Do I have to say it? The recent ratings we got for this week’s episode speak for themselves. Like, what are we doing, y’all?! What are we doing?! And now, with only four episodes left in the season, which at this point, might as well say four episodes left in the series. There’s a Reddit post I saw over at The Great North subreddit where that person state the various points to why they think the show should continue by bringing up a few points from the interview from one of the heads of Disney wanting the show to continue and the possibility of moving it to Hulu if Fox does make the final call to the development we’ve got this season alone, it would suck that it would end it that way. Though that person is also grasping at straws when mentioning the show getting pushed due to the weather delay that put the brakes on Daytona, I still question why NASCAR didn’t even bother moving it to the following Monday, but fuck us, I guess.
This and the next episode on August 14 might as well be our last chance to show our support. I’m trying to be somewhat optimistic, but each passing day, the signs are becoming clearer and clearer that this might be the end. It just comes down to hoping the network proves me wrong. It might as well come down to that. But it could be worse; we would be the tire fire that is CBS and Paramount. “Financial decision”, my ass. Pretty sure that move was political and y’all know it.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, Wolf decides to enter the world of wrestling after getting his feelings hurt from the one person who he admires the most, that being his father Beef, as Judy trains a new employee at the Point & Shoot store at the mall in my spoilerific review of the eighteenth episode of Season 5 of The Great North, titled “Heelraiser Adventure”.
I might as well borrow the introduction of my review of “Crab-solutely Fabulous”, funny enough, that both this episode of The Great North and that episode of Bob’s Burgers has wrestling as the topic, and both those episodes have Jane Lynch in those episodes, if you think about it, I know nothing about wrestling. I’ve never seen a wrestling match. Never grew up with it, whether it’s the WWE, or back in the day as the WWF, or Lucha Libre if you grew up in a Mexican household, so expect me to sound like a total newb.
But you get somewhat of an idea about wrestling more than just people tackling each other in rings to secure dominance, like how some kids did back in the day when using trampolines as wrestling rings, but it’s the storytelling that matters. We know that wrestlers have their own personas, their characters that they create, and the background and motivation behind their characters to get the people hooked. It’s like creating an original character when doing a fan comic or fanfiction. It’s all about the story and the motivation behind the persona of a wrestler when entering the ring. And this is exactly what Wolf is doing after getting his feelings hurt by the one man whom he admires the most, and we’ll get to that right now. This is “Heelraiser Adventure”.
The episode starts on the boat with everyone doing their job out in the open water, all but Wolf, who seems to be excited over something that is making him not do his work. That being the upcoming Death Cliff Wrestling season that is taking place later tonight, that got Wolf pumped to the point where he wants to do some roughhousing on the boat, of all places, which neither Tobin wants to get involved in because they don’t want to get in the way. Especially Judy because she has to go to the mall later in the day as is tasked by Alyson, who is absent in this episode, by the way, to train a new employee at the Point & Shoot store at the mall. Wolf roughhousing in preparation to see a wrestling show is the last thing she needs. So, Wolf goes to Beef to do some roughhousing because he can’t contain himself with the excitement for the show, because he’s a fan of wrestling and wants to see the show with his father. Unfortunately, it looks like the roughhousing is already causing more problems than ever before for the Tobins because that caused Beef to accidentally kick the lever that causes the fish they caught to be released to the waters. Pretty much costing the family their salary for the day that would’ve put food on the table.
Hours later, back at the docks at the end of the day, with Beef being upset over losing his catch, thanks to Wolf doing a little roughhousing. Londra notices that Beef is upset over what happened regarding Wolf, not because of something to do with Lacey Chabert stepping away from her Muffin Shop Mystery series, but because he had to roughhouse, which caused him to lose the catch. But it’s not just that, because according to Beef, when it comes to each family member who does their job on the boat, Wolf is the least productive of the bunch, who doesn’t seem to take his job seriously, as if he sees him as nothing more than a liability. Too bad that this little conversation isn’t all that private.
Wolf overheard everything that Beef was saying when talking to Londra about him. Upsetting the guy because he didn’t expect his father, the person whom he admired the most, decides to talk shit about him right behind his back. Treating it as if Beef has lost faith in Wolf for not taking his job seriously enough that you could say, in Wolf’s eyes, it feels like abandonment if you think about it. This leads Wolf to disown Beef as his father by disinviting him to see the wrestling show in Death Cliff and instead plans on taking Cheesecake with him. Causing Beef to be upset over what he said that hurt his feelings in a conversation that was supposed to be private. And it’s something that is going to stick with Wolf for the rest of the episode, and it’s only just the beginning... for this episode.
