So... the first week of March, going into the new month and already, we already got ourselves a status quo shake-up regarding the show and this season alone to be exact. Three months into 2025 and three episodes into the new season, we already got a shake-up regarding the show’s status quo after watching this week’s episode. Especially coming from both ends of the aisle. And a lot to discuss in this blog post of me rambling over this week’s episode and that is exactly what I am going to do.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, Ham takes up a gig as the fill-in for an animatronic band at a pizza place with him developing feelings for one of the animatronic members of the band, a yeti that plays guitar, while also feeling conflicted with his relationship with Crispin as the rest of the Tobin family compete over whose idea will Beef choose to rename the new boat and possibly put the crew working overtime with the intro in my spoilerific review of the third episode of Season 5 of The Great North, titled “Bots on the Side Adventure”.
And yeah, quite the shake-up regarding the status quo that we got from this episode, and a massive one at that. A change in status quo isn’t new to shows and The Great North is no stranger to it. Most shows do have that moment where they had to go through some changes that could affect... I guess the canon of the show, especially when it comes to sitcoms, let alone animated sitcoms like, of course, The Great North. And hopefully what we just saw doesn’t result in people saying that the show might’ve jumped the shark on this one.
This season and the previous season are no examples of when having to describe the sudden changes that we had to go through. The introduction of Aunt Dirt would be the item on the list and some shows do have to go through the idea of bringing in a new member of the main cast, let alone being a long-lost family member. Gravity Falls did that by introducing Ford in the second half of the show’s second season leading up to the series finale and he was a long-lost relative. Beef starting dating Carissa was the other item on the list that shook things up for the show. Mostly because Beef needed to get back on the saddle, especially after one-night stand too many with Greta. No one suspects Carissa to be the one who ended up with him and she was the dark horse pick. And, of course, with Beef and Carissa dating comes the possibility of Moon and Debbie becoming potential step-siblings if things do become serious, but who knows? The show loves to mess around. And then, of course, the changing of the boat from the Mighty Kathleen to the Canal Breeze to the same new boat but with a new name.
But it’s Ham and Crispin’s relationship that became the major shake-up regarding where the show is heading. They’ve been a couple since the end of Season 1’s “Pride & Prejudance Adventure”, four years nearly to the day of that episode’s premiere, four years is quite the run. Four years since the show’s first season. To give y’all some context on the duration of all of this...
This relationship lasted just 12 days off of matching the number of days of Joe Biden’s presidency. Next to Wolf and Honeybee, the relationship between Ham and Crispin was a breath of fresh air. The perfect power couple between two high school students who are both gay and are perfect for each other as if they’re inseparable to the bone despite a few close calls where it nearly ended. One is Season 3’s “Autumn If You ‘Em Adventure” where Ham was hesitant to give Crispin a ring and everyone mistakes the idea of him giving it to his boyfriend as a gift for a marriage proposal even though they’re in high school. The other was mostly for joke value in Season 4’s “Welcome to Miami Adventure” with the guys fighting over which movie where the White House is under siege is better courtesy of Moon who wanted chaos for Guys Night at the Tobin household.
And when I said that the show loves to mess around, especially when it comes to the relationship department? Oh, I mean it. A huge shake-up going forward after this episode because you thought and I thought that things would blow over and would still be together like most times that nearly gave some fans cardiac arrest. Not this time, spoilers by the way, as we just pretty much what I can guess is the equivalent of the Pentagon being hit. And all this... if you watched the episode before coming here, over an animatronic creature at a pizza place. Yeah, the Tobins can’t escape the furry allegations. I said last week with Dirt’s fantasy after taking a sip of margarita and one of the holiday mascots includes the Easter Bunny. And now with this week’s episode, it’s a yeti. A robotic yeti but still. That being said, that should be enough yapping with the introduction and now, let’s get to the episode. This is “Bots on the Side Adventure”.
The episode starts with the Tobins, primarily comprised of Judy, Ham, Moon, and Dirt, at the pizza arcade joint called Yet-E-Cheddar, which is a play on Chuck E. Cheese or I guess Family Funtime if you’re a fan of Bob’s Burgers just by looking at the place but Chuck E. Cheese seems to be the most unanimous for the masses to know the reference. They’re here because they got invited to attend a birthday party, which... who doesn’t want to go to a birthday party at an arcade joint? The games are there, sure, you have to pay to get a couple of tokens, but it’s there. Oh yeah, and the birthday person who invited the Tobins into the mix, it’s not a classmate of Moon’s which would’ve been the suitable answer to have something like this. But no...
