If you think that one post with a two-parter being crammed into one should be enough for this countdown...why not back-to-back? Yeah, this is getting to the point where I might be labeled as a masochist for doing this. And coming in at number 9 in the Top 12 Countdown of 2023 is another two-parter and well...I can already feel some of y’all calling me out and saying to me, “Really? At this position? “This high? This low?” My list, my rules, whether you like it or not. Plus, I gotta incorporate this show into the countdown, especially with Season 4 coming up in January. It’s The Great North with the “For Whom the Smell Tolls” two-parter.
Mix in the topic of the school prom and the ongoing issues regarding climate change and you get this episode to serve as the show’s first two-parter to close out the third season. I reviewed these episodes back in May and looking back to it, for this being the first-ever two-parter for the show, it did on what they had to do. Especially with the topic of climate change being front and center since the state of Alaska is, of course, under threat of the changing and warming climate and the two-parter did show the consequences of what climate change can do to the town like Lone Moose had to deal with when a rotten meat-based smell plagues the air out of nowhere, even though we did felt the effects earlier this year and the previous years. Trust me, that heatwave earlier this year that resulted in a drought, wasn’t what I could call a “fun” experience. Especially when living in a state that had its own power grid and came dangerously close to going through February 2021: The Sequel. We go with part one of the two-part season finale to start things off.
And it comes down to the idea of “attempt to stop something before it's too late” approach with the first part when it comes to the mystery of the rotten smell along with the series of mini-quakes as if, stating from my review to the episode, almost feels like Lone Moose is encountering the Rumbling. Everyone in town, rather, a portion of the group like Beef, Wolf, Honeybee, Walter, Mrs. Tuntley, Junkyard Kyle, and Mayor Peppers with Moon tagging along to investigate where the source of the smell, the epicenter, is located. And although you have the adults trying to find the source and oftentimes brush it off on what is really going on regarding the source or what is causing it, you have two people who know what is really going on.
The first is Looney, who was the first to notice the shaking and the cracks when taking his dogs out for a late-night walk right outside of school and, of course, sure, the location of the source for the tiny slice of the pie of the growing fanbase already knew where the source is going to be at, and he noticed that something is going to happen as if he knew that it was going to come eventually. Hell, he followed around the group who was investigating the source with Wolf being the first who noticed Looney following them wherever they went. Leading up to the confrontation by the river and later at his house with Beef and Moon visiting the guy about his background and his ties to the rotten smell, telling the duo about his old job as a member of the now-defunct meat packing company and having to sign an NDA to not disclose the company’s shady job of dumping the rotten meat into a bunker. The bunker that was under the school and a warming climate turned it into a ticking time bomb. But Looney isn’t the only one who knows something isn’t up while being around the group.
You also have Moon who also noticed something was off regarding the odd smell when he mentioned that it has a gravy-like scent when describing the air that was plagued by the mysterious scent mixed with the shakings when tagging along with the group. Mind you, a 10-year-old kid like Moon decided to skip school for the day to tag along with a pair of adults to go and search for the search of the mysterious scent that’s been plaguing the air quality as if you’re in your room or somewhere across the house and having to deal with a smell of burnt jalapenos. And growing up Hispanic in a Hispanic household, that’s homemade tear gas. So with Looney and Moon, the only two who know about the true nature of the smell with Looney being the only person who knows about everything, it’s pretty much the crying wolf motif because they’re the only two who knew what is actually going on with Moon recognizing the actual scent of the mysterious odor and Looney, who knows everything leading up to the end of the first half of this two-parter. And I said “crying wolf motif” because everyone scrubbed them off when trying to find where the scent was. Thinking that it had something to do with the seals and had to brush both Moon and Looney off before things took a turn for the worse once prom night arrived.
And speaking of prom, it's prom season over at Lone Moose School with Judy and Kima in charge of the whole thing as members of the prom committee. Yeah, you might as well call it a potential bad timing, and it is at the end of the episode as the underground goes boom and everyone becomes chickens in cages once disaster strikes. So yeah, the main plot for the first part of this two-parter is, of course, the prom before being demoted to secondary once the rescue efforts come into play for the second part.
