The road to playing catch-up continues with yours truly doing this week’s set of episodes that came out this past Sunday. I got the Bob’s Burgers episode review for “The Right Tough Stuff” out of the way and now, we got The Great North with I guess it’s the final two sets of episodes for Season 4, even though for me, I still have to do both episode reviews that I missed out thanks in part to an issue with my laptop regarding my battery. Y’all already know, the episodes being “Welcome to Miami Adventure” (Season 4, Episode 17) and “Worst Drives Club Adventure” (Season 4, Episode 18) and those two episodes are under construction along with the Bob’s Burgers episode “The Big Steblitzki” (Season 14, Episode 14). Told you, there’s a lot to do before the end of this month and you can thank the universe for being a massive asshole.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, the first of the two episodes that came out this week, the topic of age and experience remains at the center stage as an eagle that Moon was taking care of flew away and he, along with Beef and Wolf head out to find the eagle as Honeybee, Judy, and Dirt are guarding Ham after Ham gets his prediction for death through a tarot card reading in my spoilerific review of the nineteenth episode of Season 4 of The Great North, titled “Look Who’s Squawking Adventure”.
And once again, switching over from Bob’s Burgers to The Great North this past Sunday and with these reviews, the topic of age and experience is the center of conversation. With Bob’s Burgers with “The Right Tough Stuff”, you have Gayle wanting to audition for a reality show and Linda not wanting to make sure she doesn’t want to embarrass herself and also throwing in the age argument because they’re both middle-aged. Spoiler alert, Gayle beat the allegations of Father Time catching up to her. And in this week’s episode for The Great North, it’s the situation regarding taking care of wildlife and overprotection with Beef and Moon. Especially with the eagle that Moon has to take care of. Almost feels like a theme these past two weeks with the first episode of the doubleheader coming out after an episode of Bob’s Burgers came out before.
Take last week’s episodes of Bob’s Burgers and The Great North, you have two sets of characters who had a track record of not holding down a relationship, that being Judy and Sylvester. At least with Judy, she is young and has a lot of time. Plus, that episode, the first of last week’s doubleheader was her getting her heartbroken and then decided to go after the guy who broke her heart by embarrassing him on camera. While Sylvester, Rudy’s dad... he’s trying but at least he is optimistic even after having a relationship called off. And now, with this week, it’s experience, the topic of age, and overprotection. And that is what is about to be breaking down in this review... and also the subplot with overprotection as well because of a misfortune being forecasted for one Ham Tobin through the powers of the tarot card. That being said, time to break this sucker down because there is a double dose, and good God, there’s a lot to tackle here in a span of a week for yours truly, especially when having to play catch-up, this is “Look Who’s Squawking Adventure”.
And quite the start for the day at the breakfast table with the family, while eating their breakfast plate, being distracted when seeing something right in front of them at the kitchen counter. A creature to exact in the form of an eagle inside of its cage. Not just any eagle, but it’s the town’s council-eagle, Toby the Eagle. And for how it ended up at the Tobin household? Well, Moon is tasked by Roy, the other member of the town’s council, to watch over Toby while he’s out, in which Beef has to step in and “correct” what Moon is saying and say that he’s “co-babysitting” Toby even though Roy only entrust Moon and Moon alone, much to Beef’s dismay without given some warning about the whole ordeal. Also, Toby has a bit of pinkeye... great freaking timing to take care of an animal, let alone an animal who happened to be a seated member of the town’s government. The family feels some discomfort when being around Toby by the breakfast table but that’s not going to stop Moon from fulfilling his duty and for Beef to butt in. Mostly because he’s a kid but also having to name a few moments where Moon has been somewhat reckless when being around animals.
Whether it’s secretly taking care of wolf pups in the closet, riding on a moose on the open road like a horse, or giving a bear a chicken leg without giving the creature the full Yogi Bear experience, even though Moon knows his way when it comes to the wildlife and how to make himself careful when being around the animals, there are going to be some times like the three different flashbacks that were shown to prove Beef’s point of him (Moon) being somewhat reckless on what he is doing but regardless of that, Roy has placed his trust into Moon to take care of Toby because he knows what he is doing and shouldn’t need anyone’s help. But that’s not going to stop Beef from butting in as the episode progresses and that’s going to be the name of the game for the main plot. And also Wolf... who is going to be there for support and nothing more. So, that’s the main plot of the episode now established, and because of the discomfort of being around Toby for the rest of the day, the subplot is now being set up.
