Smiling Friends Season 3: Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Unmissable

Smiling Friends is officially done at Adult Swim after three seasons, and yeah, that ending came in fast. The good news: the show went out swinging. Season 3 is the tightest, weirdest, most ambitious run they did. With the last batch airing over the weekend, here’s my personal ranking of all ten episodes — from good to greatest — with zero fat trimmed. Friend-Bot (Version 12589218731809213528796879521) The penultimate episode takes a big swing at AI and lands a few sharp laughs, especially once the twist clicks into place. You can also feel the odd production history here: Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack have said this was one of two episodes built during the original production batch and then slotted in after the decision to end the show. That tracks. It plays flatter than the rest, even if it does canonize Allan’s link to a very real, very intense fan. Likely not the one people bring up first when they think of Season 3. Charlie’s Uncle Dies and Doesn’t Come Back As finales go, this is a surprisingly sharp curtain call. We finally meet Charlie’s elusive uncle (a payoff the show has dangled since Season 1), and the long-simmering beef between Allan and his landlord snaps into focus with one of the best reveals the show ever pulled. Some of the uncle material leans aggressive, but the closer hits where it needs to, and handing the very last line to Mr. Boss just feels right. Mole Man This one is going to split the room. It stares straight at the fandom and gets uncomfortably honest about the way people praise the show’s 'realistic dialogue' and obsess over Pim and Charlie. Mole Man’s parasocial fixation is the point, and the ending flips the dynamic in a way that’s both funny and pointed. Bonus: a goofy Allan-and-Glep detour as the misspelled 'Smooling Fronds.' The running gag about Mole Man being embarrassed about his privates, though, wears thin fast. Squim Returns We meet Mr. Boss’s original hire, Squim — a human airhorn of forced positivity. The bit is intentionally one-note and, yes, it also starts to grate on the audience, which is part of the joke but still… a lot. The episode’s secret weapon is Charlie’s parasite- kabob food poisoning, which spirals into wild, inventive animation and some great gross-out comedy. Also, Squim getting gunned down. Twice. Silly Samuel The premiere reintroduces the show’s speed and tone with a character who is basically one big capital-B Bit. If Silly Samuel’s aggressive energy doesn’t hit your frequency, this will be a longer 11 minutes. The difference here is balance: the escalating chaos, plus the inspection at the Smiling Friends office, gives the episode enough texture to keep the one-note joke popping. "Hey it’s me Charlie" That line basically lived on social feeds for a week for a reason. Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille Mr. Frog gets his final bow, and it is appropriately oversized. He’s conquered the world, discovered that absolute adoration is its own prison, and fallen into a funk. The episode turns into a sincere goodbye that lands even harder given the show’s own unexpected end. It’s funny, strangely moving, and a proper sendoff for one of the series’ signature characters. Pim and Charlie Save Mother Nature A stacked half-hour of gags and character work. The crew heads to Mr. Boss’s cabin and immediately fires off a barrage of bits (yes, that Super Monkey Ball nod made the rounds), before Pim and Charlie end up negotiating with Mother Nature herself. It might be Mr. Boss’s best showcase — he runs through every deranged mood he has — and Allan’s side business leads to some deliciously deranged visuals. Big, bright, and endlessly quotable. Curse of the Green Halloween Witch The show’s last Halloween special loads up on atmosphere, then detonates into that very-online 'what if Pim but actually horrifying' brand of humor — with a fantastically bloody payoff. It still makes room for punchlines, and the abrupt final gag with what feels like a million cars piling in is a top-tier closer. Hard to argue with this one’s placement based on that ending alone. The Glep Ep The running joke was that Glep barely did anything. This episode politely sets that on fire by dropping a centuries-spanning origin story that’s both funny and, shocker, genuinely affecting. It also quietly doubles as an origin for Mr. Boss and why he started Smiling Friends in the first place. Big mythology, big heart, big laughs — it’s the show admitting it can get earnest without losing its edge. Shmaloogles The platonic ideal of a Smiling Friends episode: a goofy new world (a razor-edged Smurfs riff), a pile of instantly funny characters, sudden bursts of graphic violence, and one of the best smash-cut-to-montage jokes I’ve seen in animation, period. Underneath the chaos, it’s also a clean read on why Pim and Charlie work: Pim leans into the nonsense, Charlie stays rooted in reality, and when it counts, Charlie’s pragmatic solution saves the day — and saves Pim — while winking at the show’s much-debated 'realistic dialogue.' If you’re picking one episode to convert a friend, it’s this. Big picture: across three seasons, Smiling Friends kept leveling up. Season 3 happens to be the best yet, which makes the abrupt goodbye sting a little more. But if this is the end for Pim, Charlie, Mr. Boss, Glep, Allan, and the rest, it’s one of the cleaner exits Adult Swim has had — ambitious, strange, and frequently hilarious right up to the last line.

Smiling Friends Season 3: Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Unmissable

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