It’s Gill who is having his birthday party here at Yet-E-Cheddar. Yeah, nothing weird about having a high schooler having a birthday party at a place that is made for kids under the age of 13-14 or 14-15 at minimum, or at least in my opinion on when to give out. Especially since people nowadays are glued to their screens. Also, this kinda threw me off just by Ham mentioning what age Gill is turning, he’s turning 16. We know that, or at least in my way of looking at this, you’d thought that when it comes to what grade Judy and Ham are in would be in eleventh grade, and the usual age range for an eleventh grader would be 16-17 years of age. And is mainly because Judy turned 16 at the start of the show and we know that both she and Ham were born nine months apart, she would be 16, and Ham I guess would be around also 16 or maybe 17, it all depends on what the nine months are and where the month lands on for Ham and for Judy. So I guess if we’re talking about what the normal age range would put them in the tenth grade, the average years of age would be 15-16. This feels like what with Rudy in “House of 1000 Bounces” when he brought up that he’s turning 9, which makes you dumbfounded because the usual age range for a fourth grader is 9-10.
Had to get that out of my system regarding the age thing and not in a creepy way... also, Gill has a car. He has a car and we have seen him drive it even though it was a cart dressed up as a triceratops and we know that anyone who is 16 in Alaska can get a provisional license before getting the real deal once turning 18. Okay, for real, I had to get it out of my system. Judy and Ham make their way to the table where Gill’s party is with Judy asking Ham to play along in the event Gill wants a birthday kiss from Judy and attempts to lie to get out of it by saying that her lip gloss is shrimp flavored because she knows that Gill has a shrimp allergy. And that should be enough to back away, especially on his special day.
As for Moon and Dirt, they’re unphased over them having to go along with Judy and Ham to the arcade place. Deeming it as a “casino for babies”, especially coming from Moon who you’d think at only 10 years old would at least give one iota of a crap about the place and I guess the pizza would be the way to go aside from the various arcade games where you might be worried over the idea of other people’s germs onto various equipment of each arcade game. Both Tobins are unphased over having to go to the joint until something catches Dirt’s attention in the form of a novelty comb with pepperoni decorations. A giant ass comb to be exact but it’s something that caught Dirt’s attention from the prize booth and she plans on getting one. The only problem for her in her continuous journey in assimilating into modern life is that shit cost 10,000 tickets. Making it impossible to get for anyone. But that’s not going to stop Dirt from making it her life’s mission, for this episode and this episode only, to use her gambling addiction as an advantage to get her the X amount of tickets she needs to win the comb. And doesn’t result in her using her gun in her pocket and turning it into a crime scene against the machine for potential rigging.
Switching over to the docks and it’s been three episodes now with the new boat and the first since the end of “The Lies Aquatic Adventure”, not counting the intro, seeing the Canal Breeze in full force... docked to be exact, and even though we got the boat for three episodes now within the current season, Honeybee thinks that the boat needs a new name. Because, sure, the name printed on the boat does look faded, especially on the “C” of the name Canal Breeze looks more faded than the other letters of the name to the point where people will mistakenly call it the “Anal Breeze” than the “Canal Breeze”. Honeybee has to point that out when talking to Beef and suggest that the boat needs a new name because even though it was high time to get a new boat to replace the aging Mighty Kathleen, like what the world is currently doing to the US after that disastrous moment that happened this past weekend, not one person is laying an eye towards the family whenever the boat is out and about. So, Honeybee suggests that the boat is in dire need of a rebrand, a rename, and that is something that Beef can agree on. There’s just one little issue if you’re a member of the Tobins not named Beef...
Beef sucks at naming stuff. He is ass at naming stuff whether it’s naming his kids or anything really and the new boat is the last thing that the Tobins want to deal with if Beef were to make the decision to rename the boat. And that’s something that the Tobins, once they all get home later in the day, to come up with a meeting to get it all settled. And before y’all say anything, I had to go ask an AI bot and answer the question of whether or not renaming the boat would be considered bad luck. It all comes down to whatever results may hold but most of the time, the whole idea of getting bad juju just for renaming a boat is the same as Trump’s chances of wanting Canada to become the 51st state, utter bullshit. Nothing more than an old maid’s tale.
Going back to the arcade joint and this might as well be the storm slowly starting to brew for this episode. Ham and Crispin make their way back to the table after playing an arcade game called Snack, Snack, Hibernation, which according to Moon, that game is only built for one player but that doesn’t stop Ham and Crispin from sharing the game by I guess taking turns for them to have their shared name, their couple name to be exact, on the leaderboard. Even though the synopsis did spoil the outcome of this episode regarding Ham and Crispin’s relationship, next to Wolf and Honeybee’s relationship, this is a good relationship between the two characters and even though they’re perfect for each other, looking for each other’s stuff, and having some things in common, there are some flaws in the pot, in a non-homophobic way because I support the LGBT community, and I don’t care of who you’re dating regardless of gender as long as you’re not an asshole, the flaws come down to Crispin, at least according to some in the fandom, mostly because of not to appear as much, undergoing the voice change in Season 3, and his character being one-dimensional but it’s a good relationship regardless before this episode and as I said in the introduction, four years. That’s quite the run for this relationship to run its course.
