It’s the end of the summer block for the 2024-25 Animation Domination, following the recent season finale of Bob’s Burgers. However, it’s not truly the end of the overall season because we still have a lot more Great North with only three episodes left in the season. Or rather, the overall series. I told y’all throughout the season in year two of doing The Great North reviews to support the show. Give the show a shot. Y’all had one job. One fucking job. And now, all eyes are on when we get the official word on the show’s fate, even though it’s going to be GGs sometime this week, at the time I’m working on the review. And if it’s truly the end, which I hope it’s not, but the signs are becoming clearer and clearer by the day, I might as well make the best of it. Depends on how the final review for the show will play out.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, getting into the spirit of the story of the tragedy that is Macbeth, Ham becomes an intern for a meteorologist on a television station where chaos and destruction helps him climb the steps throughout his school’s intern week as Judy is named as interim troop leader for Moon and his Lil’ Preppers troop (primarily Henry, Russell, and Quinn) with them going after someone who may have put a hit on Principal Gibbons in my spoilerific review of the nineteenth episode of Season 5 of The Great North, titled “Anchor-Ham Adventure”.
The wonderful world of weather is the name of the game for this week’s episode of The Great North. Especially when it comes to seeing the weather on the local news channel. So, I can’t fuck this one up despite being in a tired state I’m in, thank God the summer block is finally over. Primarily, the topic of the episode is all about the weather. And as someone who, back in the day, not only watched Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, and dabbled in some FOX, though that’s more of the mid-to-late 2000s, but also The Weather Channel.
Pretty sure that’s how some people who watch it should get themselves in the world of weather, well, that and also having to watch the movie Twister. I want to follow through, still watching over it every day, just that I’m bad at math. I’m shit at math, and it does involve a lot of math, not just science. But I’m still not going to drop what I was doing. Especially with Ham getting an internship at the local station for the town’s only meteorologist.
Of course, to mix it up a bit with this episode and tying in with the main plot of the episode with Ham at the TV station for his internship, you also have to include the Shakespearean story of the tragedy that is Macbeth. Pretty sure everyone here knows what the story is about because we took English classes in middle school or high school and had to read the story. The story of revenge, but also ambition, greed, prophecy, paranoia, all that jazz that can corrupt someone just to climb their way to the top, or in Ham’s case, when having to climb his way to the top towards an OAM (on-air meteorologist) position.
Let’s also not forget that we have a subplot that is somewhat tied in with the Macbeth theme of Moon and his friends having to be paired with Judy as the interim troop leader, with the kids wanting to protect “the king”, that being investigating who would put a hit on their principal, Principal Gibbons. Because if the story is about deposing one king as the main plot goes into later in the episode is all about, the subplot might as well be the opposite and having to go and protect him. So, we might as well get to business with this episode, this is “Anchor-Ham Adventure”.
The episode begins with the Tobin family watching the weather report on the news from the comfort of their breakfast table as they prepare to get ready for the day. And it’s a big day for Ham because it’s the start of his internship for the week, and where else but the local television station, and to be the intern for the town’s meteorologist, Harry Hotfog, voiced by Wyatt Cenac. We know that Ham has had an interest in baking cakes since the show’s inception. Not since being tapped as the town’s Cake Lady. Not to mention, being the frontman and vocalist for Messengers of Chaos, who we haven’t seen since the end of Season 3, mostly Steven and Quay, since we have Bethany and Gill show up earlier in the season. And now, we have Ham having an interest in meteorology. He thinks that it’s pretty much a hobby of his, even though we don’t see the Tobins even own a weather station across the house, but Moon doesn’t think so and considers it an addiction. To the point where he has a tattoo somewhere in his body that says “Weatherboy”, though nowhere to be seen. But Beef let that one slide when it comes to Ham’s little obsession because it’s a Ham thing for him to have an interest in the weather as if he wishes one day to become a meteorologist himself, whether being at the television station or the nearest National Weather Service office, but more of a genetic thing.
All tied down to a dead member in the Tobin family tree who knows a thing about the weather in Alaska, that being Ham’s great-great-grandfather, Gustin Tobin, who was Lone Moose’s first ever weatherperson back when the town was being settled. He was a door-to-door weatherperson who pretty much bothered the townsfolk as if he were a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Going all “Hello, let me tell you about how cloudy the day is today and how there’s going to be a huge flood in the future” whenever he comes across someone who is opening the door. Treating the guy like he’s Frankie MacDonald, if you remember him on YouTube when doing those weather videos. To the point where the Lone Moose settlers decide to shoot him. Multiple times from multiple people. And mind you, this was the early years of the town, where modern medical science didn’t exist, so one hit with a bullet somewhere in the body, and it might as well be GGs.
And it’s that internship that got Ham to start following in his great-great-grandfather’s footsteps in forecasting the weather using modern technology, like collecting data by using an excessive amount of math, science, and technology to gather the data that should be used to predict the weather. The most notable being releasing a weather balloon into the air, because the weather balloon has the instruments that are attached to gather information. The same goes for a weather station once installed and programmed. And yet the fuckers of the current regime think it’s all fun and games to defund it because fuck you, survival of the fittest, it costs too much, and climate is woke. Their language. Bad fucking idea for that to happen, especially since we’re now in the most active part of the hurricane season.
