We got more updates regarding what’s to come and what the future may hold for The Great North that I didn’t get the chance to cover, but here we go as the introduction to this review. So, by now, you have come across a Deadline article with an interview with the Head of Disney Television Studios, and one of the questions from the interview would be about The Great North’s future as its seat is currently boiling. Not boiling, scorching. It’s scorching. Stepping on various pieces of volcanic rock barefoot type of scorching regarding the show’s future. The guy in question, Eric Schrier, take it with a grain of salt because I had to carefully read it when it came out, think that it should be fine if the show were to continue but it comes down to what FOX has to say like what the US is trying to do with TikTok earlier this year with another would-be ban coming up in June since Trump extended it for another 75 days from it’s April date of that was supposed to be banned after it’s January 19 original date for the ban that was supposed to take effect... it might as well be GGs coming from them. They want this show gone. God, I hope that’s not the case, but know that 2025 is already becoming a shitshow of its own, it might be GGs.
However, there might be some glimmer of hope, and again, take it with a grain of salt, when reading the article that if FOX were to cancel the show once Season 5 ends at the end of Summer, making the move to Hulu would be the next possible option to continue the show. And the Hulu move would make the most sense, at least in my opinion, because let’s be real, gotta keep it 100 here, The Great North might as well have done better on streaming than on the air when it comes to getting people’s attention. It’s probably better there if it were an Hulu original, if Season 6 were to get picked up, because most people nowadays decide to cut the cord. Going from cable/satellite to streaming, despite that some streaming services do live TV, like Sling, Fubo, and YouTube TV, to name a few, where you can record and watch it on VOD. But yeah, Hulu would have to be the right move if FOX were to cancel the show, and would be giving the green light to shop. And let’s hope that will be the case going forward. But it would be better to just keep it on the air so my cheap ass can enjoy it.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, what was supposed to be a friendly game of Lizards in the Library, the show’s version of Dungeons and Dragons, between Dirt, Moon, and his friends turns disastrous as he, Henry, and Russell endure Dirt’s wrath over one incident as the rest of the Tobins fall under the spell of craft making after Beef bought himself a bag filled with beads in my spoilerific review of the eleventh episode of The Great North, titled “Dungeon Aunt Dragons Adventure”.
Now, a full disclaimer in all of this, I have never, never have I ever, played a round of Dungeons and Dragons. I’m not kidding, for a fact that I never played a round of the game, which could probably explain that I had an easier time surviving high school if you believe in what you saw in TV shows and movies about what they paint high school according to them. Back in the day when I was in high school, when strolling through the cafeteria, I saw some people carrying around Yu-Gi-Oh cards in their possession in their bags. Sometimes to play a round or to trade, like most people have done it when Pokémon came to the US, and we all remember that craze if you’re born in the 90s. But before Pokémon became a household name after being shipped to the US, you have Dungeons and Dragons.
That game had been around since the 1970s. It was pretty much a Gen X staple where you host a game night at your place or a friend’s house, and you have the table set up filled with a board, a couple of dice, pieces of paper, and a pencil to begin playing the game. And, of course, whoever has the game has to be the host and to be the one who dictates where the game goes. It’s basically scriptwriting at the writer's table, coming up for an episode for a TV show or movie. It became a staple across time since its inception in the 1970s, and it wasn’t until sometime in the 2010s, I believe is that it became mainstream, even though it had been mainstream before that, but that’s how I know about it.
The most recent would be the subplot to the Bob’s Burgers episode “Loft in Bed-slation,” where you have a woman asking Bob for permission to host a game night at the restaurant and playing the show’s version of D&D in “Mages and Monsters.” It sounds like a fun game, sure, but it can also be a complicated one because the story has to be perfect and can’t have one fuck up to ruin the game for everyone. This might as well be a warning to everyone if anyone were to do a D&D campaign, not to draft me. I am a bad draft pick. This is “Dungeon Aunt Dragons Adventure” by the way to start the breakdown. Seriously, don’t pick me. I’m a bad player even though I've never played the game in my life.
The episode starts interestingly to start the episode where instead of having everyone at the table or on the boat or at the school, it’s inside a fantasy world with a different character style. It was expected that when the script cover for this episode came out last year that we would have something like this. And I’m not going to lie, the details look good for the background, and the character design for this fantasy looks alright as they’re aiming for what you see from a Saturday morning cartoon from the 1980s. In this fantasy, you have Moon, Dirt, Henry, and Russell as lizards having to fend for themselves when taking on a powerful wizard who is guarding the castle. Caught in a stalemate against the wizard who is holding a powerful staff hostage, and needs to come up with a game plan to take it away from him. Dirt thinks that the most effective strategy would be to go on the offensive head-on and choke the living daylights out of him. You also have Russell, as the two-headed serpent, alongside Henry in sharing a body, with his strategy to distract the wizard with a song using his flute. And without any objections to the idea, Russell and Henry head out and play a song with their flute to let the wizard lose his guard. That’s more than enough for Moon to transform into a rhino and run towards the rock where he is and causing a strong enough shake to make him lose his footing, and for Dirt to put the finishing move by going full Gallagher and smash him to the ground, and then continue to do the four-piece combo by hitting him with an axe, a morning star, and a flamethrower before finally sending him away flying like he’s a member of Team Rocket.
