After four long years, pretty much almost the equivalent of the number of days of the Biden Administration, The Great North, unless there’s any sign of hope with a renewal news, which I’m guessing at the time of posting, either we get officially canned, still in limbo, or in a surprising turn of events, gets renewed and probably be at a new home, spoiler alert, it’s one of those three options, as the time of writing or posting this episode’s review or writing or posting the next one. And if this truly is it, especially going into the next review right after with “It’s a Beef-derful Life Adventure”, usually, this would be in the event Bob’s Burgers were to reach its end. But, I might as well do it for The Great North just because.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, the first of the two from the double header to wrap up Season 5 and possibly the series in general, Moon attends a slumber party over at Russell’s house, only to meet with an unexpected guest who would be joining them in the form of Russell’s younger cousin as the rest of the Tobin family decide to film a video... while being sick with a contagious flu bug in my spoilerific review of the twenty-first episode of Season 5 of The Great North, titled “Into the Russell-verse Adventure”.
By now, we all know sleepovers or slumber parties work, unless you’re a dumb-dumb like me who doesn’t know what the difference is. And I had a few sleepovers... mainly when having to stay with each of my cousins, either back in Georgia growing up or in my early years in Texas. And this episode... well, pretty much paints that when having to sleep over at your cousin’s place... in a sleepover that was meant to be a party of two for Russell and, of course, Moon.
And when the script cover for the episode came out last year, I thought to myself that maybe something interesting was going to happen because even though it’s a Moon episode, the center of attention is on Russell the same way “High Expectations Adventure” was treated as a Judy episode, even though the focus was on Kima as that episode progresses. It was one of the two from this week that should at least receive some attention, even though most of it will go towards “It's a Beef-derful Life Adventure”, which will be reviewed later this week. Hopefully, by no later than this weekend, probably around Sunday.
But Russell is one of the... I guess many characters throughout the show’s 97-episode run, who haven’t really gotten that development aside from this episode, reveal that he was pretty much a pushover and would follow what Moon or his cousin would say. He’s pretty much the Milhouse of the show, if not, within Moon’s friend group. No development from Russell aside from him having to glaze the fuck out of her mom’s boyfriend, Jamie. The same goes for Henry, despite being the only member with two parents living in the same household, even though his mom has most of the attention out of the three members of the Tuntley family. And Quinn, well, we just barely know her aside from having to ditch one group for another, finding out that she was once a pageant girl upon seeing one of her embarrassing videos, and, oh yeah, just there to be Moon’s love interest. Though we saw her a few times with her mom, her dad was never mentioned. What’s up with that?
So, yeah, even though it’s a Moon episode, it’s also a Russell episode since it’s his house where the slumber party is, and, of course, his cousin has to come and crash everything that Moon planned out. This might as well be the calm before the big storm that would be the would-be series finale if we don't get a renewal by the time this review or the next one gets published. So, for the second-to-last time, let’s break this sucker down and hopefully the final review for the series (or until we get renewed) will bring the curtain down. This is “Into the Russell-verse Adventure”.
The episode begins with an unusual dinner, with all but one member of the Tobins trying to eat their dinner that Wolf made in what is supposed to be pasta. Only where, instead of using tomato to make the sauce, it’s a mixture of what’s left of the sauce, along with some ketchup and mayonnaise, as if Wolf was attempting to create Cane’s sauce or Chick-fil-a sauce. Probably would’ve been for the best if the Tobins just ordered delivery. It would’ve been for the best. But the reason why the Tobins are being forced to eat whatever the hell Wolf made as if he made it through an Easy Bake Oven...
It's because Beef is sick. Manier’s Flu to be exact. Which I’m guessing is a symptom every time Mariners fans get hit in the dick just because their team can’t reach the playoffs. Then again, the majority of Alaska, when it comes to sports in the major leagues, are ride or die with Seattle, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Mariner’s Flu is pretty much an illness that a fisherman like Beef would pick up, and it’s a contagious illness because of the symptoms that come with it. One of the symptoms that Beef is going through when checking up on him is delirium. Not Darillium, like the Doctor Who planet where the Singing Towers are located, but it’s one of the symptoms that makes you feel loopy, as if you huffed up in sleeping gas when going to the dentist to get your wisdom teeth removed.