Besides, most of Part 1 of the episode has been all on Judy and Kima as they try to find their dates to the big dance with Judy wanting to find a tall, lanky guy and Kima wanting to find someone with an Adam’s apple, in which most of the first act of the episode and going into the second, they were unable to find their dates. No one. Not one person that Judy and Kima can find for the upcoming prom. Hell, not even Gill, the person who everyone in the friend group knew that he had a crush on Judy, found a date for the prom. Leaving them with no one to take for the big dance.
And I said this in my review back in May with this scene of Judy and Kima having a mini-funeral of their prom hopes and dreams after failing to land someone for each other with Kima attempting to bury her prom dress before being stopped by Esther and telling the two girls that they’re being overreacted over the fact that they didn’t get dates for the dance that...yeah, I had to agree with Kima’s mom, they’re being overreacted and you can go to prom without a date. Hell, even I said in the review back in May that they can go to prom without a date and just hang around with a couple of friends and spend it as if it’s their last time being around each other, even though they’re not actually seniors, they’re more on the line of juniors in high school...or sophomores because Judy did turn 16 at the start of the series. But yeah, they did overreact and they did treat it as if it’s the end of the world for them.
But leave it to Esther to decide to take both Kima and Judy to her home village of Dilah Lake where we meet both Eli and Laird for Judy and Kima to take for the prom because those two did meet the requirements that Judy and Kima need for their perfect guy for the prom. A tall guy like Laird and a guy with an Adam’s apple for Kima, so it looks like there wouldn’t be any issue for them, for now, once prom night arrives and there wouldn’t be an issue. Too bad that the ongoing rotten smell polluting the air has pushed the prom from having the big dance being held outdoors as it was originally planned with how warm the weather has become as of late to pushing it indoors to the gym, adding pressure towards Judy and Kima to move everything at the last minute but did they got through it all at the end and decorate the gym, where the location of the prom will be held, right as the big night arrives.
Okay, yeah, gotta bring up that musical number in Judy’s dreams with her encountering three of the sixteen sisters from “Sixteen Moments” coming to life even though it is a dream which was supposed to be a good dream with Judy being excited with prom coming and now finding a date think that nothing can go wrong, only be served as a premonition on what is about to come once the night arrives. It was an alright musical number despite the dire warnings that were given to Judy leading up to the end with Gibbons telling Judy in the dream that the scent is getting worse and the shaking getting stronger and the visuals for the horse ride with Judy and the three sisters looks good, especially when the lighting for the visuals have dimmed as the number progressed when reaching towards Gibbons’ office. Still surprised that the dance didn’t get delayed or postponed. Sure, they did have to make it up at the end of the second episode of the two-parter, but you’d probably wonder if the disaster that took place as prom progressed would have been avoided if there was a call being made to postpone the prom to a later date. I mean, it was a premonition dream, and knowing those kinds of dreams, even though those are the kind of dreams that you can’t beat, it would’ve been a better safe than sorry decision if the call had been made before disaster struck.
Also, you have that little side plot leading up to prom night with Ham and Crispin convincing Gibbons to make the prom king and queen competition more gender-neutral and should accept same-sex couples to compete for the crown. And right off the bat, Gibbons approves the idea and thus, the competition for the prom king and queen, sorry, prom president and vice-president to make things more equal and accepting to not make the students in the LGBT community to not feel left out from taking home the crown once prom night arrives. Ham and Crispin did have that little show of theirs planned for Gibbons by putting on a show with Ham in a baby bib and hat and Crispin in a gown to make sure Gibbons accepted their offer to make the competition for prom to be more gender-neutral and allow the students in the LGBT community to be accepted. Oh yeah, and Ham and Crispin unanimously won the crown once prom night hits.