Once Honeybee, along with Judy, Ham, and Dirt, leave the breakfast table and arrive at the guest cabin to find something to do to pass the time. And boy, that didn’t take long for the rest of the family to do something once Dirt found a deck of tarot cards on the bookshelf, mistaking it as playing cards. And y’all are pretty much familiar with what tarot cards are for. Some, but not all, had some moments where we had to pay a visit to a psychic. Judy uses the cards to test out her predictions, of course, for the cards to work, you have to ask a question on certain stuff whether it’s hoping to pass an exam, finding love, earning some wealth, or in Ham’s case when asking his question, how will his day turn out because he is expected to be at the mall at 4:00 to meet with Crispin to have a cheese fries date. What’s the prediction for Ham coming from Judy using the cards? Sunny... with a chance of death once pulling out the death card. Not once, not twice...
But three times. An unlucky jackpot for Ham coming from Judy. And Ham knows right away that Judy and fortunes that can predict anything don’t go together as... well if you know, you know. And her history proves that once Judy explains her series of misfortunes to Honeybee and Dirt. It all started with her getting a fortune note from a fortune cookie that says that she’ll experience a great loss and that misfortune went to Judy’s pet snail and uh...
Yeah. And if you think that the Death Train stops after that from Judy? This is only the beginning of what Judy has to say about her series of predicting unfortunate events, especially if a living organism out of nowhere gets sent packing. Though, time out for a bit here. And something that had occurred to me over what the fortune said. If my memory serves, going back to the interview with Lizzie and Wendy at Comic-Con this past summer, they brought up something about the family going through a big loss. And we got a fortune from Judy when she was little about a massive loss coming her way and that resulted in her pet snail dying, though not by her curse but by old age. I do hope that’s not the case and they’re saving something big for Season 5 and not treat as if the snail dead was the big shakeup to the show’s status quo. Hope that’s not the case with this little scene after finding out that Judy is pretty much the Grim Reaper... or The Undertaker.
Aside from the dead snail (who died from old age and not because Judy is a walking curse), we also have other victims that fell to Judy’s curse that seems to be a reach but some have fallen to the series of misfortunes because of Judy. She played with an Ouija board that had spelled out the word “float” and lo and behold, her pet goldfish got packed. But the biggest reach of them all comes from Judy when talking about her bringing a series of misfortunes that led someone to be sent to the upper room is the one moment in her life where she had a dream that she died of dehydration during a summer cookout and the next thing that happened after that dream... the person who played the Kool-Aid Man had his life subscription cut short. Yeah, that’s a bit of a reach there from Judy when bringing up her spewing death dust but the damage has already been done and now, it’s causing concern for Ham because he thought he was going to get a good fortune in anticipation for his date with Crispin and instead, might be getting ready to have a meeting with the big man upstairs.
And Honeybee, along with Judy and Dirt, will make sure that won’t happen and make sure that Ham will get through 4:00 without having to deal with a mishap. As Honeybee would describe the situation, it’s a Final Destination type of event where you could imagine what kind is mishap is going to happen to you like a log truck with the logs accidentally detached and rolls over to your car and crush you like a pancake. I’ve never seen any of the Final Destination films, well, some scenes over on YouTube but mix that with the sound effects from Ed, Edd n’ Eddy and you’d be in business. The girls now have a mission to protect Ham and make sure he makes it to the mall alive and survives till 4:00 so he can meet with Crispin. And the universe decided to take Honeybee’s declaration and say “Challenge accepted”. Starting with the oven door opening by itself and causing quite the spook for everyone at the house. Even though the oven needs to be taken care of.
We go back to the house with Moon, Beef, and Wolf staring at Toby and already, we are getting some tension between Moon and Beef over how Moon will take care of the eagle, especially once Moon is planning on feeding Toby the piece of raw meat and for Beef to butt in and does the feeding for himself because he still thinks that Moon might be reckless when dealing with a wild animal, even though Toby was under the care of Roy. I mean, sure, earlier in the episode with the various flashbacks, you can see where Beef is coming from with Moon dealing with various animals in what appears to be reckless behavior, especially since he is a kid of course, but we've seen this with Bob’s Burgers earlier regarding age and experience into this episode. Moon knows what he is doing when having to take care of an animal like Toby. He knows how the wildlife works. He should be a pro at this. But Beef on the other hand, despite letting Moon do what he does best, is overprotective because he (Moon) could get harmed but also the job of taking care of a wildlife animal like an eagle seems like a grown-up job than letting a 10-year-old do the job himself. Though, looking back at this, it does almost feel like we’re painting Linda and Beef as ageists towards Gayle and Moon over what they’re doing.