We transition from the fantasy to the actual show in its usual character style with Henry, Russell, Henry, and Dirt wrapping up a round of the game Lizards at the Library, the show’s version of Dungeons and Dragons, and it seems that Dirt is enjoying playing a round with Moon and his friends and having to host a game night at her bunker. You’d think that Dirt would probably not care for the game, and also not know what it is, since she had been hiding in her bunker for 60 years, and one of the things that she needed to assimilate into modern life was Lizards in the Library. All it takes is have her character to be blood-thirsty as she is, and that should be enough for Dirt to jump in. And she's glad that she found a group of friends, even though it’s mostly her nephew and his friends at the table, in comparison to a group of friends that she mentioned from back in the day, who had some resentment towards them. Almost sounding like some abandonment issues right there. And let’s hope that doesn’t seem to be the case this time around, once game night comes to a close and the four are poised to play another round to continue the story at the same time the next day.
We go to the mall with Beef taking a stroll across the building, where a woman in the shop who runs a beads store comes up to him and asks if he is looking for some beads, which Beef tells the woman that he is not and he was just minding his business taking a quick walk across the mall before being dragged into the beads store as if no one was going to go to her store and pay a pretty penny. And I can already guess that the beads are going to be hit with the tariffs. It was manufactured in China, and knowing that China got hit with the 125% tariff, scratch that, 145%... pack it up. Pack it up, you had a good run. Pack it up. But the saleslady decided to manipulate Beef into buying the beads and telling him the things he could craft with the tiny pieces of choking hazards, with one of the things that he could make being those curtains at the door you see in adult shops and the video store where the adult section is for those videos. Don’t ask questions, I’m pretty sure that’s how some TV shows back in the day show for comedic effects.
And to no surprise, Beef became the first Tobin in this episode to fall into the spell of the beads. He came home hours later, right as the rest of the family was eating their dinner with Moon and Dirt still donning their costumes from their recent game night at her bunker. I mean, it’s not surprising that he would fall victim to the beads' magic, as if the saleslady cast a spell on him to buy thousands and thousands of beads to craft, as if he went to the Lego store and bought an expensive box to craft, and I had to search up to the Lego store website, the most expensive set so far would be the Lego Titanic sitting at nearing the $700 mark. And that’s going to be the subplot with Beef having to be tied down in craft making with beads. And it won’t be long until the next domino begins to fall as the episode progresses.
We go into the next day with Moon, Henry, and Russell getting their lunch, but it seems that Dirt is absent, and instead, comes across another lunch lady serving them their food. Moon asks the lunch lady where Dirt is, but doesn’t get a response and gets their food. They get their food, and Henry already suggests that even though they should wait for after school to play a round of Lizards at the Library, he’s already getting an itch to play a quick round of the game. But Moon thinks that it’s a bad idea because he suggests that they should wait for her after school, and that it shouldn’t be right to leave her hanging and continue without her. Something that is going to haunt the three boys later in the episode as Moon ends up falling for the pressure to play a quickie after getting out of a math test, but they need a substitute for the time being before Dirt comes back to wherever she went.
And they suggest bringing in the younger brother of Loud Sandy, named Calm Callum, voiced by one of the writers of the show, Brian Bahe, as the fill-in. And yeah, you can really tell the difference in personalities between Sandy and Callum because we already know that Sandy is a loudmouth who really needed to have a universal mute button installed and pull that shit out from the movie “Click”, whereas Callum, he’s the introverted, quiet kid as seen talking timidly while holding a feather when being asked by Moon and the others to join them in their game. And his response to joining the game is that his cousin was in the production of Shrek the Musical. That’s the only response that he can come up with before joining them to play a quick game and quietly stabbing Aunt Dirt in the back. Speaking of which...
It’s after school, and we’re in Dirt’s bunker once again with Dirt now back from her absence as Moon, Henry, and Russell are setting up another round of Lizards in the Library. The three boys notice the mysterious item that is covered as a surprise from Dirt to celebrate six months of her joining the team. Russell thought that the announcement would be her getting engaged because that was what he thought when it came to surprises, and he thought that it was the first thing on the list regarding his mother and Jamie. But that’s not the point coming from Dirt when it comes to the surprise she has for the boys. She pulls the cover and under the cloth...
Reveals a lizard head. But not just any lizard head, because according to Moon, it’s the head of Gordix the Unyielding Dice Tower that had a sponsor placed with the item... sponsored by a cigarette company. Quite the product placement for a device that speaks when placing the dice inside to automatically roll like... y’all remember that Uno Attack machine when playing Uno, where if you draw a card that has a button or something and the next person would have to deal with unfair bullshit. The three boys are in disbelief and in a good way that Dirt would do something like this to gift them a rare item for their game. Especially when having to trade in her piles of magazines from 1958 for the machine to celebrate the six months. Hence, why she was absent throughout the day because she was in New Fork, presumably at a pawn shop, to get the item. Thought shit was going to be sweet as they prepare to play another round of the game once everyone is seated.