I recommend watching this video on what I may or may not be talking about regarding the current state of the world's weather and climate. We might be cooked with this going on, especially after what happened with the flooding that took place in Central Texas this past month. But other than that, Ham is prepared to enter the weather world, and the internship seems to be the way to go if it means wanting to climb the ranks as if he got a full-time job at the station, and out of the blue, as if watching TV is what got his interest in meteorology. Which is what some of the populace got the idea from other than witnessing an actual weather event that was taking place. Or, in Alaska’s case, from the show, a snow and ice event. I’m not a meteorologist, but I have an interest in the weather since growing up in Georgia, just by watching The Weather Channel. And the one event that led to that, what else? Hurricane Katrina.
But yeah, Ham is about to enjoy a week at the television station and is about to enjoy the life of a meteorologist... ‘s intern, to the point where his ego is about to take over. Thinking that he’s God as if he has a say in what to predict about what the weather is going to be. Hoping for people to bow to him like a king who has complete power. Yeah, calm down there, Simba. Out here on your “Can’t Wait to be King” timing, even though you’re just going to be an intern. So, Ham is excited about his internship to be Hotfog’s intern because he would be around all things weather... at least it’s not at the offices of the National Weather Service because the office of the state’s NWS is in Anchorage, which would involve Ham getting on a plane to and from Anchorage. So, Ham is excited to enjoy his time as an intern at the local TV station to explore the world of meteorology.
Judy, on the other hand, got the short end of the stick. She was supposed to get her dream internship at the Death Cliff Civic Light Opera because it involves theater, Judy’s specialty, like with Ham with the weather, since he’s going to the station to help out behind the scenes. She was supposed to get the spot, but instead, the school put her with the Lil’ Preppers, especially with Moon and his friends. Not as the assistant, but as a troop leader. Interim troop leader because the actual troop leader, who was with Moon and his friends, mostly consisting of his friends Henry and Russell, and friend turned newfound girlfriend Quinn, is undergoing rehab? Why was the troop leader in rehab? Who the fuck knows? We all know that Judy doesn’t want the internship, but ends up doing it anyway, much to her dismay. And the same goes for Moon because Judy is making him and his friends put on a play for an upcoming show with Macbeth as the play to be. Shades of Mr. Ambrose in “Gene It On” with Judy, and I say that because Ambrose wanted to do the drama department, but he ended up getting cheerleading, and decides to twist it up a notch by creating some drama.
Also, it's good to know where Lone Moose and the surrounding downs would be located within the map of Alaska whenever Hotfog was doing the forecast. Or, so what I thought, and follow me here for a bit on what I have to say. Because at first, this is coming from a Reddit post when going through the subreddit regarding Lone Moose, and where it would fall on the map. The Kenai Peninsula would’ve been the way to go because of the large expanse of water by the shore, but also the distance from Lone Moose to Anchorage. We know that whenever the Tobins, whether it’s Wolf and Moon in “Avocado Barter Adventure” or Beef and Moon in “Great Bus of Choir Adventure”, they take a plane there because there’s only about three modes of transportation to get across the state: by car, plane, and boat. I would also say train, but a train won’t travel from the lower 48 to Alaska; you would have to go to Canada for that.
Other than that, my first possible guess would be around the Kenai Peninsula because of the distance to and from Anchorage, because even though they have to take a plane there, Beef’s brother Brian took his car from Anchorage to Lone Moose. And that trip time takes him four hours just to get there, which would put Lone Moose by or like a dozen miles away from the nearest city in the state, which would be Homer. But take a look at the map in the credits. And then take a look at your map app, whether it’s Google Maps, Apple Maps, all the maps, and scroll through the state to find the land like it’s a game of GeoGuesser. That doesn’t look like the geography of the Kenai Peninsula.
[Insert Reddit Comment Here]
This Reddit comment from the discussion page of the latest episode feels like they may have cracked the code just by looking at the geography. Having to go to where Juneau is, scroll down to the first two islands, with one of the islands having the city of Sitka pinned. Sitka sits on Baranof Island, which is the first island. Then comes the second island, named Admiralty Island. And then comes the third, which is not an island, but the mainland, just scrolling through the Glass Peninsula. And you made it to the mainland. Which is the geography, according to the end credits of this episode, is where Lone Moose, along with the neighboring towns of Death Cliff, Ted’s Folly, Whippleton, and New Fork, is located. Not to mention that down south from Lone Moose would be the city of Ketchikan. And if you remember that a cappella group that made an emergency stop at the Tobin household, the Ketickan-do’s, held from that city.