And there are steps to survive the flu, which is uh... well, interesting, in a bad way, but also complicated. Uncontrollable sneezing is the first step, which is pretty common to most flus and colds, since it is about that time of year when people would fall to the cold or flu... get a shot before RFK Jr decides to ruin that, and you would be forced to use WebMD as your guide to survive the season. That’s just step one. The second step, which is the symptom that Beef is going through as of this moment, is delirium. Which is, of course, makes you feel loopy. You know, delulu. Your head is being rattled with you imagining shit as if you’re undergoing a case of insomnia, or like I mentioned, huffing a case of sleeping gas. This leads us to the third step, which is a 12-hour coma where you would fall asleep for half a day before finally feeling better. It almost feels like, with how some, if not all of us, went through with COVID when undergoing the symptoms. I know that feeling when I got hit twice. First time in 2022, on the week when the trailer of The Bob’s Burgers Movie was released, and I felt like shit for a month. And again, last year, while I was in Atlanta. That, and also, I was supposed to return home at that time because a mixture of Covid and Hurricane Beryl happened that prevented me from going back.
Mariner’s Flu, like COVID, is contagious. And each member of the Tobin family, except for Wolf (for a bit) and Moon, succumbed to the illness one by one. Dirt ends up falling to the illness. Predictable because when COVID was still considered a pandemic, we knew which group of people would be the most vulnerable, and the elderly are one of them. So, it would make sense for Dirt, an 85-year-old woman who, let’s not forget, hid in her bunker for 60 years, meaning she would’ve survived the COVID pandemic, to get hit by something as treatable as the flu... is what I would say if it weren’t for the fact that Judy got it first at the start of the episode before Dirt got hit with it. Ham and Honeybee also got hit seconds after Dirt, with them also feeling like shit. Honeybee thinks she’s in the clear the moment Moon needs to head out so he can go to Russell’s house for the slumber party without wanting to get sick, but she spoke too soon. So, that leaves Wolf for a bit as one of the two Tobins who have not been affected by the flu, as he volunteers to drive Moon to Russell’s place to set up the main plot of the episode.
We made it to Russell’s home, where Moon is being dropped off for his slumber party, hopefully to avoid getting sick from what might as well be a contamination zone, which, if this episode aired at the height of the pandemic, this would not fly. He is being dropped off and being welcomed by Marie as the house is getting ready for their mom’s club, minus Beef because he’s out with illness, and, again, got to bring it up, it would be incredibly awkward if we have Beef and Carissa in the same room since their apparent breakup. And yes, folks, despite not getting a voicing role despite that it’s about to be the end of the road, we finally got Marie’s boyfriend Jamie in the show and actually on the show because his first apparent debut was in the end credits to “Dead Moon Walking Adventure” when envisioning him to be Jamie’s flute caddy. At least we finally saw the guy as Moon walks his way down the stairs to meet with Russell... so uh, might as well scratch that off the bucket list of things we want to see once the show ends.
Moon makes his way to the basement, where the location of the slumber party will be held, and meets up with Russell. He has a plan all set up for the night between the two once he rolled out a blueprint for the event. Ranging from ordering a pizza to eat to watching a movie that happened to be a cheap knockoff of Five Nights at Freddy’s, to even pulling some pranks that include Pop Rocks that would turn into a science experiment gone totally wrong. It’s pretty much a foolproof plan that Moon cocked up ahead of tonight... except for one little issue that might cause quite the stir for the slumber party. Not because of something, but because of someone.
That being said, Russell is bringing in a plus one for the night. His younger cousin, named, would’ve you guessed it, Rustle. It’s the name Russell, but it was spelled differently. And when looking at the script cover for the episode just a year ago, for a moment there, and some people that I talked to can agree on that, for a moment there, I thought it was going to be Russell’s younger brother. That is what we thought because of how similar the two look as if they multiplied. A Walmart version of the Russell that we know. Or I might as well let this meme tell you...
