Remember in last week’s introduction to the review that there might be some “glimmer of hope” for the show if FOX makes the final decision, and the possibility of another network or service like Hulu having to pick up if given the option to shop? Yeah, the recent news we got this past weekend feels like the temperature for the hot seat has been switched to overdrive, still at volcanic rock levels, but going from an active volcano in Hawaii to getting burned alive on the planet Mustafar from Star Wars after the Anakin and Obi-Wan fight. Three more AniDom shows got their renewals aside from the four that we’re used to knowing getting their four-season renewals, with Krapopolis getting a Season 5. Universal Basic Guys getting a Season 3... which is uh... why? And the most surprising twist of events is Grimsburg getting a Season 3, despite it being in the hot seat at the start of the year, and now, it’s the opposite. Seven of the eight shows from the block got their renewals... all but The Great North.
What are we doing, y’all? What the frick are we doing? We know that the signs have been there since the end of last year, that they’re messing around, and it took until now for y’all to realize that things are not looking good for The Great North, from the lack of promotion to not doing great in numbers (on the air of course, I don’t know about streaming, though it’s probably different in numbers), but also finding out that from a TV Line article that it’s the least watched show going into 2025 as if we’re putting in Tony Snell numbers... yeah, that’s concerning. I know that y’all don’t give a shit about the show or attempted to give it a shot before stop watching it after a few episodes, but we know how the animation industry is currently being shitted on since the turn of the last decade and going into this one. And here we go again with this shit. And with the ways things are going... It’s truly about to be GGs. I mean, yeah, we got five seasons and y’all think that should be enough, but we haven’t reached the 100 mark, and we’re only at 87 episodes and not reaching the milestone would suck if we do fall short from hitting it.
Right now, all we can do is pray and try we do best and get everyone hooked, you know, the usual. I saw a Reddit post this past weekend that you could email the people over at the network to show your support for the show in an attempt to fill the renewal slots for each AniDom show, like it’s the infinity stones for Gauntlet used by Thanos. It’s on The Great North subreddit and it’s best that if you’re planning on doing that, it’s best that you don’t sound threatening or needy and make sure what you write is grammatically correct to make it look good. On that Grammarly timing. And yeah, write responsibly and show your support for the show without having to sound threatening or needy. Seriously, how the hell did Universal Basic Guys get a Season 3 despite sitting at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes? I don’t know why, but this has to be the Eagles’ fault. It has to be. Y’all won a Super Bowl, and this is what we get from not wanting the Chiefs to threepeat.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, it’s a wild goose chase for the Tobins as Wolf heads out to find and retrieve Judy, who decided to run off for nothing too suspicious on what she is planning that caused her to leave everyone hanging as the rest of the Tobins, to kill some time while all of that is happening, turn the waiting game into a competition with a few pair of patrons waiting for their names to be called in my spoilerific review of the twelfth episode of Season 5 of The Great North, titled “Jude-night Run Adventure”.
Can’t think of an introduction other than that little tirade on top to start the review, except for one little tidbit. Y’all remember at the end of last week’s review where I mentioned the episode that was supposed to air this week in “Sunset Beeflevard Adventure”? You know, the episode where Judy gets a massive gig at a local dinner theater while Moon has to go play door-to-door salesman to sell jerky? Yeah, that got moved at the last-minute leading up to this past Sunday, May 11. And if you think this might be because of FOX’s incompetence? You might be right on that... right before we got this down below...
So, according to Wendy Molyneux on Instagram, be thankful for someone on one of the Discord servers I’m in, to screen grab it because Instagram has to archive it once the 24 hours are up, the last-minute change was due to one of the jokes in the episode that was supposed to air includes a jab at the pope. And, oh boy, quite the timing with that because if you know, you know. We know that an episode takes a few months to a year to make, unless you’re South Park, so that was made long before the change in papacy. You know, the previous pope, Francis, passed away a few weeks ago, and we didn’t know who would succeed him and thought that the conclave was going to last longer than the two days that were spent before we got the news of an American being picked to run the show for the Catholic Church. So, uh... ooh boy, bullet dodged if the conclave lasted longer than expected. But other than that, we might as well get to the episode that took its place for this week, this is “Jude-night Run Adventure”.
The episode starts with the Tobins in a new location to start things off, with Wolf getting the word from the hostess at a French restaurant that he and the family will have to wait for three hours before their table gets called. They’re at the restaurant in, not in Lone Moose, but in the neighboring town of New Fork, and for a special occasion for why they’re there. And that is to celebrate Honeybee’s birthday, for their reason to make a reservation in advance to where we are now in this episode. And the Tobins usually come to places like this whenever there’s a special occasion like Honeybee’s birthday, as an example, and other examples like other birthdays that aren’t on the boat, graduations, and one time for Ham after getting his post retweeted by Reba.