Until we get the betrayal, once we get to the end of the first act of the episode, when Dirt notices that the boys went ahead without her. Already triggering Dirt and getting flashbacks to what happened back in the day and is now experiencing some bad deja vu with Moon and the others over having to play the game without her, even if Moon has to come up with an excuse that she was absent throughout the day and they couldn’t found her in the school, not knowing that she went to New Fork to get the rare item for their game. But that little excuse doesn’t bode well for Dirt because to her, it felt like she was abandoned by the people whom she thought she was friends with, and especially with her nephew of all people, who had to metaphorically stab her in the back. And that, of course, as we close out the first act of the episode, Dirt is having a crashout and kicks Moon, Henry, and Russell out after getting upset and questioning what her deal is. And no, it’s not menopause as what Russell thought it was, according to his sensei. I mean, you can already guess what Dirt’s problem is, but if not, then I dunno why you’re here and not watching the show.
It’s a new day as we enter the second act of the episode, and it’s already an awkward start to the day following what happened yesterday at the bunker. And I mean an awkward start to the day with Dirt still mad at Moon for going behind her back in having a quick game without her, even though she was out and he had no idea where she went. Already getting a front row seat to what is about to come for the rest of the day in this episode at the breakfast table and later at school, Moon hopes that things with Aunt Dirt would simmer down, and hopefully, what happened yesterday would blow over.
That's what I would say once Moon and the others spotted Moon’s stuff being thrown out into the yard. Thrown by, you guessed it, a pissed off Aunt Dirt. Didn’t even explain how the hell Dirt had the time to throw all of Moon’s stuff but all we know that is she is still mad and should probably tell her that it’s not that freaking deep since it’s just a game and such, even though it’s more than just that when it comes to what railed her up to the point where she had gone through a crashout yesterday. But it’s early in the day. Moon still got a whole day, and who knows if Dirt finally simmers down once the lunch period hits, so it’s only a matter of time... is what I would say if this were a usual 11-minute episode and not 21 minutes, so y’all know where this is going. Plus, knowing Dirt, she’s not going to be easy to sway and convince her to stand down just for things to return to being all sunshine and rainbows.
We’re staying put in the household hours later, with Beef becoming laser-focused on making a beaded curtain. Wolf and Honeybee enter the house feeling distraught over his absence. Waiting for him to arrive, and now having to come back to the house from the docks with only a tank of gas left in the car after leaving it running for that amount of time. That pretty much tells you that Beef has become a completely different man ever since buying those beads. Becoming laser-focused on making the beaded curtains so he can bring home a shawty one day. Yeah, the break-up life is really doing wonders for the guy when having to pick up a hobby, and an addictive one at that. Beef claims that he’s halfway through the process... and by halfway through, I mean about 0.0001% of the way done. That should be enough for Wolf and Honeybee to tell Beef that the beads need to be returned and to get his refund this because this is not normal. Then again, most families in a sitcom, animated or live-action, aren’t perfect as the script persists. But aside from that, Wolf and Honeybee decide to take the beads back to the mall so that Beef can get his refund and his time back to pre-beademic levels.
Going back to the main plot of the episode, as we transition to the school during lunchtime with Moon in a huddle with Henry and Russell on what to do with Aunt Dirt and how to make her forget what happened yesterday and let bygones be bygones. Saying that it’s all a misunderstanding and hopefully things are calm so they can be chummy once more and play the damn game. Henry suggested that Russell should do the job because he (Henry) knows that he (Russell) can be talked into anything. Thinking as if doing any sweet-talking would have to be the trick, and not being served as a sacrificial pawn to tell Dirt to forget everything. Of course, Moon tells Henry that he should be the one to do it since this is his great-aunt we’re talking here. He’s likely at fault for this, so he has to be the one to solve things.
As expected, that plan falls flat on its face once the three boys make their way to the lunch counter, with Moon being slapped by Dirt with a slice of pizza. We’re still in the second act of the episode. About nine minutes into this bitch, you’d think that Dirt would easily take the bait and apologize as if what happened back there didn’t happen? You remember what happened back in Season 2’s “Dead Moon Walking Adventure” when trying to do the same thing with Debbie, right? Shit ain’t gonna be sweet, and even though it’s all one big miscommunication because you and the others didn’t know that she was out of town when all of this was happening, Dirt is not going to be an easy person to sway unless you’re someone who spew anti-communist propaganda.
And so it begins, or rather, the continuation, but either you want to call it, Moon, Henry, and Russell are getting front row seats to their humiliation by Aunt Dirt in retaliation for what happened, and once again, it’s not that deep. Dirt decides to mess with the PA system and begin to humiliate the three boys in front of the school. Saying to the public that their “potty training” begins as if they haven’t been potty trained. And if you think that Moon’s stuff from his room being thrown out to the front yard and the small humiliation scene through the PA system was enough to get Dirt out of her system, y’all know where this is going.
Also, what the fuck? We almost had a last name revealed for Russell when Dirt was announcing Moon, Henry, and Russell by their full names and yet, we still haven’t gotten an iota of a shit to know what Russell’s last name as if they’re never going to reveal it. Calling him “Dumbass I Don’t Know Your Late Name” instead of having to remember it. Had it. We almost had it. Though it’s probably unclear if Russell has the last name that belonged to his father that was never brought up since he is a child of divorce, or if it may be a combination of his father's and his mother’s last names. Who the fuck knows other than that we almost had it.
