Background
Bee and Puppycat started out as a two-part pilot in 2013, on Frederator Studios’ YouTube Channel Cartoon Hangover. After it saw some popularity, Cartoon Hangover started a Kickstarter to help make additional episodes. The series was released between 2014 and 2016 on YouTube and VRV and then season two Lazy in Space was released on Netflix in 2022 after a few bumps in the road. The show was created by Natasha Allegri, who has also worked on Adventure Time and Over the Garden Wall.
The show is about a young woman named Bee and the dog and/or cat (who really knows) creature she adopts named Puppycat. She’s friends with an aspiring yet timid cook named Deckard who applies to culinary school but then can’t decide if it’s what he truly wants. Then there’s Cas, Deckard’s sister. She works as a programmer and seems contented with it.
Bee Character Analysis
Bee is an interesting character to me in the way she interacts with the world. Much of the fanbase sees her as a neurodivergent character because of this and her interactions with others. Later in the show, she is revealed to be a robot, so it could be said that she isn’t able to interact with the world or experience emotion the way humans do, because she’s not human (an interesting topic for another time). But when interpreted as a person, as she’s treated in the show, she definitely appears neurodivergent-coded. She struggles with volume regulation at times, hyper-fixates on things like food (which she doesn’t even need to live) and TV shows (specifically Pretty Patrick), has sensory issues, etc. In this way, she provides representation of someone that we haven’t seen a lot of on-screen.
Bee also represents a curious kind of adult that we don’t see represented a lot, an adult who is alone, without a “real” job, and comfortable with that. She never shows signs of being bothered that she’s gotten fired from her past work experiences. She also isn’t at all concerned with meeting people, making friends, and putting herself out there. Instead of that American Dream young adult, we see on the screen a lot, striving for greatness and unsatisfied with their current situations, Bee doesn’t care and lets life come to her rather than strive for anything. This is one of the first times I’ve seen representation of someone at a similar stage in life, who doesn’t see a clear path forward but is unbothered by it.
Deckard Character Analysis
Now it’s Deckard’s turn. He loves cooking and seems to want to pursue it, but his anxiety keeps him from really thinking about it or taking a step toward it. He just sticks to his job where he cooks the same foods every day for their family-owned restaurant. He has dreams but feels anxious about pursuing them, so he ends up stagnant.
Cas Character Analysis
Then there’s Cas, Deckard’s sister, who has an interesting backstory in wrestling but is a programmer during the show's timeline. She seems dedicated to it, almost like she’s reached that point all of us think about when we picture what being an adult is, a grown adult with a grown-adult real-person job. She seems to be the ‘settled down’ character. But maybe she isn’t as happy as she could be.
She makes a comment to Deckard about Bee that says a little about them both. She says, "Deckard, don't you think it's weird that she hasn't grown up yet?" This conveys Cas's stage in life and how it differs from Bee's. It shows how different their perspectives on the world are.
The Three Together
I love these three characters being shown all together. In my mind, they each represent different perspectives of the world and existence. Bee is never stressed about existing and just wants to vibe, Deckard wants to avoid existing or has anxiety about finding a way to exist, and Cas is perhaps a realistic way we actually exist; finding something we can tolerate to make money and then getting by with not much else going on. I think perhaps they also represent stages of thinking when it comes to transitioning into adulthood. Bee represents perhaps someone younger who doesn’t know what’s out there and what they want from it but goes with the flow. Deckard represents the anxiety we feel about being independent and alone. We think making this leap into a new stage of life has to be done alone. Cas perhaps represents how we feel when we’re at least stable enough to be called happy in some way. Maybe not the “I’ve made it” feeling, but perhaps the realization that no one really knows what they’re doing and that’s okay, and that it’s okay to just live to survive. Life doesn’t have to be that search for something that will bring you happiness forever, it’s enough to just want to live.
So...
Bee and Puppycat has many themes and a great, fantastical story to tell, but its theme about adulthood and existence caught my attention. I’m always surprised when I see the way I think and perceive reality represented so well in movies and shows. It’s a reminder that no one really knows what they’re doing. We all come from different places and mindsets and perspectives but it all molds together into a beautiful story.
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