We’re back in doing this style...I guess even though it’ll most likely be a not-so-full breakdown like I did with the previous three episodes of The Great North so far and we’ll be back to doing that next week and the week after that with Bob’s Burgers, once again, in a bye until sometime in April. But for now, it’s back to the old style before things turned into a full breakdown for this week’s episode of The Great North before going into a full breakdown come next week.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, Wolf and Honeybee help Cheesecake get up on his feet after getting evicted from his trailer as Beef decides to help one of his friends and a member of the mom group, Carrisa (Debbie’s mom), attract more business for her shop in my spoilerific short review of the fifth episode of Season 4 of The Great North, “Cheese All That Adventure”.
So, going back to the basics of how these short reviews work back when we had both Bob’s Burgers and The Great North back-to-back and sharing the same week where I had to start with the main plot and then the subplot that feels like a breakdown but because the full breakdown and review to the recent Bob’s Burgers episode has kicked my ass, that and also storing a lot of episodes on the ready for the time I wake up to post for every social site and there are a lot of episodes, pretty much prove that Spring is my least favorite season of the year...and also the summer but that’s mostly because the heat and humidity. Don’t worry, folks, the full breakdown comes next week because there’s no Bob’s Burgers episode next week or the week after that...until sometime in April is when I’m betting the next episode should be out. So it’s The Great North for the time being for this page. Also, Daylight Savings had kicked me in the nards, so had to get that out of my system. Onto the main plot, we go.
And knowing The Great North, in my opinion, the one thing that the show knows how to handle when it comes to...well, things, is the development and expansion of its characters. Most notably, it’s the side characters since...well, the first season but the second and going into the third was where things shined when it comes to expanding its side characters. And in this week’s episode, the focus was on Cheesecake as this is his episode, even though Wolf and Honeybee, once again, are in the limelight for this week’s episode following last week’s when Honeybee was chosen to be mayor of the day, though more of that focus was on Honeybee. This week, the focus is on Wolf despite this being a Cheesecake-centric episode. But as long as they continue to expand their side characters, even if one of the main cast is in the limelight, you might as well take it and go.
And right away, the episode begins with Wolf and Honeybee checking up on Cheesecake when they pull up to his trailer after Wolf shows some concerns over him not responding to his texts, spoiler alert once the two leave their car and arrive at the doorstep of Cheesecake’s trailer, he’s fine. It’s Cheesecake. He has no problems that are going on despite the various letters in the mail that Wolf noticed on the table about the bills not being paid, already drawing concerns regarding the financial situation and putting him in a tight spot when it comes to the topic of finance. Did I mention that Cheesecake is fully unemployed? He is fully unemployed despite him having a roof over his head, even if it’s not even a house, and lives in a mobile trailer, rather, a small RV. Having to rely on paycheck to paycheck, or in the state of Alaska’s case, the oil dividend checks, which will be a topic ahead of the next episode airing this upcoming Sunday. That and also the stimulus checks during the pandemic. But hey, at least he spent on some stuff like food and clothing, so there’s a positive on that. You know who doesn’t take it lightly?
The city government after saying that enough is enough and decides to evict Cheesecake from his trailer by Edna, who I guess is also in charge of repositioning items, after failing to pay his bills one too many times. Cheesecake thought that the government was playing hard to get. You know, thought that they were bluffing but they’re not. And now Cheesecake is homeless. No roof for him to sleep on aside from his suggested location at a drainpipe. Wolf brings up that Cheesecake, out of nowhere, had the $350,000 settlement after being hit by a snowplow, that he had in his pocket for him to survive through the paycheck, only to find out that Cheesecake spent almost all of his amount, all but the $11 that was left in the amount. So, in short, Cheesecake not only has a problem with not paying the bills, mostly because he has no job and has to rely on paychecks from near-death experiences or random occurrences, but he also has an overspending problem with the money he got that would’ve gone through paying his overdue bills. In short, once more, Cheesecake isn’t responsible in financial investing and unless he making moonshine and selling it to the masses would at least help him get through a few days, but that doesn’t seem the case and now, Cheesecake is homeless. This leads Wolf to invite his friend to stay over for a few days until he finds a job to pay for everything, much to Honeybee’s dismay because as much as she has no issue with Cheesecake, mostly because of her marriage with Wolf and wants to support Wolf’s support for his friend, having him around until he gets back to his feet and finds a job that would suit him and that’s going to take a while. Even though it’s more than just that, but we’ll get to it later on.
