We finally got out of the hellscape known as the year of our Lord in 2020 and I gotta say, didn’t expect to make it alive without any bullshit for that year to pull out but...we made it. Despite that we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, if the 2020 fandom season didn’t hold any punches for most of the time, then let’s hope the 2021 season can be that good as ever. Doctor Who came back with “Revolution of the Daleks”. Toonami...of course, Kirito and also the bad man himself in Madara Uchiha. And now, even though the NFL regular season is wrapping up, there is one thing that can make waves for yours truly to probably make some revenue because gotta keep things active and that is...Bob’s Burgers. And that being said...in this week’s episode of Bob…
Damn it! Yeah, so...apparently, there’s no new Bob’s Burgers until February the 14th, around Valentine’s Day of 2021 to get an episode and for yours truly to do a review because whatever bullshit reasons keeping on barging in to push the return to a later date. Most of it is probably due to COVID-19 ruining everything that was supposed to happen in 2020. Of course, the Super Bowl is there, so can’t compete with that. So...who’s gonna take the mantle for the time being?
Aight...guess I’m doing it then to pass the time. I mean, I already have one episode of Central Park in the countdown for 2020, so...I guess touching another show that has Bouchard’s name written all over it wouldn’t hurt anyone. I think. Might as well rip the band-off to start off the new year, so let’s pet this puppy with some tummy rubs, okay, feels like a poor choice of words to say, but might as well get this over with, this my first thoughts and probably a review of the first episode of The Great North.
I gotta admit upon watching the first episode of the series, it was good. Sure, there were some...flaws per se, but it was a good episode to start off the show’s first season and run to kick off the new year in the FOX animation block. And the show is expected to join the lineup come February alongside big names like Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, and Bless the Harts, look at that, finally give the show a mention while FOX decided to keep things on the hush-hush like they already knew that the show’s fate has now been met behind the shadows. But besides that, despite that it’s only episode one, it was a good episode. And now I await the “It’s better than Human Flesh” comments when it comes to comparing this episode to the first episode of Bob’s Burgers. Yeah, where the frick was that when Central Park came out? Where y’all at? Apparently, this is the first time I’ve ever done a first thoughts post, so bear with me, no pun intended on this one, as I go along with what I have to say. First off, the characters. The main cast. The fam in the Last Frontier State that was once a territory of Russia before the US came and made it a state later on. Let’s get to the family.
It ain’t a sitcom, being live-action or animated, revolving around the main family without talking the head honcho himself, the dad. Named Beef, voiced by Nick Offerman of Parks and Rec (or to the fans of that show, The Ron Swanson Show), being the breadwinner of the family and in this episode, was hoping for the family to come together despite someone missing here in the family portrait. That someone being his wife, sorry, ex-wife who is dead to him and tell the family that she died of a freak accident even though she’s still alive but with her lover and moved to the lower 48. Would say he’s like the Bob of the family since he did want the family to come together on Judy’s 16th birthday. That’s pretty much rule number 328 subsection windings in the sitcom rulebook. But for him to be the Bob of the family, needs to have the Linda of the family, and well...ex-wife is out of the picture. So uh...tough situation here unless I want to give Beef the title of “Teddy”. And Teddy did have a wife before calling it quits. Just putting it out there. Besides, if there’s anyone who might take the Bob and Linda title of the Tobin family…
That be both Wolf, voiced by Will Forte, and Honeybee, voiced by Dulce Sloan, and they’re not technically married...well, not yet anyway, they’re more of engaged and have yet to have a marriage ceremony to calling them a married couple. Hence, a brief moment in the episode where Beef come up with the perfect ceremony, in his image for both Wolf and Honeybee to tie the knot though Honeybee, yeah...while being wed on a boat does seem like a perfect photo op, if you decided to post that shit on Instagram in hoping to get a lot of likes because that’s how life works now, yeah...I feel like shit could possibly go down, especially on a boat. I mean, you’ll never know. I mean, 2021 has just started and who knows what kind of bullshit might throw at us. Probably finishing off what 2020 had started. And although that Wolf is Honeybee’s fiancee and looking at the preview for the show numerous times it aired during the ad break, despite being the fiancee of the eldest son of Beef and Honeybee serving as the potential daughter-in-law, there’s your season finale of the show later this year, kids; could possibly see her as the mother figure of the Tobin family. Yeah, I could see that for the whole Tobin family as the series progresses. Whereas Wolf...at least he’s supportive. That’s all I have to say about him so far and this is only episode one, of course. There’s some potential to be added to his profile...right? There has to be some in the future, right? Then of course, you have the kids of the family. And you may probably be going to see some comparisons with the Belcher kids to the Tobin kids.