All we know that the Tobins are ready to enjoy some French food for them to eat once their names are called to go to their table. And the food that they’ll be planning on eating, that Honeybee describes as fake, regarding the restaurant trying to be as authentic as it can be. Though I really don’t want to know why Moon would eat snails from the garden, actual snails, mind you, when having to compare to the snails they serve at the restaurant, than having to pick them up from the garden. I really don’t want to know. All we know about the place is that it’s high profile, trying to be as authentic as it can be, as if you’re actually in Paris, hence, the aggressive mime when seen throwing someone out, and we’ll get to what kind of town New Fork is for a bit regarding the design, that is where the Tobins are planning on going to eat for Honeybee’s birthday. All without Dirt, who is absent from this week’s episode. Probably doesn’t want to try out French food, and also the possibility that she could be a flight risk, even if they went to the town and restaurant by car rather than on a train. And the same goes for Jerry, who is absent and on his sister’s birthday, no less. Everyone in the family is preparing to eat the French food that they can eat like they’re rich folk in the pre-French Revolution era...
All, but Judy, who is currently working hard on her essay for school. Hence, her having to bring her laptop to the restaurant along with her bag and a book that I’m guessing is a thesaurus to help her type, and in a hurry, hence why she had to bring her stuff with her even though she should put it away and celebrate Honeybee’s birthday. And she is busy, and I mean BUSY all caps when doing her assignment to the point where once the Tobins are called for their table that she plans on telling the waiter to let her use a printer. The essay in question for Judy is her aim to get into a summer program where she plans on traveling abroad to Europe for, you guessed it, the summer. The Academic Super Stars in the Alps, or ASSA for short, or unless you’re Moon, in taking the first three words of the name of the program, ASS.
The point is that she is super focused and has to make sure everything is perfect so that she can be accepted. Treating this shit like it’s the SATs. Which explains why Wolf had to drag Judy out of the house, though she had to bring her stuff with her instead of leaving it behind, hence, why she had to be a busy bee just so Judy doesn’t miss out on celebrating Honeybee’s birthday, her (Honeybee) first birthday since moving to Alaska. So, this might as well be important for Honeybee since we’re still treating it as if she’s still new to the state, but it’s more important to Wolf to make sure things go right for his wife and have the family together to celebrate. Again, without Dirt or Jerry present. But we all know that things aren’t going to be sweet to make sure things go right for the day, once Judy gets a message on her phone and heads out in private by creating an excuse to go use the bathroom.
Only to find out, going into the next scene, she went outside where a random woman in a hoodie is waiting for her as if there’s a drug deal that is about to take place. But instead of drugs when being handed the bag, because the meeting does look sketchy as hell and the woman almost looked like a crackhead straight out of Florida, it’s a live animal that Judy plans on carrying with her. A small animal, hence the carry-on bag, a weasel to be exact, and hopefully one isn’t made for the intent to kill and not have rabies in its system. But that’s more than enough for Judy to pay the woman and instead of going back inside, which would spell suspicion for the family to get their attention and the fear of having to ruin Honeybee’s special day just by bringing it inside and the fear that the weasel could make its escape and unleash hell, she plans on abandoning everyone and run from the restaurant and presumably, back to Lone Moose with the weasel that she is carrying, which is, of course, her already ruining Honeybee’s special day just by ghosting everyone because of something that she had planned with the live animal.
And this draws concerns for the Tobin family when noticing that Judy is taking longer than expected to “use the bathroom”, not knowing that she dipped and ghosted her family and would probably think she feels taking a poop after eating some bad lunch. Some bathroom breaks do often last more than 5-10 minutes if you experience a bad stomach, but Judy doesn’t feel any constipation in her stomach unless it’s butterflies in her stomach because of how stressed she is over the essay she’s working on and wants it to be completed and sent to the school. Hey, being stressed can often lead to mad pooping like constipation or diarrhea. That doesn’t seem to be the case for Judy, and this causes the entire Tobin family to run around to find her. Scrambling across the building, whether it’s Honeybee checking the bathroom, Wolf doing the same in the kitchen, Ham at the bathroom... the men’s bathroom, which I doubt Judy would ever go there, Beef checking the back of the restaurant, i.e. the very place that Judy went before she dipped, even going as far as calling Judy by her full name with her middle name revealed as Trudy. I’m guessing like Dirt with her full name, going from the rhyming in naming and not something random, or has the word “Giggles” attached.
Then you have Moon doing his part, and what I guess it’s his excuse to get his hand on a pastry or a few or a lot when looking at the cabinet filled with French pastries from the cakes to the eclairs and tries to open the door to get the items... only to realize that it’s locked. Thinking that the restaurant learned its lesson from what happened the last time the Tobins paid a visit to the restaurant. Otherwise, Moon is pretty much not helping in this, in trying to find Judy, other than wanting to come across the cabinet. I mean, I don’t blame him when wanting to have a dessert before dinner growing up, for anyone who has a sweet tooth. But again, not helping on your part to find Judy.