We’re going into montage mode for a bit as Dirt’s retaliation begins to take shape. Whether it’s Henry being pelted with trash falling onto him when opening his locker, Moon having to climb for his life in gym class when setting the rope on fire, which seems a little excessive if you think about it, that almost turned Moon into a burnt end at a BBQ pit, or Russell being thrown into the trash can, the second time this season he was being thrown and having to be carried by a Tobin, first Moon in “It’s Compli-skated Adventure” and now in this week’s episode with Dirt, they’re already feeling the brunt of what Dirt had in store for them in retaliation. For Dirt, it’s free eats because they can’t do anything about it other than just taking it in. But for Moon, Henry, and Russell, it’s pretty much torture for them. They’re being punished by Dirt for leaving her hanging like she’s a prom night dumpster baby when having to play the game without her that which does sort of feel like abandonment issues that triggered Dirt to crash out towards Moon and his friends. They brought this to themselves, again, they didn’t know that Dirt was out of town when trying to find her across the school, and now, they’re the ones being punished. Having to deal with the retaliation by Dirt.
Especially once the montage ends with Moon, Henry, and Russell carefully walking out of their class to avoid being detected by Dirt, only for Dirt to spot them, waiting outside for them to walk out. And you can already tell that even though it’s only been a day, it felt like a week and getting tired of whatever shit Dirt throws at them as if they already learned their lesson. Dirt decides to play nice for once by hugging Moon, only to find out that the hug is not the “I accept your apology and let bygones be bygones” approach, but more of the “I ain’t stopping making your lives a living hell, you tiny pieces of shits. You left me hanging like a dog in the streets, and all you dumb bitches are going to pay for what you did” approach by placing a note onto Moon’s back and pulls the fire alarm, framing him, Henry, and Russell for the stunt that Dirt pulled. Pure gaslighting right there for Dirt to get her getback towards her great-nephew and his friends. And I’mma say this again like I said to Judy a few episodes ago, bitch... IT’S... NOT... THAT... FUCKING... DEEP! What are we doing?! Out here on some mafia timing when having to play retaliation for something they shouldn’t have done. Won’t be long until Dirt asks the three boys to “go on a walk,” and hopefully, that doesn’t become the case.
Wolf and Honeybee enter the bead store as we transition to the subplot once more, with them ready to issue a refund at the behest of Beef. Saying that Beef is becoming too addictive to craft making, and now, they want to get rid of it because it’s not healthy to have that become an addiction. Not wrong with a little creativity, but in this instance, we’re pretty much treating creation with beads as if it’s someone doing crack cocaine. They’re concerned about his well-being because it’s taking over his system at a fast pace since getting his shipment yesterday. The saleslady accepts Wolf and Honeybee’s request to issue the refund of the beads that were bought by Beef, and if you think that Wolf and Honeybee refunding the beads that Beef bought would be the end of this subplot? Think again because the saleslady attempts to convince the two to buy beads of their own. Telling them about the endless possibilities they can create with the beads that got Beef to buy the hoards the day before, when imagining himself with a curtain made out of beads and today with Wolf and Honeybee, it’s them imagining themselves wearing a suit and tie made out of beads.
And that’s more than enough for Wolf and Honeybee to fall under the spell of beads. I swear, that saleslady is a fucking witch. I swear she’s a witch because of the way she convinced Beef, Wolf, and Honeybee to buy beads and have them imagine the endless possibilities they can make with the beads feels like she may have casted a spell on them to buy the beads and play sweatshop with the creation, whether it’s curtains or making suits out of the various pieces of choking hazards. And I get that’s how capitalism works: you attempt to convince the consumer to buy the item that you’re selling and you to have come up with tons and tons of bullshit enough to get the consumer to fall for it to spend their hard earned cash. And that's what happened to Beef, Wolf, and Honeybee when they had to be manipulated to buy the beads for their own creation. It’s a drug that you can’t get away and it looks like the adults, for this episode only, going into the second half of the episode, they’re going to become laser-focused on crafting curtains and suits.
We prepare to wrap up the first half of the episode with Moon, Henry, and Russell in Gibbons’ office after being framed for pulling the fire alarm by Dirt. Gibbons, of course, believed what Moon and the others said and probably knows that it was Dirt who did this and knows that Dirt is going into straight demon timing in retaliation over playing a quick round of Lizards in the Library behind her back. Once again, this has nothing to do with her experiencing menopause, as Russell suggests for why she is in a bad mood. The boys suggest that Gibbons should step in and tell Dirt to stand down since he’s pretty much her boss, but Gibbons doesn’t want to catch any of the smoke that is thrown at Moon, Henry, and Russell, and therefore, screwed to the point where the option of witness protection might be on the table.
However, Gibbons may have give the boys a clue for why Dirt is pissed at them because he thinks that she is going through a traumatic event in her life that is she now going through. And remember, at the start of the episode, when Dirt mentioned that she used to have friends who ended up backstabbing her back in her day? And that should be the main reason for why Dirt is upset over what happened at the start of the episode. And that’s pretty much the plan going into the second half of the episode with Moon, Henry, and Russell now knowing what the mission is if they want to get Dirt to calm down so they can go back to playing their game. Especially once Dirt announces a hit on the three boys for pinching and having to escape through the window by Gibbons to avoid getting detected.
