Finally reached the finish line for this season of The Great North. I mean, who would’ve thought that these reviews began with...well, back in January of 2021 when releasing my first thoughts on the show and two years later, reviewing each episode, well, if you even want to call it that, I’m doing the best I can, especially coming out of breaking down each moment from a Bob’s Burgers episode. Remember, throughout Season 3 of The Great North, right at the second episode of the season, it was sandwiched with the Bob’s Burgers reviews as a bridge between the first and second halves of the episode before the double billing from Bob’s Burgers that resulted in The Great North to have its own episode reviews, away from the Bob’s Burgers reviews that were sandwiched before all the way to where we are now. Will this continue going into Season 4 in the Fall? Eh...it’s possible, but who knows.
In this week’s season finale episode of The Great North, we continue where we’re left off from last week with the townsfolk thought that the source of the smell that’s been plaguing the city for days on end was from the shore ended up being an underground bunker filled with raw meat and with the series of quakes that’s been happening as of late, disrupted the prom and a herd of pizzlies came off the woodworks. So to sum up the second part of the two-parter, it’s a race against time for the adults to get the kids out of the school before they get stuck with the raw meat and the grizzly/polar bear hybrids from potentially having ourselves a gritty reboot to When Bears Attack in the twenty-second and final episode of Season 3 of The Great North, titled “For Whom the Smell Tolls Part Two”.
And coming out of what was a long review from an explosive and serious season final from Bob’s Burgers, you’re probably how I am even going to get through that following a serious review from “Amelia”? Well, back to usual because it’s the same thing as what happened following the “Radio No You Didn’t” review a few weeks ago. Not to mention that this is the conclusion to the two-parter to close out the season. So, we gotta have ourselves a conclusion to the third season of The Great North.
And of course, we got a little scene to start off the episode with a recap of what happened in last week’s episode leading up to where we are at now with this episode. Sort of like with last year with “Some Like It Bot Part 2: Judge-Bot Day” from Bob’s Burgers when it first came out when it was giving the viewers a small recap of what happened. Retracing some steps before getting to this point of time in this two-parter with the violent mini-quakes and raising global temperatures resulted in the bunker that was underneath the school exploding that caused the raw, spoiled meat to thaw and unleash the horrid smell that’s been plaguing Lone Moose and causing a herd of pizzly bears to come out of the forest. Oh yeah, and climate change, which caused the raw meat to thaw courtesy of the series of random quakes...yeah, the prom committee, i.e. Judy and Kima...it’s quite bad timing...more on the changing climate than the two girls. You’re not going to see the recap in a future re-airing just like with Bob’s Burgers last year, so uh...you want a recap, go rewatch the first part of this two-parter. If part one is the setup before the disaster struck when finding out that the real source of the smell is located in front of the school and caused the promgoers to be trapped with the raw smell invading the school and the pizzlies crawling outside as if it’s Sunday Brunch...
Part two, for the most part, is a race against time for the adults and Moon to come up with a plan to evacuate everyone from inside the school while trying to get to the bunker, the second bunker that was brought up at the end of the previous episode, not the first one that already exploded. Them coming up with a plan to get to the bunker so it make sure that it doesn’t explode and buy enough time to get the promgoers out of the school...but has to get through the herd of pizzlies that are currently standing in the way. And you can see what the episode is trying to do the moment the tents were put up and everyone huddling over a table with the blueprints of the school and the location of the hidden bunkers. Building up the drama and suspense like you’re watching a crime show where the criminal activity is already in progress. Especially with little to no supplies to get through the hurdles, as seen with Beef, Walt, and Wolf trying to make their way to the school in full force, only to have the truck being stuck by the pile of meat and is about to become pizzly food but got out of dodge with Dr. French, the town veterinarian, shooting the pizzlies with a tranquilizer dart. And when I said little to no supplies...I mean little to no supplies when she brought up that the dart she fired at the pizzly bear that almost mauled Beef, Walter, and Wolf happened to be the second-to-last dart. Then it came down to no darts thanks in part to Cheesecake...well, being Cheesecake, leaving the town of Lone Moose to be defenseless in the rescue/bunker defusing mission before the students get turned into pizzly food.
Also, you have the idea from Dorothy that shooting the pizzly bears would be the viable option if the town wants to get the promgoers out of the school and the bunker to be defused before it explodes, but apparently, you can’t do that. Mostly because A) the pizzly bears are endangered. So killing them is out of the table. And B) They seem harmless, though that changed once Beef, Walt, and Wolf decided to barge in without a proper plan to get through the hurdle. Not to mention, the lack of extra help with the situation as Mayor Peppers had stated that he tried calling in for backup but so far, no luck. So while that is happening on one side of the coin...