All that search across the restaurant like it’s an FBI raid is all for naught, it seems, as Ham gets a message from Judy to tell the family that she left the building and has to run an errand without any explanation for why she had to leave. And this is already becoming a disaster, as expected, as we are now five minutes into the episode for Honeybee’s birthday, when one of their own decides to ghost them without any given explanation and could be leaving town in just moments away. Wolf, as he checks on his phone, notices that Judy is on the loose but hasn’t left New Fork because she’s still in town, by foot, I assume, but is about to be because if the Tobins took the car to New Fork like with what happened last season when transporting the cake to the competition, and knowing that the distance between New Fork and Lone Moose is like... far, then since the town is like Paris incarnate, then the train would be the next available option for transport.
And Wolf knows that because the Tobins have each of their phones on a tracker where they can locate any member of the family using GPS... don’t know why Judy didn’t bother turning off her GPS to hide her footing but that’s likely going to bite her in the ass with Wolf now volunteering to take Judy back because a day like Honeybee’s birthday can’t be ruined by one person who had to go and ruin things for the family. And they take their reservation seriously and want to eat at the French restaurant because they didn't get their shot last time because Ham got his appendix ruptured, like... it’s not that fucking deep that the one time you’re about to eat food from a fancy restaurant that one of your own had a medical emergency that fucked up your night and now, here we go again with one of their own deciding to ghost them with no explanation whatsoever. So, Wolf plans on going after Judy because it’s pretty much no Tobin left behind and wants to make sure that Honeybee’s special day goes perfect as planned with, of course, no one being left behind... even though people like Aunt Dirt or Jerry should’ve been there since it is Honeybee’s birthday. Just saying.
We prepare to close out the first act of the episode at the New Fork Metro train station, with Wolf running on foot to the station and spotting Judy as she prepares to enter the train. Wolf attempts to order Judy to come back to the restaurant and explain what she was doing when he saw the duffel bag firsthand, as she prepares to run away with her saying, “You don’t understand.” A line that Judy would keep on saying as an excuse from Judy throughout the first half of the episode. So, Judy enters the train, and Wolf is about to follow suit in this low-speed chase...
Only for Wolf to be stopped by the ticket checker to ask if Wolf purchased a ticket to enter the train, with Wolf telling the checker that he didn’t and tries to tell him that he was just getting Judy out of the train. Only to be denied entry and being kicked off the train to close out the first act of the episode, and for Judy to make her way to any of the available seats on her way to Lone Moose. Of course, Wolf now notices what’s inside the bag that Judy is carrying before the doors are closed and the train is ready to leave the station. Seeing the weasel having its head pop out, and that’s pretty much clue number one for Wolf to figure out why she decided to leave the family behind to go back to Lone Moose and carrying around a bag that contained a weasel, as the chase truly gets underway. And we have to talk about New Fork as a town as a whole when seeing what the city looks like in comparison to a snippet of it from Season 4’s “Judy Present: The Staircake” and what Wolf describes the city in that exact episode.
First off, of course, you have the restaurant itself trying to recreate a restaurant in France would like just by not leaving the country to see it for yourself. And y’all seen restaurants trying to be like this country or that country with the most well-known themes for certain restaurants are Chinese and Mexican with, of course, French, alongside Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Caribbean, and Arabic getting up there but Chinese and Mexican are the two that we’re the most accustomed to. From how elegant the bathrooms look to the portion of the walls being animated with the boats passing through the waters with the Paris skyline serving as the backdrop, the background game for this episode is already ascending to God mode when making this episode. Oh, but we’re not done talking about New Fork looking Parisian, that it should be given another name as “Little Paris” or “Petit Paris”, and yes, I had to look it up through a translator.
The town itself was going the whole nine yards in trying to be like Paris of the Western Hemisphere, since France is in the Eastern Hemisphere, just by looking at a map. You have, of course, the train station, and we know how Alaska operates when it comes to transportation, so you have to use either a car, boat, plane, or train to travel from one area to another and the train from New Fork to Lone Moose and back once we get to the end of the episode is no exception. But they did really went the whole nine yards in making New Fork a carbon copy of Paris, just by looking at the design with a riverfront by the train station that resembles the Seine River. You also have some residents of New Fork playing the role with some wearing barrets to blend into the culture. You have a couple sharing a kiss that I guess straight out of a French romantic movie, and a guy with a moustache ready to paint while being surrounded by a crowd of people ready to get on the train. And mind you, when it comes to the demographics in the state of Alaska, only 3.4% of the population of the state has French ancestry. So, I guess that explains things, but we’re talking about a fictional town here, folks.
And if that’s not enough, you also have the Eiffel Tower in the background, or rather, a replica of the landmark to say to the world, “Hey, we’re like Paris in this state. We have the Eiffel Tower to prove it.” So does Paris in any state of the country, especially in Tennessee and Texas, for example. At least the one in Texas has a cowboy hat attached. And also, the Arc de Triomphe, when going into the second act of the episode, the train that goes through on its way to Lone Moose. That should be enough rabble rousing about the background, other than uh... yeah, Montreal, New Orleans... what are we doing? All we’re missing are the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum, and people donning PSG gear, and we should be good to go.