It’s the type of relationship that makes Judy jealous because Ham found a soulmate and someone who can be around for the long run and not have to go through a rebound for the rest of his life. Like, we get it Judy, you’re still single and we don’t need to remind you about your relationship history and remember, you were crushing on Crispin for the first couple of episodes before finding out that he was crushing on Ham leading up to the night of the Thomas Wintersbone Dance. But yeah, Judy is a bit jealous that Ham found someone to be in a relationship with and is completely off the market in comparison to her who is still single and continues her side quest to find someone to be with. Meaning that she could hook up with anyone and she means anyone when talking to Ham when comparing their relationship statuses.
Especially once the animatronic band came out to perform and all eyes were on one of the members of the said robotic band, an animatronic yeti named Yeti Van Halen, with a backstory that the creature is 17 years of age, he is the youngest of the group, and stole his step-father’s motorcycle. And oh boy, it looks like the description that Judy gave out and just looking at the animatronic is more than enough for Ham to start gazing at the creature and starting to have feelings for the animatronic furry before getting spooked by Crispin, who came back from getting a small and large slice of pizza right as the performance is about to take place. And oh boy, this is only the first step on what is about to come if we have to trace our steps leading up to the end of the episode like what this format is doing. And speaking of the band and having to perform...
The moose animatronic gets caught on fire. A total malfunction that caused the circuits to be messed up to the point where being caught on fire in the middle of the performance. Catching everyone by surprise because it was a fire that broke out as if you think that it was part of the performance but it’s not. Quite the screencap there above this paragraph. Good night sleeping with that image, y’all. Better get the holy water. So yeah, the performance gets cut short because of the mechanical issue and it looks like Gill’s party seems to be ruined because of that issue along with some mental scarring for the faint of heart. Because that’s pretty much what the script has to say by having an animatronic getting caught on fire. And luckily enough for the joint...
Ham steps up to the plate and becomes the fill-in for the band to finish the performance. Just be lucky that him being the vocalist for Messanger of Chaos has its perks and having to serve as the emergency vocalist the same way a hockey goalie goes down and having to pick someone to step up to the plate as a designated emergency goalie. So, Ham crushed it to step in as the emergency vocalist of the band, knowing the lyrics to the song right off the bat, and that alone is enough for Ham to get the job as a part-time fill-in vocalist for the band once one of the employees of the joint named Matt comes in and offers Ham the job, a part-time job to be exact, while the animatronic moose goes to the repair shop. And with that, we got ourselves the main plot for the episode, and with it, a storm that is about to brew if you’re a Ham/Crispin shipper for the people who watch this show. Other than that, Ham got the gig and a job with Crispin coming in to ask Ham to hopefully get next Tuesday off for their “jinx-iversary”.
So now, hours later at the Tobin household with every member of the Tobin family having a meeting and with perfect timing to host one while Beef is away for the night as he watches Shark Tank with Carissa. And it’s no gimmie that every member of the Tobin family comes to a unanimous understanding that Beef is horrible at naming things and they brought the receipts to list various examples from a muskrat to a goldfish that is long dead to yes, Wolf’s middle name. And the name that Beef is going for whenever there’s a naming process of all of this: Giggles. I’m not kidding, that’s actually the name Beef went as if it was the name that is considered to be the default pick. And naming the boat “Giggles” is something that no Tobin wants to go through...
Hence, why the meeting have to be held and especially once Beef is out of the house as he goes watch Shark Tank at Carissa’s so that they can do the naming for Beef to accept and not let him do the picking for himself. Though let’s not go as far as planning on killing him just for picking terrible names and being afraid that you could get hazed just because he’s terrible at picking names as if we’re just gonna pretend those baby naming websites don’t exist. Makes you question who the fuck names them within the Tobin family?! So, Honeybee came up with an idea to get Beef to accept their ideas for the name change by hosting their version of Shark Tank since Beef most recently got into the show and that should be the way to go. Turning it into a competition to see whose idea will be chosen with Beef as the deciding factor. And with that, even though the synopsis did say a Succession-type competition even though it’s Shark Tank... I dunno, I’ve never seen Succession, but that seems to be the way to go without having Beef to pick it for himself or let Judy’s option go forward and hide his body in the waters.