Yeah... seems about right. And sure, there are some families where you would look like your cousin from whatever side of your family. I don’t, and most of my cousins are from my dad’s side of the family. And, again, at first, when looking at the script cover of the episode when it came out last year, we thought that Rustle, or Walmart Russell, would be Russell’s brother and would probably do some exploring within Russell’s family and we don’t usually see or any mention of Russell’s extended family other than his mom and his mom’s boyfriend that he usually glazes over. We know that he, like Moon and Debbie, is from a family that is divorced, and we saw the three in that seminar in “Dances with Wolfs Adventure”. You’d think that with this being a Russell episode and seeing someone who is related to him and looks like him, you’d think that this would be treated as an Amazing Rudy-esque episode, because remember, in “The Amazing Rudy”, or any episode, whenever Rudy is with his dad when having to be around his dad’s date, we know that Rudy is from a family who is of divorce. Not saying that this episode should’ve been emotional because it would touch upon Russell’s family life, but I feel like that should’ve been the way to go before getting the, spoiler alert, who’s really calling the shots in dictating where this slumber party goes.
So, Russell introduces Moon to his cousin Rustle, who would be his plus one to the slumber party. However, Moon thinks that having a plus one like Rustle, and yes, that is John Gemberling doing the voice, to no one’s surprise, given that this name spells differently but sounds the same, has the same body build and hairstyle, just looks a bit paler and have blond hair that almost looks similar to Marie’s hair color, meaning that Rustle would fall to Marie’s side of the family. But anywho, it looks like Rustle is here to stay despite Moon thought that the slumber party was going to be just the two of them, with Moon thinking that it’s going to be a breeze throughout the night, well, it might not be going into the next scene of the episode to close out the first act of what might the penultimate episode of the series.
We transition back to the Tobin household, everyone now looking like shit as a result of Mariner’s flu, right as a healthy Wolf enters back to the household, didn’t even bother buying a mask to cover himself upon returning, and sees everyone’s health going down to shit. Already passed phase one of the flu bug with the sneezing and are now on their way to phase two, which is delirium. About to go into delulu land once Wolf enters the house, and it won’t be long until he too succumbs to the illness. But before that, it looks like Wolf and Honeybee got an order to do for them to make in the form of a video diary. Turns out the person who made the commission was none other than Mayor Peppers himself, who forgot about his niece’s birthday and now has to turn to the Tobins, primarily Wolf and Honeybee, to make a video with a payment of only $500. An offer that they can’t refuse, with the theme for the video needs to be princesses. That would be great... if Peppers’ niece were like five years old who likes that stuff, only to turn out that the niece just turned 37. And despite that, the whole family doesn’t want to do it because, maybe Wolf heard of it, called being sick, they can’t turn back on $500. Even if they look like shit on and off the cameras, and are about to embarrass themselves while looking like they’re seconds away from death.
Going back to the main plot of the episode to close out act one of the episode, with Moon already going into phase one of the plan that he cooked up, which is to call dibs on each of the sleeping bags for each one to take. Moon already called dibs on one of the sleeping bags, which is the Chunky Smork that has the cup holder and foot warmer, which is something that Moon treats the item as the king of all sleeping bags because of the features like the cup holder and foot warmer, since he’s pretty much the one who is calling the shots.
However, it looks like Rustle wants to take possession of the sleeping bag instead of Moon. And oh boy, here we go. We have the 'woe is me' story coming from Rustle. Telling Moon to hand over the sleeping bag, or at least, make a trade, because he has what he called children’s gout, and he needs that sleeping bag so that the blood in his body reaches his feet. And without any second thoughts, once Russell comes up to Rustle and comforts him, Moon ends up giving up the Chunky Smork sleeping bag and takes the Miss Universe sleeping bag instead. This change occurs at the end of the first act of the episode, as we transition into the second act.