We enter the second act of the episode with Wolf, now in a taxi, having to parallel the train on its way to the next train stop in the outskirts of the New Fork vicinity before entering Lone Moose with Wolf having a chat with the taxi driver about what is happening leading up to this moment with what he thought things were about to go great at the restaurant to celebrate Honeybee’s birthday before Judy had to leave unannounced and having to ruin it by getting on a train to Lone Moose with her carrying a weasel in her possession. Saying all of this was because she wants to get into the summer program where she spends her summer vacation traveling across Europe. And the taxi driver, named Cham, can relate to where Wolf is coming from because he, too, had a sister who wanted to go to Europe as part of a school program. Quite the coincidence when sharing what just happened and hoping for what happened gets resolved before the three hours are up for the Tobins’ name gets called.
The train stops at the next available station on the outskirts of town, and in comes Wolf, entering the train where Judy is riding, and boy, that didn’t take long for him to spot her in one of the seats upon entering. Wolf confronts Judy when catching up to her and attempts to interrogate her over what is going on, hoping for an explanation on why she decided to leave the family behind on Honeybee’s birthday, and for her to drop what she is doing and turn back before their reservation gets called. As expected, since we’re only 6-7 minutes into the episode, Judy refuses to budge and runs off further to the neighboring cart with the bag in tow, with Wolf planning on tailing after her... only for the train to begin leaving the station and is now making its way towards Lone Moose. Separated from Judy, and now may have to wait until the train arrives in Lone Moose. So, of course, Wolf is going to need the energy he needs if he plans on chasing after Judy once again. Hence, him buying some snacks from the train.
We go back to the restaurant with the clock already ticking with the rest of the Tobins and Honeybee waiting for their names to be called, but they also need Wolf and Judy to come back in time for that, or else, no dinner for them if the two missing spots have yet to be filled and would have to be yeeted out by the aggressive mime. Once again, it’s not that deep in wanting to try out French food that they had made reservations for weeks, if not months, in advance. And besides, they’ll probably going to be hit with a hefty bill regardless of the food they’ll order. Adjusting with inflation and tariffs, of course. But with Judy and Wolf currently out and the fear of the possibility that they might miss out, you’re going to have some grifters, I know they’re customers, who are like the Tobins, they have to wait for their table to be called, wanting to cut their wait time short and cut the line to be the ones to fill up the open spots left by Wolf and Judy. Whether it’s a pair of sisters, twins to be exact, a father and his son, or a random couple, they don’t want to wait for 3+ hours for their table to be called and sense the two empty spots left by Wolf and Judy to be their opportunity to cut their wait time short. We’re treating this shit like it’s a Sunday morning at a diner.
This got the Tobins to go into a huddle on what to do with the two empty spots while playing the waiting game. On one hand, it shouldn’t be right to give up Wolf and Judy’s spots and know that they will be back in time before they know it. But on the other hand, they want to try out the food, and if the event, those two don’t arrive on time, they need to fill up the two spots filled up. So, since it is her birthday, Honeybee decides to treat the two spots as a game by turning it into a competition between the three parties to see who’s qualified to fill up the two spots. And that’s what we’re heading going into the second half of the episode once we transition back to them from the main plot. And speaking of the main plot...
We have Judy now donning a sun hat to avoid being seen, now that Wolf is in the next train cart and could be going after her once the train stops at the station in Lone Moose. They come across a couple named Will and Willa, who are traveling across the country by train and visiting each town’s museums. Taking their trip seriously when traveling across the country... 49 of the 50 states and DC to be exact. Guess Hawaii might be the exception when having to travel from state to state.
And unless we have the technology and budget to create a sea train coming out from One Piece to get from mainland America to Hawaii, have fun getting on a boat or plane, buddy. They tell Judy that they’re planning on going to their next museum destination, which is the crab leg destination, when trying to start the conversation with Judy on their way to Lone Moose. Of course, you have Judy telling the couple that she, too, wants to travel, just out of the country and into Europe, as she had been aiming for since the start of the episode, with her struggling to get her essay completed. Of course, since we’re nearing the end of the first half of the episode, another mishap had to take place, this time on the train, with Judy tapping on the bag that ultimately led to the weasel who was inside making its escape and unleashing hell on the tracks. Mostly due to the bag not being durable and broken down as if it had seen better days.
