So we’re back. You’d usually see the reviews until the end of this month with the Bob’s Burgers reviews with the new season but it looks like the current season of The Great North (and Bob’s Burgers come next week) ain’t done just yet. Other than that, and you might as well scroll down a bit in the introduction section of the review for what is going on...or at least half-ass the explanation about why we have new episodes early in the month and the current season is not truly over since mid-May.
Other than that, quite the eventful summer we had to endure since the last time Bob’s Burgers and The Great North aired their episodes in what we thought was the season finale. Covid cases, hurricanes, a former president almost getting shot, the current president quitting the race, and the top moments from this past Summer Olympics would be the Turkish gun shooter who looked like a trained assassin coming out of the John Wick films and what might as well be this year’s Halloween costume with that Australian breakdancer.
Yeah, quite the summer we had gone through and now, to the Fall in what may or may not be America’s final days as a democracy. As for your boy...well, aside from keeping things together with the page, I was in Georgia. Three months to be exact. Nothing too serious, I was visiting family, and at the same time, the hurricane hit HQ, caught COVID for the second time in two years. Not fun. Not fun at all. That was then, now to the present with what is going to be a long seventeen weeks of doing these reviews.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, we got a triple play of episode plots with Judy investigating who has been buying her paintings, the Shaw siblings (Honeybee and Jerry) duking it out on who can hang on to their foam fingers the longest, and the rest of the Tobins decide to get into gardening by growing a giant ass cabbage in my spoilerific review of the sixteenth episode of Season 4 of The Great North, titled “Excess Cabbage Adventure”.
So, yeah, the season is not yet over. We all thought that Season 4 would’ve been in the books back in May with the airing of “Fifty Worst Dates Adventure”. That was until the bombshell was dropped two months later with the release of the Fall schedule aside from the season premiere date for September 29 for The Simpsons, Krapapolis, and, of course, Bob’s Burgers with FOX’s newest animated series Universal Basic Guys premiering three weeks early on September 8, this upcoming Sunday at the time of posting. Of course, UBG’s premiere leading up to the September 29 lineup can’t be just them alone. In comes Bob’s Burgers and The Great North to join in the fun. Not in the form of reruns, but airing new episodes. And not just new episodes as in some in the fandom that is currently the same population as a town in the middle of nowhere in some random state...so, somewhere in Nebraska thinking that Season 5 has already come early. Nay, nay, try the remainder of Season 4. The one scene in the promo with Honeybee showing off her foam finger pretty much gave that away because that scene wasn’t shown in the first fifteen episodes of this current season.
So, for yours truly, seventeen weeks of doing the liveblogs and working on the reviews. With the next three weeks, with Bob’s Burgers returning with the continuation of Season 14 and The Great North having back-to-back doubleheaders... oh boy, y’all better pray for me. Not for my downfall, but to get me through this with having to do three reviews in a single week back-to-back. Other than that, we got a new episode to start the month of September and the start of what is going to be a pretty long seventeen weeks that almost feels like the Animation Domination block, mostly Bob’s Burgers since after September 15, is going to be the main focus before January, is trying to rival the NFL. I don’t know how the sports content creators on YouTube who cover the NFL do it every week. So for right now, Week 1 of the 17-week review barrage from yours truly and we begin with “Excess Cabbage Adventure” from The Great North.
Sticking with the summer aspect of the setting for this week’s episode, and just to clarify when it comes to this episode in comparison to the previous episode and this has been somewhat of an issue this season alone and it’s the two words that y’all should know by now: Production Code. It has been scattered-shot all across the board since the first episode of this exact season. I did mention it in my review of “A Chug’s Life Adventure” because of that one scene where we have Beef showing some signs of flirting with Alyson’s sisters who were visiting for the competition despite that he is currently Carissa and I have to come to the defense and say that the production code was out of order and that episode, if we follow by the order of the production code, would be before Beef and Carissa became a couple. The same goes for Aunt Dirt and how she didn’t appear in certain episodes in this season like this one for example. Had to get a refresher for everyone since we’ve been gone for four months. Do you really want to know if the production order has been wonky this season?
This is a Season 3 produced episode, a holdover, and the end credits should tell you when looking at the format of the credits, especially with the guest cast list. Not to mention, Megan Mullally’s name is in the staring cast list in this episode and when you look at any of the first fifteen episodes of this current season, her name is not on the staring cast list and instead, it’s the guest cast list as if she got demoted. However, that was mostly because Alyson, one of the characters she voiced, has appeared less and less even though we have Mrs. Tuntley appearing a lot as of late. So, that has to clear some things up regarding this season so far regarding the production code. If there’s like an iceberg post to say what we have to put for Season 4 of The Great North, the production order would be on there.