We have now made it to the second half of the episode with Moon, Henry, and Russell after school, and planning on raiding Dirt’s bunker to find something that should help them in their mission to find the root cause of Dirt’s trauma of people she knew backstabbing her. A good 45 minutes' worth of going through the bunker to find something they need, once going inside to trash the place like it’s an FBI raid. It didn’t take long for Moon and the others to find something they needed that should help them with their situation.
It’s in the form of a scrapbook when taking a look, and it shows a photo of a young Dirt Tobin back when she was little, presumably around Moon’s age, with a couple of old friends that was photographed. A couple of boys, to be exact, around her age, with one of the boys photographed, named Joe Dinkum, having his face scribbled out of spite. Meaning that this was Dirt’s old friend group growing up, and something happened back in the day that caused her to go through what she is currently going through with Moon and his friends, and that’s something that Moon and the others should do in their investigation, if they’re still alive that is. That’s pretty much the first question of the investigation.
Of course, they got stopped by Dirt, who is just coming into her bunker and spotting her great-nephew and his friends going through her stuff. Hoping so that she doesn’t kill them in cold blood, Moon asks Dirt a quick question on who this Joe Dinkum person is and why his face in the photo has been scribbled over... only for the three to run for safety and climb their way out as if Dirt is about to have them out of her bunker in body bags. But getting Joe’s name and what he looked like from the photo should be enough for Moon, Henry, and Russell to devise a new plan to get Dirt not upset towards them... by kidnapping Joe, if he is still alive, and taking him to Dirt as a sacrificial pawn. Yeah, sounds like a reasonable plan that hopefully doesn’t result in a potential crime scene.
We go back to the subplot for a bit since it is after school hours, with Judy and Ham slipping and sliding to the floor courtesy of the spilled beads from Wolf and Honeybee’s bags. Seeing the three adults already tied down to making bead creations of their own. Looking dead and tired when assembling the pieces, as if they’re working day in and day out at a workshop. Funny enough that this is all today, repeat, this is all today, the past 6-8 hours of the day, just today alone, and already, they look like they haven’t gotten sleep in days as if, and I’m gonna make the comparison again because it is just by looking at it, doing crack. I could make a reference when it comes to crafting with beads and strings as the choices for art supplies, because aside from curtains and suits, what are beads mostly well-known for when crafting? Bracelets. I could make that reference, already did during the live blog when the episode first premiered, and the last thing I need is a certain giant fandom threatening to dox me and go after my family.
Judy, as the artist of the family, knows what is going on when she sees what is happening after coming in and decides to take everyone to a special place since she knows a thing or two about crafting. Though Ham... pretty sure you’re not helping in this situation when trying to make light of the situation at hand. Especially when you think that you might’ve suffered a concussion when falling onto the floor after slipping onto one too many beads. Yeah, this season is not your season, huh, Ham? This is not your season at all. Like goddamn, man. Goddamn. The breakup, you falling into a depressive state, nearly getting attacked by a beaver, had trouble in the skating rink, and nearly gave everyone tainted pastries... yeah, this is truly not your season, as if the writers are turning you into a punching bag.
Switching back to the main plot with Moon, Henry, and Russell now staking out from across the street from the house that belongs to Joe Dinkum, turns out he’s alive as he walks out of the house with a couple of dogs with him to tag along. Probably planning to go on a walk. The plan is about to go into effect to abduct Joe to be brought to Dirt so this whole thing can be over with, but they need something to commit a possible silver alert. Moon suggests that they need a sack to do the work, so of course, Russell would have the gall to say that he carried a sack, a special type of sack, that he had to carry around in the event he were to get abducted because it has no handles. I’m not gonna ask why, other than just leave it be and don’t ask questions.
Of course, Moon, Henry, and Russell got caught by the man of the hour himself, Joe Dinkum, voiced by Tuc Watkins, and questions the three boys why they are snooping right by his house. And right away, Russell had to blab the plan all out to his face about plots to kidnap the guy so they could bring him to Dirt as an offering. Child Left Behind right there, folks. But rather than threatening to call the police or try to, I guess, shoot them at the site so they can retreat, it seems ol’ Joe here is okay with the idea of him being taken. Especially once the boys bring up Dirt’s name. And that’s more than enough for him to tag along for the ride as we prepare to wrap up the third act of the episode and go into the fourth. But not without taking a packet of Oreo, Double Stuf to be exact, for the ride. Once again, unless it’s TikTok or, I guess, now D&D, the laws of television don’t apply in this show. Treating it as if we’re begging for advertisers.
Going back to the subplot of the episode with Judy and the rest of the Tobins entering a shed within the Tobin household property that reveals hordes of art. Unfinished art, to be exact, that was made by Judy, which took over the entire shed to serve as an at-home storage unit. It’s pretty much an art museum, but it’s filled with unfinished artwork that was left abandoned because of whatever is causing Judy when give up whatever art piece she was doing to make her waive the white flag. Mainly, either from stress and worrying about what everyone is going to say that it feels like, in her opinion, painting her as a failure, or she wasn’t even in the mood to complete it, as if she had undergone burnout or something. I mean, it’s a lot to take up if you’re an artist that you have an idea in your head and you want to get on it before losing that train of thought, but once you get in the zone, you ultimately start to lose that. It’s not a fun process if you’re an artist, amateur, or expert when doing things. Take yours truly for example. I am rusty and haven’t done dick since 2022 because all the focus is on this page. Tried to get back on the boat, but alas, no inspiration. Poof. Gone like our country’s credibility since January 20.