Moon decides to give Toby his eyedrops to treat his pinkeye and again, you can see what he is doing with him carefully treating the eagle with the eyedrops ready to be dropped. And he is being careful when treating Toby and yeah, Wolf has the right idea of hiding behind the couch in the event something happens that can go wrong, but once again, Moon knows what he is doing. He’s being careful and should have his family put his trust in him to do the job on his lonesome. Not unless you’re Beef, who has to step in with a rope because he’d think that it would hold Toby down so it won’t go on the attack, but the look of the rope once coming into the living room, especially after seeing Moon planning on putting the eyedrops on Toby on his own and think that Moon is about to be reckless and could get himself hurt.
To the point where, once we get to the end of the first act of the episode, with Toby running off, or rather, flying off, thanks to Beef being reckless, not Moon, Beef. Moon was being careful with what he was doing but ended up being spooked away once Beef came in. Ending the first act with Toby flying off to the wild with a bag of beef jerky that belonged to Wolf flying away and the three boys, along with Judy with a pillow in tow when finding every pillow that she, Dirt, and Honeybee can find to wrap Ham around for his safety in the subplot of the episode. But she has her own problems, and it looks like the Tobin boys have their own with them now having to head out to find Toby before things go south and putting a lot of pressure on Moon since he was supposed to be the one to take care of the eagle.
The search for Toby begins going into the second act of the episode and boy, oh boy, things are not looking good for Moon and Beef with the tension between them over what happened back at the house. Moon tries to distance himself from his father by putting the full blame on Beef for what happened and pretty much accusing him of not putting his trust in him for taking care of an animal like an eagle. Mind you, we are talking about the same person who had to take care of a pregnant reindeer on Christmas back in Season 3’s “Xmas with the Skanks Adventure”, even though he had some help from Quinn, his siblings, and the rest of the townsfolk the moment the reindeer decided to give birth. Not to mention, befriended a skunk in Season 2’s “Papa Don’t Fiend Adventure” while at an RV camping site and a bird in Season 1’s “Romantic Meat-Based Adventure”. Though, the bird one resulted in Moon getting his arm broken and the skunks in Season 2 resulted in them unleashing hell across the campsite. The whole situation with Toby will not be the case this time around.
A lot of tension is going on between Moon and Beef as they, along with Wolf, are out in the woods to find Toby following what happened at the end of the first act just as Moon was about to administer the eyedrops to treat Toby’s pinkeye. Moon attempts to distance himself from Beef since he pits most, if not, all of the blame for scaring Toby to where are at this exact moment of the episode as if he doesn’t trust him to take care of the animal on his own despite the few receipts from Beef where it sort of feels like some reckless behavior from Moon whether it’s the wolf pups, the moose, or the bear. But also should’ve brought up the bird or the skunks, even though the camp kind of deserved it despite making peace with Beef in that episode. So yeah, Moon tries to distance himself from Beef since Toby is supposed to be his responsibility, but Beef thinks that the both of them and Wolf searching for Toby should be treated as a father/son activity and hoping for Moon to blow off some steam. It didn’t take long for the three Tobin boys to find a nearby eagle nest, thinking that they found Toby because it’s an eagle’s nest, Beef thought that it would be where Toby was heading...
Except for the fact that it’s the wrong eagle’s nest and mistakes a random eagle with Toby. A female eagle at her nest with her babies present. I get the ageist allegations thrown against Beef in this episode when thinking that Moon would do something reckless when taking care of Toby by his lonesome, but mistaking Toby with another eagle, which Moon already put the pieces together that the random eagle that they spotted is Toby’s family since they spotted the bag of beef jerky for the babies to eat. At least we know that Toby is a family man, that’s one thing. But no sign of the missing eagle since dropping off Wolf’s bag at the nest. And since Toby dropped the bag at the nest, and found out that Toby has two nests with the one we usually see when we first meet the eagle back in Season 2’s “Dances with Wolfs Adventure”, the one by the post office should be the next place up. But because Toby dropped the jerky in one of the two nests to feed his family, not to mention that, as Moon puts it, this time of year being the migrating season, Toby is out in the wilderness to hunt. The three Tobin boys continue their search for Toby with them going across the forest to find the missing eagle, but mostly to the post office since that is his work nest with once again, tension is rising between Moon and Beef with Moon planning on going on his own to find Toby but Beef disapproves the idea and continue the search as a group.