The next day arrives as we prepare to close out the episode's first act with Ham at band practice on the first day of his part-time gig as a fill-in singer for the animatronic band. He gets a text from Crispin, wishing him good luck on his first day on the job before his thoughts decide to play games with him with a force ghost of Crispin’s head saying “Yours forever” only for a force ghost of Judy’s head saying what she said to him earlier in the episode by saying that he could die right now and be happy that he’s off the market, and then a force ghost of himself over his head with him not having to get to know the experience since this is his first relationship and a committed one at best. The conflicting feelings are already starting to take place as Ham and the band start rehearsing. And already things are starting to become awkward for Ham when having to be kept getting bumped by Yeti Van Halen while rehearsing one of the songs. Oh, but Ham has to be super careful when being around the animatronic creature when having to perform. He can be unpredictable when it comes to the vocalist getting caught in the range of the robot’s bass the same way you would have to deal with an annoying co-worker every day you’re at work.
And then, ending the first act and going into the second, going from rehearsal to performing to the masses, this is where things really take a turn for Ham, and his emotions start to mess around with him. Take a quick look at Yeti Van Halen after being bumped again and oh boy, Ham is developing feelings for an animatronic creature while he is dating Crispin. Over an animatronic yeti that isn’t real and is nothing more than just... well, spare parts. But to Ham, it seems real. Very real based on his point of view and do remember that conversation earlier in the episode about him not getting the full experience of being single and being flirty toward other people because right off the bat, he snagged Crispin and this is Ham’s first relationship and a committed one at best. So, the experience should be there on how to be a better boyfriend when being in a relationship, but then again, I’m not a relationship expert and going for the full 28 years of life being single. I’m a mess, so I’ll just put it out there.
So, now going into the second act of the episode with Ham and the band of animatronic creatures wrapping up performing, and already, you can already feel the awkward tension for Ham when taking a look at Yeti Van Halen. Quietly and quickly developing feelings for the robotic creature even though, once again, it’s not real. It’s nothing more than nuts and bolts. Also, putting it out there, not beating the allegations. Ham is not beating the allegations of him potentially being a furry just because the animatronic that is quickly falling head over heels is in the form of a yeti. Definitely not. Not Ham and anyone in the Tobin for that matter. Do remember last week’s episode with Dirt in one of her fantasies where she laid eyes on the Easter Bunny after taking a sip of a margarita?
Going into the next day at school after Ham got his payment in boxes of pizza with him, along with Crispin, Judy, Kima, and Gill, by the way, Kima and Bethany didn’t have voicing roles in this one, just FYI, but yeah, they’re eating the pizza that Ham brought from his gig and having to recall his first day at the job while hoping to not draw suspicion for Crispin regarding what just happened back there at the joint and him locking eyes with the animatronic yeti as if he’s about to crash out. And it’s only the second act of the episode but Ham knows that his heart belongs to Crispin but his mind has other plans as the episode progresses.
Especially when shifting back to the joint later on in the day with the band wrapping up the performance and like I said, his heart belongs to Crispin but his mind focuses on something else and the animatronic yeti just by imagining talking as if he’s an actual living creature when it just those two, well, the camera focuses on those two but you get the gest. And so far, it’s pretty much a crush. It’s nothing more than a crush at this standpoint of the episode into the second act and like most crushes, hopefully, it would blow over. I would be lying if the synopsis of this episode didn’t spoil the freaking outcome. Jesus Christ, the furry community is going to have themselves a field day just by looking at that animatronic. I can already imagine the art.
Ham needs some time to think as he continues to fight his conflicting feelings as she strolls through the arcade. Hoping to get some advice or some time alone to process what just happened and luckily for Ham, he caught Aunt Dirt playing a round of axe-throwing in her quest to cough up 10,000 tickets to get the comb. Oh yeah, we kinda forgot about that when watching the episode because our focus was on Ham’s relationship struggles and the attempt to rename the boat. Once again, making it her life’s mission to get the comb, even if it means her camping out from the inside by sleeping in the ball pit. Just be thankful for Dirt that she didn’t get caught by a security guard or the idea of the animatronics coming to life and potentially declaring open season on anyone who’s there at night.
It’s one of many pieces of advice that Dirt has to give to Ham regarding his situation while she is focusing on her stuff within this main plot for the episode. Ham tells Dirt about this dilemma in which Dirt thinks that he’s crushing on his co-worker, i.e. Yeti Van Halen, in which Ham continues to deny the allegations that he might be a possible furry but also because he can’t fall for someone else, especially towards a robot, because he’s still with Crispin and falling for a robot like Yeti Van Halen would be considered... well, cheating. Something that Ham doesn’t want to do because it would feel like he’s stabbing him in the back. Especially with the “jinx-iversary” coming up. But this is the first of many pieces of advice that Dirt has to give to Ham as he continues to deal with his problem regarding developing feelings for someone or something who is different than Crispin. And the first one didn’t seem to help Ham, at least as of this moment in the episode.