But that doesn’t make sense because remember, Beef’s brother Brian took his to Lone Moose from Anchorage, where he is currently living alongside his daughter Becca, and see that both times in the show in both “Pride & Prejudance Adventure” and “Boy Meats World Adventure”, not to mention Wolf and Honeybee having to drive to Talkeetna in “Enough Bed Adventure” when having to deliver an edible arrangement after it was mistakenly delivered to them, as well as that one moment in the start of “Can’t Hardly Date Adventure” where Bee had to sleep in his van by the Canadian border... yeah, that four hour time trip might as well be bullshit. I mean, it is four hours from here to there, but according to Google, you can’t get out of using its AI because you’re pretty much stuck with it, that’s by plane. You could get through it, but it would have to be through a ferry. Which kind of explains how Brian made it to town once the day turned to night. It’s sort of like with Bob’s Burgers regarding the location of Seymour’s Bay. We know the show is set in New Jersey, but unknown where in Jersey until we get to “Oh Row You Didn’t” when Gene called a sandwich a hoagie, which is what people who lived in South Jersey would call a sandwich. Isn’t geography great? Having people to argue over a land mass that doesn’t involve having to invade and commit fucking war crimes. Stop sending weapons.
Onto the next scene after that “little” rambling about the geography of Lone Moose and the towns that surround it, which took up 80%, maybe 90% of the third page of the document, with Ham entering the news station and sees the place firsthand from the green screen to the computer and every equipment that serves to help with the forecast once the camera rolls. He gets somewhat of a “welcome” from one of the employees of the news station, named Vince, who is the cloud guy who happens to wear a green suit and waves a giant cloud icon onto the map. Pretty much mixing the green screen using today’s technology, mixed with people wearing green suits using giant weather icons on sticks, like it’s something coming out of the 1970s. Ham is one of the two new interns who is having their first day on the set with another guy, named Devon, who doesn’t want to do anything other than stick to his phone. Vince wants to fire Devon before he even begins his internship, but he can’t because the kid is related to news anchor Diondra Tundra. So, he can’t do jack shit.
Vince gives Ham and Devon a quick tour of the place, from the green screen to the technology that collects the data that would be put into the map ahead of the weather segment for the news. Pretty much a quick little tour as Ham asks Vince if Harry Hotfog is available for a meet-up, only for Vince to tell Ham that he’s busy at the moment because he has to attend a ribbon ceremony for a marijuana dispensary nearby, meaning that the segments are all pre-recorded as if he’s going to get baked as a result of the grand opening. The tour was only short as Vince gave both Ham and Devon their job positions for their internship. Devon is being placed for the teleprompter, and for Ham, he gets the short end of the stick. Taking the job of the servant to both give Hotfog a cup of coffee, with no milk because Hotfog has a serious dairy allergy, and to wash the green suit that Vince has just taken off and is drenched in sweat. Already at the hazing phase, as if he’s undergoing an initiation when entering a new job. And even though it’s only an internship for school, it’s a long way out before Ham begins to climb the ranks.
We check up on Judy on her first day as interim troop leader of the Lil’ Preppers group, of course, consisting of Moon, Quinn, Henry, and Russell, as they have to go through the script of Macbeth because nothing says a story that is made for 10-year-olds than a story about the main lead who became corrupted, ranging from revenge to ambition. Pretty much a lust for power. Though it looks like this little rehearsal is going to have to wait because even though Judy wants Moon, Quinn, Henry, and Russell to rehearse their lines for the play after being unable to land an internship at the Opera House, it looks like the Lil’ Preppers have bigger fish to fry regarding a current situation that caught their attention. Especially when reading through the script and noticing the part of said script about the king’s guards’ failure to prevent an attempted coup as if Macbeth was doing a mini-January 6.
And all eyes are on Principal Gibbons because of the clues they picked up, as if someone in the school is planning on taking Gibbons out of the picture. Treating it as if someone in this school has a vendetta against him. And after reading through the script, especially with the parts where the king’s guard failed to protect the king from being sent to the lobby in his sleep, the four kids are in a Macbeth-type situation and don’t want to make the same mistake as the guards in the story, like they’re the Cleveland Browns offense. The kids picked up some hints from someone, whether it’s a student or a faculty member, who might be plotting Gibbons’ downfall. Especially when seeing the wall that was graffiti’d that reads “Gibbons equals toilet”, probably from either their normal day in school or having to do their Junior Janitors duties. Also, I don’t want to know how Russell mistakenly eats tampons for cotton candy, but that’s not the point. The point is that the Moon, Quinn, Henry, and Russell are now tasked to protect the king, which is Principal Gibbons, and it is about to make it their life’s mission to make sure he doesn’t get overthrown as the school is about to undergo a potential coup d’état in the works. And you can already tell that Judy is regretting her actions and just wishes she had gotten an internship at the Opera House rather than having to deal with the bullshit that is about to come.