Resulting in Judy going after the weasel to the next set of cars leading up to the storage area at the caboose, which results in Wolf dropping what he was doing, consuming nachos from a conductor’s hat like it’s ice cream on a batter’s helmet when going to the ballpark because he got to need the energy he needs once the train stops at the station in Lone Moose. Once again, her tells Wolf, “You don’t understand” when capturing the weasel and puts the creature back in the bag before planning on jumping off the train while it’s moving. Treating the phrase like it’s the other phrase that we probably know a lot in fiction, going for the “I can fix them”. You know that saying. The most common excuse when trying to get out of dodge like what Judy is doing when trying to get away from Wolf.
So, end of the first half of the episode, Judy puts the weasel back into her bag despite Wolf catching her in the act. Planning on escaping once more, and this time, to get out of the train while it’s moving. She’s not planning on getting out once the train arrives at the station in Lone Moose. And if it means skimping through the woods to the road with some bruises, probably a potential fractured arm or leg, so be it if you’re Judy. She jumps to end the first half of the episode...
To find out that the jump isn’t that deep despite the train being moved to start the second half. Shades of when in “The Kids Rob a Train” in Bob’s Burgers where Louise stole a stack of chocolate from the wine train’s kitchen on her way to the caboose and made a jump, only to find out that the ground isn’t that deep and the train was moving slow as fuck. It’s pretty much with this scene, but unlike the train in Bob’s Burgers, the train in The Great North starts to slow down because it has arrived at the station... still in New Fork believe it or not because the train conductor says that this is the train’s final stop, meaning that Judy is now planning on going on foot back to Lone Moose with the bag in tow since I’m guessing there’s no bus stop in this town, though I’m sure there are, it’s just they’ll not do bus transport from one town in Alaska to another. They could, but I don’t ever recall seeing Lone Moose having public buses other than a school bus.
Judy plans on dipping once more, only for the couple who were sitting across from Judy, Will and Willa, picking up the wrong bag. The bag that had the weasel inside because they’re both purple, but the shades would tell you that they picked the wrong bag and not looking worn down. Judy was about to tell the couple to switch bags since they got the wrong one, only for Wolf to stop her in her tracks...
And pulls out handcuffs, the ones he took from the security guard while chasing Judy on the train, and handcuffs her so that she doesn’t leave. Shades of “Midday Run” with Tina pulling out the finger trap and attaching herself to Zeke when capturing him after attempting to escape when evading arrest. He tells Judy that the gig is up, despite Judy’s calls to uncuff her so she can get to the couple who took her bag and make the switch, since they took hers with the weasel inside by mistake. Saying that the road stops here, and wants to question what she was doing with the bag as he prepares to drag Judy back to the restaurant for Honeybee’s birthday before their names get called.
Of course, Judy won’t budge and wants to turn it into the long game because she is still laser-focused on doing whatever she’s planning if she arrives back in Lone Moose from New Fork, and the first item on the list would be to get her bag back from Will and Willa by making her body lifeless before attempting to make a deal with Wolf to do what she says while being cuffed. Wolf refuses, which leads Judy to act like a 7-year-old and go for the old “Help, I’m being kidnapped by a random stranger even though that person is related to me” approach. Trying to create a scene after Wolf refuses to accept the deal, only for him to cave and go after the couple, off-screen, of course.
We go back to the restaurant, and with I guess only two hours, maybe an hour or two tops, until their table is called, the competition begins to take place on which duo, out of the three parties, that being the pair of sisters, a father and his son, and a couple, will fill the two spots left by Judy and Wolf in the event those two miss their dinner once their table is called. Having the spot to be treated like it’s The Bachelor/Bachelorette and have each of the parties be questioned for why they deserve a couple of empty seats at the table. You know, to see who’s qualified to dine with the Tobins. And the figurine of a French poodle will serve as the rose, and whoever wins it, will join the family and have their wait time shortened.
Starting with the twin sisters who tell Honeybee why they deserve the seats because they’re twins and they have to learn one face because they have the same face. Which could probably make things difficult when having to remember who is who, despite the different shirt color and earrings, but it can be a hassle just to remember who is who. But they’re great at having conversations, and for Honeybee, I guess that’s considered an advantage for the twins. Then came the couple as they were being questioned next for why they deserved the final two spots at the table. Questioning if they’re loud chewers, and no one wants to have that sitting at the table, and having to behave like a rabid animal. They have the advantage when they revealed to Honeybee that they’re soft chewers and won’t make a sound when chewing their food. At least they’re not the kind of people who didn’t outgrow chewing with their mouth open, because then you would feel like you’re a rabid animal. And at a fancy restaurant, no less. Then came the father and the son, with the father doing all of the talking, and yep, they’re that type of contestant who use a sob story to help them get a boost in the competition when bringing up that it’s only him and his son and didn’t bring his wife as if she was dead, but in actuality, she just doesn’t like French food. And yeah, you can already see that this competition is now closer than expected. Going for the drama angle if we’re going to treat it like a reality show.