We transition to the Point & Shoot store at the Lone Moose Mall with Mr. Golovkin entering the store and, surprise, Golovkin is the new employee that Alyson hired and for Judy to train. Judy is surprised to see her teacher getting a job at the mall and now having to be coworkers in this little establishment. Golovkin tells Judy that he’s only doing this because he needs a second job, because a teacher’s salary isn’t enough to pay the bills, though it feels like it’s more than just making the extra money to make ends meet once Judy gives the rundown of the place when entering the photo room and showing him the closet filled with cameras that Golovkin might need for something that he is plotting as if it’s more than just wanting to make the extra money, or rather, even wants the job at all as if he has an actual reasoning for why he picked Judy’s place of work to enact his plan as if he’s running a sting operation.
Lo and behold, it’s a sting operation. Golovkin is plotting a sting operation by pretending to be an employee at the photography store. We won’t get any details until we get to the next act of the episode, to know what is really going on with what Golovkin is plotting, but we know that it involves one of the employees at the mall that he spots, that he hopes doesn’t get seen if he wants what he is plotting might fall apart. At least we know the person that Golovkin is targeting for this episode, that being the mall train conductor. I mean, it makes somewhat sense because if there’s anything that involves trains, especially with what he is plotting with details about to be shared going into the second act, it’s Golovkin.
Going back to the main plot of the episode as we transition to Death Cliff at night with Wolf and Cheesecake watching the wrestling performance with Wolf still has the notion of Beef talking shit about him from earlier, with his conversation with Londra, fresh in his mind as he is remain upset with his father and hoping a wrestling show would get his mind off of things. Thinking that his father was a good guy. Someone he admires, especially after Kathleen left. I know that it wasn’t brought up, but it does feel like abandonment issues if you think about it, regarding Wolf with not having Kathleen around and him latching onto Beef because he needs a role model in his life, and Beef is that role model. And having your role model bashing you for something you did or didn’t do feels like a metaphorical stab in the back. Like, imagine if this were Gene and Linda were to do something or say something behind his back... oh wait, that’s “All That Gene” back in Season 10. But imagine that if Gene were in Wolf’s shoes in that situation.
The show comes to an end, but not before the announcer announces that the league is short-staffed because most of the wrestlers are injured to shit, either by actual injury when being in the ring and having their bodies bruised or falling sick because they either forgot to take the vaccine or are anti-vaxxers that would cause them to miss out of their matches, so now, he asks anyone in the audience to sign up to be an emergency wrestler for the time being. This, of course, gets Wolf’s attention, and he decides, “You know what? I might as well become a wrestler. That’ll show my father, who thinks I’m a bum, even if I were to put my body on the line. But that’s the risk I’m willing to take.” So yeah, Wolf decides to enter the ring to become a wrestler because the league is understaffed, but mostly to tell Beef to go fuck himself after what happened earlier in the episode.
This leads us to the end of the first act of the episode, as we transition into the next day, with Wolf arriving, donning a wrestling costume that he has to create ahead of his first show later that night. Showing it off to Honeybee and, yes, to Beef. Beef thinks that what Wolf is doing is ridiculous, and whatever he is planning on doing needs to stop... by asking Honeybee to tell Wolf to drop the act. Honeybee replied that she tried because of the experience she had when talking to partners who wanted to give wrestling a shot. But it’s mostly because Beef started this mess the moment he talked shit behind his back after losing the shipment the day before, and probably thinks for the best for him to clean up his mess. This is pretty much Honeybee taking a bye week in this episode, and we just got out of a few weeks’ break since mid-June, and another break is coming up until August 14, when the next episode airs.