But once later in the night hits, going into the overnight hours, and you can already tell that Honeybee is already regretting agreeing to the idea of letting Cheesecake sleep at their cabin as they wait for him to find a job as she calls for a private meeting with Wolf about what to do with Cheesecake as she doesn’t plan on waiting for him (Cheesecake) to find a job and boy, that didn’t take long for Cheesecake to finally find himself a job once he intrudes Wolf and Honeybee’s private conversation. Telling the two that he found himself a job from his cousin to become a deep-sea crab fisherman, thus causing some concerns for his friend’s safety, even though he should at least be glad that Cheesecake found a job, just not the job that he would ever expect to have during the overnight hours. So Wolf decides to have take Cheesecake to the family boat for some proper training in hopes of surviving the elements when getting ready to take the job as a crab fisherman, once again, much to Honeybee’s dismay but ends up following along for the ride. I mean, gotta give Cheesecake some proper training, and taking him to the family boat should do some wonders to gather some experience. So, that shouldn’t be too bad in preparations for Cheesecake once the day arrives for him to ship out.
Except that once the new day arrives, after everyone got their plate of breakfast and also the one scene from the subplot with Beef getting a couple of cups of coffee and some baked goods from Carissa’s coffee shop by the shore, and boy, I have some thoughts on those two once we get to the subplot portion of this review, and it looks like things might not be on Cheesecake’s side when Wolf and Honeybee noticed him with a bucket in what appears to be him puking despite that the boat hasn’t even been sent off yet as they await for Beef to arrive, revealing that he’s seasick and uh...make the job offer of him taking the spot at a crab boat looking difficult for him to secure a proper job. Kind of ironic knowing that Lone Moose is a seaside town and for someone who gets seasick, the irony is there. This leads Wolf to help Cheesecake to get some proper training for him to get a proper job. And he can’t do it alone because he gotta shoehorn Honeybee into the mix, much to her dismay once more. You already know where this is going for this episode.
But the focus for this moment is on Cheesecake, especially once we get to the second act of the episode with Wolf and Honeybee helping him to get the proper training he needs in preparation for his job interview with Honeybee telling Cheesecake to not hold back whenever he gets called up for his interview with the boss of each company. Yeah...uh, most of the time when it comes to job interviews, they just lie. The person who applies for the job just flat-out lie or try to play curveball so that you can get a job right away, well, not unless you’re a former congressperson who got exposed and expelled just for that, but most people nowadays lie their way to get the job.
Cheesecake on the other hand when having to go to his job interview in three different locations, the term “don’t hold back” from Honeybee’s mouth. Yeah, Cheesecake did not hold back on being himself when trying to impress the three different bosses at three different locations, and man, oh man, Cheesecake is not even trying to make a good presentation when trying to land a job. I mean, can you blame him for being a party guy who I guess behaves like a manchild? Nonetheless, you’d think that after three different job interviews in three different locations, you’d think that Cheesecake’s chances of securing a proper job would be at absolute zero. But, in the surprise turn of events, once Cheesecakes to the guest cabin where Wolf and Honeybee are, getting a phone call, and he finally gets himself a job at one of the places where he thought he bombed his chances of gaining employment. Good news for Cheesecake and also for everyone now that he found a proper job at a pretzel company as a receptionist. So, with the job hunt coming to a close, now comes the hard part for a guy who is new to the job front...surviving the first day. Not an easy task to do when going into the job front and not wanting to make an ass of yourself if you want to survive not only the day, but the week, if not, the month to get your hands on that sweet, sweet paycheck. But that’s not going to stop Wolf from making sure that his friend survives the first day on the job. Remember at the breakfast table earlier in the episode when Judy came up as a joke that Wolf and Honeybee would do a Ratatouille to help the guy out?
Oh yeah, we’re doing this shit right as we’re at the end of the first half of the episode and going into the second once Cheesecake gets himself settled at the receptionist’s desk. And have Wolf and Honeybee, along with Ham, Judy, Moon, and some reason, Dirt tagged along for the ride, I did say that she would make a comeback but only for a few scenes in the episode but knowing that she’s in this episode and the upcoming one this upcoming weekend...and I guess the following weekend, it would be a clear giveaway that Dirt is primed to be a semi-regular character, probably in the main cast since we know that her bunker is only a hiking distance away from the cabin. Dirt only tagged along because she didn’t know what everyone was doing since, according to her on why she was automatically dragged into this mission, she passed out in the van just as everyone was entering and making their way to the company building. So that was Dirt’s response. The kids’ response was coming from Wolf, who required their help by making an excuse for them to miss school by thinking that Dirt died. So, he needs Judy, Ham, and Moon to man the controls on what Cheesecake should do on his first day on the job, but not before coming up with a quid pro quo to keep their mouths out when bringing up that the boat is currently empty and Beef would expect Wolf and Honeybee to be present there. $30 for each one after the original price of $20.