Going back to the main plot as we check up on Judy and Wolf for a bit as they find a ride to hitch on their way to the Crab Leg Museum so that Judy can get to Will and Willa to switch bags right outside the train station. Coming across a guy who plans on driving from New Fork to Homer since it’s on the path this guy was heading before leaving the town. He agrees to let Wolf and Judy hitch a ride on the back of the truck, but has to give them one request when riding, and an odd one at that. That being him telling the two to, and I’m not making this shit up, kissing the milk. I don’t want to know why that was a rule when having to drive miles on end just to carry the bottles of milk, and I don’t want to know the answer for that other than just shut up and go along with it. It’s not like he’s OCD or something, since the bottles are meant for his wife and daughters and want no marks or anything upon arrival. It’s just a weird ass request just by accepting the offer to take them to the museum. But if you’re going to ask them not to “kiss the bottles”, you should’ve let them sit inside the truck on their way to their destination. I’m just spitballin’ here.
We go back to the restaurant, with the competition starting to heat up as the three parties continue to vie to fill the two empty spots at the table continue to be interviewed to see who’s more qualified to have their wait time cut short, with the next topic for questioning being what the kind of food they’ll be ordering if they do get picked to join the Tobins at the table. Starting with the sisters, who are planning on getting the croque. The croque monsieur for the lady with the green sweater and triangle earrings, and the croque madame for the lady in the red sweater with the hoop earrings. Both of which are ham and cheese sandwiches, where the difference between the orders is that the madame has an egg on top of the sandwich and the monsieur does not. Next came the couple who plan on ordering the French onion soup, which sounds simple before the lady brings up the added layer to the dish, that is the cheese on top of the bowl, and plans on using the bread. And then we get to the father and son on what they’ll be ordering is an unusual one because they plan on getting the appetizers. That’s it, no entrees. They want the appetizers from the place and nothing more.
What, without making this into a reality competition, like a private area to be used as a confessional, with Honeybee noticing that the competition is as close as ever. Telling herself as if she’s talking to the camera, that all three parties have good ideas that they shared and like all of it, from what they had to say. And as the host of the competition, she knows that it won’t be long until one of them will be picked as the winner, and the rest will have to wait as usual for their table to be called. A hard decision, but that’s what a judge and host does. One team will win and the other will either accept the loss in pride or sadness or in this day of age, claim that this shit is rigged and might be threatening to go after you and your family. But other than that, it’s time to find out who will be filling in the final two spots... in the fourth act of the episode. Now it feels like I’m doing the suspense.
We transition back to the main plot of the episode with Judy and Wolf still chained together on their way to the Crab Leg Museum to exchange bags with the couple who took hers by mistake. And we get an explanation for why Judy stormed out of the restaurant and ghosted her family on her way back to Lone Moose. So, remember at the start of the episode where the Tobins are waiting for their table to be called, and you have Judy working as hard as she can with her essay so that she can be enrolled in the summer program in Europe? Yeah, she bombed her shot in getting into that program with her interview, and because of that, she won’t be able to travel outside of the US. So, when she heard that Ms. McNamara, who is in charge of the program, was grieving over the death of her pet weasel, and you can interpret “lost” as the animal having to run away, but the weasel probably got sent packing, but Judy heard that Ms. McNamara’s weasel got lost, which I guess I presume is dead, it opened a window of opportunity for her to get into the program, an alternative, by bribing McNamara to give her the weasel so that she could get into the program.
Wolf’s reaction is as follows: When he heard that Judy was planning on giving McNamara a new weasel after she lost hers, again, presumably dead, he thought that even though Judy hated McNamara, most of the students do, but mostly Judy, it was thoughtful for her to do something nice before finding out that she’s plans on bribing her just so she can get into the program after ruining her shot in the interview process. Wolf tries to reassure that it’s no big deal that she didn’t make the cut and that bribing McNamara with the replacement weasel won’t make things better. But oh boy, Judy... Judy... you’re not helping your case. You’re not helping your fucking case. She says to Wolf that he “doesn’t understand” because her wanting to get into the program for the summer is her shot to “start her real life”. As if Lone Moose, and Alaska in general, isn’t the life she wants to stick with for the rest of her life. Calling out New Fork for being a carbon copy of France because you don’t get the actual feeling. The experience of the real country rather than a town that should be considered a tourist trap. Even having to correct Wolf that the gondolas there are not even French, they’re Italian, which wouldn’t fit the French theme the town was going for.
And then... she had to audacity to shit talk Wolf about his adult life as if she’s going through a crashout. Calling him out for not having a good enough adult life, even though he’s still in the early stages of said adult life, by having to marry Honeybee at age 21, didn’t even bother him to move out of Lone Moose or Alaska in general, and just moved to the guest cabin, which is a walking distance from the main house, and of course, calling him out for celebrating Honeybee’s birthday as the most important day in his life, even though it should because that’s his wife, he had to make sure things go right to make things memorable since it’s her first birthday not being in Fresno, with the final nail in the crashout coffin saying that Wolf’s life is too small, causing his feeling to be hurt.