Switching over to the docks on the soon-to-be-renamed boat and so begins the Shark Tank session that Honeybee suggests for Beef to take the name. Beef seems to be excited about what his family has to offer when it comes to the idea of the boat needing to be renamed. Especially since he is getting into watching the show and much like the contesting to see if their ideas will get picked up, Beef will serve as the judge to see which name suggestion he likes the best.
Starting with Moon’s idea for the name change... well, a name change and a redesign for the boat that he had cooked up on the whiteboard for him to present his idea to Beef. He wants the boat to be renamed “Moon’s Murder Barge”. And as the drawing shows, it shows the boat with various weapons you would find on a military boat like a missile, a satellite dish for radar detection, tanks, spikes on the front side of the boat, the works. And the background for all this, imagine if the world is at war, which is likely going to be soon because we don’t know what the fuck we’re doing other than poking the bear to our deaths, and the boat would be the perfect murder weapon to go out at sea and haul some ass. Except for the fact that the boat isn’t built for war, the cost would double, triple, possibly quadruple the amount the Tobins make, and also Moon has to come across someone who has the weapons and other military arsenal that might be alleged to be stolen... the dark web. Moon came across the dark web. That should be enough for Beef to pass on Moon’s suggestion because of the many reasons that I had to lay out but mostly because he doesn’t want the boat turned into a weapon used for war and should probably destroy the computer once they get home because Moon had to go through the dark web without even noticing that he went to the dark web.
Onto Judy’s suggestion for the name change and it’s the opposite of what Moon is going for because instead of using various alphabet letters to rename the boat as Judy flips the whiteboard from Moon’s suggestion to hers when presenting her idea for the name change. Thinking that the boat shouldn’t use letters and wants to be up the ante, at least in her opinion, and uses symbols instead to rename the boat like its hieroglyphics. Pretty sure no one can read that as if they’re reading a note written by the Zodiac Killer. And, of course, Beef doesn’t like the idea and takes a pass on her idea.
And then, we get to Wolf and Honeybee’s suggestion and they’re the closest to getting their idea picked for the name change. And they do so by sharing the one thing that the family unanimously can agree on and that is to hopefully one day meet Adam Sandler. And that's where the name of the boat from Wolf and Honeybee comes into play by having the name be a play on the actor by calling it the “Madam Sandler”. They even have the visual presentation ready to go even though it’s mostly comprised of Cheesecake wearing a Bruins jersey and a hockey stick that is supposed to be him dressed as Sandler’s character in Happy Gilmore. And you’d think that should be enough for Beef to take the offer and run with it for the rest of the series... he doesn’t like it. Mainly because Beef fears that if he were to take up the suggestion made by Wolf and Honeybee, it’s going to be flooded with tourists surrounding the boat and taking photos even though it’s just the name of a freaking boat and you’re treating it as if you would expect Sandler himself paying a visit just to see the boat named after him. It’s a no for Beef on all three options because while they’re glad that his kids and Honeybee did come up with some “questionable” ideas, it doesn’t that he likes it because it’s not his opinion. So... Giggles it is then and with it, a lot of hazing towards the Tobins. There’s gonna be a lot of hazing.
At or already past the two-minute warning of the first half of the episode with Ham getting a bite of pizza as he continues to struggle to comprehend his feelings for someone else who isn’t Crispin, especially towards an animatronic. Matt comes in and tells Ham that his break is going to have to wait and get back onstage because some random kid threw up in the root beer pitcher and needs a performance to calm the kid down. That performance includes a duet song with Yeti Van Halen called “Dippin’ Stick Boogie”. And some panic is built into Ham’s system when finding out that he’s going to be sharing a song with a robotic yeti he quickly falls head over heels by saying that he never practiced the song during rehearsal. But, might as well floor it if it means calming the kid down.
And he does so once hitting the stage and shares the song with the animatronic yeti. Nothing else to say about the song other than Ham pretty much killing it just to lift the mood up just like what he did earlier in the episode when the moose animatronic malfunctioned. Taking it as a professional when singing the song just by winging it because like he said, he never practiced the song leading up to this moment but he made it through by the end anyway, especially when having to share the stage and the song with the robotic yeti that Ham can’t escape—treating it as if fireworks were about to pop just between the two.
Of course, ending the first half of the episode with Ham’s emotions continue to plague him after that performance with the animatronic yeti with his imagination taking over once again with the said yeti starts talking to him, making things even more problematic for Ham because he is still committed to Crispin and Crispin alone but that’s not going to stop his emotions to get in the way and could play homewrecker with his relationship. Love is a complicated thing for someone who is still single and oh boy, it’s not looking good for Ham as the episode progresses. Again, the episode synopsis did spoil the outcome at the end of this but if you’re Ham who is in his first-ever relationship and never got the full experience of being single before being scooped up like you’re an ice cream scoop of any flavor as the first pick without any given thought and without asking for a sample to try out before trying the full thing, the mind and heart are battling it out over what to do with this situation.