So the episode starts with Alanis in the sky telling Judy a story for her to be entertained about one of her life experiences that led to Judy falling asleep while listening to the damn thing. For shame for that one, Judy. Especially when having private time on the roof with the Northern Lights present for an hour at end. Not technically Judy’s fault for falling asleep like that because according to Judy for her reason for why she had to fall asleep for obvious reasons and not because she got bored, it’s the middle of the summer season. This means that Alaska is about to lose an amount of hours of daylight as the calendar progresses and prepares to transition from Summer to Fall. And once we get to the Winter, it’s total darkness. Mostly because Alaska is sitting by the North Pole and knowing how the Earth is titled and the direction the sun’s rays play things out on how much daylight certain locations get. Though looking at the sky when Judy mentioned that it’s 2:00 in the morning, the sky, at least in my opinion, doesn’t scream 2:00 in the morning. This feels like something you’d see at around 6:00, maybe 7:00 in the morning. But I probably digress because Alaska in the summer does get more daylight.
Anyway, Judy had to stay up to get some alone time with Alanis without having to fall asleep because she should be asleep right now and don’t know if a cup of hot chocolate is going to help you stay awake aside from the idea that eating and/or drinking sugar before bed would get you nightmares. But gotta switch the topic from Alanis talking about the Golden Girls to Judy talking about the stuff she’s been doing to pass the time because Summer doesn’t last forever. Especially once Alanis brought up that this would be the time of year when the town would have the annual mother-daughter softball tournament and a topic like that, especially when having to involve a daughter and a mother, the show doesn’t need to remind us that Kathleen is NOT mother material. She’s really not. Of course, the topic has to change once more because we don’t want to make things uncomfortable around Judy when mentioning the softball tournament for mothers and daughters because again, no need for the show to remind us that Kathleen is not a good mom who left the family right after Moon was born.
And the topic goes towards Judy’s paintings that she put up at Maude’s for display for the townsfolk to see and brings up that one of the customers actually bought the painting off the wall. Already cracking a few eggs to make an omelet by not focusing on the whole thing with the mother-daughter softball tournament that she has been missing out on for years since Kathleen’s departure and instead, uses that as inspiration and thus, the paintings that she made came to be. And the news that someone bought the art piece caused Judy to feel some joy and can’t wait to put up another painting of hers at Maude’s, which we’ll get to right after the following scene but not before Judy once again falls asleep and wakes up a bit so she can go inside so she doesn’t fall to the ground. Because an injury would be the last thing Judy wants if she wants to have the paint train going. So we have the A-plot set up and ready to go. And now, going into the next scene the next day...
We got the B-plot with Beef, Wolf, Ham, and Moon marvel their latest creation, that being a giant ass cabbage. A giant ass cabbage that would make the Cabbage Merchant from Avatar: The Last Airbender seeth in jealousy over the size and weight. So the Tobin boys have grown a giant cabbage right by their front door and for good reason other than it just magically appears because the script says so. It’s more of the latter because it just magically appears. But mostly because they’re aiming for first place for the town’s upcoming Longest Day Largest Vegetable Parade where participants from across the town (and maybe the region but mostly the town) show off their largest crop to be judged with the best crop will be crowned the winner and getting that sweet cash money. And that is what the B-plot to the episode is going to be for this episode. The Tobin boys work day and night to make sure things go right for them with their giant cabbage leading up to the day of the event. As for how to create a giant cabbage or any other vegetable...how the fuck should I know? I’m not a gardener. And I’m pretty sure they’re not aiming to get themselves a Guinness World Record or whatever they call it in the world of The Great North or at least in the Bouchard-verse.
We go back to the Judy plot of the episode with her arriving at Maude’s for her to put up the next installment of her painting on the walls...by the bathroom, because nothing says wanting to go take a leak by looking at the painting that is presented. Of course, with the price tag attached with the board at the bottom of the piece once it was put up with a $35 price tag for anyone to buy. Especially in light of the news that someone had bought her painting and plans on meeting the person who bought it. Turning it into her mission, for this episode in the first half, while at the same time, trying not to think about the mother-daughter softball tournament because once again, the show doesn’t need to remind us that Kathleen is a terrible mother to the family and already, you can feel the mommy issues coming from Judy when trying to change the conversation while talking to Alanis earlier in the episode or right now at this part of the episode with Maude.
You could say that Judy in this episode feels like she’s trying to deflect the conversation about the softball tournament because it involves mothers and daughters and we already know that Kathleen leaving the family hanging and having to deal with her disruptive behavior, whether it’s partying too much or having affairs after affairs while being with Beef, but the scars are still too fresh and that was years ago after the sudden departure to be with her lover and moved to Pittsburgh. I’d said it in my review of “Bear of Beeftown Adventure” and especially in light of Beef now in a relationship with Carissa, in the event Kathleen were to make her appearance and back to the Tobins’ lives, thinking that she’s “changed” but in reality, she’s not, he has to be the one to call her out. He has to call Kathleen out for her actions that should at least put an end to what is pretty much a very stressful chapter in their lives. As Judy begins to track down who is the person responsible for buying the paintings...
