, Pendleton Ward was making his most famous work, Adventure Time, by Cartoon Network, after apresentated a pilot to Nickloadeon. In this time, the cartoon was consideraded frenetic and original because of its fantasy and fiction baseaded in Hayao Miyazaki movies, RPG games and old Cartoon Network works like Flapjack (when Ward already work), besides, obviously, talk about taboos like homossexuality, relationship, death, mental insanity, etc. In exactly after 10 years, in a time interval when news themes are more accept by society and entreteniment industry is growing up with adult cartoons, Ward bring The Midnight Gospel realizing everything that Adventure Time made in 2010 with complex and adult themes.

The Netflix serie talk about this type of themes misturing the Duncan podcast audio and Ward animation, and the transposition of one format in the other is the way like the serie show its has security to talk about this themes in conversations, even knowing the existing risk of, simplicity, mix so different midias, knowing cinema and tv series need a screen with a tecnic prepar and that Duncan show is a talking podcast with espontaneas conversations. This show how the news generations want to brake any taboos; one of them is death, one of the most commented by cartoon, besides, the title of work make references to death. "Midnight" can be interpretated like a simbology to a circle, the end of one thing and the start of other. Even the episodes talk about other themes like drugs, religion, budism, magic and maternity, the death is present parallel with this themes.

The last two episodes of serie (seven and eight), in relation with the constant present of death as discution object of animation, has especial caracterist comparing with other episodes, because of the differente manner to talk, because of approach other theme with it. The episode 7 put Clancy, literally, to have a conversation with death, who are manifested in a physic body, abandoning passivity of old episodes and being a active existence who talk, walk and think like Clancy. The idea is demystify and humanize it, transforming it image in something natural of life and destroy the stereotypes that demonizate it.

The 8th episode is one of the most important to the serie, because, not only Clancy/Duncan talk to him mother, mounths before she die, but is a episode about the life and it challenges, after all the cartoon talk about death. Knowing him mother will die because of her cancer, Duncan Trussel/Clancy experiences on the skin what it is to accept death, after talking about it in 7 episodes.

The Midnight Gospel show that ficction and fantasy can be real, and reality can be imaginous. In the surrealism of the animation, real people bring real ideias and real concepts, including scientist or criminals sentenced to death, and all of surrealism is happen while this people are talking. This constrast between reality and ficction is a union between animation and podcast. The animation transforme the podcast more imaginous while the podcast transforme the animation more real, broking the limits between reality and fantasy, subjectity and objectivy.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

8

brockcheese

Jan 25, 2021

This show can be hard to follow due to the esoteric nature of many of the conversations, but with the nuanced and heartfelt take on the human experience combined with the stunning animation this is a winner.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

2

Neiru

Apr 25, 2020

Hm... Definitely do not get the hype. The Midnight Gospel is weird but not in a good way. It seems that Pendleton is overcompensating for doing a kids show previously by making an overly unnecessarily violent and obscene cartoon to convey some kind of "message".

I get they're trying to doHm... Definitely do not get the hype. The Midnight Gospel is weird but not in a good way. It seems that Pendleton is overcompensating for doing a kids show previously by making an overly unnecessarily violent and obscene cartoon to convey some kind of "message".

I get they're trying to do the 'Creature Comforts' style of real interviews to animation but it just comes off as overly pretentious and, more to the point, is just dull spiel that serves no purpose other than making the visual aspect feel like filler.

Other than the excellent character design and animation, which I would expect from Pendleton Ward, it feels very much like an "edgy" student project with shock for the sake of it and shallow rambling.

As a a cartoon enthusiast I'd thoroughly recommend giving it a miss..… Expand

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

0

anselhelm

Jul 10, 2020

Despite all the hype over this show, it's dull, slow and storyless. At its core, it's just a tedious, late-evening podcast, which has been slightly adapted then had random animation bolted on to make it look like each episode has a coherent story.

I've seen reviews making statements likeDespite all the hype over this show, it's dull, slow and storyless. At its core, it's just a tedious, late-evening podcast, which has been slightly adapted then had random animation bolted on to make it look like each episode has a coherent story.

I've seen reviews making statements like "it's the opposite of Ricky & Morty". If by this people mean that it's the opposite of interesting and smart, then yes, this is true. Sure, it's less abrasive, but that's due to its slow and dull nature, rather than any qualities worth praising.

This isn't a show you "watch". If you enjoy the narration, you'll probably just listen to it. In that case, you'd be better off actually listening to the original, unedited podcast - Duncan Trussell Family Hour.

At the end of the day, if you really enjoy this, then you do you, boo.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

SEE ALL 23 REVIEWS

More From Metacritic

The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2020

We rank the highest-scoring new televisions shows (and miniseries) of...

The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2020 So Far

These were the highest-scoring first-year TV series (and miniseries)...

20+ TV Shows to Watch in April: Killing Eve, What We Do in the Shadows, Tales From the Loop, and More

These are the most promising new and returning television shows...

What to Watch Right Now on Paramount+

Find a list of the best recent and upcoming film and TV titles added to...

Current TV Shows

By MetascoreBy User Score

1 92 The Pitt: Season 2

2 90 The Celebrity Traitors UK: Season 1

3 87 Hacks: Season 5

4 87 Industry: Season 4

5 87 Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal:...

6 85 The Beatles Anthology

7 85 The Traitors [UK]: Season 4

8 85 Bait: Season 1

9 84 Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!

10 83 Lord of the Flies

11 83 Riot Women: Season 1

12 83 For All Mankind: Season 5

13 81 The Muppet Show (2026)

14 80 Outlander (2014): Season 8

15 80 The Other Bennet Sister: Season 1

16 80 The Mighty Nein: Season 1

17 80 The Comeback: Season 3

18 80 The American Revolution

19 80 One Piece (2023): Season 2

20 80 Dark Winds: Season 4

SEE ALL

Seasons & Episodes

82

Series Overview
Season 1

82
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E8. Mouse of Silver
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E7. Turtles of the Eclipse
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E6. Vulture With Honor
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E5. Annihilation of Joy
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E4. Blinded By My End
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E3. Hunters Without a Home
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E2. Officers and Wolves
  Air Date: April 20, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E1. Taste of the King
  Air Date: April 20, 2020