And, of course, you gotta have the cliffhanger come into play to set things up for the second episode of this two-parter and it was right after Ham and Crispin won the contest for prom president and vice president that the shaking had gotten worse to the point where the meat from underground had appeared that released a strong foul scent like it’s the titan arum, that being the flower that smelled like shit once bloomed. Huh, guess that explains why I saw #TrumpSmellsBad trending on Twitter earlier today. And that is because the school was built where the underground bunkers are where the meat company that Looney used to work for and with a warming climate, it caused the rotten meat to release the smell along with the shaking because of the pressure that turned the bunkers into a ticking time bomb. And if that’s not enough, you also have the invasion of the prizzly bear, a combination of a polar and grizzly bear when mating because of man-made climate change that caused the polar bear to be naturally evicted from its household thanks in part to our dumbassery. And you remember what Kima said in “Bee’s All That Adventure” when Walter brought up the dangers of climate change and why it should be taken seriously that the younger generation had to be broiled alive. The old generation messed things up and the younger generation had to deal with the consequences. And what we’re seeing in this cliffhanger, that’s the consequences.
So my thoughts for “For Whom the Smell Tolls”, the first one of the two-parter, as I go back through this episode, for this being the show’s first-ever two-parter, it did try its best when trying to balance both plots for this two-parter with the prom plot and the issue regarding the rotten smell and series of shakes with the topic of climate change being tied into the episode and going into the next with both plots being treated as their own throughout the whole episode up until the end where both plots have to be intertwined and setting things up for the rescue efforts for the next episode.
The prom plot had its moments throughout the episode since it was the main plot for this episode before being intertwined with the subplot with the search and now rescue efforts with the situation regarding the rotten scent, rotten meat popping up from the ground, and the prizzlies invading the school, it’s mostly The Judy and Kima Show with them trying to find their dates for the prom, thinking that they hit a dead end because they haven’t found their guys, and in comes Kima’s Mom Esther to come in and set the girls up with Eli and Laird for the night, and...we’ll get to that part of the next episode with the switcheroo in a bit, but as I mentioned in the review that I adored Judy and Kima’s friendship with this episode and hoping to see more of that going into Season 4. The song number was alright and the same goes for the visuals, especially with the lighting on the edges during the number being dimmed as the musical number progresses as if it’s trying to tell Judy in her head that something bad is about to happen once the night of the prom begins. And I guess that little side story with Ham and Crispin attempting to convince Gibbons to make the prom king/queen turned prom president/vice president more gender-neutral and accepting. So that’s part one of this two-parter with the prom preparation and a rotten meat storm brewing...
Going into the second episode of this two-parter and we have ourselves a rescue mission taking place after finding out too late about the mystery of the rotten smell from the last episode, again, the crying wolf motif, and with the kids and the adults inside the building like pigs in the slaughterhouse thanks in part to the underground bunker exploded and the release of the smell and also the raw meat itself that attracted the prizzlies like it’s moat, you have the adults and Moon trying to come up with a plan to get to the school and the underground bunker to prevent another explosion from making the situation worse. It turned into a series of sets, trial and error style, when it comes to trying to get past the prizzlies to get to the school.
That's what we saw with Beef, Wolf, and Walter on their way there...only to end falling short with the truck being stuck in the meat and also them becoming dangerously close to becoming a prizzly happy meal. Thank God for the tranquilizer darts that the town veterinarian Dr. French had stocked up in supply...too bad that that was the second to last dart that she fired at the prizzly that came close from attacking Wolf. So, it’s now or never to have the last dart on the docket...or was it if it weren’t for Cheesecake...well, being Cheesecake and made him KO himself with his finger touching the tip of the dart. Oh, Cheesecake. So, back to the drawing board for them to cook up a scheme to get through the prizzly defenses like you’re playing a game and going up against the Cleveland Browns defense. And killing the bears won’t help either as Mrs. Tuntley suggested because despite being dangerous, you can’t pop a cap on the bears because they’re endangered and the last thing everyone needs is a fine and possible jail time just because the bears decided to go sicko mode thanks in part to climate change. So, while the adults are trying to get to the offense in getting to the school...
You have the kids, mostly Judy, Kima, Ham, Crispin, Eli, and Laird, now with some extra help from Bethany and John, to find an escape route before things go down south as if the explosion underground and have to endure the smell and sight of the meat popping up from the ground isn’t south-worthy enough for one night. The sunroof becomes the intended target when noticing Gill attempting to go up the rope to the window, only to fall short, prompting the others to go where they need to go. Of course, they gotta arm themselves with hockey sticks in case of a bear attack. Treating this as if it’s an active shooter situation but with bears; not a good comparison, but y’all already know that America has a gun problem and they had to treat it as one.