We now get to the C-plot of the episode with Honeybee and Jerry at the bleachers watching the mother-daughter softball game, watching the game with nothing to do since it is the summer after all. Pretty much all of us during the summer hiatus. The game is ongoing as Jerry arrives at the scene and sits next to his sister and you know it’s criminal while attending a sporting event, especially a baseball/softball game where there are no hot dogs to consume. We saw that once Jody Jr came to the scene carrying a box of foam fingers, not hot dogs even though there’s a snack bar over there. Honeybee and Jerry take the foam fingers but not before Honeybee declaring create a bet with Jerry. A bet that Jerry at first doesn’t want to be a part of because he knows that Honeybee would get the best of him but ends up doing it, hoping to get the dub. That, of course...
This leads to the Shaw siblings joining the Tobins at the diner with them wearing the foam fingers and yes, we got the scene. We got the scene from the trailer with Honeybee and Jerry wearing the foam fingers. Betting themselves to keep the foam fingers on their hands, so the competition comes down to pressuring either Honeybee or Jerry to lose the competition if one of them removes their foam fingers from their hands. This actually begs the question of all of that, if they challenged themselves to wear the foam fingers without having to fall into the pressure of removing it, how do they change clothes? How do they bathe? How do they eat? How do they drive? I mean, would there be some sort of exclusion when the bet was made where they can’t remove the foam fingers except for driving, eating, bathing, and changing clothes? I feel like they should. I mean, the Shaws arrived from the ballpark to the diner after purchasing the foam fingers, so I feel like the bet would’ve gone into effect once they arrived because I bet you that driving with the foam fingers attached isn’t easy when taking a hold of the steering wheel. Yeah, the C-plot of this episode with the bet regarding the foam fingers with Honeybee and Jerry reminds me of the bet that Gene and Louise made in “These Boots Are Made for Stalking” regarding the stinky socks because Gene left his sock in Louise’s room. Oh yeah, it’s like that with this episode with the C-plot with Honeybee and Jerry.
We end the first act of the episode with Tobins and Shaws leaving the diner before Maude stops Judy from leaving and tells her that the recent painting that she put up earlier in the day was purchased once again. And by the same person. Judy missed her opportunity to catch the person responsible for the purchase but Judy noticed that the fact that someone purchased her paintings had boosted her ego as if she had a demand to meet and a supply to get to work and hoping that one of these days, which won’t be too long once we get to the second act. At least we got some clues on who the mysterious person is responsible for buying the paintings from Judy. Finding out that the person is a woman who wore a cloak and has a tattoo of the three letters “RBG”, being the abbreviation of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. So, this piqued Judy’s interest in the fact that someone bought her paintings and she happened to be a proud feminist. And that’s going to be Judy’s mission going into the second act to find the woman who bought her paintings. And not take the money she got from the purchase. Probably should’ve taken the money and turned it into a small business, but finding the person who bought it should be the way to go.
Going into the second act of the episode with Judy once again talking to Alanis in the middle of the night on the rooftop, decides to press the pause button on the creation of the paintings and shifts her focus on finding the woman who purchased it. Which, from Alanis’ perspective, feels like we’re shifting back to the whole conversation about the mother-daughter activities that Judy had been missing out like the softball tournament because again, Kathleen isn’t there. The Tobins have no mother figure and for Judy, no mother figure but also no female figure aside from her (Judy) imagination through the Northern Lights. I mean...think back to “Sister Pact Too Adventure” with Judy wanting to spend a day with Honeybee at a female empowerment festival that turned out to be a huge Ponzi scheme because Judy had no female figures since Kathleen broke away from the family and fucked off that her only source for girl-on-girl advice would be through her imagination. And that was before Honeybee came into the picture and moved in with the Tobins and secured a job with Alyson as her boss.
Judy thinks to herself while talking to Alanis that maybe it is sort of like that with the random older woman who bought her paintings and found someone who appreciates for artistic value and does not treat it as a way to attract a guy while being married to her father as Judy brought up. So in short, she decides to press the pause button on making more paintings and focus on finding the woman who bought the paintings. And hopefully whatever she’s investigating won’t lead her into a rabbit hole filled with bad decisions.
Daylight hits and Judy needs a ride to Maude’s so she can begin her mini-stakeout to meet the woman who bought her paintings. However, all of the Tobins are busy doing their own things. Starting with Beef, who is busy taking care of the cabbage along with Moon in preparation for the upcoming festival and that’s all they can do. And the same goes for Wolf and Ham once Judy tries to ask either of them for a ride but they’re busy playing dress-up with Ham dressed up as Abraham Lincoln and Wolf as Mary Todd reenacting Lincoln’s assassination. All of this is for pageantry when having to present the cabbage. And mind you this episode was made months before the near-assassination of Trump, got to put that out there. So, no changes in that scene even though Wolf and Ham had to reenact a historical scene. Judy needs either Ham or Wolf to drive to Maude’s to begin her stakeout but alas, denied. So that leaves Honeybee...