Onto the second act of the episode, where we have Wolf, along with two other competitors in the ring, one dressed as a turkey and the other dressed as if the 1980s threw up Nancy Gribble from King of the Hill, as the director of the league named Carl, or as we go by his wrestling name, Jacked-ula, which is a jacked up vampire, giving them the ground rules on what to expect for tonight’s match. They’re not given a shot to train themselves leading up to the event. Just introduce your character, talk about the move you’re using without having to perform it until later tonight, and wait until butts are in seats. So yeah, we get to the three wrestlers’ character introduction, starting with Wolf taking the name “The Luscious Lumberjack”, which Wolf doesn’t know what role he’ll take, either hero or heel, ends up taking the “hero” role, but not for long before getting to the end of the first half of the episode. And then we have the other scrubs like the “Tantalizing Turkey”, who decides to take the hero role, while the other wrestler, “The Co-Worker”, decides to take the heel route.
Once again, I don’t know anything about the world of wrestling, but much like most storytelling when it comes to the world of fiction, there’s the protagonist and the antagonist. You've got to have a hero and the villain. And the heel is pretty much the villain of the story, whereas the hero is called the face. And when it comes to wrestling, sure, you have the moves and the fights to make sure you secure your dominance, but there’s also a story. You need a story to get people hooked ahead of their match without having to make it boring or abruptly end it after losing one match that was the first match of their career. And nothing wrong with a little twist that comes with a story, to some somewhere you would have to witness the face (hero) transitioning into a villain (heel) or a heel transitioning into a hero. And that is something that we will soon see with Wolf as the episode progresses.
We check back at Judy and Golovkin at the mall, with the two staking out as they attempt to keep an eye on the mall train conductor, Granville Tenders. Judy doesn’t seem to have a problem with the guy, but Golovkin doesn’t buy it. Turns out that Granville used to be a member of the train club but had his membership revoked after committing a crime that he is not supposed to do, which is considered breaking the club rule, which is theft. Especially when stealing a train that belonged to someone else, especially a club member. Most importantly...
The caboose that is attached to the mall train revealed that it used to belong to Golovkin. Which is odd because I had to go through each of the episodes from the past seasons, and you see the carts that were attached to the train, but not one of them belonged to Golovkin up until this episode, because why not? Got to follow what the script says. But Golovkin’s cart was not there because I had to go and double-check any of the episodes from the previous seasons, like Season 3’s “Mall-mento Adventure”, and you don’t see it. Just appears out of nowhere in this episode. But regardless, Golovkin plans on taking the caboose back to his possession and he thought that him having to take a job at the Point & Shoot, rather than picking any other store in the Mall to do a stakeout but the Point ‘n Shoot might as well be the place since it has cameras to take photos of Granville’s every move. Yeah, good luck explaining everything about all of this to Alyson, Judy that the new hire is only there just to pull a heist. Of course, Golovkin can’t do the job alone and thus, plans on asking Judy to tag along to do the heist. She agrees as long as Golovkin meets her conditions: ten pre-signed late slips and has the desk that belonged to a student named Andy Montag near the window. And thus, we got ourselves a team... of two, or until later in the episode, going into the second half, that is about to be a group of five once spotting Ham, Moon, and Dirt going on a joyride on the animal rides.
Back to Wolf as his debut night has arrived. And already he’s getting his first match as he prepares to take on The Co-Worker. Making his introduction to the crowd before getting ready to rumble. Too bad for Wolf is that he doesn’t have that dawg in him. The match didn’t even last a full minute because he got pinned down by his opponent. But then again, he would lose regardless because... dude, you can’t hit a woman. You can’t hit a woman. The match is pretty much a lose-lose situation for him, and it’s his first match, along with not getting any training or having any stamina whatsoever to survive a single match. And here we are, Wolf getting his ass handed by his opponent in a match, his debut match, that is pretty much a lose-lose situation.
Hours later, once the show ends, Wolf is already starting to regret his decision to enter the ring, where he gets a one-on-one talk with Jacked-ula about his performance in the ring. Wolf might as well fear for the worst, that he is about to get fired because of his horrible performance in the ring, and thinks that he is going to be replaced. Jacked-ula isn’t planning on doing that, mostly because the league is understaffed and the league is pretty much broke as shit, and could face the danger of having the league folded if they don’t make the bank. Mostly because most of the money was towards a drug ring, and until the DEA catches Jacked-ula, then it looks like Wolf isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But he needs to fix his character up a bit going into the next night, as if he’s telling Wolf that there’s a missing piece with the character if the audience wants to buy it in. And that would be motivation, on an emotional level, of course, that would have Wolf flip the script from a face to a heel. Marriage is off the table because he’s happily married to Honeybee, so you already know where this is going on what should motivate Wolf to kick it up a notch going into the next night. And that would be, yes, his feud with his father, Beef. And speaking of Beef...
