In this, the first straight-up adult take on Scooby-Doo, Velma (voiced by Mindy Kaling) tries to solve both the mystery of her missing mother and who's been killing popular girls at her high school. (To dispel a lot of misinformation, Mindy isn't the showrunner on this; that's Charles Grandy. She's just a voice actor and executive producer.)
In case you haven't heard, this is getting a LOT of hate online. It has a 1.4/10 on IMDB. Won't lie, I kinda liked it. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a perfect show and most of the criticism is well warranted, however, it isn't the worst thing ever as some make it out to be. You ever liked an Adult Swim show (or equivalent) where things go too far or the characters are self-involved but you still like watching it? (I love the Venture Brothers, but let's be honest, Dr. Venture is awful and the creators do go to unhealthy places nobody wanted them to go sometimes.) That's basically what this show is.
What I'm about to say isn't that much different than whatever anyone else is saying, but it can't not be said. Velma can be hard to like. She's rude and mean, super judgmental and tends to put people in boxes, she uses her friends and love interests and takes them for granted, and any lesson she learns doesn't last long.
The show makes a lot commentary jokes, like WAY too many parts where the characters feel like they're talking directly to the audience. There's a lot of social commentary jokes, especially aimed at the glass ceiling and the white patriarchy. Problem is that the writers use them as a crutch. They're just repeating the same way-too-obvious points over and over again. However, I don't consider them a deal breaker like some. They can be fun at points, and I feel that having commentary jokes is still far more palpable than when writers just have the characters awkwardly speak the commentary without any nuance. (I'm not anti-woke. I just feel that some shows fumble the ball when they try to apply social issues to a genre plot.)
One last issue is that this has the sexualization of underage teen girls in this. (At least, I assume they're underage. One piece of advertising listed Velma as 15, and i assume the girls around her are the same age.)
On the other hand, there is some pretty funny stuff sprinkled throughout, and the plots for each episode are interesting. MOST importantly, the mystery itself is intriguing with many twists and turns. I honestly couldn't figure out who the villain was until the final episode.
Say what you will about this, but it has a great voice cast. Kaling, Constance Wu as Daphne, It's Always Sunny's Glenn Howerton as Fred, and Sam Richardson as Norville (they're calling Shaggy by his given name for now; yes canonically, it has always been Norville), all sell their characters.
The animation is also really well done and fluid. The show has a unique character design to it.
If you don't like animated shows that can be mean-spirited or too weird (this is definitely a hard sell for an older audience) then this definitely won't be your bag. Everyone else, I do recommend you check the first few episodes out. Many won't be interested, but many might. Again, this isn't a great show, but the plot keeps being interesting enough that I want to watch season 2.
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