Later in the night, right as Ham is in the middle of sleeping, he gets disturbed, which spooks him to wake up by the sounds of his window being tapped. That, and a voice as he heads out through the window and onto the roof, a la how Judy would talk to Alanis, might as well treat that as the go-to place for any member of the Tobin family whenever they talk to spirits and visions of their imagination. The ghost of Gustin Tobin pays Ham a visit, with Ham mistakenly identifying Gustin as Dumbledore as his first guess before having to be corrected by his great-great-grandfather. Telling Ham about the current situation he is in when taking the internship at the news station, as if his legacy is on the line, like he’s the LeBron James of weather forecasting, or at least within the Tobin family. Because forecasting the weather on the air to the public to hear and watch is being done by incompetent people who only care about their ego when the cameras are rolling. That, and also money, which wasn’t brought up by Gustin, and also, bitches. Lots of bitches. And for Ham, according to Gustin, it’s the opportunity to respect his legacy by bringing integrity back to weather forecasting. At least Gustin, or at least in Ham’s head, isn’t homophobic and just brushes it off when Ham brings up that he’s not into women when bringing up the opportunities when becoming the forecaster. But other than that, this might as well be Ham’s mission by having to bring honor and integrity back as Ham wakes up, knowing that it’s all a dream, but knows what he is supposed to do going into the next day.
Especially when having the two cups of coffee filled, which he should know which is which because one coffee has regular milk and the other with oat milk, meaning that the coffee with oat milk should be for Harry Hotfog since he has a dairy allergy. And speaking of Hotfog, the man of the hour finally shows up as he makes his way to his chair to go through the script in preparation for the newscast, with him getting one of the two cups from Ham’s hands while getting makeup applied to him. Not knowing that the cup he took from Ham had regular milk mixed in the coffee, which could spell early disaster for him. In comes the ghost of Gustin to come and invade Ham’s conscience, the start of what is about to come for him for his week as an intern, or in Gustin’s case, his climb to become Lone Moose’s new meteorologist. And gaining Hotfog’s trust should be the start of this.
Ham knocks the coffee away from Hotfog’s hands, telling him that the cup he took from him has regular milk together. Hotfog was about to scold Ham for knocking the coffee off his hands as if it was going to spill his suit or something, but ended up showing his gratitude towards Ham, who saved him from a potential disaster waiting in the wings if he had ended up drinking the tainted coffee. It’s now getting into the point where, once we get to the end of the first act of the episode, with Ham now gaining the trust of Hotfog, and thus getting a promotion to kick off Ham’s prominent rise to power to be the top weatherperson by being tapped to be Hotfog’s eyeline. Which, for anyone asking, is a position in the film industry where an actor has to look while performing a scene. Hoping they don’t fuck it all up. Or in Hotfog’s case, not wanting to fuck up the segment while the cameras are rolling. But other than that, if we’re going to follow the Macbeth theme that is mixed in the episode, it’s pretty much an anime villain arc in the making.
Onto the second act of the episode, going into the next day, Day 2 of the internship, with the Tobins minus Dirt, oh yeah, forgot to mention that Dirt is absent in the episode, taking her bye week even though it’s been weeks since the previous episode back in July, watching the weather segment on the news. Seems to be beaming for Ham since getting that promotion after saving Hotfog’s life after noticing that he got the wrong cup. But now, it looks like Ham might be challenging Hotfog’s power, mainly his prediction for the next day, after seeing the segment. Noticing that it’s going to rain for Lone Moose, even though Hotfog predicts that it is going to be sunny. Didn’t even slap a chance of precipitation onto the next-day forecast. At least give it a 10%, maybe 20% chance at best, even though Ham thinks it’s going to be at least... let’s say 50%, 60% chance at minimum. And as much as Ham wants to tell Hotfog to make some last-minute adjustments or at least double-check before the segment airs, he would rather keep himself from having to create some bad blood/ Despite the visit he got earlier from Gustin to make it Ham’s mission to bring integrity back to forecasting.
Hours later at the news station, and it looks like disaster is already taking place for Hotfog on live TV as the cameras roll during his segment. Especially with everyone watching the segment taking place, mainly when cutting over to the Beef, Wolf, and Honeybee inside the Mighty Beef, because of him stumbling mid-performance. Not because of a lack of data, but because the teleprompter wasn’t fully typed in time for the segment to happen. A position that Devon was supposed to do, but would rather be on his phone and scroll through social media, and waste the day away.
This causes Ham to step up and serve as the emergency cue card carrier. Having to write the temperatures on one card, both the high temperature, which was written with a red marker, and the low temperature, with the blue marker. As well as a drawing of a snow icon, though a few lines were shown with the snow, signifying rain transitioning to snow, because the low temperature for the night would be at 16 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 8 degrees below zero in Celsius for everyone across the world. And you only get that if the temperature gets below the freezing line, which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0 degrees Celsius.
Might as well let this chart at least help y’all with this. And yes, I know, because Ham wrote down the high temperature of 45 degrees (or 7 degrees Celsius) and yelled out by Hotfog from the cue card, you think that the snow on the ground that we see in every episode (except for some episodes because it is set around the late Spring/Summer timeframe) would melt but the townsfolk would still wear their coats, or unless you’re an actual Alaska or anyone who lives in up North, let’s say the Midwest, it’s pretty much shorts weather for y’all. I live in the South. One snowflake and the whole state would fucking shut down as if a missile were hurling towards us, in GTA.