Of course, they still have their bet that is going on as we see her and Jerry at a bowling alley with Jerry having trouble throwing his bowling ball with the foam fingers attached and would lose if he removes it. Okay, so I guess that answers the question of whether or not driving is excluded when the bet was made. And I know what y’all are saying when watching this episode, especially with this scene: “Can Judy drive herself? We seen her driving before in a few episodes? Why can’t she take the keys and drive the shift?” First, if she took the keys, she would ask Beef for permission to take the van. But second and the most important of them all with this discussion and y’all already know the two words that I’m going to say: Production code. Production code. Production freaking fracking code. We have an episode next week, this upcoming Sunday as one of the two episodes of the back-to-back doubleheaders, also in the same production code as this week’s episode, where we finally find out about Judy driving. Because that was surprising to see for a bit in “Judy Presents: The Staircake” while chaos was going on because Wolf had to take a leak and had to deal with a small ice patch on the road. And again in “High Expectations Adventure” while being under the influence of weed-laced gummies with Kima during a school trip in Juneau as if they’re auditioning to be in GTA VI.
Regardless of how to get there, Judy arrived at Maude’s to begin her stakeout with another painting in tow for her to place as bait. Waiting for the moment to strike for her to come up to the woman and I guess...do stuff? Interview or something I dunno. Judy just wants to get ahold of the woman responsible for buying the paintings in the past few days that caught her attention and she’ll go the whole nine yards if it means spotting the person responsible for it and not because it would tie in with the whole mommy issues because of the ongoing mother-daughter softball tournament and might be in dire need of a female figure since her only female figure growing up fucked off to be with her lover. However, just as Judy talks to Maude about the situation in hand that caught her attention...
We have someone in a cloak entering the car and preparing to make a break for it. And apparently, the person in the cloak is the woman that Judy is looking for and is responsible for buying her paintings for the past few days. Yeah, nothing too suspicious about a person in a cloak making a getaway drive after buying a painting that catches a painter like Judy who was supposed to serve as bait. Noting too suspicious and sketchy about this mysterious person. Especially later on in the episode when going into the second half. Yep...nothing too fishy about her. Especially with her making a break for it and for Judy to follow her as if she was luring Judy to her place of residence by using Kyle’s electric scooter, with permission of course, on her way to her home going into the next scene in the final scene of the first half of the episode. And that’s where we meet the suspect in question once Judy arrives at her place after trailing her as if the woman was expecting Judy to follow her.
Enter Sheri, the person responsible for buying Judy’s paintings for the past few days, voiced by Cheri Oteri. As for how she even got a hold of Judy’s present, you can thank the power of social media for lending her a tip on how she reached Judy. Mostly from Alyson’s Instagram page and promote the crap out of Judy’s paintings for anyone to sell, rather, make a bid like it’s eBay since it’s one painting even though Judy should just open up an Etsy shop to make bank. Regardless, Sheri finally got the opportunity to meet Judy and the same goes for the latter upon the news of her paintings being sold just by one person. I’m guessing when going through the press release of this episode when it came out a few weeks ago, the show doesn’t want to make sure the identity of the person who bought the paintings doesn’t seem obvious if it’s one of the characters that we know. Thank God that doesn’t seem to be the case.
So, Alyson’s post about Judy’s paintings caught Sheri’s attention, and decided to purchase each one that ultimately led to the news of all of this catching Judy’s attention and for her to go after her, leading up to where we are at the moment of this episode at the end of the first act. And oh boy, quite the ecstatic one she is when having to buy the paintings. To the point where the animation of her jumping in joy looks fluid, animated by someone who used to work for the show since this is a Season 3 holdover and is currently with the Bob’s Burgers team. Judy is just glad that there’s someone out there who appreciates her artwork to the point where Sheri decides to invite Judy to join her for lunch at the mall the next day, in which she accepts the invite between the artist and the fan.
Which is good for Judy that she found a fan of her paintings and in light of the ongoing topic that Judy is currently deflecting about mother-daughter bonding as if she might’ve found herself a bit of a mother figure from Sheri once she leaves going into halftime. And oh boy, anyone who has already caught on when watching the episode, you already know that some red flags are coming from Sheri and the way she behaves once she meets Judy. Luring Judy by having her follow Sheri is one thing upon her planning on catching the person who bought her paintings is one thing, but her saying “We were destined to... blah, blah, blah”, should have some alarm bells ringing in your head once going into the second half of the episode. And this is just the beginning of what is about to come later in the episode. Somewhat predictable about Sheri being up to no good but oh boy, the dominoes are starting to fall into place going into the third act on Sheri and the kind of person she is.