Though a bit of a missed opportunity when having to go through the hall of past artwork inside this shed deep in the woods, within the Tobins’ property, by not showing the various pottery that made if you remember that subplot from Season 2’s “As Goldie As It Gets Adventure”. Would’ve shown at least one piece of pottery from that episode in the shed, but since the shed is filled with unfinished artwork and stuff that fell flat into her face, and we know that Judy took pride in making the various pottery pieces when attending that class at the community center, despite her family not wanting to upset her when questioning her pottery making skills, I guess that didn’t make cut and the closest would be the unfinished mug that was supposed to be Ham’s for his 13th birthday.
Honneybee knows where this is going when being shown the shed filled with various artwork by Judy, that they should learn their lesson and stop what they’re doing because we’re about to wrap up the third act and about to go into the fourth and final act of the episode as if we’re going for a bit of a fourth wall break there because she knows where this is going. Which would be a reasonable idea to just stop while they’re ahead, because already, the beads are making the adults addicted to crafting with beads like it’s crack. Having the house undergo a bead-demic since Beef first brought the beads home with him. So, that should be the reasonable way to just call it a day and wait for Moon and Dirt to make up at their end of the episode... is what I would say before Judy decides to say, “Nah, fuck that. Let’s motherfucking get to crafting like there’s no tomorrow.” Yeah, just going for the “Fuck the lesson, we’re gonna continue what we’re doing” the next time we get to the subplot at the end of the episode. Then again, the only other option to wrap up the subplot is for a mishap to happen, and well, spoiler alert, it’s exactly that once we get to the end of the episode.
We end the third act of the episode as we transition back to the main plot with Moon, Henry, and Russell arriving back at the bunker with Joe tagging along to serve as an offering so she can move her murderous, homicidal tendencies away from Moon and his friends towards Joe once the two meet for the first time in a long time once Dirt comes out of her bunker. Hoping for her to blow off some steam by attacking Joe so that she can forget about what happened. Oh, she did blow off some steam alright...
Ending the third act of the episode and going into the fourth and final act of the episode, with Dirt ready to send Joe packing. Going on the offensive in an attempt to choke the ever-living shit out of Joe as if the PTSD had kicked in and going on the offensive. Turning this shit into the set of The Jerry Springer Show with Moon, Henry, and Russell attempting to hold Dirt from having to commit the murder. The murder that the boys had planned out so that she could blow off some steam by facing the source of her trauma head-on. And she can’t apply directly to the forehead for that one unless it’s her fist to ol’ Joe’s forehead. This is where we get Dirt’s backstory in this episode, and the first time we see a young Dirt back in the day.
The year was... around late 1930s or early 1940s... probably the latter because this was around when America was getting out of the Great Depression, back when Alaska was still a territory, and a short while before joining the frontlines in the middle of World War II, she was right around Moon’s age as the possible guess on where the backstory that Dirt is telling takes place. And according to Dirt, she was a menace back in the day, as if she owned this town. Whether it’s playing jump rope on her own, playing jacks with a cat, falling into the mud when climbing up the tree, and making mud angels, or eating ice cream like how a dog would eat, she was a menace to deal with for anyone who came in her way. Living her best life on her lonesome. A lone wolf that she is, and despite the lack of friends she has had growing up, she was living it up and, well, pretty much a menace across Lone Moose.
And you can tell that it was the olden times because take a look at the Tobin household. No stilts to lift the place. The house didn’t get an expansion to make it wider and roomier, and it was a one-story house rather than a two-story one that we’re all aware of in the current timeline. A young Dirt enters the house, all covered in mud, and causes some shock from her parents, i.e., Beef’s grandparents, over how dirty their daughter looks. And right on time, or rather, wrong on time if you’re Dirt because her mother finished sewing a dress for her to put and you can already tell that she doesn’t like it. Although when looking at this backstory, you only see Dirt as a kid back in the day, despite that this is her story that she is telling, I don’t see her brother, Beef’s father, in this backstory. I know that the focus is on Dirt since she is the one who is telling her explanation on why she felt abandoned by a few folks that she thought were her friends, but you’d think that her brother should at least make a cameo in this story. Like, unless the writers don’t want to include the guy because we still have to play the waiting game on what he looks like or has yet to be conceived because she is the oldest of the two siblings, he’s pretty much MIA, despite that this is all about Dirt and that’s about it.
Going back to Dirt, she hates the dress and decides to get rid of it once going to the next scene, with her pretty much drowning it in the water, and you can already tell that Dirt is not the girlie girl type as what her parents are trying to enforce her to be. Mind you, this is the 1940s, where gender norms had to be the way to go in the most tribalistic way possible. And her parents want Dirt to follow that gender norm and to be more girly, as if they’re forcing her to follow the notion. And Dirt, of course, doesn’t want to follow that. She wants to express herself as the tomboy that she is, as shown at the start of the backstory. She drowns the dress and plans on leaving the damn thing and walking back to home, wearing only what I can guess its pajamas, where she hears the sounds of someone burping in the background. Dirt follows the sounds and makes burping sounds of her own as she makes her way to where the source is.