 |
| From January 19, 2025 |
And that was just this year alone. Earlier this year, when the Gulf Coast got a rare snowstorm blowing though to the point where the state of Louisiana, the state of Louisiana, issuing a blizzard warning. At least with that snowstorm from earlier this year, the grid in my state, and yes, it’s the one that is pretty much rivaling North Korea’s, held on in comparison to what happened back in 2021. But yeah, Ham threw up the cue cards for Hotfog to read through after noticing the teleprompter wasn’t fully complete. To the point where once the segment is over, and Hotfog enters his dressing room and changes clothes as he prepares to attend and officiate a wedding between two zoo animals in Whippleton, he gives Ham another promotion as an intern, with this time around, the next time we see him at this place of work, in charge of the data. Well, the teleprompter, but mostly the data to be added to the machine, but he got the position, replacing Devon, which, once again, they can’t fire him because he’s related to the news anchor. So, the position has to be swapped. And for Ham, so continues his climb through the ranks. Treating it as if he’s doing Gustin a favor and maybe him about to sniff a potential power grab regarding the position of being an on-air meteorologist. Oh no, that’s actually the smell of Vince’s green suit that was thrown onto Ham right as he was in the middle of daydreaming.
As we go back to the subplot of the episode with Moon and the others digging holes to serve as booby traps to catch the would-be assailant who wants to give Gibbons the smoke. And if there’s anyone who knows anything about laying traps, it’s Moon. Especially when he, along with Quinn, Henry, and Russell, is on the offensive and the defensive when having to play guard as if Lone Moose School is about to undergo a potential coup d’état in the works, waiting to come out of the shadows. Meanwhile, you have Judy already rethinking her life since getting the gig as interim troop leader, and she was hoping for the people she’s leading to just stick around and rehearse instead of what they’re doing as of late. That was until they heard a scream in the background, meaning that someone had fallen into the trap.
It turned out to be Mr. Golovkin, who fell into said trap that was laid out by the Lil’ Preppers. And already, the kids are accusing him of plotting to take out Golovkin, in which Judy has to step in and tell Golovkin that this is all one big misunderstanding because they think that someone is out to get Gibbons because of what they saw, and also having to go through the script earlier in the episode. Not really helping their case because, according to Golovkin, everyone hates Gibbons. And it’s a known fact that if you’re a faculty member of the school, because even though he’s their boss, he gets the most attention as he has more power than everyone and makes more money than the teachers, with the substitute teachers getting fucked over the most. Putting everyone at square fucking one because they find out that every teacher hates Gibbons, meaning that every teacher in the school is a suspect as they prepare to make their way inside to interrogate everyone. Judy prepares to leave with the four, but not before Judy asks Golovkin if he needs help with pulling him out of the hole, only to deny the request as he plans on doing it himself... while the ground is all wet and possibly muddy due to the rain that Ham knew was going to happen. And speaking of Ham...
He gets another visit from Gustin in the middle of the night, going into the next scene. Already got through the first two phases out of the way for Ham to climb the ranks from eyeline to now data inputter, if you want to call it that, with phase three now about to be underway, going into the second half of the episode. Phase three is the guy in the green suit. Gustin currently serves as Ham’s subconscious, with him telling Ham to step up because he knows that Vince is a bitch towards him since entering the building for his internship. Especially when having to do laundry duty with his sweat-soaked green suit since day one of the job. And if you know the story of Hamlet, since this is what the theme of it is regarding Ham and his situation when having to climb the ranks, you have revenge as one of the themes, as we’re about to witness a possible power grab in the making, as well as a villain arc. The life and times of an authoritarian leader out of a Netflix documentary.
Going into the end of the first half of the episode, seven pages of doing the first half through the document, and Ham is about to do the deed after his one-on-one talk with Gustin last night, as he prepares to once again wash and dry Vince’s green suit. And for a moment before doing the deed, there was some sort of guilt that stopped him for a bit. His conscience is telling him not to do what he is planning on doing while he’s ahead because what he is planning isn’t right. Feels out of character and all that crap. If this were the end of the episode, Ham would stand down. But knowing that it’s the end of the first half and going into the second, fuck the conscience, we’re kicking the power grab into high gear. Ending the first half with Ham putting the suit into the washer and messing with the dials, and now, going into the second half of the episode...
We have the result of the intentional mishap from Ham as he was busy inputting the data into the teleprompter for the upcoming weather segment, before he and everyone else got interrupted by the screams coming from Vince, who got upset that his green suit got shrunk by a mishap and wishes he had his backup suit with him, but left it at his ex-girlfriend’s place over a stolen mousepad. Vince already knows that Ham did it on purpose since he was in charge of washing and drying the suit to the point where he wants Ham to lose his intern job, only for Vince to end up getting the pink slip instead. Meaning, yes, Ham got another promotion to Cloud Guy and is one step closer to his and Gustin’s achievement of having a Tobin to make the call regarding the weather for Lone Moose. Really stroking the ego there in an attempt at a potential power grab there, Ham.
Especially when telling Hotfog, once putting on the green suit, to make some last-minute changes to the forecast because, according to Ham, he predicts that hail is going to fall later tonight, we’ll get on that in a bit. Hotfog knows what Ham is going to say because of his interest in the weather, as if he wants to do as he says, or wishes to play cue card holder again, but according to Hotfog, that all depends on the townsfolk because they rather listen to someone who, even though he is a meteorologist at a TV station no less, you can already tell that it’s his looks and personality that it drawing in the ratings. And you can already guess where this is going once we get to the start of the fourth and final act of the episode.