We head back to the Tobin property at the doorstep of the guest house with Ham now covered in pillows with duct tape wrapping over him as a safety precaution so he can make it to the mall alive to meet with Crispin in preparation for his date or accept that he’s about to get Final Destination’d and about to meet his fate at the hands of the universe thanks in part to Judy’s prediction. So, the four are ready to head out to the mall, hoping that everything goes right without having to deal with any barricades that could send Ham to the upper room while on the road.
And quite the close call there, twice to be exact in this scene the moment Dirt closes the door that causes the icicle to fall to the ground, nearly hitting Ham if it weren’t for him moving away for a bit, so talk about a very close call as if he had dodged an assassin’s bullet and the assassin is the universe. I know, I know, seems a bit... well, sensitive because yes, the former president almost got shot again this past weekend. And hell fucking no, I am NOT voting for him, and as much I don’t like with what is going over there overseas, might as well throw my support for Kamala Harris for this upcoming election. But enough politics for the week, Ham got a close call with him being inches away from being hit with an icicle, only for him, along with Honeybee and Judy to slip to the ground. Two near misses for Ham as the day progresses and we’re only in the first half of the episode. Nearing the end of the first half but still.
Going back to the forest with Beef, Moon, and Wolf continue their search to find Toby with Moon still angry at Beef for what he did that resulted in Toby being spooked away into the wilderness and the accusations of not putting his trust in him over how to take care of a wild animal just for being young and also the fear of Moon putting himself in harm’s way despite Moon knowing what he is doing when taking care of the bird. As for why Beef is up in Moon’s business the moment he finds out he got the task by Roy to take care of Toby and/or the concerns that Moon could be in harm’s way when having to take care of an animal that can be a pain to contain, it all draws back to Beef’s experience with the wildlife back when he was young as he dubbed it as the “Elk Incident”. So what is the “Elk Incident” you may ask, my oblivious reader?
According to Beef, he was like Moon once. He enjoyed the wilderness, and he still is currently as an adult, but back in the day when he was young, enjoying nature and he was strolling through the forest on a not snowy covered day when he came across an elk just a few inches, probably a yard away from him. So you’d think that Beef when he was young is in his safe zone since he is away from the elk minding his business, right? Well, he should have if he hadn’t known a few things that should’ve prevented him from going through an embarrassing moment like this one. One, he should’ve stayed where he is at, which he had settled. But there are a few things that triggered the humiliation.
One being him trying to get a camera out of his bag so he take a picture for the county fair. Nothing wrong with taking a photo of the animal from a safe distance, as long as you have the flash off, but you turning around and going into your bag, without having to move your ass away from the elk from seeing it was your first mistake. Acting as if you’re intimidating the animal. To the point where you have to succumb to an embarrassing moment in your life by getting a wedgie and pantsed up a tree for hours on end until the elk leaves the next morning. And oh yeah, the setting of the backstory. It was brought up that this was set during the month of August since there’s no snow and I would say it’s odd for Beef to wear his coat during that time but then again, August in Alaska, nearing the Fall season, the state is not getting more hours of daylight going into the colder months. But the setting of the backstory is set in the month of August back in Beef’s day with him trying to get a photo and mentioning the county fair and usually, most county or state fairs take place throughout the autumn months... according to Moon, Beef did not know that it was during mating season.
Big dummy moment coming from Beef with that backstory. Not knowing that it was during mating season and him waving his ass in front of the elk when searching for the camera as if you’re asking for the elk to get freaky... and I mean freaky. Cause it is mating season and it’s best to get back to the conversation, which is why Beef doesn’t want Moon to go through the same thing he did. Worrying that his love for nature and wildlife, as well as him being an expert on everything regarding the wilderness as if he’s the modern-day Davy Crockett, could come and bite him in the ass and it takes one moment. Just one moment can shake up your life for the better or the worse. Beef dealt with it in the past with the elk and he doesn’t want to see Moon go through the same with Toby or any other animal he comes across. However, Moon tells Beef that the whole issue with the elk back in the day as a “you problem” because Beef was the one who was reckless and didn’t know what he was doing, and something like that should’ve been prevented. As if history is about to repeat itself with Moon but again, Moon knows what he is doing and with extra precautions when it comes to taking care of an animal like Toby. Just comes down to... well, trusting everything on Moon regardless of how young he is because might as well paint the conversation with age rather than experience with a mix of not wanting history to repeat itself.
