- Title: Exploding Kittens – Pilot
- IMDb: link
Loosely based on the board game of the same name, the first episode of Exploding Kittens introduces us to a douchebag of a God (Tom Ellis) who is exiled by Heaven’s Board of Directors to Earth to earn a little empathy from humans. Oh, and he’s now a cat. Sent to help the (mostly annoying) Higgins family (Suzy Nakamura, Mark Proksch, Ally Maki, and Kenny Yates), Godcat struggles to bring the family closer together (eventually merging their various individual interests into a bonding activity based on the dad’s roleplaying game that puts the entire group in mortal danger).
If you ignore all kinds of questions (like why the Board has power over God at all) there’s some enjoyment in the episode which ends by introducing another wrinkle into the tale with the discovery Devilcat is also on Earth. The idea that in the form of a cat, Godcat is controlled by feline impulses is a fun device in which knocking items from shelves and laser pointers come into play. The family is the weakest aspect of the show and I think, if Godcat were forced to remain on Earth, I’d like to see him interact with other humans rather than settle down with the Higgins, but maybe they will grow on me.