We start the second half of the episode with Judy trying to make a conversation about herself. Let me rephrase that because the way I say that is me saying that Judy is going all “me, me, me”, Judy tries to get the family to listen to her day or couple of days regarding her paintings and meeting Sheri, the woman who bought the paintings, hoping for the family to appreciate what she’s been doing and should be proud of her for the accomplishments she’s making with a few, about one or two members being skeptical about Sheri, but instead, same thing as the day before for the rest of the family. At one aisle, you have the Tobin boys currently focusing on the giant cabbage with the day of the festival right around the corner; and on the other aisle, the ongoing bet between Honeybee and Jerry. Also gave away the answer of whether or not eating is excluded when the bet was made. And once again, Judy feels ignored because the others are so busy with what they’re doing that they don’t have time to turn their attention towards her. Something that is going to likely bite every member of the Tobins right in the ass later on in the episode.
For right now, we switch over to Judy and Sheri having lunch at a tea house restaurant at the mall with Judy’s latest painting being shown between them for Sheri to look in awe. Having to interview her about her personal life, correcting Sheri that she only lives with her father Beef instead of having both parents living because of Kathleen’s departure. Nearly exposing her imaginary friend Alanis to someone who she just barely met and a few...decades older than her before bringing up the boat in the painting and revealing that the boat in the painting is the family boat. Once again, the red flags had to be waived once Judy brought up the family boat that caught Sheri’s attention and brought up a place that she wanted to go. That should be enough to tell you that something is off about Sheri with the way she behaves when being around Judy ever since their first meeting the day before by letting Judy follow her to her place. If this review was a YouTube video, I would have Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” on the ready regarding her behavior. Not in... THAT type of behavior, though Sheri has been acting somewhat quote-on-quote “predatory” because her letting Judy go after her was the first red flag from her in this episode, but more of who she’s affiliated with or the type of group she’s affiliated when mentioning the universe and all that mambo jumbo.
Cult. Yep, you read that right, a cult. Sheri is a cult member. Or rather, a cult leader. The waiter, once Judy calls on him to bring her a box to take the cucumber sandwich, filled with cucumber and nothing else, home with her, questions Judy if she’s a part of Sheri’s group, which she has to tell the waiter that she’s not with her being oblivious and unaware of the signs. The reason the waiter brought up Sheri’s cult is because he has a family member, a cousin, who used to be a part of the group because he was unemployed before defecting and moved to Wyoming...to switch camps with another cult. And Judy, right before finding out at the end of the third act, was oblivious to all of this. She doesn’t know what she has been roped into since deciding to go after her upon hearing the news from Maude that someone has bought her paintings. Decided to find the person who bought her paintings, hopefully, to get the topic of the mother-daughter softball event out of her head, and she did so, only for her to fall into a rabbit hole along the way. A rabbit hole that is unaware of the situation before it’s too late once we get to the end of the third act.
The next day arrives and the day of the festival has arrived. And for the Tobin boys, it’s go time for them to take the giant cabbage to the town for it to be judged in their attempt to win the contest. Judy tries to tell Beef if she can borrow the boat, not knowing what is about to come later on in the episode going into the final act. The boys are busy bickering over what to do to make sure the cabbage is safely secured and unharmed. Something that should’ve been done later along the line (production code-wise) regarding Ham’s cake creation earlier this season. Moon wants to go on the trailer to secure the cargo despite the dangers it would put him out in the open road. Only for Beef to say that he needs to be the one to be sitting on the trailer next to the cabbage. And then Wolf comes in and says that the cabbage should be on his lap, only for Ham to step in and say that the cabbage should be left alone on their way to the town because, and he quotes, the plant needs to “meditate”. The bickering, of course, has to stop because Moon brings up that they’re wasting precious time bickering and instead, they should be on the road. And so they did...
Only to leave Judy behind, just as she was about to ask Beef to hand over the keys to the boat. Because she needs a ride to the pier, and now that the Tobin boys are out of the house, and the same goes for Honeybee who has to deal with her bet with Jerry, she has no ride. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands by stealing the keys and asking Sheri through the phone for a ride now that she decided to take the keys to the boat with her. And for Judy leading up to the end of the third and going into the fourth and final act...the rabbit hole is getting dug deeper and that hole would lead her into some weird stuff. Very weird stuff. Like digging into an underground base of the Vietcong during the Vietnam War that could destroy you physically and mentally.