The mission begins as we are about to close out the first half of the episode and it’s so far, so good for Cheesecake with the Tobins’ help to get through the first day of the job. Whether if it’s getting the rundown to his job to...well, what to do as a receptionist, it seems that Cheesecake has all things under control on his first day on the job even with the Tobin’s help through the earpiece...that he accidentally swallowed as he was getting a cup of water just as he was about to make copies. Causing the mission to be derailed on the first day on the job. And this is where Plan B comes into play for the family to help Cheesecake survive his first day on the job as the receptionist. What is Plan B mind you?
Have Moon come in and dress up as a plant with communication devices attached to him to make sure Cheesecake doesn’t get fired on his first day on the job, all while, of course, trying to make sure the mission won’t be compromised if anyone noticed a kid like Moon playing plant and following Cheesecake around wherever he goes when being tasked to do stuff like making copies or ordering shipments. A simple game of “try not to mess things up” and lo and behold, the first day on the job is a success and with Cheesecake finally survives his first day as the receptionist at a pretzel company, you’d think now that he (Cheesecake) has a proper job, Wolf would just let Cheesecake be his own man and let things pan out (or until he gets fired) now that he finally got a job and soon a paycheck to reclaim his trailer, right?
Well, that doesn’t seem the case for Wolf as we’re in...oh wow, already in the fourth act in the main plot portion of the episode, where he wants to continue to help Cheesecake from behind-the-scenes going into day two of his new job. By now, everyone wants out of doing the job because their jobs are pretty much done for this episode since they’re pretty much there for support and don’t want to do it again. I mean, enough has to be enough because they helped Cheesecake get through the first day, so they know that they need to let him be his own man. And that’s where the conversation between Wolf and Honeybee comes in with Wolf telling her why he needs to be on Cheesecake’s side in what is pretty much his time of need despite Honeybee bringing up the question of why he always comes to Cheesecake’s aid but never seen Cheesecake doing the same for him. Wolf says that, even though Honeybee does sort of have a point, Cheesecake is a good friend to him. A real bro who remembers his birthdays, brought him three lottery tickets, and whenever he’s around the guy, he feels relaxed after a long day of whatever that he does. Wolf being a real bro to Cheesecake that he had to step in to help him out after getting evicted and prevent him from being shipped out to a crab boat by getting him to find a proper job that he had secured. And he’ll make sure that he can continue helping Cheesecake keep his job so he won’t get fired. I mean, on the one hand, you can appreciate Wolf for being a good friend and wanting the best for him...but on the other hand, it does feel like Wolf is babying Cheesecake because he noticed that he’s a party guy who can’t hold down a job and being irresponsible for not paying the bills that got him evicted. And we saw that throughout the episode and the reaction from Honeybee that Cheesecake needs to start taking care of himself on the job front. Especially once he secured a job.
So when we get to Day 2 of the Cheesecake job experiment and this is where things begin to fall apart at a slow pace once Wolf on his lonesome is ready to help Cheesecake at his job on his second day, communication devices and all, until Wolf gets stopped by a security guard who accused him of trespassing and is dangerously close getting arrested, not knowing that the mic was still on for Cheesecake to mimic everything Wolf is saying when talking to the guard like a parrot, putting him a tight spot. All we know is that this little situation caused Wolf to lose his cool by accidentally ramming the car into a nearby power pole, not strong enough to break the pole that could result in a power outage and disrupt the production inside the building, but Wolf got out with no injuries...it’s just that he needs to pay a couple of fines for trespassing, destruction of property, and also need to get the van totaled, which is totally going towards his wallet to patch things up. And now Wolf realizes that Honeybee does have a point and should Cheesecake that he needs to take care of himself for once without needing his help.