Now, going into the second half of the episode and it’s the overnight hours with Ham facetiming Cripsin on their way to go to bed and trying to play it cool. Especially with their special day now right around the corner in the coming days. The two prepare to drift off to sleep and are ready to synchronize their dreams together, well, attempt to be exact, by having the two hopefully meet each other in a various location with the chosen location being Martha Stewart’s mansion. And that’s what the two are heading once they drift off to sleep... well, only Crispin because Ham once he falls asleep...
A whole different story. Ham gets a dream of him performing with the band and yes, him incredibly falling in love with Yeti Van Halen. To the point where they have fantasies within a dream between human and robot whether it’s the yeti taking Ham’s hat when getting off the bus, listening to a recording, sharing a bath together even though it would short circuit the being as if it would serve as if you’re dropping a toaster into the bath, a pillow fight, or just riding in the open road in a motorcycle... yo, he is not beating the allegations. He is not beating the furry allegations and the dreams aren’t helping his case. Ham wakes up, thinking that it’s all just a dream, only for him to be still in a dream with his mind playing games with him by imagining the yeti doing pull-ups at his door. Once again, not beating the allegations and the conflicting feelings continue to mount as we now enter the second half of the episode.
Ham comes down the stairs to get himself a glass of milk where he notices Dirt salvaging through the living room in search of loose change as she continues to focus to get her hands on the novelty comb. Dirt is not kidding about the whole gambling addiction because she had to spend every dime to exchange it for tokens just to waste it away just to earn a lot of tickets she could get so she could get the main prize for the episode. Ham once again tells Dirt about this dilemma and while she is searching for loose change in various couches, him struggling to get the animatronic yeti out of his mind as once again, his heart belongs to Crispin. And Dirt knows where Ham is coming from with his current situation that he is dealing with because apparently, she knows what’s it like, i.e. their brains trying to put out the bat signal and try to say something about the current situation.
And we got a flashback from inside the bunker. We finally got one! We got one, y’all. We got one. Dirt tells Ham the same situation he is currently in as we see a young version of her hiding inside her bunker, a good 23 years to be exact from her 60 years of hiding, walking around doing nothing while being off the grid when she spotted something that caught her eyes. That being a can of carrots that has been sitting on the shelf filled with rations for her to consume during her time hiding. Picking up the can and kissed it. Yes, she kissed a can of carrots to the point where the can of condensed milk became jealous when getting a front-row seat. It’s not a sexual relationship to the can itself because that would be weird but it’s more of the line of her brain telling herself while hiding that she just needed Vitamin B from the carrots that she later on ate, So in short, what happened with Dirt back there is the same thing that is happening with Ham and again, do remember what Judy and Ham himself about not having the full experience of being single and it looks like that seems to be happening despite being in a committed relationship.
As the night progresses, so does the competition, and as predicted, it’s quickly tearing the family apart as the three parties, one by one by one, at the boat with Wolf and Honeybee reaching the vessel first, only to spot Moon being the first who made it there and already painting his name suggestion, before being spotted by Judy. Everyone seems to be in desperation mode to make sure they get their ideas to go forward because no one wants the name “Giggles” as the family boat. So a sit-in has to be the way to go until this whole thing blows over and spoilers, it’s a stalemate between the three parties to the point where they have to set aside their differences.
The new day arrives and Ham looks like a freaking mess. Haven’t got any sleep for the past 12 hours since getting that dream of him and Yeti Van Halen playing cutesy with each other, they’re 16-17 by the way, don’t get it twisted. But yeah, Ham looks like a mess after not getting any sleep last night with his hair ruffled up and once again, being spooked by Crispin because he knows that can’t hold himself together about what happened and at the moment, it’s like he wants to tell him what happened and hopefully treat it as one big misunderstanding just to save their relationship because the person who Ham is falling for is not even a human, it’s a freaking robot!? Of course, Ham continues to hide himself from Crispin and comes close to crashing out. Calling him “a Spy, Harriet the” before storming out.
So now, hours later after school at the end of the third act of the episode, and ayo, quite the screencap there for this one. Ham and the band finish one of the performances and oh boy, it looks like Ham’s emotions have finally caught up to him once the camera focuses on him and Yeti Van Halen. Ham continues to deny the allegations and deny his feelings for the animatronic because, again, he is still in a committed relationship with Crispin. But since it is the end of the third act of the episode with only less than four minutes left in this bitch, Ham finally decides to give himself to the pressure and ends up kissing the animatronic, just to tell his brain to shut the hell up so he can focus.