And you can see what the episode is doing with the kids trying to keep themselves safe when trying to find where the doorway to the roof is. Trying to create a tense scene with them running for their lives when trying to get to the safe zone where the door to the roof is at, as shown in the scene at the cafeteria with them hiding from inside the kitchen after running for their damn lives after seeing a couple of prizzlies infiltrating the school and about to go after the kids. Luckily, they did escape their wrath and you can thank Ham and Crispin for finding a tray filled with frozen raw meat for the bears to consume while making their escape. However, that was dangerously close for Judy to giving the viewers a scare with her tripping on her heels, and if it weren’t for Eli scooping her up...the last thing everyone needs is a promgoer being sent to the lobby.
And you’re probably wondering why John and Bethany had to tag along with Judy and the others after leaving the gym to get to the roof. Well, they know their way across the school whenever they need to consider any room and any spot a hideout to skip a class or two and the roof is that one spot that is considered a hideout for them once arriving at the auditorium on top of the skywalk before leaving the building and going to the roof as a safe space and to make contact with anyone who can help them in the rescue effort. That and also getting the promgoers inside the gym out of the school through the rope that Gill once tried to climb up. Even though they didn’t even know that the teachers were inside the building while the whole escape trip was going on. Luckily, they did escape once Judy and Eli, and again, we’ll get to the switcheroo with Judy, Kima, and their dates later, rescue them and up the roof, they go as the rescue efforts continue to take place...not knowing until Beef’s phone call with Ham that there’s another bunker underneath the school and that can’t be defused.
And while that is going on, speaking of bunkers, with the explosion of the first bunker at the end of the previous episode, you have Beef and Walter teaming up to defuse the second bunker underneath the school while everyone else tries to find a way to get pass through the raw meat and the group of prizzly bears to make an escape route for the kids and the adults inside the building, in comes Junkyard Kyle with a truck to plow the meat, and the focus is on Beef and Walter on their way to the bunker and eventually, they did despite the few moments with Walter being frozen because of his claustrophobia and the duo singing a song together to alleviate Walter’s claustrophobia when defusing the bunker, which they did with them escaping, only to be caught by a river of raw meat but they did escape, just had to endure the scent of the raw meat. But if you think that the situation regarding the bunkers was over...oh buddy...we might as well treat it as a hurricane and we just got through the first eyewall and going to the eye of the storm before going to the second eyewall. The second eyewall, despite the ongoing situation with the prizzlies, oh yeah, the third bunker.
And, okay, fine, let’s talk about the switcheroo because everyone and their mother knew that this was going to happen when it come to Judy, Kima, and their dates since they left the Tobin household to what might as well be the prom night from hell with the current situation regarding the raw meat and killer prizzlies. We all remember that Judy was looking for a tall guy and Kima was looking for a guy who had the perfect Adam’s apple and that’s where Eli and Laird came in to be their date to the dance with Laird for Judy and Eli for Kima, but the moment you noticed that Laird’s jokes made Kima laugh and Eli having some similar interests as Judy, y’all already know that a switch was going to happen. At least the good news for this is that both Judy and Kima were civil and agreed to switch dates, hence, the next scene with Eli and Judy when rescuing Gibbons and the others who are trapped inside the dressing room and Kima and Laird on top of the roof alongside with the others. Which, again, just be thankful that Judy and Kima came to a mutual agreement and decided to switch dates and have to be honest with each other when making the switch because the last thing everyone needs is drama between the two besties in the middle of a life-threatening event. Speaking of that...