I was planning on using that towards Russell last week, but ooh boy, holy crashout that we got. I get that Judy is 16, and most of the time, teenagers are pretty much all talk, and I guess some action that would turn it into life lessons, as if they’re saying to them that they didn’t mean that. Going for the “If that person tells you to jump off a cliff, you would do it”, you know, that saying, and I don’t advise y’all to do it, in GTA. But oh boy, Judy, really had to bring out your bratty side when having to trip on your words that can lead to hurt feelings. You nearly lost Kima and Amelia in “Bee’s All That Adventure” when saying shit like this. And now, here we go again I guess with Wolf because you just want to get the fuck out of country, even though in the current state of the world, pretty sure no one wants us in there, so you can quote on quote, “start a real life” as if you’re planning on moving there. And if I can recall correctly, Judy...
Wasn’t it you last season in “Worst Drives Club Adventure” where you struggled and hesitated in trying to get a driver’s license because you thought that you getting your license meant that you’re getting a first taste of freedom and would lead to you leaving Lone Moose and your family behind? Yeah, that was you, Judy. That was you who said that nearly a year ago, when this episode came out. Had to pull out the fucking receipts when saying that shit when it first premiered. A complete 180 if you think about it, even though, again, teenagers are pretty much all talk. They’re all talk. But again, that was you, shawty. That was you who said that a season ago, and had to undergo a complete 180 just because you bombed your shot in getting into the program to travel overseas. But yeah, Wolf got his feelings hurt thanks to Judy’s comments and decides to get be dropped in the middle of the open road to wrap up the third act... by kissing the milk bottle that triggered the driver on their way to the Crab Leg Museum.
And going into the fourth and final act of the episode, they got kicked out of the truck in the middle of the open road with Wolf using a rock to break the handcuffs because when he took the handcuffs earlier in the episode to use it to lock himself onto Judy so that she doesn’t plans on running away again, he didn’t notice that he forgot get the keys to unlock it. But regardless, they’re out of the cuffs, and thanks to Judy’s hurtful comments back there while on the truck with her calling Wolf’s life short because he got hitched at 21, never moved out of the city, and treating Honeybee’s birthday like it’s a national holiday, the two both go their separate ways with Wolf, accepting what she said in pride, won’t be dragging Judy back to the restaurant to celebrate Honeybee’s birthday with Judy now going to the museum, on foot, to make the bag exchange. And with Wolf going back to the restaurant alone without Judy, this means that the competition on who will get the spot with the clock currently ticking is now going to be every person for themselves for that final spot. And speaking of the competition...
We go back to the restaurant, with the competition reaching its climax, with Honeybee finishing up asking the three parties questions, with one of the questions they’re wrapping is about whether the Shrek character Puss in Boots should be on the cover of People’s Sexiest Men Alive if he were a real person. Yeah, you can see why this is pretty much a win-now season for The Great North for the show to be kept alive. But that’s enough talking, Beef comes in and the moment of truth has arrived to find out who will be filling up the final two spots to join the Tobins at the dinner table... or rather, one now because Wolf decided to leave Judy behind because she was acting like a gank. But that’s after the next scene that we’re about to jump into.
And that is the evening hours with Judy arriving at McNamara’s house, on foot, hence the sun starting to set, finally giving the bag with the weasel, so I guess Judy did make an exchange with Will and Willa at the Crab Leg Museum, and telling them that they got the wrong bag, off-screen of course, before having to walk her way to McNamara’s house as the sun begins to set. So, with Judy arriving at McNamara’s house, you’d think that this should be a shoo-in for her to get into the program if McNamara takes the bait when giving her the new weasel after her old one Jermaine got sent to the lobby, but since we’re now about to be less than three minutes left in the episode, Judy finally has her come to Jesus moment and realized what she did was bad when shit talking Wolf about his adult life after admitting to McNamara what she was going to bribe her with the weasel so she can earn a spot to go overseas and as expected, she plans on getting back to the restaurant in a hurry before her family’s name get called for their table to be called.
So, going back to the restaurant and it’s time for the results on who will be taking Wolf and Judy’s spot as the Tobins’ wait time for their table is about to come to a close, Honeybee is preparing to give the poodle statue to any of the three parties to see who’s suitable to join the Tobins at the table. But just as Honeybee is about to announce the winner to join them, one of the contestants decides to call out the other contestants to add drama into the mix, just as a winner was going to be announced. One of the contestants, Lloyd, the father of the father-son team, accuses his opponent on their right, the couple, the Michaelsons, of doing a round two, i.e., planning on eating again despite that they already ate and Lloyd, the father, got that from the hostess, who told him about their past reservation. And rather than lie their way out of the accusations, the Michaelsons end up revealing that they did eat once and plotted on using the final two spots to eat again. And they can’t help it; it became a freaking addiction that they can’t turn away. But then it turns into the lie game as they’re now hoping for sympathy to serve as brownie points for them to, I guess, Mickey Mouse their way to get the seat. And a lot of lies that had to be thrown towards each other so they could get their hands on the two empty seats. Or rather, one empty seat.