Which he does so once we get to the next scene and see Cheesecake coming back to the cabin with a happy face, knowing that he survived his second day on the job despite the mishap coming from Wolf that caused him to mimic his conversation with the guard in front of his boss and you’d think that we would have some dramatic argument between the two or something like that but Cheesecake just straights up take up Wolf’s word in a snap, all with a smile on his face when telling him that he needs to take care of himself without having to rely on Wolf to get through his job despite the support that he has given him. At least Cheesecake is understandable with what Wolf is saying and is poised to take his word that Honeybee told him earlier and just let him do this on his own going into day three of his job. Nothing can possibly and totally can’t go wrong going into the next day with Cheesecake finally getting the job that he secured and ready to take on the adult world all by himsel-
And he gets fired going into the two-minute warning of the main plot and episode, still need to get to the subplot, so please bear with me, though three days of securing a job sounds like a record for the guy who is pretty much the modern-day Barney Rubble minus the wife. So what the hell happened that caused him to be fired and is covered in coating? Well...you already know where this is going, Cheesecake being Cheesecake. He did take up Wolf’s word and let himself do the job, which he did going into the third and final day of his job, but that resulted in him going into some mishap that led to him getting the pink slip. Accidentally stumbled into the assembly line which he thought was the outdoors, getting caught by a hook, sending him sky high before being accidentally dropped into the coating for the white chocolate pretzel where he almost drowned. Which makes you think that, yeah, maybe Wolf should’ve helped him out. But this is where the crazy part comes in because he thought that he was mere seconds from being sent to the lobby if it weren’t for the fact, that out of nowhere, he woke up in someone’s car. I don’t know how he even made it to the car after being drowned by the vat of coating, but it does almost feel like Cheesecake has the power of plot armor on his side to survive a near-death experience. And as if surviving one near-death experience isn’t enough for Cheesecake, how about another? Because the car that he woke up to belonged to one of the people who worked for the company and seeing each other that caused the guy to lose control of the wheel and crash into a tree. And here’s the wild thing about it...
He got paid just to keep his mouth shut about the accident and not start thinking of suing. $20,000 to be exact, which Cheesecak thought was $200,000, in a paycheck to pretend what happened didn’t happen. At least he got paid and now, at the end of the main plot, he plans on spending all of the money from the check on drinks on him rather than...oh, I dunno, getting his trailer back. Maybe he should do that first before spending it on everything else. But, alas, Cheesecake wants to celebrate his paycheck by spending it on drinking and I mean a lot of drinking, and invite both Wolf and Honeybee to end the episode. That was the main plot of the episode and a bit of a ride there Wolf and Honeybee, mostly Wolf, when having to help a friend like Cheesecake despite the calls that he needed to take care of himself. And now, we get to the subplot of the episode, and boy, what to say about this. The entirety of the subplot is pretty much Beef wanting to be supportive by helping his friend’s business with him just being there like he’s some sort of attraction for anyone who comes in, mostly from people who came out of various cruise ships...
Beef and Carissa, I did not expect that this would be a possible ship that came out of freaking nowhere. This season alone has been The Beef Show with the development he has been getting, mostly with him finally getting back into the dating life if you remember what happened a few episodes ago with him having multiple one-night stands with Greta that led to their encounter making the paper, only to have his heart being curbstomped when talking about a different guy. Well, take it what it is with the subplot that we may have a new ship ready to dock and it’s the one that you would at least expect once the B-plot started with the return of the mom group at the Tuntley’s household when doing a clothes exchange from their bags with Beef pulling out a canvas tarp that would serve as a poncho, in which Carissa takes it and plans on wearing it, mostly to make herself look good and also embarrass Debbie the next time they have an outing. And the moment you have not only Beef showing some signs of blushing, you can see the blush marks on his cheeks, but Carissa as well, oh yeah, we have a formation of a new ship for Sir Beefington here. Hell, it’s not the only time in the episode where Beef blushed because it happened again later in the subplot when thanking him for being supportive at the coffee shop.
Which he does this because he’s a good friend to Carissa as a member of the mom group and wants to be supportive. You know, support small businesses. Whether it’s driving up to the drive-thru to pick up a couple of coffees and baked goods for him, Wolf, Honeybee, and Cheesecake on the boat or inviting him to sit in at the cafe and just have a coffee and a baked good for him to enjoy. But it’s the moment when everyone comes out of the cruise ship and enters the cafe, mostly because of Beef being the attraction, that caught Carrisa’s attention. And the moment that she might be falling for him just for having Beef around to help her garner some business with the tourists coming out of the ship. Even if he had to spend almost $200 just to be there for the past three days. More than enough for Carissa to show some concern that Beef needs to get back to his job at the fishing boat, but not before both she and Beef decide to make a deal. For Beef to visit once in a while, every two weeks to be exact, and for Carissa...a night out at dinner. Yep, we’re getting a new ship out of those two from this episode.