We have a third bunker that can’t be defused and much like a testing site for Project Manhattan, it’s set to be denated. And, of course, it’s under the school and nowhere to be found, thus, the kids and teachers may have already written their death warrants thanks in part to the meat company and their scummy doings when dumping the meat into the bunker to avoid accepting responsibility. And to make things worse, get ready for this, the third bunker has ties to the Tobins. Rutger Tobin, the great-grandfather to Beef who had ties to the meat company and he, alongside the other workers of the meat company, may have endangered his great-great-grandkids and their peers thanks in part to their dumbassery. That and also the settlers, always blame the settlers, but with Rutger’s name being attached to the bunker as seen with the blueprint, you have Beef who can’t help but to bear responsibility for something his dead relative did in the past that may have doomed Judy, Ham, and the others at the school.
Hence, you have that scene with Walter comforting Beef after Beef having to bear responsibility for something that he didn’t even do. Not to mention, ignoring the warnings about everything, which includes the consequences that climate change is doing to the planet and to Lone Moose that is putting everyone’s lives in danger. Hence, you have Walter coming in and telling Beef that even though we’re already at the point of no return with the climate crisis, which includes the current situation that Lone Moose is dealing with the raw meat scent and prizzly bear attack, what Rutger and the meat company that he worked for did wasn’t Beef’s fault. This was a nice scene with those two despite that there is an ongoing situation with their kids being caught in the crossfire.
And then, we get what might as well be an ass pull to wrap up the situation with the kids already signed their death warrants with the rescue efforts being barricaded with Junkyard Kyle struggling to move the vehicle that is being bombarded by the prizzlies and decides to dance the night away like it’s their last but once the DJ blasted the music for everyone to dance to, it spooked the bears back to the forest like dogs reacting to fireworks going off. Yeah, I did say that it might as well be considered a potential deus ex machina for the sound of loud noises like music to scare the prizzlies away and make room for Kyle to get the vehicle to rescue the students and teachers from getting caught in the blast zone and right before the school gets blown up and a lot of uncertainty for Season 4 regarding on what to do with the school. I’m already guessing mobile classes like trailers are being placed while the school is being rebuilt. I mean, where else are you going to put them? I mean, sure, online classes are a thing though again, a lot of uncertainty leading up to the start of Season 4. Especially when going to the next scene with everyone seeing the aftermath of the explosion and saying that the school needs to be rebuilt. Again, pretty sure it’s unlikely that we’ll get some sort of time skip once we get to Season 4. Like that would ever happen.
But other than that, despite that the school may need to be rebuilt after the explosion caused by the underground bunkers and the piles of raw meat that needed to be picked up, at least prom continues to go as planned, now at a different location at the community center and thus, ending Season 3 with the prom being back on and without any interruption. And uh...yeah, that’s the end of Season 3 and now, we await for Season 4 to arrive in less than two weeks...in which your boy is going to review alongside the Bob’s Burgers reviews. Yeah, it’s gonna be a long week to kick off 2024.
But that was “For Whom the Smell Tolls Part Two” for the Top 12 Countdown and again, much like with the first episode of this two-parter, they know what they’re doing with them trying to raise the stakes, which they did with the rescue efforts with the clock ticking and the kids finding an escape route to find a way to get to the roof while trying to evade the prizzly bear that entered the school in the dark. The moment where Judy and Kima agree to switch dates was predictable and it was from the start at around the previous episode, but at least they were civil about it and did not stir any drama, especially in the middle of a life-threatening event like what they and the other students had to endure. The short-lived team-up with Beef and Walter was nice with them defusing the second bunker with Beef trying to ease Walter’s claustrophobia while being in the tunnel and also that scene with Walter comforting Beef and telling him that what his ancestor did wasn’t his fault and shouldn’t bear any responsibility for something he didn’t do, which was nice despite that we’re already at the point on no return with the climate crisis. And again, a lot of uncertainty regarding the school as we are about to go into Season 4 in a few weeks, and hopefully we’ll get some answers and not let things from this two-parter be nothing more than a memory. Let’s hope that’s not the case.
This wraps up the number 9 spot of the Top 12 Countdown of the year 2023 with Christmas Eve tomorrow. What do you think about these sets of episodes? Should it be higher, lower, or stay put on your list? Put it in the comments below as we prepare to go into the Number 8 spot of the Top 12 Countdown. Which episode and series will be taking the eighth spot? Find and see sometime tomorrow. Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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