And lo and behold, she comes across a group of boys deep in the forest, consisting of a young Joe, along with other boys from the photo that Moon found, Mitch and Stanley, who are doing the burping as if they’re doing a burping contest before Dirt came crashing in. Normally, the boys would be in shock to see a girl like Dirt would come up to them in the middle of what they’re doing and probably mock her and saying that she may have cooties like how you see in certain movies whenever it features a boy group and girl wants to join or ending up joining but had to be disguised as a guy. Not this boy group, and decided to take Dirt in as one of their own.
And with that, a friendship was born. They were the bestest of buddies. Going out to have adventures of their own as if it’s this show’s version of The Goonies. Whether it’s walking through the empty railroad that connects to Lone Moose, pigging out at the diner, or building a fort using parts they can find to create said fort, it seemed that things were going well for Dirt. Feeling as if she may have found her people after being a lone wolf across the town, as if she doesn’t have friends of her own just for being herself. And when seeing this, it almost feels like an unbreakable bond between the four, it was three before Dirt came in, but still, it felt like an unbreakable bond and for Dirt, it feels like she may have found her people who accept her to be who she is despite being the only girl in that group.
However, friction begins to take place between Dirt and her friends once her dad comes in and tells her to walk away from the group of boys that she has been hanging out with as of late. Treating them like they’re parasites, as if they’re about to make a move towards her because she’s the only girl in the group. Dirt argues with her dad and says that it’s nothing like that. They haven’t done anything illegal because the last thing we need is... well, I’ve never seen the movie “It” but glad that I never read the novel version because uh... yeah, what the fuck? Joe tries to be the hero and attempts to stand up to Dirt’s father so that she can continue to hang with them, only to fail before he even begins to speak up. Causing Dirt to leave, and this is only the start for things to go down south for everyone, and, of course, Dirt.
But that’s not going to stop Dirt from disobeying her father’s decision and plans on continuing to hang out with Joe and the others. That’s where the next day hits when Joe was taking a stroll, where he gets hit by a crumbled piece of paper, looking around on who threw the paper at him before looking up and sees Dirt popping up before leaving, telling him to meet her at the fort later tonight. That did not happen once the night hit and Dirt was sitting all alone, just waiting and waiting for either of the guys or all of them to arrive, but instead, she played the waiting game for nothing. Her night was wasted without giving any thought to why they didn’t come with the only answer being what happened the day before with Dirt’s dad telling Dirt that she’s not allowed to hang out with them. Though Dirt claims that maybe he got the time wrong and claims that he is the stupid one of the bunch. But once the next day hits, as Dirt makes her way to the fort... wouldn’t you guess it?
She got replaced. Joe, Mitch, and Stanley replaced Dirt with another guy without any clear explanation for why, other than the thought of the argument between Dirt and her father as a potential factor. And this, of course, started the whole traumatic event for Dirt during that timeline, and what happened earlier with Moon, Henry, and Russell having to replace her with Loud Sandy’s brother Callum, even if it was a quick round because they couldn’t find her in the school... It’s pretty much abandonment issues. Dirt had a case of abandonment issues. She thought that she had found a group of people with whom she could hang out and a group that she could feel accepted just for being herself, only to find that the people she thought that her friends decided to hang out with another guy. It’s like the Toy Story meme...
That’s pretty much Dirt’s point of view when seeing what happened. And look, abandonment issues are no joke. It sucks that the people you thought they were your friends one day ends up leaving you hanging for another person or just left you behind as if you’re trash to them. And again, no clear answer as to why they did other than the possible answer of what happened days ago with the argument between Dirt and her father and forbidding her to hang with them, though we’ll get to Joe’s case for a bit, but the thought of abandonment can have long lasting effects, especially back when Dirt was a kid that had been drilled into her mind. So what’s Dirt’s response in all of this? Usually, you’d think that the right thing would be to just talk things out and hopefully get an answer. Not Dirt though.
She lit the place on fire in retaliation over her now former friends leaving her hanging like a newborn baby being left in a random place, either a fire station or a church, by the would-be parent. She took that personally, and it’s something that she doesn’t want to go through that again, as if she was heartbroken by it. An emotion that she doesn’t have to go through that until... well, I guess by the time the 1964 earthquake hits, out of heartbreak that caused her to hide or 60 years, and now, in 2025, with Moon, Russell, and Henry playing a game of Lizards with the Library without her. And as I said, abandonment issues aren’t something to joke about, and the only other Tobin who had that situation of being left abandoned by someone who they thought they were a friend that I can think of would be Judy with Stacy. I could also throw in Beef with Kathleen too but we’re talking about friends leaving friends and decided to be shitty people.
We go back to the present with Dirt attempting to murder Joe in cold blood, as her PTSD triggered her to go on the offensive, and it turned into a game of he says, she says over who’s responsible for what happened. Dirt blames Joe (and also Mitch and Stanley) for abandoning her, and Joe blames Dirt for torching their friendship. Dirt continues to attempt to murder Joe as the two badmouth at each other over who’s the blame for what happened that led to their friendship abruptly ending a long time ago. Only for Joe to come out to say that he had a crush on her a long time ago, which shocked Dirt because this is the first that she is hearing about this. So, here’s Joe’s side of the story on what happened.