At the end of the first half of the first episode of the doubleheader, the three boys came across a crashed car that belonged to Old Jody Jr, which crashed into a tree because of a mishap that caused the accident. Also, you have the yeti at the right side of the screen preparing to take something out of the car, a thermos, without anyone noticing it because the car accident was the focus of this scene at the end of the first half of the episode, as well as the cause of the mishap, would serve as a clue... the second clue for the boys in their attempt to locate and retrieve Toby after finding out that Toby has another nest, having a family, and went out to hunt to feed his family out in the wilderness. And to, I guess no one’s surprise, the Tobins already knew that Toby might’ve caused the crash that was shown here while hunting.
And that’s more than enough for Moon to break away from his father and brother on his own to find Toby because he already knows what is about to go down and wants to take on the bird himself. But that’s not going to stop Beef and Wolf once we end the first half of the episode and going into the second from getting the bird and stopping Moon from getting hurt because it’s the grown-up’s job to handle a situation like an eagle going through demon time. And now, we have ourselves a race to get the eagle so that no one gets hurt and hoping that Toby doesn’t cause too much damage once spotted. Spoiler alert, damage done.
We enter the second half of the episode and as if losing Toby is one problem that they have to deal with, now they have to deal with them finding Moon after splitting away from the group in the search to find Toby himself, much to Beef’s dismay. The two adults follow Moon’s footsteps in the snow to follow his tracks, only for the tracks to stop at the tree. Wolf thinks that Moon got up the tree and flies as if he’s half-owl of some sort because Kathleen had an affair with an owl and that’s why his foottracks stop by the tree? Pretty sure that’s not the case to state the situation regarding Moon splitting away from the group. Though that would explain that one part in “Romantic Meat-Based Adventure” where Moon was hoping for his bones to be rearranged into a wing but that’s aside the point. Knowing Moon, he climbed up the tree all the way to the top to scan through the town in search of Toby, thinking that Toby would be heading towards the town where his other nest, his work nest, would be by the post office. And that’s where they’re heading. And while that is happening...
We go back to the subplot with the rest of the family in the car out in the open road on their way to the mall and they’re driving slowly. Very slowly to the point where it is causing a traffic jam and mind you, it’s a two-lane road because Lone Moose is a rural town, so having to deal with a traffic jam in a two-lane road can be a pain in the fucking ass. Of course, Honeybee is doing the slowdown that results in a traffic jam to the point where the people behind her take the opposite lane just to get by because anything can happen on the open road. And if you saw Final Destination, shit can randomly appear and can cause a problem. Whether it’s a truck behind you in front of your car, luckily, there’s no truck in between, so they don’t have to worry about logs or rods or any item in the trailer falling off, trees falling down, animals crossing, or in the case of Old Jody Jr, an eagle going on demon timing because a certain bearded man decided to be reckless and spooking it away. All of this for the slowdown is in the name of safety for Ham’s well-being if he wants to make it to the mall and meet Crispin by 4:00. Which didn’t take long...
Because we arrived at the mall at the very next scene with Honeybee parking the car, not at the parking lot as per usual, but at the steps of the mall outside, you know, the no parking zone. They got stopped by the security guard, Pam, voiced by Robin Thede, questioning Honeybee why she was parking at a no parking zone, let alone on the sidewalk to the entrance. And I kid you not, when Honeybee brought up that it’s a “Final Destination” situation because Ham has to inside the mall to meet up with Crispin, probably to say his goodbyes because his prediction was called for death thanks in part to Judy using the tarot cards earlier in the episode. And how does Pam the Security Guard’s respond to all of this? She just let them in. She let them slide because of a “Final Destination” level situation and that’s something that no one wants to deal with, especially right after their tarot card reading before your cheese fries date after work. So, it’s pretty much a warning given to them and for Ham: the icicle outside the guest cabin missed him just inches apart, survived an ice patch on his way to Honeybee’s car that caused him to fall, and a slow drive with no hazards serving as a barricade, and now having to go through the inside of the mall to reach Crispin at his job... at this point, once he does reach Crispin, and survive what would’ve been the universe trying to assassinate him, might as well have “Many Men” by 50 Cent play in the background because Judy’s little curse streak is Ham’s way to saying that the universe is wishing death upon him.