You have the other side of the coin with promgoers being trapped inside the gym with Judy, Kima, Ham, and Crispin, alongside Judy and Kima’s dates Eli and Laird, and also John and Bethany since they’re by the stage when the meat-splosion happened that separated the students, trying to calm the others down and trying to find somewhere across the school for a possible escape route despite the herd of pizzly bears waiting for them as if they just ordered something big and expensive from the menu. Didn’t take long for Gill to find the escape route with a ceiling window where the climbing rope is at. Which, don’t know why the rope was there by the window that it’s possible any one of the students might be making a possible escape, well, if the window is locked, which it is. Causing Judy, Kima, Ham, Crispin, Eli, Laird, John, and Bethany to go venture out to find another way to escape despite the fear of the bears coming into the school once they go out with hockey sticks to use as their weapon of defense.
Oh yeah, and the bears have gotten into the school and spooked the kids to get out of dodge and make their way to the cafeteria...hopefully, the bears invading the school isn’t an allegory of something that we should know. Y’all already know where this was heading, we have a problem in this country. Though I’m sure that they would’ve had bear drills in schools over there. Also noting a key difference between last week’s episode with the end credits to this episode with the kids running to the cafeteria for safety. Because in the end credits, the lights were on as if the school still have electricity. But in this episode, I’m guessing the violent mini-earthquake from the bunkers caused the power to be knocked out, which explains why the hallway and cafeteria and...pretty much every room in the school with the exception of the green room where the teachers and Gibbons are at being at pitch black. So there’s some trailer fodder but all of the scenes from that in last week’s episode’s end credits did make it there without any scene being omitted.
The first half of the episode has been pretty much on Beef and Walter as they make their way down to the tunnel to defuse the bunker from exploding. Even though Mayor Peppers, just as Beef and Walter are about to go enter the lion’s den, that being where the underground bunker is beneath the school, says that “Your sacrifices will not be in vain”, as if he thinks that the bunker might explode before the two arrive to their destination because the bunker is a ticking time bomb, like...calm down, calm down. The visuals for the tunnel to the bunker look good as Beef and later Walter walks their way to the bunker. And out of nowhere for Walter to come out to develop a minor case of claustrophobia when being in an enclosed space like a tunnel, especially during an environmental emergency for an environmental scientist to now feel like the walls are folding around him. Out of nowhere but you learn something new every day. And also tells Beef how to calm himself down as they prepare to defuse the bunker, which they did as the first half of the episode comes to a close by singing a song. Don’t want something like minor claustrophobia to avert or delay the mission for a few minutes because mind you, their kids are in the crossfire. That bunker might explode at any moment. Luckily, the bunker had been defused, and despite the situation at hand, kinda like this little conversation and team-up between Beef and Walter.
Sure, the turd festival had their families pitted against each other in a rivalry every year before joining forces alongside the Tuntleys to stop the Mayor of Ted’s Folly to cheat his way into what was supposed to be Peppers’ day off, not to mention their daughters being best friends, I know that Lone Moose is a small town and knowing small towns, everyone knows everyone, but hey, we have some civil interactions between those two while defusing the situation with the bunker to buy everyone some time to get the kids out of the school. So that’s nice. Especially into the second half when finding out that’s there a third bunker and its ties to the Tobin family. Oh yeah, let’s talk about that.
Someway, somehow, there’s a third bunker that was just now being brought up. And apparently, the third bunker has ties to the Tobin family with the name Rutger Tobin written on the blueprint. I mean, knowing that it was the first half of the episode after Beef and Walter defused the second bunker and thought that part one of three situations had been secured and moved their focus on removing the prizzlies and getting the kids out of the building, the third building has to be brought up as if the situation is not over till the writers say it's over. At least there’s some lore regarding Beef’s family lineage when finding out that Rutger is his great-grandfather who had ties with the meat company that dumped the raw meat into the bunker long ago. And finding out that what his great-grandfather did might’ve put Judy and Ham, alongside every other student and teacher inside the school in harm’s way, Beef can feel, from his point of view, that he had to bear responsibility for something he didn’t even do but having the whole town to somewhat clean up his great-grandfather and the defunct company’s mess. Hence, that little small talk between Beef and Walter regarding what Rutger did and of course, the changing climate that led to the current situation that doomed Lone Moose and everywhere else across the globe since we’re pretty much at the point of no return regarding the rise of global temperatures. So yeah, not Beef’s fault for something that his great-grandfather did. If anyone, that’s all on Rutger...and also the company. And society. The consequences of deregulation, folks. Trust me, I know that during the deep freeze two years ago.
