The new animated series “Royal Crackers” is here to provide us with some much-needed laughs. This hilarious comedy series follows the Hornsby family, who are in the business of selling crackers (the edible kind). The family tree looks something like the following: a perennially comatose father, Theodore, his two sons—the simpleton Stebe and wannabe rockstar Theo along with Deb (Stebe’s wife), and Matt, their son. Stebe now runs the family company Royal Crackers and is assisted by the family lawyer, Darby.
Created by Jason Ruiz, the show is a laugh riot but has its share of poignant moments as well. Let’s take a quick recap of the first two episodes:
Spoilers Ahead
‘Royal Crackers’ Episode 1: The Pilot
The episode begins with the Hornsby family having dinner. The comatose father heads the table. We see Stebe, Deb, and Matt enjoying their dinner when Deb questions Matt’s music taste. Theo intervenes and tries to guess the band Matt may be a fan of. He names all of yesteryear’s famous bands but is stumped by Matt’s answer: he was listening to Post Malone. Theo acts as if he knows who that is and refers to Post Malone as “them,” mistaking him for a band name, thus giving away the fact that he is a washed-up wannabe rockstar, completely out of touch with current pop stars.
We later learn that the business that once was an empire has now reached an all-time low. Stebe tries the company’s new product, the black licorice-flavored crackers, which are so abysmal that he starts to bleed while eating one! Funnily enough, he hides his disgust and gulps it down. The state of the company is revealed to us. Theo enters and disrupts the meeting. Deb proposes to use social media to increase sales through marketing.
Stebe steps up to take charge of this online marketing campaign that may save the business but is immediately put down by the board members because he has no knowledge of social media. Theo steps up to challenge his brother. The board members take a vote, and voila, Theo emerges victorious. This makes Deb furious, and she becomes insecure about her future and fears losing the master bath of all things, all because it has a bidet installed. Jubilant, Theo hears the couple call him a washed-up singer and becomes furious, leaving his wheelchair-bound father unattended. Theodore gains some consciousness after listening to the blasting sound of Theo’s music and tries to wheel himself out of the room. He falls down the stairs and goes into a “super-coma” or, as the doctor refers to it, a “suco.”
Darby arrives and tells them about Theodore’s last will and testament in case he dies. Everybody is taken aback, and a quarrel ensues as to who loves Father more. Darby quickly leaves the room, seeing them fight over their affection for Theodore.
Next, we see Theo make his video for the marketing campaign. He records himself eating the company crackers and starts an online challenge to eat a whole box of crackers in under 10 seconds, hoping that the video will go viral, boosting the sales of the company. Meanwhile, Deb, unable to hide her anger, lashes out at board members for electing Theo. Stebe and Deb come up with their own presentation for the campaign in case Theo fails to make his video go viral. Their presentation genuinely moves the board members, but as luck would have it, Theo’s video of him stuffing his mouth with crackers goes viral.
The only problem is that it goes viral for all the wrong reasons.
The company had put coins inside the boxes as a marketing tool for the previous batch of crackers. Those who tried to gulp down the whole box within 10 seconds as part of Theo’s challenge died of choking. With the sales plummeting, another piece of bad news hits the family: Theodore’s heart stops, and he is presumed dead. With Father dead and the company in ruins, Deb mourns the loss of the bidet-installed master bath, while Darby arrives with no will as he flushed it down the toilet by mistake during one of his episodes of diarrhea.
Darby cries in front of Theodore, presuming him to be dead, and tells him he is sorry, but with the will gone, it will either be Stebe or Theo who will have to be elected CEO. Hearing this, life returns to Theodore, and hope for the company’s growth is restored. The family patches things up and plans for the future.
‘Royal Crackers’ Episode 2: Theo Kills A Local Comedian
With his father back in the house, Theo plans to revive his rockstar status and goes on a comeback tour with Matt. With the house almost empty, Steve seduces Deb into spending some quality time together.
Theo plans to blow the audience away with his performance but is upstaged by a local ventriloquist, Bill Peachknee, and his doll, Flappy. Theo, unable to digest the humiliation, tries to disrupt his show but is booed by the audience, deepening his humiliation. He decides to drive away.
On the road, he gets into an argument with Matt and, in a state of negligence, runs someone over. He gets out of the car only to find Bill Peachknee and his doll lying on the road, dead. Theo asks Matt to help put the body in the trunk. He asks Darby for help. Darby promises to send a “fixer” to dispose of the body and make it all go away. The Fixer arrives, but it is not the suave gentleman Theo was expecting but a senile old loudmouth who comes to the rescue. With no confidence in him, Theo does not listen to him and gets everybody caught by the police while the body is still in the car’s trunk.
Meanwhile, Deb and Stebe find Theo’s drugs, accidentally overdose in an attempt to spice up the evening, and wind up in the hospital.
The Fixer narrates his sob story after Theo’s constant discouragement. He tells he was once the most dependable Fixer in town, but now he is just an old, washed-up man. Theo relates to the emotion and gets sentimental himself. Just when Theo thinks things are going to end up just as they did for the old Fixer, he (the fixer) punches a police officer and helps Theo and Matt escape. He takes the car near a quicksand pit, asks Matt and Theo to get out, and then drowns the car in it while never getting out himself, making the evidence of the crime vanish altogether.
‘Royal Crackers’ Episode 2 Ending Explained: Why Did The Old ‘Fixer’ Kill Himself?
The Fixer was a man of high principles. He had lived a life of honor, but as he got older, he lost it along the way. With this job of helping Theo get away with murder, he decides it will be his last. He prefers to go out with a job well done rather than continue living a meaningless life. This act fills Theo with genuine emotion, and he decides to get back on the road even though Matt continues to make fun of him.
If you want to watch a show with slapstick humor sprinkled with heartfelt moments, “Royal Crackers” will do the job. Watch it on the streaming site Adult Swim.