Because we enter the two-minute warning of the episode, and here comes Wolf back into the restaurant, we see what is going on with him checking his watch, and we see that he made it before their table gets called. Of course, without Judy, because again, she acted like a gank after making mean comments about Wolf that hurt his feelings. Hence, the separation is to have Wolf go back to the restaurant and Judy head to Ms. McNamara’s house in Lone Moose. And with Wolf back at the restaurant, Judy’s spot is all that remains. Meaning that the final spot is now every person for themselves on who wants the seat. About to have the waiting area turn chaotic with everyone ready to turn on each other before Honeybee decides to pick Melissa from the Michaelson party to fill in for Judy, resulting in her wait time being cut short. Unfortunately for Melissa, she ain’t going to get her chance at the dinner table... again.
Because Judy enters the restaurant, and right on time for the Tobins to finally have their name called to head to their table. And expected, ready to make amends and apologize to Wolf for what happened, only to be interrupted by the mime who is ready to throw her out, but Judy doesn’t need any more bullshit to deal with and tells the mime, to his face, to fuck off because he is ruining what is supposed to be Judy’s come to Jesus moment to wrap up the episode. The mime backs away with Judy having to install an imaginary door so she can keep the mime barricaded, hence, him trying to knock the door down by kicking it, treating it as a raid, before having to back out. Other than that, Judy apologizes to Judy for what happened back there that led to Wolf having his feelings hurt over how small his life is, and even though she wants to go out and explore the world, she accepts that she should enjoy her small life and thinks that she has a big life because she has her family.
And that’s more than enough for Wolf to accept Judy’s apology and hug things out. And with Judy back in, Melissa gets thrown out, and thus, everyone in the Tobin family is ready to take their seat. And should probably hurry before the mime begins to break through the door, as Ham said, though he’ll probably throw Melissa out instead of Judy instead as an offer despite the heated exchange between the mime and Judy. And yeah, the whole family is together to celebrate Honeybee’s birthday... again, no Dirt or Jerry in this episode to celebrate Honeybee’s big day. And the moral of the story, I guess the same as last week’s: don’t leave people hanging and accept the life that you have. And please watch and support the show. Because if it’s canned, then it’s on y’all. Most of the blame will go towards the network, but still.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? This was an interesting episode, despite that there was an episode that was supposed to air this week that got moved, but at least for a good reason. And sure, opinions are going to be mixed for this episode, mainly because of Judy’s behavior, mostly from people on Reddit who talked about the episode in the comments. But it was an interesting episode nonetheless.
Mostly because it was a Wolf and Judy episode with them as a duo, because if you go back to their conversation in “It’s Compli-skated Adventure”, we have never seen them together as a duo in the entirety of this show up until that moment earlier this season and this episode in general. It didn’t disappoint despite some road bumps in the way that would’ve downplayed it. Mostly stemming from Judy’s behavior in this episode, with her having to ghost her family after getting the weasel and not telling her family what she is planning, evading capture, and heading back to the restaurant, and shit talk Wolf about his adult life when having to go through a bit of a crashout. Feels out of character if you think about even though she’s a teenager and they’re nothing more than talk and some, but mostly no bite. God, I hope this doesn’t result in sudden flanderization. We had enough from what I see with some Bob’s Burgers characters, and I don’t want to go through that with this is we do get a Season 6.
The subplot was alright with the rest of the Tobins having to play the waiting game and treat the spots left by Judy and Wolf as prizes for the three parties who wanted to cut the line, so they don’t want to wait for a very long time for their table to be called. This was an alright subplot though feels a bit fillery and even though Wolf, and later Judy, did make it to the restaurant on time by the end of the episode, it was an alright subplot and having Honeybee, as the birthday girl, to turn it into a competition on who will be getting the spots filled that is pretty much all for naught other than having to kill time before they get their table called. Other than that, it’s an interesting episode. Nice to have a Judy and Wolf episode, though Judy’s behavior was a bit out of line in this. And again, no Dirt or Jerry in this episode because this was Honeybee’s birthday. So, I’ll give “Jude-night Run Adventure”...
A 7.5 out of 10. But that’s my opinion, and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. No new episode of The Great North this upcoming Sunday, but there is a new one later this month on May 29 as we move to the Thursday slot for the summer, and yes, it’s the episode that should’ve aired this week in “Sunset Beeflevard Adventure”. And until then, in its place on Sunday is the return of Bob’s Burgers with what some think is the hugely hyped “Mr. Fischoeder’s Opus”.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. The 2025 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament is already underway with another set of double matches for this week, with Group A between Momo Ayase (Dandadan) and Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop), as well as Rin Okumura (Blue Exorcist) and Mash Burnedead (Mashle) in Group B. The poll for these two matches closes on Saturday. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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