Only to be spotted by Crispin who saw the thing being played out. Though that one kid’s reaction in the back who is also seeing what is happening... yeah, kid, same. Pretty much the ultimate WTF expression when seeing this unfolding. But yeah, Crispin caught Ham kissing an animatronic, which weirded him out for a bit because it is a robot that he is kissing and not an actual living being, but for Ham... oh boy, the relationship is pretty much good as over regarding what just happened. He just can’t hold it. He can’t hold on for much longer since first falling eyes for the robotic creature because the pressure is eating him. It is eating him whole throughout the whole episode and wants to survive it without falling under pressure from his emotions so he can be with Crispin without any controversy but alas, he can’t hold it any longer and gives in and at the wrong possible timing for him do to just that. But oh man, it’s not looking good for Ham and it’s not looking good for his relationship with Crispin as Ham storms out dramatically to close out the third act of the episode.
But not before we get a small scene with Dirt witnessing what just happened for a bit before turning her attention back to the booth with her turning in a trash bag worth of loose coins she can find as she prepares to go all out to get the novelty comb. We're not gonna end the episode with Dirt just going home empty handed though her probably saying “Fuck it, you're not worth my time” would probably be the way to go and would suit her as a character.
So now, here we are. The fourth and final act of the episode and the relationship between Ham and Crispin is presumably over. It's presumably over for the relationship. It's Joever, or at least according to Ham. Quite the symbolism here with this scene to kick off the final act with Ham walking across the sidewalk and passing through the end sign, pretty much telling everyone that the relationship that’s been going on for four years since the show’s first season, nearly to the day of the airing of Season 1’s “Pride & Prejudance Adventure”, it had a good run. It had a good run. And it had to end all of this over kissing an animatronic yeti in front of your shawty at the wrong possible time.
Ham comes across someone with a hat, complimenting his hat, and is about to fall for the guy, only to end up denying it as he continues to have conflicting feelings after that would-be fallout with Crispin over what happened at the end of the third act. And it looks like the guy with the hat isn’t the first that Ham nearly fallen head over heels when coming across a skate shop and it’s fantasy after fantasy for him when spotting each boy facing in front of him from across the street. Whether it’s a fantasy in Paris, skating across the beach, or riding in a swan paddle boat in what appears to be Central Park in New York City, Ham can’t escape it because his mind is going haywire as Dirt said to him earlier in the episode, it’s trying to send him a message. A message that if you remember back at the start of the episode, when Judy said that Ham could die happy because he found someone right off the bat without having gotten the full experience of being single. Until he finally got a firm realization. Especially nearing the two-minute warning of the episode.
Especially once Crispin finds Ham and Ham having to explain what is going on about what just happened and why he stormed out of the arcade joint following having a secretive crush towards the robotic yeti. Telling Crispin that what happened back there is a misunderstanding because he kissed a robot. Nothing weird about that unless you’re some weirdo who somehow ends up falling for an AI as if it’s coming out from the movie “Her”. And it’s nothing like that with Ham and not in a weird way because they’re both 16-17 years of age, calm down. But Ham comes to an understanding of why he is acting out when talking to Crispin whenever he comes across him throughout the episode since getting the part-time job. Saying that he hadn’t got the experience as a single person before dating Crispin and wants to try it out for a bit. Wanting to become a free agent and plans to test out the market would be the easier way to say in NFL terms.
Crispin thinks that it is Ham’s way of saying that he doesn’t like him anymore but Ham clears things up and says that it’s nothing like that and says that Ham should get to know the experience for a while before considering giving his relationship with Crispin a second go. And Crispin, not upset about it because he knows where Ham is coming from, agrees that it’s not technically a breakup. It is not a breakup even though the synopsis did say that it is and even though that it does look like a breakup, feels like a breakup, it is a breakup but in more of a way of a mutual understanding between the two. Give it a season or two until they decide to get back together. Just give it a season or two. And this is the second time this Animation Domination season that we have had a breakup. The second time and the first was an out of nowhere statement and that was Henry and Susmita. This one, while spoiled, we saw it on camera and it was a massive one because it involved a main character and a side character and also this being a same-sex relationship that everyone should be appreciative of.
So, yeah, as of 9:29 PM on Sunday, March 2 in the year of our lord 2025 when the episode first came out, Hispin, Hampsin, whatever the fuck you want to call it, it’s officially over. That’s it for the relationship with the two boys coming into a mutual agreement to take some time apart. They’re still going to be friends, for sure. And yeah, there’s going to be some awkward moments going forward between the two but they would still be friends nonetheless. I guess it just comes down to Crispin himself and whether he’ll appear more on the show. But now, 1,449 days since the end of the first airing of “Pride & Prejudance Adventure”, Ham and Crispin are no longer together as a couple until they decide to get back together, just give them time and for them to test out the open market. And the symbolism with the flowers as the camera pans away from the two shows it. The flowers, I had to see that post over on Tumblr, are called forget-me-nots and the post reads, which was screen grabbed from a Google search, that the flower serves two things: a symbol of remembrance and treating it to remember the dead but it’s mostly to symbolizes true love and devotion. Ham and Crispin were that example and until they decide to get back together, again, give it a season or two before doing all that, a mutual agreement to end their relationship would be the way to go going forward.
