It’s safe to say that adaptations of Dr. Seuss works have had a…rocky history. Sure, the animated shorts are generally well received, but the feature-length ones…not so much. The Jim Carrey “Grinch” movie does have its genuine fans, but there’s no denying that the original animated version is a lot better. “Cat in the Hat” is only enjoyed ironically nowadays and is technically the worst one. “Horton Hears a Who”, “The Lorax” and the more recent “Grinch” didn’t fare much better. A common criticism of them is that they’re taking these very short books and trying to make them feature-length, and so they try to shove in whatever they can to pad out the runtime.
With that in mind, you take a Dr. Seuss book like, say, “Green Eggs and Ham” and try to make it into a full-blown TV show. That just has to spell disaster, right? And yet somehow, beyond all odds, Netflix’s “Green Eggs and Ham” not only proves itself as an amazing show in its own right, but it arguably manages to improve upon the source material, which previous Seuss adaptations failed to do.
Admittedly, I’ve read very few of Seuss’s books, but “Green Eggs and Ham” is one of those few. The message it’s going for is certainly one I can get behind: don’t know it until you try it. But the way it handles it is…a bit off. With how the book gets across the message, it comes with the implication that it’s perfectly okay to just constantly force something on someone until they cave in. Sure, some people can be stubborn about it, but trying to force them into it is gonna be more off-putting than anything else.
The show seems to have understood this, and one thing they did to improve it is to make Sam-I-Am a lot more likable. He’s very optimistic and social and friendly, and his enthusiasm is just infectious. As the show goes on, it’s also clear that there’s genuine weight to him, as the food he loves so much is revealed to have been a childhood food of his that his mother made for him. It’s understandable why he would lie about it beforehand since it clearly eats him up on the inside, and it’s heartbreaking to see this usually cheerful character discuss how his mom gave him up for adoption.
The green eggs and ham itself isn’t even the main focus of the show; it’s more used in a thematic fashion to get across a much more widespread message. Guy-Am-I is established as a very down-on-his-luck person; his inventions always blow up, he feels like a failure in every regard, and resorts to being a paint watcher as his lifelong job. His coming around to eating the green eggs and ham isn’t simply a case of “don’t knock it until you try it”. It’s him finally coming around to appreciate the friendship he develops with Sam and to find it in himself to keep trying and to achieve something. It ends up making the moment when he actually does try it and like it feel amazing, like he’s gone through a great amount of growth throughout season 1.
Season 2 was bound to be an interesting beast, for sure. By the time season 1 is done, the show is done adapting the original book, so what could they do with a second season? Well, the show also brings in plenty of great original material to work with. I’ve mentioned Sam’s mother, but there’s also Michellee and E.B., Guy’s love interest and stepdaughter respectively. Both of these characters are great and have their own adorable arc through the first season as Michellee pulls back on her over-protective tendencies and E.B. comes to appreciate how much her mother cares for her. Their moment in the art museum never fails to get me teary-eyed as a result.
So once season 2 starts, the stage is set for the original material to be expanded on, and I’d argue season 2 is just as good as season 1, just for different reasons. It adopts more of a spy-thriller vibe with elements from the “Butter Battle Book”, and just like the rest of the show, it’s consistently hilarious and tongue-in-cheek. Sam’s relationship with his mother is pretty much perfect, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. E.B. gets a love interest in the form of the cool and level-headed yet dorky Looka, and while I do wish we had more screentime with them together, what we do get is great.
With the way season 2 ends, I’m in the position of if they decide to do a season 3, I’d be curious to see where they went with it. But if this does decide to be the end and there isn’t anymore after this, I’m okay with that. All the character arcs have pretty much been concluded, and I’d rather have it go out on a high note than prolong it unnecessarily.
All of that isn’t even going into how visually beautiful the show is. It’s honestly one of the best looking cartoons I’ve ever seen. It perfectly captures the weird style of Seuss’s world, the animation is consistently smooth, and it’s cartoonish and wacky enough to suit the comedy perfectly without getting in the way of the more grounded and serious moments.
While it does sound bizarre to say that a multi-season TV show about “Green Eggs and Ham” is at all times a heartfelt character piece, a gorgeous feast for the eyes, a consistently hilarious comedy, and a fantastic show in its own right, it’s true. This series is the real deal. It’s one of the best shows of the 2010s, do not miss it.
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