We jump to the next day at the docks, with everyone doing their job on the boat before calling it a day with Ham, Moon, and Dirt all planning on going to the mall to ride more on the animal scooters like we saw earlier in the episode, after Golovkin told Judy about his plan to pull a heist. But that looks like that’s going to have to wait because Beef plans on going to see the wrestling show along with the rest of the family to show their support for Wolf, despite that Wolf is still mad at him, but he still plans on showing his support anyway. That, and also hoping for things to be water under the bridge. Thinking that this whole thing would blow over. Too bad for Beef... oh boy, yeah, knowing that we’re about to reach the halfway point of the episode, not a chance, man. Not a freaking chance.
Going into the end of the first half of the episode, with the Tobins watching the show. Waiting for the wrestlers to take the ring, especially Wolf. Thinking that shit was going to be sweet for the family as long as they hoped it’s going to be a nice, little show, and hopefully that things would quickly patch up once the night ends. This is what I would say if this isn’t the halfway point of the episode that lasts for 21 minutes instead of 11-12 minutes of runtime.
Because Wolf finally makes his way to the wrestling ring, this time donning an updated look for his outfit and improvement to his character, with him wearing Beef’s coat with the sleeves ripped off, a fake beard on his face as if he was donning the Beef costume from a few episodes ago in “Reservoir Dad Adventure”, and, of course, one of the belts from Beef’s belt rack from his closet to create the closet. Already embraces his heel arc and a name change from the Luscious Lumber to Big Bad Dad as he enters the ring as we end the first half of the episode.
And going into the second half of the episode, so begins the match between Wolf, as the Big Bad Dad, and the Tantalizing Turkey, with Wolf finally getting his motivation and about to wipe the floor with the Tantalizing Turkey while making a scene to get the people’s attention. A lot of jeering, but you get that if you play the heel. People are going to hate you because you’re the villain, but the wrestler, like Wolf, who takes up the role, doesn’t bother them because they just do it for the love of the game.
The look at Beef’s face after seeing Wolf in the ring should tell you that shit is not going to sweet as the second half of the episode progresses. Thinking that this is all part of the act and believes that this is his way to blow off some steam, and hoping that all of the frustration would go away, and for an apology to happen. Who wants to tell him that this is nothing like what we saw in “Bust a Moon Adventure” earlier this season, where he thinks he’s playing 4D chess, hoping for someone like Wolf to drop the act, and admit that they’re wrong. Yeah, that ain’t happening. Mostly because we just started with the second half of the episode.
Beef is feeling the brunt of it, going into the montage into the next day and the following few days after, with everyone poking fun at Beef wherever he goes when minding his business, whether it’s at the docks, at Maude’s, or the store, he ends up becoming the target thanks to Wolf and his performance in the ring as we see him picking up the slack in a few scenes in the montage. And knowing that Lone Moose is a small town that has a population of 500-1,000 at a minimum, you know that news is going to spread like wildfire. To the point where, in Beef’s point of view, it is harming his reputation, thanks in part to Wolf becoming petty since revamping his character to look more like, well, Beef. Though, to be somewhat fair in all of this, you did talk shit about him behind his back at the start of the episode. Saying that he doesn’t take his job seriously as if he’s considered him a liability, and Wolf took it personally as if you don’t believe in him. Treating it as if he’s somewhat of a lost cause.
I know that it wasn’t brought up in this episode, but it does feel like we might be painting the obvious here regarding Wolf’s little issue with Beef in this episode that caused him to join a struggling wrestling league, and painting him (Beef) in a bad picture as if what he did in the show put some sort of bounty on his head. We know that Kathleen is a terrible mother, and her being around and the moment she left them behind had everlasting impacts on the entire Tobin family. We can all agree on that, and even though it was never brought up in this episode, this pretty much tells you that Wolf has abandonment issues, and out of the members of the Tobins, Wolf would be the one who suffers the most, as if his mother were to disown him and the family.