The Tobin boys minus Judy arrived at the town as everyone is getting ready for their giant produce crop. The guys thought that everything that they had planned, that being the preparation and how to take care as if you’re raising a baby... looked like they had run into some problems once they began to take the cabbage out of the trailer. This isn’t like with the cake that Ham tried to make sure things don’t go wrong when having to be transported to New Fork, though that resulted in a portion of the cake falling apart when crashing into the fireworks and grenade shop. They noticed that there was something wrong with the cabbage, but no damage to the leaves or whatever in the cabbage’s biology as if there was something that could disrupt it like a dry patch or a random bug consuming it like a caterpillar. So it’s gonna be a problem for the Tobins and they should have at least some additional time to make sure things go right before the event begins, but once Mayor Peppers takes the stage and announces the beginning of the event...yeah, it’s not looking good for the Tobins when getting ready for their cabbage to be judged.
We switch over to the pier at the end of the third act of the episode with Judy and Sheri by the boat to give her the tour but not before Sheri decides to invite a few people, named Corey (voiced by John Early) and Maria (voiced by Brooke Dillman), to join her. Wearing the same cloaks as her when they first met earlier in the episode with one of the two showing off his beanie babies because his cloak has multiple pockets that can carry his beanie babies with him. Yeah...nothing wrong with that. Especially for anyone who grew up in the '90s and how big beanie babies are and I guess valuable these days. But other than that, Judy decides to give Sheri, Corey, and Maria a tour of the boat and this is where the twist comes into play as we wrap up the third act of the episode. I mean, the red flags were there leading up to the revelation while at the restaurant days prior with the waiter telling Judy if she’s a part of Sheri’s cult.
And you can see how oblivious Judy is throughout the third act of the episode and it didn’t take until the end of the third and going into the fourth for her to finally put the pieces together but realizes it’s too late. Sort of like with her along with Kima not knowing the gummies they ate were laced with THC or CBD that caused them to become high and play real-life Grand Theft Auto mixed with Ferris Bueller until the end of the third act of that episode once the effects began to die down. I mean, Sheri’s behavior should’ve rang some alarm bells for Judy leading up to this moment in the episode because of her actions when coming across Judy starting with her buying her paintings and having to lure Judy to her place while trying not to lose her cool. You know what they say about cult members when it comes to them trying to recruit people, like the playground snipers, the cult members who are on recruitment duty are predators. Preying on anyone who would be gullible or just straight-up annoys them to the point where they have to join just to stop the annoyance...hardcore Trump supporters (and every other cult in history) in a nutshell.
And for Judy, she became Sheri’s target just because she came across a painting of hers on Alyson’s page on some Stephen King’s Misery timing. Oh yeah, a middle-aged woman who happened to be a member, the leader of a cult she is currently running going after an artist who has mommy issues because of the ongoing mother-daughter softball game that is missing out because Kathleen isn’t there and thought that she had found her mother figure. Did I mention that the leader of the cult is a middle-aged woman who went after the painter behind the paintings who happened to be in high school?
♪ She a fan, she a fan, she a fan ♪ ♪ She a fan, she a fan, she a- ♪ Yeah, just replace the offender icon and replace it with the icon of what a cult should look like on the map pin. Because, again, anyone in a cult, especially those who are on recruitment duty when trying to recruit anyone who is gullible are predators. And history pretty much proves that. Think Heaven’s Gate, Jonestown, Aum Shinrikyo and you’ll get the idea of why cults are bad news. So the twist about Sheri being the leader of the cult and the two people she brought being her members was something I didn’t expect despite the red flags that were thrown the moment you noticed Sheri in a cloak and luring Judy to her place. Thought that the episode so far was going to be average at best, mostly with the B-and-C-plots, but the twist come the second half in the A-plot with Judy did a complete 180 in how intense the situation is going to be. So, Judy at the start of the fourth and final act of the episode, finally puts the pieces together on her way to a random location that Sheri wants to go to, quietly texts Honeybee to get her out of the boat, and is about to make a break for it, planning on either fire a flare gun to get anyone to come for her rescue or plans on swimming towards land before being stopped by Sheri and her merry folks of crazies. Lesson of the episode folks, don’t join a fucking cult. Just don’t.
We go back to the ballpark and already, you should know the result by now. Honeybee wins her bet against Jerry. And she did it with precision on how she would trick Jerry to have him remove his foam fingers after days of struggling to use their hands while having the items attached. And it goes back to the beginning of the episode with the ballpark not having hot dogs when watching the mother-daughter softball game that ultimately led to the Shaws buying the foam fingers. So Honeybee has someone to come in with a tray of hot dogs and that alone causes Jerry to remove his foam fingers, and thus, Honeybee wins her bet. Anyone can see what the result is going to be for this subplot for the episode, so might as well take it what we can get since we are in the final few minutes of the episode. And just in time because it looks like the celebration is going to be cut short because of a text message she got from Judy about her situation. Being held hostage by a cult that she roped herself into and decides to get the rest of the family to go save her.