Checking back to the main plot with Beef and Wolf in town and at the post office where the nest where Toby would be at but it looks like Toby is MIA because the bird is not there after coming across the first nest in the forest by the house. So, no luck on finding Toby in what would’ve been the second, or I guess the first, place they would’ve gone to, meaning that Moon is nowhere to be found. That was before Zoya came with a package in hand to the post office with her hat badly damaged with some rips and tears. And y’all know what’s the cause of the hat being badly damaged. Toby tried to snatch the hat off of Zoya’s head but fought back, which resulted in Toby flying off and already on his flight of terror to the townsfolk.
And we see that going into the next scene at the parking lot in front of the grocery store and already, you have people in panic. Some shopgoers hide either under their carts, in the store, or their cars. You have some being attacked and have their groceries stolen by Toby, which would be a massive waste of money for the people who just bought food from the store to feed themselves and/or their families. It’s pandemonium and not in a good way to describe the situation that is currently unfolding. A terror being unleashed on the townsfolk in search of some food and the grocery store being the place for Toby the Eagle to strike was not on anyone’s 2024 bingo card.
Toby’s unleashing hell on Earth at the parking got Moon’s attention and both Beef and Wolf caught up to him from behind one of the parked cars for cover. And here we go again with the argument over age and experience while dealing with a would-be life-threatening event with Toby going on demon timing. According to Moon on how he spotted Toby is that he was currently looking for some food to feed his family in the forest and because the eagle is a klepto and domesticated that the store would be the way to go to find food rather than searching for something small based on the food chain like a rodent. But back to the argument of age and experience with Moon and Beef because once again, taking care of Toby was supposed to be Moon’s responsibility to take care of the animal for himself but Beef’s overprotectiveness and trying to do things his way resulted in the eagle flying away and terrorizing the town, even if it is for feeding the family. Make you question how much an eagle like Toby is making just for being an elected official.
Moon still thinks that he can contain Toby since it was his job to watch over the eagle, but Beef still thinks that it was supposed to be a group effort because Moon’s a kid and doesn’t want to get him in harm’s way, as well as him going through what Beef had gone through in the past. To the point that because Toby went on the attack on the people at the parking lot of the grocery store, finding some food for his family, Beef has to be the one step up to the plate to catch the eagle and for Moon to be forced to butt out, even though Moon still thinks that he should be the one to contain Toby. Ageism, folks. It’s a thing and you’re seeing it firsthand. Though, quite the conversation starter when watching the episode that could turn into somewhat of a debate even though I highly doubt it whether it’s Beef just looking out for his son because of experience or doesn’t think he can do it because he’s a kid and might do something reckless as if he doesn’t trust Moon to do the job. And the same might go for “The Right Tough Stuff” with Linda regarding Gayle with her wanting to be a part of a reality show despite the age argument.
It’s sort of like with the SpongeBob movie, the first one, and yes, that shit came out 20 years ago, good God, we’re getting old, but in the first movie, SpongeBob was super excited over the opening of the second Krusty Krab and thought that he was going to get the manager job but once the ceremony arrives, the title of manager that he dreamed of was handed to Squidward because even though SpongeBob was an excellent employee, got fucked over because he was deemed as a kid. Not in the way of age but more of behavior because getting the managerial job takes a lot of responsibility. And all it took for minds to change by the end of the film was a world-ending event like Plankton going balls to the wall with a plan for world domination like stealing the king’s crown, the formula, and having people turned into mindless zombies to beat the age allegations. Prove the doubters wrong. We saw that earlier this week with these reviews with Gayle and spoiler alert unless you already scrolled down, come the fourth act, it’s Moon who would be taking the mantle but for right now, we’re about to witness a mishap ready to take shape to wrap up the third act of the episode.
Switching over from one side of town with the parking lot of the grocery store to inside the mall at the other side with Honeybee, Ham, Judy, and Dirt now inside the mall and at the stairs to go through the next challenge standing in front of Ham if he wants to survive to 4:00. Going up the stairs is that next challenge when having to deal with a potential Final Destination-type of scenario clouding over him. The elevator or escalator would be the best thing to do but the elevator, if you noticed in the background before going up the stairs, is still under construction. Still under construction since the very first episode of the series. And besides, when having to deal with a Final Destination situation, the elevator and escalator ain’t your friend. A malfunction could happen and you could either be pulled to underneath the escalator or be slammed down from inside the elevator if it does open for business. So up the stairs, we go. And the result from the stairs when having to help Ham up the stairs?