And you could see why Wolf would have idolized Beef because everyone knows that he’s a great dad and knows he is doing when providing for the family on his lonesome. It was pure glazing with the way Wolf is showing his support to the fullest towards Beef. A true daddy’s boy, the same way as in Bob’s Burgers, where Gene grew fond of Linda. Painting him as a mommy’s boy. And the moment at the start of the episode where Beef talked shit about Wolf after losing a week’s worth of money that they need when catching fish, after Wolf decides to roughhouse in anticipation of the wrestling show that he is now in, the abandonment issues kicked into overdrive, and have Wolf’s mind jump to conclusions and believed that he is being left hanging like he’s a defensive player for the Cincinnati Bengals. But don’t take my word for it when describing Wolf’s abandonment issues...
This post on Tumblr from user pixie-13-13 pretty much says it best about this situation with Wolf. Once again, even though it was never brought up in this episode, you already know where this was going when watching the episode. You can easily blame Kathleen for messing with the family’s self-esteem for the shit she does leading up to her fucking off to be with Marcus in Pittsburgh. And Beef knows what he is doing when having to raise four kids on his own, and the challenges that come with it, this was long before Honeybee and Dirt entered the picture, to have someone like Wolf to look up to him because he needs a strong and responsible adult to be there rather than someone who went on affair after affair along with other shit Kathleen had done. And the fact that he overheard Beef, the person whom Wolf admires the most in his life, talking shit behind his back over what happened at the start of the episode, as well as noticing that he never took his job seriously... that was the moment that really stung Wolf to the point where he has to disown his own father just for talking shit behind his back. So yeah, Beef... you might’ve created a monster in this, and all it took was you having a loud mouth when talking shit about one of your own that triggered his abandonment trauma.
So, we check up at the mall after hours, where no one but Judy and Golovkin are present, with Golovkin ready to go on the play-by-play, but they’re waiting for a couple of people to arrive that Judy has to hire if they’re going to need the help they need to make sure the heist is a success. And to no one’s surprise, it’s Ham, Moon, and Dirt pulled up their animal scooters right outside the Point & Shoot, which makes you question how the fuck they even rode their way up since the photo store is on the second floor and if you remember, the elevator, the one we usually saw since the very first episode, was under repairs and it has been since. And usually, according to Google, the repairs take several weeks to no longer than several months. It has been a full year since then, and I feel like someone should lose their job on that. That, or they’re being underpaid. Either one of the two.
Aside from that, Judy called up the best options available to help her Golovkin steal the caboose that once belonged to him, consisting of Ham, Moon, and Dirt, I mean, no surprise, because the end of that scene where Golovkin told Judy about his plot to steal the caboose earlier in the episode did spot the three riding on the animal scooters and that would have either Judy or Golovkin, mostly Judy because she called them up, to think to themselves that they may have found their perfect set of people to help them out. So, here’s the game from Golovkin for the upcoming heist: it takes place the next day and needs to make sure nothing goes wrong. Judy will have to buy a ticket to get on a ride on the targeted caboose, and once the train reaches the spot between the massage chairs and the boba shop. That’s where Ham, Dirt, and Moon come to disrupt the train ride by pretending to fall from their scooters, pretending to have a freak accident as if the scooters had a malfunction or something. And once that gets Granville’s attention to clear the area, that’s where Golovkin would step in and take the caboose away from the mall train, and bang, bang, boom, we’re in the clear. Though no guns are needed, as Dirt suggests, because the heist doesn’t call for dead bodies or a possible shooting situation that could land them on the headlines section of the 5 o’clock news.
Going into the next scene, back to the main plot, with Beef wishing for this whole charade to be over with, but is now dealing with the brunt of what Wolf is doing, which got the town’s attention once Dirt is getting her cup of coffee and asking Beef if he had done anything to patch his relationship with Wolf. Of course, nothing is working because Beef is trying to do the best he can, from having to apologize a few times to making his favorite food, and he (Wolf) still won’t take Beef’s apology. It feels like as if Beef is finally realizing the consequences of his actions after talking shit about Wolf that, according to Wolf in his point of view, feels like you may have disowned him as an employee on the boat, but also, grasping at straws here, as his kid.