Which she did once I guess run her way to the festival just as the Tobins were about to present their giant cabbage despite some issues that could potentially cost them the competition but ended up dropping what they were doing once Honeybee came into the picture and alerting the family about Judy’s situation, which they’ll get the rundown from Honeybee on their way to the pier to get Londra to use her radar to track the boat and would also get the police for assistance. Of course, the family leaving the cabbage behind would result in an automatic disqualification as Moon said but Judy’s life is more important since she’s in immediate danger at the hands of Sheri and her cult members out in the open waters. So, the Tobins decided to drop everything with the competition and prepare to head off to go save Judy, but not before handing the keys to the cabbage to someone else. Anyone from the peanut gallery on the sidewalk and they picked Santiago to do the job. Hopefully, that little last-minute switch won’t result in an automatic DQ from winning the whole thing.
Going back to the boat with Judy being held hostage with Maria sitting on her as a way to restrain her rather than using a rope and a chair...there’s no chair, while having to listen to Corey’s set of beanie babies that he has in his collection on their way to their destination. And this is where Sheri’s true colors decide to come out...well, they have already come out with Judy putting the pieces together of her and the others who joined her as part of a cult as she tries to wiggle her way out upon hearing the reason of where she’s taking the boat to. Especially when having to weaponize her mother issues because Judy did tell her during her lunch. Telling her about her private life and her personal issues to someone who she barely met because she thought that she may have found her mother figure to replace the empty hole that was left open by Kathleen and Sheri thinks that Judy should stand down and follow her lead to the place she’s going in what she thinks is a magical place where all their troubles would go away.
So, she pretty much manipulated her into tagging along and used her issues of not having Kathleen in her life, just by missing out on the mother-daughter softball game and all the other activities, and Judy, as much as it hurts her because even though it’s been years since Kathleen left but the scar is still fresh in her mind, ain’t going to let that slide on their way to wherever she goes. That is way too personal and decides to make it personal by making sure the boat turns around and heads back to the shore, once getting out of her restraints, that being sat on by Maria at the booth, and fights with Sheri to take the wheel over where to take the boat. So, it turns into a back-and-forth affair over who gets control of the boat once Judy attempts to take the wheel, causing Corey and Maria to lose their footing...
And then a bright light shines through the front window of the boat with Sheri thinking that she, Judy, and the others have found the place they are looking for in the middle of the ocean. Of course, the blinding light that Sheri thought would be a portal for the four of them to go through so all their troubles would go away. But instead, the blinding light that the four are heading in the middle of the water happens to be an iceberg and the blinding light would be caused by the sun and its rays causing that blinding light effect through the ice like a mirror. Yeah, when it comes to the type of cults that you hear, whether being a religious cult, a doomsday cult, a political cult, a spiritual cult...they’re the latter but nearly became a death cult mostly because one crash with the iceberg would potentially end their life and/or damage the boat. Almost reenacted the Titanic with the boat just inches away from having the boat damaged. And in typical cult behavior, attempting to sacrifice themselves for whatever “prophecy” they believe in. That didn’t happen, the boat, courtesy of Judy, deflected just inches away from reenacting the Titanic, thus saving her life and also dashing the cult’s plans of sacrificing themselves. Just in time for the Tobins and also the police to come to Judy’s rescue.
So, entering the two-minute warning of the episode with Judy back on land in the family’s arms after that out-of-control situation with her not knowing that she roped herself into a cult and almost became a lamb being brought to the slaughter. The family apologizes for ignoring what Judy was doing for she was doing with her having to dig various rabbit holes that led to her roping herself into a cult. Yeah, you probably should’ve because that should at least draw some concerns on what’s going down leading up to the revelation of Sheri being a member of a cult she’s running. But it’s Judy who had to apologize to everyone for everything. Mainly for taking the boat without asking and also having herself roped into a cult without noticing until it’s too late. Mostly because she has no female figure in her life since Kathleen’s departure and in a family that is a full-on sausage fest after Kathleen fucked off and before Honeybee’s arrival.
And honestly, you can’t blame Judy for this one. Sure, the show doesn’t need to consistently remind us how much of a horrible mother and wife Kathleen is knowing her wild and reckless behavior while she was with Beef before leaving him for Marcus, but the scars that she left behind to the family are still fresh into their minds and that was only a couple of years ago. Missing out on all of the mother-daughter activities throughout the years that don’t involve writing on dumbbells or anything really for Kathleen to impress someone with her or any of her siblings involved as if she’s treating them as a golden ticket. She needs a reasonable and respectable female role model who can appreciate her, respect her, and take care of her whenever and wherever there’s something good or bad regarding a situation she’s in.