As we transitioned back to the subplot with Judy, along with Moon, Quinn, Russell, and Henry, at the boiler room of all places, as they continue their search for the would-be hater who wants to put up the smoke towards Gibbons as a sign of aggression. All points lead to a hatch between the two boiler tanks that reads “Substitute Teacher Longue”. First, the lunch lady longue, which happens to be a storage closet in the cafeteria kitchen, and now this? With the funding that went for rebuilding the school that is never going to be touched upon, along with installing something like a hot tub and various TVs like we saw, only the TVs we saw, in “Dial M for Moon-der Adventure” earlier this season, the funding for the school needs to be investigated.
Oh yeah, and the would-be hater who has a hate boner for Gibbons and someone who should be watched over in case something happens that would cause him to snap, is revealed to be one of the substitute teachers, named Joshua Tanner. Someone whom no one in the group but Quinn knows because he’s a rotating sub. But yeah, he’s the would-be hater who plans on assassinating Gibbons, in GTA... or rather, his character just to make him look bad and fireable. Why? I had to go through the transcript and watch the scene again, no other explanation other than, according to Golovkin earlier, getting fucked over in the payment department, as well as treatment for substitutes everywhere.
And boy, it didn’t take long for Gibbons to find out what was going on regarding Tanner. Especially when seeing him surrounded by photos of him (Gibbons) crossed out with red marker ink as if he was planning on taking him out straight out of... where else? Macbeth. Gibbons could fire him because he’s the principal, he’s technically Tanner’s boss, for what he's plotting to do to him, all in GTA, of course. However, he decides to let him go scot-free from any charges. Why? Because the school is currently understaffed, and somehow passed the background check. And also, to tell him not to plot his demise. Going for the “Hey... you going to be a good little boy? Huh? You going to be good and not do anything stupid?” The same way a parent who hasn’t grown a spine tells their kid after getting into a heaping amount of trouble. And you know he’s not going to stop plotting Gibbons’ demise because that wink should tell you that he’s not going to let it go. Like, dude, I know you’re the sub and the treatment you’re going through fucking sucks... put away the hate boner, will you? Just put it away. You’re cleared anyway, and at least you can do is tell him, or at least the school board, you deserve better pay and treatment. Soft ass system, man. Soft ass system.
Going back to the main plot of the episode and cue up James Brown’s “People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul”, the remix version, because it looks like Ham is quickly becoming the name of the town as if it were coming out of a fantasy, but no, it’s actually happening. Ham is quickly entering his Bully Maguire phase straight out of Spider-Man 3, minus the negative feedback, of course. Even if he was just promoted to Cloud Guy after the intentional firing, he got a lot of praise on his way to join his family, minus Judy and Moon, at Maude’s, he’s getting praise from the townsfolk for what he doing when seeing him despite wearing the green suit not be able to see him through the chromakey, but should recognize that it’s Ham because he doesn’t have a gut belly. Going from Golovkin, who just got out of the hole by his lonesome, crossing across the street to the Bead Lady from “Dungeons Aunt Dragons Adventure”, whose beads that were crafted into an umbrella fall to the ground and could pose a hazard to everyone, to Santiago, just as he was coming out of the building, Ham is really following his great-great-grandfather’s footsteps to have the townsfolk of Lone Moose treating him like he’s some sort of celebrity and could be a step away from having a Tobin to call the shots on the weather like what Gustin did in the past. Oh yeah, and there’s also that awkward confrontation between Ham and Vince, now working as a sign guy after getting fired from his job, and still pitting the blame on Ham for what happened.
But other than that, Ham is riding high on his fame as a soon-to-be-on-air meteorologist despite that he needs to graduate high school, go to college in earth science, and earn credentials from the American Meteorological Society to land the spot. Even though Ham could take a job at the National Weather Service if he plans to turn his hobby of watching and forecasting the weather into a full-time job, or a part-time job if he does take up baking because he still knows how to bake a mean ass cake. But other than that, Ham is riding high despite there being some sort of guilt that is bubbling up in his subconscious about the whole Vince issue and what is about to come once he meets up with Beef, Wolf, and Honeybee at Maude’s.
Especially once hail, the weather that Ham has called for, which he tried to request Hotfog to make a last-minute change to the forecast, but got shut out once the camera rolls, and you already know where this is going once we get to the fourth and final act of the episode. And yes, we get to the hail bit. Yes, apparently, it can hail at 30-something degrees weather, like what we’re seeing once Ham made his way to his seat to join his family after a hard day’s work at the news station. What’s odd about that is that usually, with hail falling, it would involve warmer temperatures and especially during the event of a strong or severe thunderstorm. I know that because I live in the South, and I usually get that during the Spring. And the Summer. And the Fall... sometimes, whenever the temperature is ripe for thunderstorm activity mixed with other factors like humidity, wind shear, and instability. And Alaska rarely gets hail, but it doesn’t mean they would get it the same way some people would claim California would never get tornadoes, but in actuality, they do. Just didn’t imagine it would happen during 30-something degree weather, but here we are, I guess.