Moon enters the house, which surprises Beef to see him despite that school won’t be out for another two hours, but Moon has a good reason for his early release. And yes, it all ties in to the Big Bad Dad shtick because Moon’s shop teacher, surprisingly that Moon is taking a course like that, knowing that the minimum age range for students to take shop classes should be around middle school, but whatever, I guess, because it’s probably woodshop, and Moon would know anything regarding wood, mostly wood carving knowing his expertise in the outdoors, but Moon got shop class and got a early dismissal from school for the day because his shop teacher is a huge Death Cliff wrestling fan, which causes Moon to come out and says that the Big Bad Dad character that Wolf is playing is based on Beef, that results him to get the early release as if he thinks that Beef is a horrible father to his family. One bad thing he did, and already some are painting him as a horrible father, on the level of Kathleen. Beef says enough is enough and decides to visit him, going to the next scene, and since Moon has nothing else better to do other than wanting to go to the mall to ride on the animal scooters, but having to wait for Ham and Judy to do that to pull off the heist, he, along with Dirt, decides to go dumpster diving at the pretzel factory.
Beef decides to put his foot down on this whole nonsense once he makes it to the newly renovated guest cabin. And this is the only glimpse you’ll see of the renovated place from the doorway that Wolf is standing by. Hopefully, we do get a full inside view of the place because we sure got robbed of seeing one at the end of “Super Smash Lovers Adventure” and only saw the outside of it. By the way, the intro was updated again, forgot to bring that up to include the newly renovated place. That wasn’t shown in the intro to “Serendipi-Beef Adventure” aside from the start of the episode, where we got the aerial view of the town and the property from the twin comets’ perspective. I hope we do get a full inside view because... we only have at least four episodes left in the season and possibly the series if the show doesn’t get renewed. Renew the damn show, damnit! And show your fucking support so we can get another season!
Anyway, Beef decides to put his foot down when talking to Wolf and asks him to put an end to this charade because it’s causing irreparable harm to his reputation with the way he is panting him. Especially because, again, Lone Moose is a small town, and news will spread like wildfire, even if Beef tries to tell everyone that he is not a bad father. Of course, Wolf won’t budge because his having his feelings hurt by someone whom he trusts, idolizes, and glazes is what got him popular, love him or hate him, if you’re the audience who are attending the shows each night, and is currently riding high on his wave. Of course, Wolf decides to throw in a bit of an ultimatum for Beef to take if he wants to put this thing to be put to rest. Rather than saying I’m sorry from Beef because he tried saying that numerous times since seeing the show and the character in his own eyes, Wolf asks Beef to admit that he’s a better worker on the boat and say that he won’t hire outside help to be the deckhand. AKA, give Wolf his flowers because this whole shit started with Beef talking shit about him for not taking his job seriously, as if he’s painting him as a lost cause. Of course, knowing that we’re now at the end of the third act of the episode, Beef refuses, or rather, hesitates from saying what Wolf wanted to hear from him. And thus, the persona lives on, and the same goes for the hazing of Beef. I mean, at this point, Beef, you might as well just pack your bags, change your name to Carl, and settle into a new life out in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. It’s probably for the best.
Onto the fourth and final act of the episode, where we see Beef at the bar after hesitating to accept Wolf’s demands to make him stop ruining his life, and now, this little charade is going to continue with him failing to find ways to make Wolf drop the act that isn’t him having to meet his demands. He comes across an old man who looks like someone who drank too much, mostly because he looks like someone who happened to be wasted, talking about issues with their kid. Turns out the guy sitting next to Beef has a similar issue of his own because he has problems with his kid. Had some problems before, but that was all water under the bridge... up until he, the old man, slept with his son’s fiancée. Like... dude, what the fuck?! Patched things up, only to fuck everything up because you decide to fuck with your son’s fiancée?! By the way, just to get the ending out of the way, turns out the old man in question happens to be the father of one of the wrestlers, that being Jacked-ula, got to get that out of the way. So, the old man tells Beef that the only way to get Wolf to drop the act is to meet him in the middle. As in, he has to let his frustration out by letting him beat the shit out of him. Or to keep it short and simple, Beef is now planning on going to the wrestling ring if it means getting Wolf to patch things up with their relationship. And it looks like tonight’s show would be the way to go.
Because of the first few scenes of the climax of both plots having to flip around, we’ll focus on the subplot first before we get to the main plot to wrap up the episode. The heist is about to go into full swing, with Golovkin, Judy, Ham, Moon, and Dirt all in position to make sure the heist is pulled successfully. Almost had a hiccup there for a moment with the animal scooter department, with Moon getting a massage on the massage chair before being scolded by Dirt to get his ass on the scooter so that Granville doesn’t draw suspicion. Golovkin gives the signal that it’s go time with Judy executing her part by having to purchase a ticket for the mall train ride, donning a sun hat to avoid detection, with another almost hiccup with a kid attempting to join Judy on the caboose before having to be carried out to make sure it’s her and her only so that the heist goes through, even though the other carts are available, but that too would disrupt the mission. The train takes off, and with it, the start of phase two of the heist.
