The Great North

I like Honeybee saying that she had met her share of quirky Alaskans but the mayor of Ted's Folly was next level. And she's right. Dude's nuts.

The episode was pretty funny, although nothing special. ***1/2.

It was nice. I love Chief Edna and her sister, and Beef's journey during the bank robbery was fun. I love him being told to put down the grenade and he gently sets it on the ground.

Very solid week. Impressive. ****.

Just based on the Turd Drop, Lone Moose is not a place I'd like to live. And all the "selling points" of being Alaskans sound like drawbacks to me. And yet despite all that,. I find the fact that Wolf clearly fanboys the Obamas totally endearing. Not the first time he's said it either which makes it even more delightful.

Judy is the ONLY fictional female character who will use a fake case of diarrhea to get out of a tense situation. For every other teenage girl, that idea would be humiliating and TMI. It looks like that's her go-to instead. I love Judy, but she IS totally weird.

I love that Honeybee is slowly getting on-board, but I have to still say I don't agree with her. I still think the entire thing sounds nuts.

I was Ham as a young man. Not as a teenager (middle-aged women were hard to come by, and I mostly hung around girls my own age) but when I was a younger I used to hang out with pretty much middle-aged women exclusively. It's why Gilda And Meek is as female-leaning as it is. Ham has a virtue I did not back then. He's gay. So he is much less freakish for that than I was being a straight guy. But I HATED hanging around other guys my age. They valued different things than I did and I found them very unpleasant when all is said and done. Stand By Me is the stupidest movie ever, because I look back at my boyhood friendships with disdain and embarrassment rather than fondness. There is no nostalgia in my heart for teenage boy toxicity and it's weird other people think there is. Middle-aged women were chill to me. And they kind of dug the fact that I was the kind of person who couldn't stand hanging out with other dudes. They sort of appreciated that aspect to me, especially considering how rare it is. I'm a better person for those friendships whereas I was a worse person for my boyhood friendships. I get Ham totally here. When the woman here says "What looks good?" and he says, "You do," I'm like "I WAS this kid back in the day."

I'll be honest. I don't value too many of my friendships with GIRLS my own age (or younger) in hindsight either. They weren't exactly toxic, but they WERE a freaking chore. Yeah, I prefer the chillness of middle-aged woman. When Family Guy is portraying Lois Griffin as this manipulative sociopath, what they are doing is lying to the fourteen year olds in the audience. Women Lois' age aren't usually like that. It's a cartoon parody of how toxic male writers believe women to be, rather than how they are at that age. Lois' behavior is not outside a woman in her early 20's. But women Lois' age are usually all right.

I apologize to any male readers offended by the previous paragraphs. And I like and get along with plenty of males online, because there is a measure of space and ettiquette involved. I even consider many of them friends. But I will NEVER be your "bro" in real life. I'm not built for it. That's the way it is.

Wow, this review got off-topic quick, didn't it? What we were talking about? Something about a turd drop or something? ***1/2.

Is it just me? I'm starting to get the impression that Beef is not very smart. I always thought he was a bit off and strange, but some of the things he said and did tonight lead me to believe he isn't too bright.

I love that everyone is annoyed with Walter. For apparently no reason.

I also love that the guy lets them through because he hates his bosses. We think it's a funny joke but we quickly come to understand his bosses are actually VERY easy to hate. Were I in the room with them at the time I would have strangled them both.

Honeybee's "Beef, no," upon his suggestion of giving a scammer $200 is why I think the character is probably dumb.

Some pointed observations about shows like Yellowstone here. They mentioned on "Yosemite" that Ron Perlman is playing Steve Buscemi's son. Which leads me to believe Yellowstone has done age casting that bad itself. Honestly, as popular as Yellowstone currently is, I have NO desire to watch it. I do not get the appeal. Judy declaring the In-Universe stand-in of that "bad" is one of the reasons I dig Judy. Even if she likes bad Reese Witherspoon movies.

Has Ron Perlman ever done this show? I feel like he has. If he hasn't, he should.

I loved the observation that it's considered a stretch for Hollywood actresses when they take on a role to dye and cut their hair. Those ARE usually the performances that go on the Oscar reel, but I like the show suggesting it's probably done for superficial, commercial reasons. Reese Witherspoon once guest starred on The Simpsons. After that, I doubt she'd ever guest star on The Great North. Better call Perlman.

It was funny enough. The end credits movie trailer was great too. ***1 removed link

If there is one thing I dislike about The Great North, it's that all the previous episode titles ended with the word "Adventure". I hate it whenever TV shows do themed episode titles, whether it's Smallville making the titles one word, Scrubs' titles all starting with "My", Friends with "The One With" or Seinfeld akways starting with "The". Themed titles for a series tick me off because I find them limiting instead of fun and funny. I'm betting a lot of those episodes titles could have been better if they didn't have to fit the theme.