Well, he survived when being pulled up the stairs with not one mishap, okay, one near mishap but he survived. Whether it’s looking out for various sections within the radius with a candle at the kiosk with the fear that the flame might engulf the section, a guy eating a corn dog with the fear that he might choke, a kid in his roller skates nearly lost his balance that would’ve pushed either Judy, Honeybee, or Dirt down the flight of stairs, or Jarvis trying to operate a gumball machine after it ate his quarter just to trying to get himself a gumball, in which that gumball landed into Ham’s mouth but didn’t choke him out of existence. Now that he survived a Final Destination-type situation, the finish line is in his sights to meet up with Crispin. So, you have one mishap that didn’t happen ready to have its book closed...
And going back to the main plot to close out the third act of the episode with another ready to take place with Beef readying the new trap for Toby as Moon, now forced in the sidelines, along with Wolf inside Mrs. Tuntley’s car as they watch the thing unfold. And remember when Beef said that he doesn’t want Moon to get hurt when coming across a wildlife animal and doesn’t want him to go through the same thing he did back when he was young? Yeah, that only applies to Beef when putting up the trap. Moon knows what is about to come and tries to tell Wolf that Beef should get out of the way because he knows that history is about to repeat itself, but Wolf, under Beef’s instructions, keeps Moon away from the action. And let’s just say, even though Moon is a kid, rookie mistake from Beef when having to deal with an animal. Especially once placing the raw meat inside the trap and the moment Beef places the meat inside the trap, him bending down to the point where Beef bending down and his ass up just a distance apart from Toby might as well be a universal sign of intimidation like a bull during a bullfight seeing the color red.
And the shot above to close out the third act of the episode and going into the fourth paints the picture quite clearly. Yeah, so I would expect Beef to have a clown wig and nose delivered to his mailbox after this week along with Linda over how wrong they are. History has decided to repeat itself for Beef the moment his dumbass decided to place the meat inside the trap, not knowing that the eagle is right behind him and like the elk incident a long time ago, a moment like this is going to bite him, or rather, scratch him in the ass.
To the point where Moon now has to step in and do the job of containing Toby. There would’ve been a back-and-forth between him and Wolf over whether or not Moon should step in but knowing that Beef is being attacked by Toby, just lets him out and decides to contain the animal. Telling Beef to not move or struggle because any movement would make the situation worse for him. So Beef does that as Moon pulls out a dead rodent in his hand for him to consume (or to take it to his family, but mostly for him to eat), enough for Toby to move away from Beef and onto Moon’s arm to take the bait and much like with this week’s Bob’s Burgers episode with Gayle proving both Father Time and Linda wrong about age and physical activity, Moon proved Beef wrong that he can take care of an animal on his own because he knows what he was doing. Something that he has been saying throughout the episode that Beef ignores because he could get himself hurt, fearing of a repeat of what happened to him back when he was young, and that he might do something reckless that could put him in harm’s way because he’s a kid.
Clown wig and nose on Beef’s way because Moon knows what he is doing and proves to Beef that he knows what he is doing. He knows the reacharound when it comes to how to take care of an animal, take a look back at the reindeer, and you can see why Roy had to put his trust in someone as young as Moon to take care of Toby. Moon heads out with Toby on foot because it’s better that way so it won’t startle him on his way back home and both Wolf and Beef follow as Toby’s small reign of terror comes to an end. The real losers from this moment would be the shopgoers. Spending their hard-earned money to restore their pantries, only to have their bought food being stolen by an eagle. Just be thankful that the terroristic act by the eagle is over, but now have to deal with how to deal with how to get the same thing that was stolen if it means breaking the bank.
Going back to the subplot with Ham now arriving at Crispin’s workplace nearing the 4:00 hour, thinking that he’s ready for the universe ready to throw down what is about to be his final hours, ready to meet Crispin one last time before being sent packing despite surviving the ride to the mall and climbing up the stairs. Yeah, so Ham will not die after all because he’s one of the main characters. He got that plot armor. But in actuality, Judy’s curse of death did not inflect towards Ham despite earlier in the episode, nearly getting jabbed by an icicle and coming close to choking on a gumball while going up the stairs and instead, it’s a random squirrel. So, I guess Judy’s little curse might as well only inflect onto animals than humans despite her dream might’ve offed the guy who played the Kool-Aid Man. So, Ham survives the curse but as a result, with the squirrel offing himself, or rather, Crispin accidentally blended it, not knowing that the rodent was there, and now, he’s out of a job. Which sucks for him now that the place has shut down and awaits word from corporate on the whole issue.