Starting off with Judy, voiced by Jenny Slate. And...you can probably see and hear the irony when it comes to her character. Because to most people, she’s pretty much the show’s version of Tina. Mostly because of her being artistic and open-minded and not to mention, liking a boy that she sees. And what’s ironic to me is that Judy is pretty much the blond teenage version of Tina with braces living up north in the fuck butt frozen tundra and she is voiced by Jenny Slate. In which Jenny Slate voiced a blond girl over in Bob’s Burgers as Tammy Larsen, who happened to be Tina’s rival.
But why stop there with the Tina comparison when it comes to Judy because she did have a thing for a certain boy when attending the mall with the family named Crispin. So I guess that’s how the formula works now when it comes to shows that have Bouchard worked or having influence. In Bob’s Burgers, it’s Tina having the hots for Jimmy Jr. In Central Park, it’s Molly having a thing for Brendan. And now with The Great North, it’s Judy with Crispin. Yeah, I feel like that might be the formula for each show now. That and also whatever bullshit the writers might pull with the character in the love interest department. But besides all of that, and a lot of people, including myself, probably compare Judy to Tina...would say the imaginary friend because Judy’s imaginary friend is musician Alanis Morrisette, who happened to lend her voice on the show, via the aurora borealis, the northern lights in the night sky, dare I say comparison to Tina yet again because in “The Horse Rider-er”, she had an imaginary horse named Jericho and is voiced by a well-known celebrity in Paul Rudd. But hey, in this episode, looks like other than turning 16 years old, she got a job and feels like that’s going to be the norm for the time being. But other than that, yeah, the Tina comparison when it comes to Judy’s character might not die down at any given time.
Then we get to Ham, voiced by Paul Rust, which the name...feels like something you had to find for the naming process at the last minute unless it’s a nickname, then that would make the most sense. Guess he’s like the middle child of the four kids in the Tobin family and looking at his appearance...almost giving me a stoner vibe. Like the long hair, the stubble, the way he talks and thinks...he really gives me the stoner vibe despite being...not around the age of teenager but more of a young adult. Like around the 18-21 range. Unless he’s a senior, I dunno. Giving me a stoner vibe when it comes to his appearance. And I guess the Gene similarities is sorta there. Mostly serves as the comedic relief of the show. Though Gene is usually shown with the role with his one-liners whereas Ham, it’s mostly trying to make sense into his head. Though, gotta give props to the creators and writers of the show for having one of the main characters on the show, Ham, being a part of the LGBT community when he tried to change the subject of the whole Judy mall job issue when presenting the cake on the boat. Well, that and also that the mother is still alive and moved to Pennsylvania. But hey, it’s 2021, we have a lot of characters in the past since...well, since the beginning of time really where we have certain characters in the LGBT community and Ham makes a nice addition to the list in the animation front of the 2020s decade. So that’s nice.
Then to the final child of the family, Moon, voiced by Aparna Nancherla, well known in her voice roles as Hollyhock in Bojack Horseman, Nephrite along with the other Jade gems in Steven Universe, and of course, Susmita in Bob’s Burgers. And yeah, there’s some resemblance and similarities with Moon and Louise. Both being the youngest of the family with Louise being 9 years old and Moon being 10 years old, guessing Moon’s in the fourth grade just like with Louise. Both wearing clothing that happened to be animal-based with Louise wearing the bunny ears and Moon in a bear hoodie bodysuit, which...guess now we’re playing the game of what’s under Moon’s hood much like with what’s under Louise’s bunny ears. Though Moon, despite that it’s way too early and only being episode one, is not like Louise when it comes to personality. Because with Louise, she’s mischievous in her own way though knowing long-running series, the old days are gone and even though the mischievous side is there, have to make her soft. Have to make her soft. Whereas Moon, knowing that it’s only episode one and still got a long season to get through, sees more of the adventurous kind. Though that doesn’t mean Louise is one as well, but with Moon, with the episode wanting to tackle the moose that may have set up the domino effect for what’s to come on Judy’s 16th birthday. Though there wasn’t much tackling but more of getting the bikini top from the moose that invaded the Tobin household with the balloon letters “S”, “I”, “X”, and “E” attached to its antlers later on as the whole family gets stuck in the trench deep in the snowy Alaskan forest. Something tells me that Moon learns the way of animal hunting from the Davy Crockett School of Wilderness Survival.