Ham, Moon, and Dirt had to create a small “accident” that would cause Granville to stop the train, and for Golovkin to strike and take the caboose as what he had planned. That did not happen because Granville, rather than stopping the train, decides to turn to avoid the scene. Already putting a dent into the plan, and now, this would cause Golovkin to come and improvise with a backup plan. Which is turning it into a train-on-train chase between two grown men riding on trains that are meant for kids riding across the mall.
So, Golovkin pulls up next to Granville with a bandana covering his face like he’s an ICE agent, before the bandana would come down and reveal his identity to Granville, while the chase is still ongoing and about to turn it into a tense chase in the low-speed variety. Did I mention that it’s two grown ass men fighting over a life-sized caboose for a train that is meant for children? Golovkin and Granville duke it out while latching on to the front of the train, hoping for one of them to fall and for either one to have some sort of freak accident. Not knowing that while that is happening, especially after Golovkin’s train hit the fountain, which causes Golovkin to jump onto Granville’s train, is when the caboose was detached courtesy of Judy, with her doing some quick thinking. Granville gets cocky with the news because even though the caboose was detached, it needs an engine to carry it. Too bad for Granville is that Judy found a ride or three to carry in the form of the three animal scooters. Mostly thanks to Moon for finding ways to attach the caboose to the scooters, thanks in part to what he saw over on TikTok, sorry, I mean VidVok, seriously, the laws of television don’t make sense in this show.
But other than that, the caboose is back in Golovkin’s possession, especially after Granville had a freak accident of his own after not seeing the stairs that caused the train to fall and him to fall flat on his face. The mission is pretty much a success in a subplot that should at least be a different story if it’s someone else being the new employee that Judy had to train, but what’s done is done, I guess. And besides, there’s no way in hell Golovkin is going to keep his “part-time job” after this because Judy ends up firing him after the mission is considered complete, after getting the caboose back into his possession. Yeah, Judy is going to have a long explanation to Alyson over what happened while she was away. Mostly because she is pretty much responsible for this when having to train Golovkin, not knowing that he was using the job to pull a heist to take back the caboose.
Going back to the main plot, as we are about to close out the episode, it’s nighttime once again, and it’s a packed house, thanks in part to Wolf becoming a name for himself with the Big Bad Dad character. Like him or hate him as a character, it looks like the league may have struck gold with Wolf having to revamp his character by using his issues with Beef as his motivation and having the town to spread the damn thing like wildfire is quite the promotion Wolf has to give to the audience just to get their asses to their seats. Of course, with only three minutes left in the episode, because we spent two minutes of the final five on the subplot with the train heist, we get to meet Wolf’s next opponent, and it’s not from any of the wrestlers because, once again, the league is understaffed due to the wrestlers either have a broken body or aren’t vaccinated, we have a newcomer entering the stage.
And it’s none other than Beef himself to hopefully end this little charade once and for all. Besides, he doesn’t even have a full costume created in a nick of time if he wants to get close to Wolf and apologize for his actions. It’s just him in his normal outfit, but he would have a pair of underwear over his pants. I mean, it’s that or have him be shirtless, take your pick. Regardless, it looks like the audience is about to eat this shit good because they got themselves a match with Wolf, as Big Bad Dad, now having to take on Beef, the man who is the reason behind the character, in a one-on-one match.
Which we got going into the two-minute warning between father and son as if it’s shades of Bob and Gene nearly attacking each other in “Beefsquatch”, but this little match is about to become a therapy session since we’re now less than two minutes left in the episode. And the wrestling ring is the only way for Beef to get his chance to apologize to Wolf after picking up the idea from the old man at the bar from earlier. People wanted a fight between the character and the person who inspired the creation of said character, but instead, as I mentioned, turning it into a therapy session instead of an actual wrestling match because Beef just needs this shit to be put to rest. And even though they did have to put their bodies on the line just to get it out of Wolf’s system, though you think by now, being the wrestling game for too long, that Wolf would have to deal with some bruises from being slammed, either with him doing the job or his opponents slamming him, but both him and Beef would do just that. Beating the shit out of each other just to get it out of their system. Especially with Beef, of course, realizing the consequences of his actions, with him talking shit behind his back at the start of the episode.