Now, Beef and Carissa as a whole. We know that those two are parents of divorce since the mom group contains three-fourths of the members being parents of divorce. We know the whole story with the whole Kathleen thing from Beef. We know that Carissa had to bring up her ex-husband who had to watch Grace Under Fire one too many times and curbstomp her dreams and then fucked off to go on a music career, as said by Debbie in “Dances with Wolfs Adventure” back in Season 2 during the child of divorce seminar. Having them together, while it does sound like a long shot and a very deep long shot, like we’re talking about the size of the Grand Canyon, seems like an interesting idea but much like with Moon and Quinn with them being love interests out of the wazoo last season, it does felt like we’re just rushing things through. I mean, these things do take time for this to develop, and if those two do get close, like we’re talking about them in a relationship and one day, wed, I mean, you have two parents who are divorced starting a new life and a new relationship with each other. But then you realize if that were to happen, again, a very deep long shot...
You do know that Moon is Beef’s son and Debbie is Carissa’s daughter. And the fact that in the event that were to happen, they would become step-siblings and good god, that would be weird but also hilarious that those two have to get along, especially because Moon is friends with someone who is a friend who also torments him and the change of dynamic would be interesting but even if Beef and Carissa did get together, once again, it’s a long shot but it’s any given Sunday even though everyone and their mother would know that it’s probably going to be Alyson, but it’s any given Sunday from here on out when it comes to who will the right woman for Beef to date.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? Well, I had to rewatch the episode right after posting the review to the recent Bob’s Burgers episode just to get a refresher and it was an alright episode. Not that bad but not that good, okay, there are some good parts but it’s a clear middle-of-the-road for this week’s episode. Even though I do have to give my praise to the show for expanding its side characters like with Cheesecake for this episode even though it’s another Wolf and Honeybee episode with Wolf being the one taking the limelight to be on his friend’s side.
The main plot was alright with a side character getting the attention for this week’s episode with Cheesecake getting the limelight and though, not a lot of development on the guy, but it was an alright main plot with him trying to find a job and have Wolf to help him not mess things up knowing that he’s unemployed and likes to overspend on things that aren’t essential. Yeah, the message was there that while you need to rely on someone to help out, you also need to tackle life by yourself, and whether you want to call Cheesecake coming to Wolf’s aid at the behest of Wolf wanting to help out as him looking out for his friend’s wellbeing or him babying Cheesecake because he noticed the bills not being paid, him getting evicted, and not wanting him to get into the crab boat, even though the spotlight is on Cheesecake, it does feel like a Wolf-centric episode and...yeah, Cheesecake having to survive many near-death experiences was something and then gets paid just so he doesn’t sue was interesting, to say the least. And even though Judy, Ham, Moon, and Dirt had to be shoehorned and didn’t have to do anything major other than Moon having to be sent into the workplace disguised as a plant, it’s not a bad main plot but knew right away that Cheesecake wasn’t going to keep his job at the end of the episode. Still, not a bad main plot.
The subplot was the one that took most of the attention for this episode. Mostly because of the idea of Beef and Carissa being potential love interests with the way they act while keeping Beef company at the coffee shop. Them blushing at the first few minutes of the episode at the coffee shop and again with Beef later on when Carissa tells him that he did a good job boosting her business, along with Carissa telling the good things about Beef while talking to the customers and even telling Beef to go out for dinner in return for Beef to be a semi-regular at the cafe...if that doesn’t tell you that this is a possible start of a new pairing for Beef as he continues to get back into the dating scene, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a long shot for these two to ever become a couple but it’s any given Sunday from here on out and if it does happen, while it’s nice that you have two parents who had gone through a separation to be at each other's arms but would throw in the possibility of Moon and Debbie to be potential step-siblings. Which would be awkward for them, but would be hilarious. But again, seems like a long shot but anything can happen now that Beef is back into the dating game. So, I’ll give “Cheese All That Adventure”...
A 6.5 out of 10. I don’t hate the episode, just putting it out there, you knew the outcome right away and I had to rewatch the episode, mostly because most of my attention for this week was on the recent Bob’s Burgers episode. But yeah, that’s my thoughts on the episode and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. No new Bob’s Burgers episodes until sometime in April as my possible guess, so it’s a Great North takeover once more with a brand new episode coming up this upcoming Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day Sunday, and it’s one of those episodes where each member of the family getting their own side stories when they achieved their checks in the sixth episode of Season 4, “The Mighty Pucks Adventure”.
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