Ham can finally breathe a sigh of relief that he gets to live to see another day and gets ready to go on his date with Crispin once he takes the pillows of him now that the coast is clear. Not knowing until he takes the last part of the pillows that was over his body that he forgot to put on pants just for him to put on the pillows over him for protection. But that’s not going to stop Ham and also Crispin to have them enjoying their date now that we know that Ham isn’t going to die at the hands of the curse that was inflicted by Judy.
And now, entering, or rather, past the two-minute warning of the episode with Toby back in his cage after being taken care of by Moon after containing the eagle at the parking lot and Beef now recovering from his scratch marks from Toby in his attempt to get the bird for himself. Beef would apologize to Toby for what he did that resulted in everything that happened throughout the episode but instead, decides to apologize to Moon for not putting his trust in him to take care of any animal he comes across like with Toby, and shouldn’t judge Moon’s hobbies and interests. Once again, clown wig and nose coming to Beef’s mailbox for not letting Moon do to the job that he was tasked with on his lonesome. But other than that, both Moon and Beef buried the hatchet over what happened throughout the episode and the whole situation with Toby should at least be done with the episode wrapping up. Of course, having to end it with Wolf coming in and hugging both Moon and Beef with Beef still reeling in pain from the scratches, Moon being sandwiched in the hug, and Toby screeching as if he’s about to go on the attack again.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about the first of the double episodes of The Great North this week? We have two good episodes that came out this week for The Great North and we’ll get to the next one after that, but for right now, it’s a good episode and coming out of “The Right Tough Stuff” from Bob’s Burgers, the topic of age is once again brought into the conversation with experience being the name of the game when having to take care of a wildlife animal like Toby the Eagle.
Both plots are good but it’s the main plot that somewhat stole the show for this episode. It’s an edge because both plots are enjoyable. Starting with the main plot, it’s enjoyable. Coming out of doing “The Right Tough Stuff” with Bob’s Burgers, the age argument and experience have been brought and center with Moon having to take care of Toby and Beef somewhat not sold to have his young son taking care of an animal because he could get himself hurt, the fear that history might repeat itself from Beef’s experience back in the day, and also, him being a kid and thought of Moon being reckless. And man, oh man, like Linda in this week’s episode, you have Moon proving Beef wrong over who gets bragging rights of how to take care of an animal. I get that Beef was only doing this because he doesn’t want Moon to get hurt while taking care of the animal, but quite the L move from Beef when trying to take care of Toby that resulted in him being spooked away out of the house, causing terror across the town when searching for food to feed his family, and having to relive his humiliating moment with the wildlife. But it’s a good main plot regardless.
And the same would go for the subplot. Ham having to go through a possible Final Destination-type situation after getting the death prediction from Judy was something. Sure, it was expected that Ham wasn’t going to die, and the various scenes of the episode, especially on the open road and him being inches away from having an icicle lodged into his skull outside of the guest house and nearly choking on a gumball on his way upstairs at the mall, but it was expected. At least he survived and will live to see another day and with the support from Honeybee, Judy, and Dirt throughout the whole thing. Even if Judy’s supposed curse was inflicted on a random squirrel and not her Alaskan twin brother. So all and all, a good episode, and this is the the first of the two that came out this week. So let’s see how the second episode will fare. And until then, I’ll give “Look Who’s Squawking Adventure”...
A 7 out of 10. But that’s my thoughts on the episode and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. Onto the next episode we go from this week’s triple slate of episodes with I guess is the final episode of Season 4 (hopefully) with “Am I the Ice Hole? Adventure”, which I’ll get to that right away and won’t be out until... give it until sometime this upcoming weekend before getting things ready for the new episode of Bob’s Burgers with “To Catch a Beef”. So, the review of “Am I the Ice Hole? Adventure” is coming pretty soon, so hang on tight for that one. And don’t worry about the episode reviews for both “Welcome to Miami Adventure” and “Worst Drives Club Adventure”, they’re both under construction as we speak. Have to get the next episode, and then hopefully “The Big Steblitzki” unless that gets posted days after “To Catch a Beef” before we begin Season 15 at the end of this month.
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