Q-Force (2021)
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Q-Force Review
Q-Force is an adult animated comedy series that premiered on Netflix in 2021. It’s a surprisingly solid show that did not deserve the bad critical reception that it got.
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“Call me Miss Congeniality, honey,
’cause I’m a fem top with a gun“
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This series was said to have been made by the gay people for the gay people, but it turned out not so good for Netflix as the critics called it out for its excessive stereotypes. The reality of the situation is that the stereotypes themselves are the source of humor on the show. Just having your normal, regular gay people for a comedy would have been unfunny and uninteresting, so this was the right move for the creators of the series, and it’s a shame that the critics failed to realize that.
The music is quite good and fitting the spy genre very well, but the animation itself was subpar and far from remarkable. It looked like just another Netflix animation with no distinguishing qualities whatsoever. But the voice cast all did a splendid job with Sean Hayes, Matt Rogers and Wanda Sykes being the standouts.
The storytelling is only serviceable as the show’s spy excursions are mostly engaging without ever being particularly exhilarating. The humor focused heavily on edginess and blue jokes, which appealed to me quite a bit, but an even bigger emphasis on nudity and humor would have made it even more fun as the espionage narratives took too much of the screen time from those other more entertaining elements.
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The characters are obviously stereotypical, but they worked as they were solidly fleshed out, well acted and a whole lot of fun. Steve is a somewhat bland, but frequently memorably snarky gay male protagonist. Twink is the more fun of the two with his hilarious banter. His drag queen personas were very well incorporated into the spy narratives.
Deb is a fun lesbian character who is loud, but kind. Stat is this trans lesbian hacker who is overly cool and mysterious without being particularly funny. V is a well developed, very interesting boss character while Buck is hilariously gruff and nasty as the only heterosexual member of the team.
Rogue and Deb’s BBQ started off the season pretty well with a lot of momentum and solid characterization. Backache Mountain is the highlight of the season as it features a lot of gay sex, a memorable plot and a hilarious Steve-Buck dynamic. EuropeVision was also a terrific time. The music show was well lampooned while the princess character was a very fun, over-the-top villain.
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WeHo Confidential is the most forgettable episode of the bunch, The Secretaries’ Ball benefits from the only solid Stat storyline where she dated a computer program, and Tarzana is another serviceable but uninteresting episode. Greyscale, The Coeur de la Mer and The Hole capped off the season with suitably higher stakes and the best usage of the espionage trope yet, but a bit at the expense of the humor itself.
Overall, Q-Force is a deeply flawed, but undeniably solid and underrated Netflix animated spy comedy that benefits from solid characters, pretty good humor and quite high entertainment value. It needed more emphasis on humor than on all the espionage, but for the most part it was a wildly entertaining, needlessly maligned show that was just a lot of fun to watch.
Worst Episodes: WeHo Confidential and Tarzana.
Best Episodes: Backache Mountain and EuropeVision.
