After leading man Jared Keeso took some time to focus on the Letterkenny spinoff, Shoresy, he has returned for Season 11 of Letterkenny and… it’s a mixed bag. Letterkenny has always been one of those shows that wasn’t designed for everyone. The humor can be crude. The characters can be hard to relate to. And the show can often feel like there’s no real point to it. In the end, though, Letterkenny always delights, even with its faults. Unfortunately, though, Season 11 takes a bit longer to get going and the episodes themselves never really feel cohesive.
Letterkenny is a weird show. There’s no denying as much. It’s a weird show that is packed full of humor and proves Keeso, who helped to create both Letterkenny and Shoresy, is incredibly talented. However, following the excellent first season of Shoresy, it’s hard to return to Letterkenny as it is. Keeso as Shoresy is just excellent, and there’s something special about that character and his journey not to be such an asshole. Letterkenny, which does briefly bring back Shoresy this season, feels like much of the same. The ladies remain wonderful – especially Katie and Gail – and the Skids remain the best part of the series. But while those characters continue to grow – yes, even Stewart – it never really feels like Wayne and the others do.
That isn’t to say Letterkenny is bad. It’s not. It’s still great, but Season 11 takes a bit to get going. The “Chips” episode feels pointless and is ultimately a weird choice to kick off the season. Had it been done as a special episode? That would’ve been great, but again, as a season opener, it feels like a poor decision. There’s no real value to be gained from the episode. Is it funny? Yes. Does it serve a purpose? Absolutely not. Thankfully, by episode three, the show regains its footing for the season and begins to build out a story across the remainder of the episodes. Said story focuses on the always crude Gail, played wonderfully by Lisa Codrington, and her questionable choices. One of Letterkenny‘s biggest strengths is that it always its female characters to be realistic and that includes allowing them to be sexual beings. Gail makes some poor decisions this season, that allows the rest of the characters to explore actual issues faced by women daily, and still finds a way to make it an important topic while keeping things light-handed. It’s one thing that Letterkenny does better than most shows these days. It isn’t afraid to let its female characters exist. Flaws and all.
Once the season finds a real starting point, it’s smooth sailing from that point forward. The show brings back the always fantastic Glen, who is as ridiculous as ever, to work with Clark Backo‘s Rosie on finding a missing dog. The hilarity that ensues from that point on, courtesy of the Dicks, is a great reminder of what makes Letterkenny so great. But then the show takes a minor stumble yet again in the final episode of the season. As always, Wayne and company continue to have each other’s backs, which is great. However, there are only so many times a season can end with a big fight that is only briefly shown before it cuts to the end credits.
And yet, with an uneven start and a finish that literally feels like an ending used before, Letterkenny‘s eleventh season isn’t as strong as those before it. However, with a strong first (?) season of Shoresy, one has to imagine Keeso and company still have plenty more in stock for the Letterkenny crew and can easily deliver a hell of a twelfth season. Because there’s no way a Season 12 isn’t on the horizon.