I love Alanis Morrissette refusing to put up with the 16 girl band's nonsense. You might think her playing a teenage girl's delusional version of herself is an odd career choice, but she's purely awesome on every level, so I totally get it instead.

I love the preview. Mostly because I sense they ARE actual scenes from the next episode, and the producers made better choices there than Fox ever would. I also now wish Bob's Burgers had done this for their two-parters too.

There is nothing adventurous about smells this week. ****.

That was amusing, but the thing I really dug was the Hidden Yeti Easter Egg cheat sheet during the end credits. I didn't even know that was a thing, but that's going to make rewatching the series more fun.

Solid finale. ****.

That was awful No exaggeration. It also reminded me why I actually hate Moon. 0.

I found that super creepy. I was with Judy in cringing the whole time. Difference being I never once had to pretend to be supportive.

Jack McBrayer's career saddens me. Whenever he voices a character it's invariably the least funny character on the show. Kenneth on 30 Rock was a breath of fresh air, quickly became overused, then run into the ground, and then we got sick of both him and McBrayer, and McBrayer's entire career became a punchline. It doesn't make me sad, it makes me angry. It's like everyone who surrounds themselves with Tina Fey will have a career that is worse off for it. It's happened to so many people, what else am I supposed to think? Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Tracy Morgan. Tina Fey is supposedly better than Jesus, and She will have no other Gods before Her. It's really frustrating.

I like the stuff with Moon and Jerry though. I liked the joke that the kid who had three parties would grow up to be a monster, and Moon suggesting he hoped nobody else was watching because they'd be super disappointed to see only two clowns leave a car.

But the rest of the episode was all kinds of ick.

Dennis and Cindy are no Alanis Morrissette. I repeat: Ick. 1 star.

Third bad episode in a row. Out of only THREE this season. I am officially worried.

That being said, while it WAS bad, it was nowhere NEAR as bad as the first two weeks. I thought the ending was kind of sweet.

But the truth is I find Moon annoying, and I find Aunt Dirt annoying. I can't get over those things, even for sweetness. 2 1/2 stars.

Fourth poor episode in a row. Not good.

I do have to concede I really liked Wolf and Honeybee's conflict resolution. It was genuinely heartfelt. But the show is getting both annoying and stupid otherwise. 2 1/2 stars.

It was only pretty good, but it was the first pretty good episode of the year, so points. Still, I DID notice after tonight's Bob's Burgers that this show almost never hits those highs. I'll take pretty good, but it's weird the show usually thinks I'll have an aversion to great.

Is Aunt Dirt gonna be a series regular? I ain't down with that. If she is, she shouldn't be voiced by Jane Lynch. She should be voiced by Ted McGinley.

Pretty good. But this season has not been great. 3 1/2 stars.

I love that Judy ends the "Yes and..." round with "Dumb" herself.

I really am not happy with Aunt Dirt being made a series regular.

Great resolution and ending.

It was only pretty good, but the season has been awful so far, so I'll take it. 3 1/2 stars.

I think the resolution was very nice, and well-thought out. But the truth is I hated the episode before it. I hate any TV episode where the major tensions and conflicts are due to a mixture of stupidity and apathy. It annoys me. It sure makes Ham very sympathetic having to put up with his awful family. But that's not good tension, especially for a show that usually tries to portray the Tobins in a positive light. It felt a little mean.

Which means I didn't feel the episode. 2 1/2 stars.

I liked when Carissa described her type.

Dirt saying she had 60 years of gay backed up was funny too.

Good moments between Beef and Wolf too.

Nice episode. 3 1/2 stars.

I think that was purely awful. Am I wrong? Am I too strict? It seemed like the episode had little to no redeeming qualities. This has been a terrible season in general.

Quinn, Moon, and Bethany tell me that even if the kids are performed by adult women, the performances are TOO dry and boring. I get that's kind of the point. But it's not actually funny and their voices don't lend themselves to animation. It's probably a large part of the reason I don't like Moon.

The stuff with Wolf makes me cringe. It's just awful. Ruth is far kinder and more supportive to him than he deserves and so is Honeybee.

The one bit I laughed at was Honeybee's brother trying to get into the country song and her telling him "No." Ron Funches has a GOOD voice for animation.

The stuff with the cake was revolting. Again, the episode almost purely sucked.

Not happy. 0.

When I saw the toe in the jar I was like "I am not going to like this episode." Hey, I was right!

I found both plots depressing. Dirt is disgusting. The emancipated kid is gross. And where is Alanis Morrissett? We haven't seen her in ages.

I'll tell you though, every time Honeybee says "Babe, no,:" I laugh. They should have her do it more. And I'm aware she does it a lot. But she needs to do it more.

That was gross. 1 1/2 stars.