Though the family dynamic, while it is there, let’s not forget that the whole thing...kinda went out of whack when seeing the first episode for the first time because it ain’t a family without a mom around. And find out that Mama Tobin, the wife (rather, ex-wife) of Beef and the mother of Wolf, Judy, Ham, and Moon, is missing from the picture. With finding out that the mother, named Kathleen apparently, have some friction between her and Beef, meet a lover named Marcus, and then moved to the lower 48 to live out for the rest of her life. Though if you’re Beef in his perspective, huh...dead because of a freak bear attack. Well...dead to him due to the fact that there some issues with the relationship enough for either Kathleen or Beef to call off the marriage that Beef had to twist some words around about what happened to say that the mother had died from a bear attack. Even though the family knows that she’s not dead. She’s in Pennsylvania with her lover. So you could say the family dynamic is sorta thrown out of whack when it comes to the rules of sitcoms of having one big happy family. Mostly in the Bouchard-verse. Take a look at the Belchers from Bob’s Burgers. They’re a happy family and not afraid to show it off. The same goes for the Tillermans from Central Park. They’re a happy family and not afraid to show it. Although the Tobins, despite being a happy family, consider them a puzzle and we’re missing the final piece to complete it. Though when watching it, it looks like we have given two roads when it comes to Beef and his love life in either going back in the saddle, try to move on, and try to at least find a new lover. Or probably things doesn’t work well for Kathleen and Marcus with her coming back to ready to be given a second chance. Yeah, so that’s pretty much the two choices as the show progresses. I know that it might not be touched but one of those two choices could be touched upon. Might as well be a flip a coin scenario when it comes to Beef’s situation.
That leaves the episode as a whole. And honestly, it was a good episode. Sure, there were some flaws to note upon being the slow start to the first episode, come the second act is when things, in my opinion, begin to pick things up when it comes to focusing on the whole issue with the family when the Tobins pay a visit to the mall, with Beef not knowing until the end of the second act of the episode that Judy, at the beginning of the episode, got a job shift there. Guess you could say that with both the wife out of his life and Judy getting a job and all, you think the purpose of the episode is pretty much Beef being an emotional wreck and struggles to keep the family together but let’s face it, we already that the wall is about to come crumbling down with Judy having a job thanks in part to her now boss wishing her a happy birthday and the family telling Beef that they’re not gonna fall into the genjutsu any longer and telling him that their mother is alive, it’s just she’s in a different state and with her lover. Again, feel like the guy is an emotional wreck since that faithful day and could possibly sum up to the point of saying that things are changing in front of his eyes and he may not embrace it until the end of the day...and a sprained leg for getting his eyes open.
And while this episode is, as most people now put it, in the way of them saying that “At least it’s better than Human Flesh”, y’all might be right for the course. Because with “Human Flesh” in Bob’s Burgers, it was a very slow start of the series and while it’s not the best to start off the show, talking about “Human Flesh” of course, the show did survive through not one time in the hot seat, but two and maybe more as the series drags. But don’t think that might be the case for this series though it’s way too early to tell and don’t want to jinx anything. And while the episode as a whole with “Sexi Moose Adventure” feels like the plot seems simple enough to understand, it was enjoyable. That’s pretty much what I can say about the episode as a whole for the first thoughts/review of it, episode premise seems simple enough but it was enjoyable. A good start to the series and this is coming from the two people who worked on Bob’s Burgers, being the Molyneux sisters, so a bright future could be coming for them...well despite that uh...they got a writing gig in a certain film franchise just late last year...maybe you heard of it in Deadpool. And with Bob’s Burgers running the show since it was a massive influence in having some people who worked from there having a huge role in this very show and with everyone now waiting for Central Park to release its second season...Bouchard, and I know that he has a massive influence in the show since presumptively, this is pretty much one of his babies despite being the driving factor, long live what could be an empire rising from the ashes. So if I were to given a rating for this episode…
Probably an 8 out of 10. Guess that might be a fair score. At least it’s not like “Human Flesh” because that was a slow and...guess controversial start to Bob’s Burgers. Whereas The Great North with “Sexi Moose Adventure”...at least it’s somewhat of a strong start to the show. Though let’s not forget that it is only episode one and still got a season to go before saying anything about it. Though if you’re looking forward to the next episode, hate to break it to you, gotta wait till February. And which I would review The Great North much like with Bob’s Burgers...eh, probably going to stick to one. And that “one” is Bob’s Burgers. Mostly because I don’t want to add additional stress onto myself. Just putting it out there.
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