But that’s more than enough for Ham, going into the end of the third act of the episode, with him once again getting a visit from Gustin in the middle of the night. Ready to tell him the next mission, as Ham is one step away from taking the on-air meteorologist position, despite being in high school, but by now, Ham is already getting sick and tired of his great-great-grandfather visiting him because of the actions that he’s doing as of late when climbing the ranks to gain Hotfog’s trust. Ham already knows what Gustin was going to say to him ahead of the next day, which is to go after Hotfog because he got a prediction wrong, even though Ham told him to make some last-minute changes, but he ignored him once the cameras began rolling, and now, he has to dispose him from his position to be named the new on-air meteorologist. And Ham knows what to do going into the final act of the episode. Especially since he knows Hotfog’s weakness since becoming an intern, the same way as in “Roller? I Hardly Know Her!” when Gene was about to weaponize Alex’s sesame allergy, doing Doug a favor to get rid of him, but ends up not following the plan anyway. And since we’re following the Macbeth theme for the episode, and everyone should know that the king in the story would be GGs, since the subplot is about protecting the king, which is Judy, Moon, and the other Lil’ Preppers protecting Gibbons, Ham, going into the final act, plans on taking Hotfog out.
And so, he does as we enter the fourth and final act of the episode, with Ham about to give Hotfog his coffee, but not before applying milk to the drink. But it’s not oat milk that he poured into the coffee; it’s regular milk, which Hotfog is allergic to because it has dairy. Once again, you can see Ham having conflicting emotions about what he is about to do. On one hand, like we saw earlier in the episode, he was just following his great-great-grandfather’s suggestion when having to climb the ranks when he earned Hotfog’s trust, and he wants the main thing: the spot to be an on-air meteorologist. Doing his great-great-grandfather a favor in what he thinks would be bringing integrity back to weather forecasting and, of course, Ham’s power grab. But on the other hand, he doesn’t want to do it. He knows it’s wrong. He knows what he is doing is wrong because his actions got one man fired despite the workforce abuse he went through, and now plotting another man’s downfall by weaponizing his allergy, and it’s a guilty conscience that he may not live down if he goes through with the plan. Which he does despite feeling shaky, as if the guilt is eating him alive, when handing the cup to Devon, so he can hand it to Hotfog.
And so it begins. The “poison” is taking its place just as Ham foresees. Seeing a man dealing with the effects of his dairy allergy the moment he takes a sip of his tainted coffee. His face was swelling up, and his digestive system was going on the fritz, which you don’t even see until we get to the two-minute warning of the episode. But you already know that it’s bad for him to the point where he would be forced to sit out as he waits to be treated for his allergy attack that popped out of nowhere. Meaning that Ham has finally reached the pinnacle of his internship. The top dog of weather forecasting for all of Lone Moose, rather, all of Lone Moose and the surrounding areas. Just as Gustin intended Ham to do. Even though Ham has ambitions of his own since the start of the episode, it looks like he’s finally got his calling, and all it took was him climbing the ranks while sabotaging a few people’s positions, while also gaining Hotfog’s trust enough for him to make a move. Over one wrong forecast. One. And for Ham to pull something like that, you could say it sounded personal because he kept getting visits from his great-great-grandfather, donning his best Dumbledore impression... oh wait, it sounded like it was. Well, that and also him knowing what the weather is going to be like, he’s the weather community’s Nostradamus. It’s in his blood. And once again, you don’t even see a fucking weather station installed within the property of the Tobin family’s land. Then again, I don’t even own a weather station and should probably get one, just in case.
Back to the subplot with Judy and the others, with Judy overlooking the situation as they make their way back to the auditorium. Despite the whole thing of Moon, Quinn, Henry, and Russell wanting to find out who would want to put harm towards Gibbons, now that we know it was a substitute teacher without any given reason other than his being a substitute teacher with little job benefits, they haven’t done shit with they should they really focus under Judy’s tutelage: the actual play. The kids haven’t got time to rehearse. They don’t have their costumes made. They don’t even have the stage set up. So, it’s pretty much a disaster waiting to happen under Judy’s watch, going into the night. The production is pretty much cooked, said Judy... or so she thought once Moon came out from behind the stage.
Revealing the finished set for the upcoming play. They don’t call the troop the Lil’ Preppers for nothing, because even though they wasted their week trying to find who would want to harm Principal Gibbons, and that was after going through the part of the script where they notice the king’s guards not doing shit, that caused them to go on some sort of tirade just to protect Gibbons... ‘s image, the four know their lines, build the set, and have the costumes all set and ready to go. So, you can’t call them incompetent or something just for wasting their week just to go after someone who could potentially dispose of Gibbons.
And the next scene shows it once the four are in character, once the night hits. Probably not going to pretend that Beef, Wolf, and Honeybee are not even present to see the play because Moon is in it and it is under Judy’s direction, because while that is happening, Ham is about to make his on-air debut as the emergency meteorologist, so that is what they want to see, along with the rest of the townsfolk. But other than that, the four did put on a show when getting things ready at the last minute, so it looks like Judy isn’t screwed out of getting her credentials. And besides, the play itself isn’t the focus because it would happen at the same time as what is about to take place in the main plot ahead of the two-minute warning, and the reason why we have a Hamlet theme in the episode.