The moment Dirt came into those boys’ lives after having a burping contest that caused her to jump in and ended up joining their crew is where Joe begins to have feelings for her, as seen with him showing signs of blushing as if... well, it was love at first sight. The hangout, when having Dirt becomes a member of the group at certain times, is where Joe was trying to rizz himself up in his attempt to woo Dirt. Whether it’s him getting his eye shot by Dirt, but playfully plays along to playing pretend with her as the robot and Joe as I guess the astronaut or something shooting her down, it feels like there’s a bit of connection going on between the two... well, just Joe because he has the stronger emotion while Dirt, she’s pretty much oblivious to all of this and not read the signs. And the moment when Dirt and her dad argue with Joe, attempting to stand up to the guy so that Dirt can stay put and continue with her business, hearing Dirt’s words to her dad about the boys not making a move toward her, not knowing that Dirt’s words, when having to stand right next to her, because he was heartbroken over what she said to her dad when having that argument. Turning it into a game of he says, she says with this little confrontation.
So now, going into the two-minute warning of the episode, that was Joe’s reason for why he didn’t visit her at the fort later in the night when the paper was sent to him, when he had to disobey her dad’s orders. It was because he was 10 and he didn’t know what love was. He was in his down bad arc after hearing what Dirt had to say to her father. And it was a decision that Joe ultimately was going to regret, and he did once he returned to Lone Moose decades later, but by the time he did that, of course, that was when the earthquake took place, and for Dirt to go into hiding, believing that she was presumably dead. So, that’s pretty much that on the whole situation at hand, and I guess got the whole issue with Dirt going through a crashout over being left behind now out of the way with Dirt and Joe having to bury the hatchet, and the same goes for her and Moon, Henry, and Russell over what happened earlier and asks her to rejoin their campaign. Mainly because they feel bad about it, but also it’s because they know that Callum doesn’t know how to play the game. But yeah, Dirt is back with the campaign, and this whole mess is finally settled with the main plot.
And we now enter the final scene of the episode in having to wrap up the subplot with the house now decorated with beaded curtains and other decorations and for Wolf and Honeybee, along with Judy and Ham, it’s them donning suits and ties made only with beads... that they are told to not make a move until the first week of May when the Met Gala takes place. Weird that this episode had to come out the day before the actual event, so talk about timing, and unclear if that was intentionally planned for release. Moon and Dirt enter the house, announcing to everyone that they made up, but the rest of the Tobins tell the duo not to slam the door... only for Dirt to slam the door...
And everything comes crumbling down with the beads that turned into a possible lawsuit waiting to happen. Luckily, no one is hurt, but all the progress came crumbling down once the door was slammed by Dirt, and everyone but Beef, who is fully clothed and not donning a suit and tie made out of beads, down only in their underwear. And it’s gonna be a massive cleanup to get rid of the beads that were spilled on the floor, that they’re gonna need Dirt and Moon’s help to make it a team effort, only for Moon and Dirt to decide to not do that because that’s not their problem to end the episode. And the moral of the story to all of this, don’t leave the people you care about hanging, because it can lead to dire consequences.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? This was an alright episode with this being a Moon and Dirt episode and having the spotlight shine over... well, even though it is considered a Moon episode, Dirt has to share the spotlight, and the backstory we got by the end of the episode serves as the highlight of the episode. At least it’s better than last week’s episode, that’s something we can agree on, right?
It was an alright episode. The main plot was alright. I like the change in character style at the start of the episode, right as Moon and the others were wrapping up a round of their game, going for what it looks like from a cartoon from the 1980s. You could say that Dirt was being a little too rough towards Moon, Henry, and Russell throughout the episode, with her retaliating by having to humiliate them at school and y’all may have a point in that because as I said earlier in the review, it’s not that deep when she thought she was being replaced, mind you that it was mostly because up until the end of the episode where it was mostly because she was reliving through the trauma of having to abandoned by her peers. And the backstory by her once Moon and the others brought Joe to her so that she could blow off steam. Nice to see a backstory on Dirt when she was younger and having to expand her character when it comes to the lore of this series.
The subplot was decent, but it feels a bit unnecessary to have for this episode. And I swear that saleslady is a witch for having to have Beef, Wolf, and Honeybee buy a lot of beads so they can do their stuff and later have Judy and Ham involved for the ride. It was interesting to see a random shed that houses Judy’s unfinished artwork, so that was something. But other than that, an alright episode to say the least when describing the episode that it almost gave me vibes to “Interview with a Pop-pop-pire” with the backstory having to serve as the Hail Mary. So, I’ll give “Dungeon Aunt Dragons Adventure”...
A 7 out of 10. But that’s my opinion, and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. Tune in this upcoming Sunday, the last Sunday before transitioning to the Thursday block for the summer, with Judy getting a role for a dinner theater production and Moon going door-to-door to sell jerky for a fundraiser in the twelfth episode of Season 5 in “Sunset Beeflevard Adventure”.
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