So now, going into the final scene of the episode after putting their bodies on the line, Beef and Wolf are worn out, with their bodies having to tap out after experiencing one slam after another during that altercation. Surprisingly that none of them had gone through CTE from that because otherwise, it would be round two with Wolf going through this season alone. But other than that, Beef apologizes to Wolf for what happened at the start of the episode. Telling him that even though Wolf never takes his job as a deckhand seriously, at the end of the day, he’ll always be his kid, but also telling him that he’s an adult and shouldn’t be treated as a kid, because there are times when he has to be called out. That, and also wouldn’t want to replace him as a deckhand. Of course, Wolf has to come in with a rebuttal that if Beef wants to call him out, he should do it to his face and not in a private conversation because that private talk did, and again, wasn’t brought up, but might as well paint it as it was quietly addressed, would trigger a traumatic moment. But other than that, Wolf and Beef have buried the hatchet, and that should be the end of this match... which ends in a tie or no contest for anyone who is keeping score. And the moral of this story: if you’re a parent, don’t talk down to your kid to the point where they might think you’re disowning them, because that scars them for the rest of their lives.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? This was an alright episode to have after waiting for a couple of weeks since the double header and going into break for the show for the next couple of weeks until the next one on August 14... like with the recent Bob’s Burgers episode, it’s average at best. I don’t hate it, but it needs some minor improvements for both plots of the episode.
The main plot was alright, and I’m not saying that because I know nothing about wrestling, and this is pretty much me sounding like a total noob in all of this, and I had to review “Crab-solutely Fabulous”, which was a wrestling episode on Bob’s Burgers. And even though it was a wrestling episode with Wolf having to turn heel because of him having to overhearing Beef’s conversation with Londra regarding him, even if it was never addressed but might as well treat it like it is, almost feels like we’re somewhat touching on Wolf’s abandonment issues with the way he reacted to someone who he idolizes like Beef would talk smack about him as he thinks that he’s some sort of liability. It does feel like it and even though it was never brought up, it was quite subtle when watching it, as if you’re seeing Wolf having to go through some sort of experience and having to sign up to be a wrestler, even if it’s him wanting to prove to Beef that he can do a better job, as a form of escapism. It’s all about context, y’all. It’s all about the context.
The subplot was okay, I guess, but would be considered the weakest of the bunch, with Golovkin having to be the new employee at the Point & Shoot, only to turn out that he’s using the job just to perform a heist to take a caboose that was once belonged to him and having to have Judy, along with Ham, Moon, and Dirt, to serve as the help to pull the heist. I think it would’ve been different if it were someone else that Judy had to train at the mall, but what’s done is done, I guess. So, I’ll give “Heelraiser Adventure”...
A 6 out of 10. But that’s my opinion and I want to hear yours in the comments below. No new episode of The Great North until August 14, so until then... please, for the love of God, show your support for the show during the hiatus. The next episode up for The Great North has Ham getting into some shit with the local weather on the news in the nineteenth episode of Season 5 in “Anchor-Ham Adventure”. And if you want to continue or have a chance to help with the relief efforts to those affected by the Central Texas floods earlier this month, here’s the link below to donate to help out with the relief efforts down in Central Texas...
>>> Click to Donate to Help with the Texas Flood Relief <<<
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. The 2025 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament is already underway with another set of double matches for this week, with both matches from Group D with Match 9 between Moon Tobin (The Great North) and Morty Smith (Rick and Morty); and in Match 10 between Cole Tillerman (Central Park) and Benson Dunwoody (Regular Show). The poll for these two matches closes on Saturday. And y’all should know the drill by now...
- PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/yahoo201027
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yahoo201027
- Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/Y8Y8K4OP
Donate over at PayPal, Patreon, and Ko-fi pages to help your boy out in both improving the bills and keeping the lights on to pump some content for y’all to embrace my BS. And until next time, stay safe, get vaccinated, and a reminder that you’re loved, you’re beautiful, ignore the haters, and I’ll see y’all later.
***The Great North is owned by 20th Television Animation, Bento Box Animation, and Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, and Minty Lewis. Please Support the Official Release***
No comments:
Post a Comment