If you’ve been a fan of Adult Swim’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” over the past few seasons, you’ve noticed the drop off in hilarity that has plagued it recently. More bizarre than witty, less smart and more wacky, the show was in desperate need to get back to its roots for it to stick around late night cable any longer.

In “Rabbot Redux,” Aqua Teen not only accomplishes this feat, it creates one of the best episodes in recent memory, making no qualms along the way. If you needed any convincing before, you won’t need it after watching this episode.

The boys are back in town.

Getting back to basics, the premiere is all about the gang of Frylock, Meatwad and Master Shake starting a new life in a different house, that ironically is on the other side of their long-time neighbor, Carl. However, in spite of this, this episode is more of a return to the type of scenarios and comedy that made the show a cult-hit.

Simply put, if you were a huge fan of the first few seasons of this show, it was mainly due to Master Shake’s abuse of poor Meatwad, with Frylock being stuck in the middle to pick up the pieces. There were no vampire landlords or former New York Giants offensive linemen; it was just the trio with Carl thrown in for added humor. This episode adheres to that formula with the type of perfection that hasn’t been seen from the likes of series creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro in quite some time.

After watching the first half of the show and seeing Shake back to his old tricks and Meatwad showing that he’s smarter than he looks, you feel that reconnect with characters that hasn’t been there in a while. As a result, you also find yourself laughing, a lot. The bathroom scene by itself is worth watching the episode, but the rock-paper-scissors scandal later is the type of witty and energetic humor that made it what it was.

In the immortal words of singer John Sebastian, “Welcome Back.”

You were missed.

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