One status quo change after another as we passed the two-minute warning and the competition nearly caused the family to tear each other apart over the name change to avoid getting the “Giggles” name for the boat, to no one’s surprise, they decided to come together and name the boat together to avoid Beef from naming it for himself. The family had Beef blindfolded once more before taking it off and lo and behold...
We got the name change. Going from the Canal Breeze to the Mighty Beef. Not an original name because the name has been taken from the Tobins’ previous boat “The Mighty Kathleen” but it’s the way to go in hopes of an agreement from Beef to take the name and run it. Hoping for this to be a better name than “Giggles” or take the easy way route like the “Tobin Family Boat” as if it’s the Utah Hockey Club and having to wait for a while to get a new name. But that’s more than enough for Beef to gladly accept the name change instead of having second thoughts and thus, going forward, the Mighty Beef will become the new boat. Man, the people who worked on the intro for the first three episodes of this season and the one coming up are about to go into overtime just to update the boat in the intro. And yes, still a missed opportunity in not having Dirt into the intro.
Going into the final few scenes of the episode with Ham, enters the free agent market in the relationship department, with his time as the backup vocalist for the animatronic band now coming to an end with him continuing to get his payment of pizza, about 14 boxes of pizza and a lot of slices to give out. Might as well give those boxes to the homeless rather than eating a dozen boxes even though some will go to the house and some to be eaten at school but I would probably give it to the homeless with that amount. Ham gets his shipment as he is finally done with his role as the backup vocalist and prepares to take all of the boxes with him, well, a portion of the shipment to put in the car but not before, yes, giving one last look at Yeti Van Halen because it’s nothing more than a crush and like most crushes, it’ll blow over and that what Ham did once his time at the joint is up.
Ending the episode with Ham eating one of the slices on his way up to his room where he notices a note on his desk. And it was written by Dirt, who wrote him the best of luck as he is now a free agent in the game of romance and he gotta need it. Oh yeah, and Dirt won the comb for anyone wondering and decides to not keep it for herself as what she was planning on doing at the start of the episode to make it her episodic goal and instead, decides to give it to Ham as a gift. A giant comb being used to doll himself up. The moral of the story: Be honest with your feelings and don’t fall for an AI robot. I know it’s an animatronic but with the world of AI quickly taking over our lives, just don’t fall for it. Just don’t.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? This was an interesting episode. An interesting episode because of how once again, it shakes up the show’s status quo going forward coming from both plots and the outcome that will linger for the rest of the series. Yeah, the synopsis did spoil the ending regarding the outcome of the fallout at the end of the third act of the episode leading up to Ham and Crispin deciding to have a mutual parting after being together for within our lifetimes, four years, but it was quite a shakeup and a massive one because you have the main character being in a happily and committed relationship with a side character and you thought that it would be patched up and just call it a day. That didn’t happen this time around and it was quite shocking to most but you probably get the idea when watching it, especially going into the final few minutes of the episode, that you sort of knew that something as healthy of a relationship as Ham and Crispin would come to an end.
It was an interesting episode from both plots of the episode that once again felt like a massive shakeup that felt like an earthquake was happening. The main plot, of course, is the most massive of the two because, again, it’s the relationship that we know all too well and thought was going to last for who knows how long but here we are, it’s the end of the road for Ham and Crispin and at least we know that they’re still going to be friends going forward since it’s a mutual agreement to put their relationship on hold and would not be surprised if they do end up getting back together, but give it time. Just give it time and not rush shit up. Just need FOX to give out a couple of seasonal renewals to do just that. Other than that, not a bad main plot with Ham having to use his skills as a vocalist to step up to the plate as the fill-in vocalist and uh... yeah, not beating the allegations of him being a furry.
The subplot was alright as it too would serve as a shakeup with the show’s status quo regarding the renaming of the boat. I mean, we knew that the family would come into a mutual agreement to come up with a name together rather than having a competition that would’ve torn them apart like it’s a competition but more of the line of not wanting Beef to rename the Canal Breeze to Giggles because that would be a dumb name for a boat, so just be thankful that name did not go forward and with that, the Mighty Beef it is for the time being. Other than that, an interesting episode to say the least quite the shakeup once more for the show’s status quo going forward. So, I’ll give “Bots on the Side Adventure”...
An 8.5 out of 10. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. And tune in this upcoming Sunday with a brand new episode and this should at least be an interesting one with Honeybee messing with something she’s not supposed to mess with and a curse takes over her and the Tobins in the fourth episode of Season 5 in “Silence of the Dams Adventure”.
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