At least the kids did something to make their way to the roof when trying to get out of dodge from being noticed by the prizzly bear and you can thank Bethany for getting Judy, Kima, Eli, Laird, Ham, Crispin, and John to the safe spot and getting everyone out from the gym and going into the roof. Apparently, Bethany and somewhat John have a hideout spot on the roof of the school with a drum kit by the corner and a beach chair alongside an umbrella over it out in the open. As well as Bethany pulled out a duffel bag filled with some items with one of the items being a phone that should help the adults about their current situation. That and also because you need to go outside to get the signal for the phone to make a call. Which they did. As well as opening the hatch of the window and having everyone evacuate to the roof...before noticing, “Oh crap, the teachers are still inside the school.” Causing Judy and Eli to go back to the school and get them out before they become prizzly food.
And I knew it. I knew it. I knew that this was going to happen regarding Judy and Kima with their dates. Okay, going back to last week’s episode as a small recap, with Part 1 of the two-parter, Judy and Kima were unable to find dates for the prom that they’re hosting for the school. Overreacting as if their lives are over because they can’t land a date for them, causing Esther (Kima’s mom) to take Judy and Kima to her home village of Dilah Lake and that’s where Eli and Laird entered the picture. Mostly because Judy wants a tall guy and Kima has a thing for Adam’s apples. Well, Laird is a tall guy and Eli has that Adam’s apple, so it’s the best fit for them...until finding out that Laird’s jokes made Kima laugh and Eli having some similar interests with Judy, causing Judy and Kima to realize leading up to this moment that they may have gotten their dates mixed up. And they decided to be civil about it and agree to switch dates with Kima now going out with Laird and Judy going out with Eli as they make their way to get the teachers out.
And looking at Judy and Kima regarding their friendship, rather, them as individuals, when it comes to their relationship history when it comes to being guys, it’s quite a track record for the two girls. Because with Kima, when it comes to her relationship history, she had a messy relationship with Tab that has been on-again, off-again until “Autumn If You Got Em Adventure” where she called it off for good...possibly. Judy on the other hand can’t even land one person. And bear on me with this, and you take a look at her past experience with her romances throughout the show. She had a thing for Crispin at the start of the series in “Sexi Moose Adventure” and again in “Pride & Prejudance Adventure” before finding out that he has a thing for Ham and is okay with that, despite going through some denial and a talk with the poster of Thomas Wintersbone. With Steven, you feel like they have some spark with her liking the guy and Steven returning some feelings as shown in “Romantic Meat-Based Adventure”...until she blew her shot when going back into chasing after Crispin and thus, Steven ending up with Chrissy, which Judy is okay with. As well as her and Chrissy maintaining a friendship. Abelard from “Papa Don’t Fiend Adventure” was a one-off. And then we get to Holden earlier this season, out of those guys, she maintained a relationship and had been going for three months...until he decided to become a scumbag for dating another girl while dating Judy, who he broke up with through a text message. Fucking asshole.
As for whether or not we’ll see Eli and/or Laird again going into Season 4 and answer the question of Judy and Kima finally being off the market...eh. I mean, it’s possible but the chances of that happening, knowing that it’s a sitcom, let alone an animated sitcom, it’s a low-to-low-to-medium shot but anything can happen. Especially with no new episodes until the Fall, so what happened after this episode will be up in the air for the next four months. This and also the school, and we’ll get to that in a bit.
So after finding the kids and also the teachers found out that there’s a third bunker right underneath them and the adults are unable to locate it in time because it was just brought up, the kids decided to accept their fate and host the prom on top of the roof as if, again, feeling like they just accepted their fate...all while Junkyard Kyle, on her way to the school to get the kids, is trapped when dealing with the prizzly bears trying to maul their way. Because nothing says celebrating what might be the final moments in your life like hosting the prom one final time while not noticing someone about to be mauled as if we’re about to see a gritty reboot of some animal shows where it shows videos of animals attacking humans and having some near-death experiences. Though the prizzly bears did go away once the volume from the DJ booth rose up. Quite a Deus Ex Machina there when finding out that the loud music from where the prom is at that is more than enough to get the bears away from the school and run back into hiding to get away from Kyle for her to get the students and teachers out of the roof before the school goes explodey boom. So it was a bit of a wise decision to have the show go as planned before being saved which resulted in the bears going away because of the power of music. Oh yeah, might as well also address the second plot point after this episode, gotta talk about the school since, that’s right, when boom courtesy of the third bunker.