And that would be Ham making his on-air debut, which has gone downhill in his first impression, with the guilt eating him alive once the cameras are rolling. Especially once Hotfog snuck his way to the set from his dressing room after finding out from Devon that Ham was the one who tainted his coffee, so he could get the gig. Nothing beats a Jet2Holiday. And right now, you can save £50 per person. That’s £200 off for a family of four. If this review were in YouTube video format, you would get the idea.
But yeah, Ham’s supposed debut was a disaster going into the two-minute warning because of the guilt that was eating him alive, leading up to this exact point after poisoning Hotfog with the tainted coffee. Turning this into a swordfight, but with weather icons out of the box, and this is the magic of live television, folks. Anything can happen. Especially when seeing a middle-aged man who has a face that rivals a puffer fish, mixed with a digestive system that decided to go haywire, going toe-to-toe with a 17-year-old who sabotaged his way to the top spot on the week of his mentorship. I would say that if the theme were Hamlet... who’s Hamlet? The obvious answer would be Ham, and it’s not because the name Hamlet has “Ham” in it, but also because of his actions that led up to his current position. Gain the king’s trust, climb up and up and up the ranks, and when the time is right, take him out, even if the conscience says, “No. This is wrong. I don’t want to do this. Please don’t make me do this.” Only for the voice in his head, i.e., the ghost of Gustin, to say, “Do it, p-word... no balls.”
Other than that, Ham wins the swordfight as he tells Hotfog that he tried to tell him that it was going to hail last night, ignored his request to make a last-minute change to the forecast, which drove him to go after his position by having to go on the attack. That, and also that what he is doing isn’t about the love of the game, which is the weather, but more about wanting to boost his ego. Wanting to make a name for himself with the cameras rolling, as well as the money and the women. In short, he became corrupted, as what Gustin earlier in the episode was saying regarding weather forecasters in today’s times. And knowing that we’re about to be a minute left in the episode, Hotfog takes up Ham’s word and admits that he became corrupted. And everyone else in the room for different reasons, but mostly Hotfog, with Ham having to apologize for his actions to put an end to what is pretty much a wild week for the internship.
As we reached the end of the episode with the Tobins at the dinner table, with the internship week finally out of the way, with Ham nearly killing a guy that was rolled live on television, so might as well add attempted murder to his resume. But other than that, it’s all water under the bridge between Ham and Hotfog, with Hotfog asking Ham to continue working for the station as an intern for the cue card department in case the teleprompter goes out. And once again, ending the episode, with Ham once again acting a little power hungry because if the teleprompter goes down, Ham makes the calls on what he would predict what the weather would be for the next day. And the moral of this story: if you’re planning on getting a promotion, sabotaging the competition like something coming out of a reality show might not be the way to go. But also, to not let your ego do all of the talking when doing something you love.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? Well, this was an interesting episode to say the least. And I’m not saying that because I’m somewhat of a weather junkie, but mostly because of that, but also having to mix the episode’s theme with the story of Hamlet, tying in with the subplot with the Lil’ Preppers wanting to protect Gibbons from a would-be assailant who wants to take him out. So, quite the interesting mix we got for this episode.
The main plot, of course, was the highlight of the episode, with Ham having to climb the ranks during his internship, even if it means having to sabotage his way to the top. Once again, tying back to the Hamlet theme, because if you haven’t read the story, or at least read the story whenever you’re in your middle school or high school English classes, y’all already know what the plot is about going into this episode. Good to know that we get to introduce another member of the Tobin family, so there’s that. But having the Hamlet theme to mix into the episode was an interesting thing to have when coming up with this, with Ham being given the Hamlet treatment.
The subplot was fine since it also ties into the Hamlet theme with Moon and his friends, as members of the Lil’ Preppers, having to go on a mission to “protect the king” after scrolling through one of the pages of the Hamlet script that Judy gave them after being tapped as the interim troop leader. Especially after thinking that someone is out to get Gibbons. It was alright. Feels like a bit of filler for the episode, but it was something to have this and the main plot to tie in with the central theme. So, it’s an interesting episode, not going to lie. So, I’ll give “Anchor-Ham Adventure”...
An 8 out of 10. But that’s my opinion, and I want to hear yours in the comments below. I would call it an off-season, but in actuality, it’s a two-week break before the next episode of The Great North airs, which will be on Sunday, September 7. We’re back to Sundays with the twentieth episode of Season 5 in “Cakeleration of Judedependence Adventure”. So, don’t miss out on that one. Seriously... don’t miss it. We still have a lot of Great North stuff left before going into the start of the new season of Bob’s Burgers at the end of September... so, uh... two-week breather, I guess, after having to go through what was a pretty long ass summer doing this.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. The playoffs continue in the 2025 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament with Match 3 of the Wild Card Round between Willow Park (The Owl House) and Moon Tobin (The Great North). The poll 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