She thought that she found her true female figure, a mother figure with Sheri after buying her paintings in the past few days before finding out that she was only luring her to rope her into her cult, leaving her back to square one. But not before bringing up Kyle for lending her scooter, Maude for putting up the painting, and Alyson for promoting her paintings. Not to mention, a callback with Honeybee mentioning the whole issue regarding the female empowerment festival regarding the speaker who was using the festival for a Ponzi scheme. Not to mention, with the addition of Aunt Dirt and I guess Carissa now that she’s dating Beef and could potentially step up to fill the role from time to time, so she should be at least be good on who she can turn to for some girl-on-girl talk. And hopefully, the whole issue with Kathleen should at least be out of Judy’s system, but unless the show decides to bring her in and for once Beef should step up and call her out on her bullshit while they were together, the wound is still there but is slowly closing up as the family continues to make their case on why they should move from that painful moment in the pre-canon of the show. You can be indifferent about your thoughts on Judy as a character through the four seasons of this show, but you can at least try to somewhat understand where is coming from when it comes to a lack of a role model or at least someone who has your back in the parental/maternal side of things, especially right after a separation that can cause a ripple effect on your daily life.
So, Judy is safe and sound after the Tobins dropped everything regarding the competition with the giant produce...they wouldn’t win regardless because they lost the damn thing anyway upon hearing from Wolf through a text message that it was the Tuntleys who won the competition with a giant tomato. Again, they wouldn’t win the thing anyway, I mean, take a look at the calendar photo competition in “Arranger-ous Minds Adventure” back in Season 3. Though holy goddamn, didn’t expect Ham to say some swear words and have to bleep the crap out of it upon hearing the news of their crop losing the competition. Other than that, despite losing the competition for the Tobins, and Honeybee winning hers against Jerry with the foam fingers, they’re just relieved that Judy is alive and well. As well as seeing Sheri being taken to the station before criticizing her paintings, only for Beef to step in and defend her paintings in Judy’s honor. Thus, ending the episode with the family heading home and, of course, Judy looking up to the sky at her other female figure, even if she’s imaginary, her imagination version of Alanis in the sky. So, yeah, remember kids, don’t join a cult. Seriously...don’t.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? Quite an interesting episode from start to finish. It was going to be average at best at first within the first half of the episode and also the second from both the B-and-C-plots of the episode with the cabbage and the foam fingers. While somewhat predictable that Sheri is not being who she thinks she is when coming across Judy, or rather, luring her to her place, the twist was a complete 180 that I didn’t expect to see and the red flags were there regarding Sheri and her actions leading up to the end of the third act. Especially with the waiter telling Judy about her (Sheri) being a member of a cult. That was a bit sneaky...or is that because I’m a bit of a slow learner and give it a rewatch to notice where in the episode is when the first red flag has to be raised regarding Sheri.
For an episode that has the word “cabbage” in the episode title, this was a Judy-centric episode because of her paintings picking up steam with the news of her being purchased and also trying her best to not focus on her mom issues because of the ongoing mother-daughter softball tournament and her having to miss out on any of the mother-daughter activities because Kathleen...well, is Kathleen, there’s no need for an explanation. The A-plot was the best out of the three in this episode. Sure, a slow start but have been steady throughout the episode for the first three acts, only for the lever to be cranked to 11 on how insane things are going with the revelation of her being roped into a cult the moment she decides to take the boat out to the open waters. So, the A-plot is pretty much the highlight of the episode.
In comparison to the other two plots with the cabbage and the foam fingers...at least we got the one scene in the trailer being resolved. But other than that, those two plots have been predictable and sort of went nowhere since we were solely focusing on the main plot with Judy. Yeah, you have the Shaw siblings going at it with each other on who is going remove their foam fingers first, and sure, you have to give some props to Honeybee for tricking Jerry into removing the foam finger by having the vendor selling hot dogs. The B-plot with the cabbage, at least in my opinion, was the biggest downgrade in the episode. Mostly because you knew that something was about to go wrong with the produce. You already knew that they were not going to win regardless if they had to drop everything to save Judy who was in immediate danger on her way to the iceberg. So, the A-plot is the highlight of the episode with Judy. The rest...decent but predictable to say the least. So I’ll give “Excess Cabbage Adventure”...
A 7 out of 10. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. One week down, sixteen to go in what is pretty much a very busy Fall schedule, and next week, this upcoming Sunday...the first of the two weeks of back-to-back Great North episodes and the return of Bob’s Burgers with the continuation of Season 14 with “The Big Stieblitzki” and The Great North with both “Welcome to Miami Adventure” and “Worst Drives Club Adventure”. So, we got another Rudy episode for Bob’s Burgers and we have ourselves a trifecta of Judy-centric episodes with the two of the three episodes that solely focusing on Judy airing this upcoming Sunday, September 8. And yes, it has to be paired with the premiere of Universal Basic Guys...why?
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. No matches this week because the Wild Card Round concluded last week. We have the Quarterfinals this weekend with the first match on Sunday between Jolyne Cujoh (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure) and Son Gohan (Dragon Ball). And y’all should know the drill by now...
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