And that’s where the next scene comes in to close out the episode with everyone noticing that the school needed to be rebuilt, which of course, for comedic measures, Moon is against because no school means no classes. Yeah, except this is the age of the internet, and even though we’re no longer in a pandemic, you still have to take online school. I mean, knowing the damage to the school that looks like damage from an EF4 tornado with the explosion, it’s going to take months for the school to be rebuilt. So questions arise from this scene since this is the season finale on what’s going to happen to the students going forward. Will we move away from the school? Well, my possible guess would be that they would probably move away from the school so they can go and rebuild it, but that would mean that the students would have to be put into online classes until the school is fully rebuilt, which would take months to have it back to tip-top shape. Though I doubt that they would...I dunno, have some mini-time skip going into Season 4 where Judy, Ham, and Moon be up a grade. Pretty sure that’s not going to happen, so they’ll magically rebuild the school as if what happened in this season's finale didn’t happen.
But at least the prom got a redo after the whole mess is cleared over at the community center with everyone enjoying their time once more, once they took a long shower and some therapy after what happened back there, but hey, happy ending to close out Season 3 when seeing Judy and Eli preparing to dance the night away alongside everyone else with their dates. Again, a lot of plot points, let alone two, or three of them from the list that needed to be addressed going into Season 4. Somebody, if you’re planning on going to Comic-Con in July and if there’s a Great North panel or a cross between them and Bob’s Burgers, someone, ask that.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all about this week’s episode of The Great North, it was a good episode. There are some moments that are predictable, mostly on the whole idea of Judy and Kima switching dates. And also how loud the music is can draw the bears away from the school that was a Deus Ex Machina in my opinion, but other than that, it was a good episode to close out the show’s third season.
I mean, you can see what the episode is doing in trying to make things suspenseful and dramatic during the rescue mission. Mostly in the first half of the episode with the adults coming up with a game plan to stop the bunker from exploding and trying to get the kids out while trying to get past through the prizzly bears. With the second half almost feels like they just gave up hope when finding out about the third bunker that is nowhere to be found underground in a short amount of time with the students standing in the blast zone as if we’re watching the preview to Oppenheimer and turning the area into a testing zone for the Manhattan Project. The small team-up with Beef and Walter when going down into the tunnel with Beef doing the job while Walter having to calm himself down when dealing with claustrophobia was alright. As well as finds out that the third bunker has ties to the Tobin family with Walter telling Beef that he shouldn’t bear any responsibility for something that his great-grandfather did because the settlers didn’t even notice that it would end up turning into a death trap to begin with, especially with a changing climate fucking over everyone’s life.
Hopefully, some plot points should be resolved by Season 4 regarding what’s going to happen with the school since it exploded because of the third bunker that didn’t get defused in time. As well as the status of Judy and Kima regarding Eli and Laird and whether or not we’ll see them again. I know that it’s a sitcom and we’ll treat it as if we’re out drinking with the season finale and entering the hiatus with a hangover, but whether or not those will get answered...let’s see what Comic-Con come July or the first press release of the 2023-24 season have in store. So for now, it’s a good episode to close out the show’s third season despite some moments that are predictable whether being Judy and Kima switching dates without getting into an argument or how the power of music draws the bears away enough for everyone to get out of dodge before the school exploded. So I’ll give “For Whom the Smell Tolls Part Two”...
A 6.5 out of 10. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. And that being said, that’s it for the reviews for the 2022-23 season here on this page. A special thanks to everyone who somehow stick behind me throughout the past year and we’ll see what the 2023-24 season has in store. And whether or not The Great North will have its own reviews again after Bob’s Burgers goes into Season 4 in less than four months? We’ll see about that. But for right now, a quick recharge and we’ll see what’s in store for the summer months. Mostly with Comic-Con coming up in less than two months.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Mastodon, and Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff all throughout the summer. The third match of the Group D stages in the 2023 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament has already taken place between Ham Tobin (The Great North) and Hunter (The Owl House). Voting ends on Saturday, so cast your vote if you have the time. And of course, y’all should know the drill by now...
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