And here we go. Moon notices something isn’t right about Rustle. Playing the goddamn victim. I’m sure some of us or some of y’all who had friends or relatives in most sleepovers or any hangout in general, where you/they have to play the victim by creating a sob story and a believable one at that, enough for anyone like Russell to buy the story and give you or that person what they want. And Moon now notices the red flags that were waving right in front of him once he sees Russell comforting, and sees the evil grin on his face. Finding out that his dominance over Russell when calling the shots with the slumber party is now in jeopardy, the same way as... It’s like whenever you've seen those animal documentaries about the lions, where the father lion is the top of the herd. The king of the jungle, or the savanna, or some other place, until one day, the cub decides to one-up the father, and his dominance begins to feel threatened, and he would try to do anything to keep that dominance. That is exactly what Moon is feeling after seeing Rustle undergo a sob story for Russell to tell Moon to take the Chunky Smork sleeping bag. Not knowing that, like Moon, Rustle is using Russell like a pushover. Just because he’s using a sob story to get what he wants, and has someone who is a pushover to do his bidding. Huh, almost sounded like a certain country that is currently committing fucking war crimes using that tactic and uses a pushover of a country to have free rein to do whatever.
And folks, this is just the start of Moon losing his dominance going into the second act of the episode, with three now in their sleeping bags, now that Rustle has full possession of the Chunky Smork sleeping bag, and Moon has the Miss Universe sleeping bag. But it’s just one little thing. That surely has to be it, and continue with the slumber party that Moon wants to do it his way, right? Apparently not, because once Moon was going to have Russell order a pizza because he wanted to make things balanced, you know, Rustle had his fun with the sleeping bags and now, Moon wants to make things equal by letting him choose by ordering pizza for the night. Or, that was the idea before Rustle decides to say no to the pizza. I mean, most pizza places do have salads on their menu. Don’t know why Rustle can just let Moon do what he pleases and order the pizza along with the salad. But instead, once again, the ol’ sob story trick, because he can’t eat any cooked tomatoes, and instead, he wants to eat a bowl of salad as the dinner of choice, that, yes, Russell has to go through, and for Moon to suffer. Clearly noticing that he is losing his ground to a pipsqueak who, while having some health issues that would make Regular Sized Rudy look like a healthy person who is cured of all diseases, is pretty much calling the shots as if he knew what Moon was planning on doing. But why stop there?
Moon was about to have his way on the entertainment side of things in wanting to watch the movie he wanted to watch, that being the Five Nights at Freddy’s knock-off, called Six Nights at Teddy’s, but here we go again. Rustle wants to do things his way and wants to watch a different movie because he can’t handle a horror movie, because, according to Russell, Rustle was diagnosed as medically scared. Which, of course, sounds like total bullshit. That sounds like total bullshit, and Moon knows it. I mean, if it’s because horror movies can cause his heart to palpitate to the point where it could cause some heart problems that could put Rustle in serious risk of a heart attack just by the adrenaline alone, then I can understand where he is coming from. But that side alone, because Moon senses some trouble regarding Rustle as if his dominance over Russell regarding the slumber party is currently crashing down. Wanting to watch Dianne West’s oeuvre instead of a horror movie just to appease Rustle during the slumber party that he thought he was going to have full control, but instead, like the lion cub one-upping the father lion, his dominance is slipping, and it will continue as the night progresses. I mean, it was pretty much pick your poison between experiencing this, watching your dominance slip away, or getting hit with the flu bug and about to feel like shit. Speaking of the latter...
Going back to the Tobin household, and now, six of the seven members of the Tobin family are sick with Mariner’s flu, with Wolf the latest victim to get hit by the bug. But that’s not going to stop him from having to get everything settled so the family can begin filming Becky’s, Mayor Peppers’ niece, birthday message, and it has to be simple and perfect without wanting to cause any problems whatsoever... if the family didn’t get hit with the flu, that is. Out here, treating it as if this is Michael Jordan’s flu game. Despite the sneezing, which is phase one of the flu, Wolf is calling the shots to film the video. However, everyone else is undergoing phase two of the flu bug, which is delirium, and not everyone is doing what they’re being told. From Judy mixing up her words once the cameras are rolling to Ham eating the confetti to Dirt spreading her arms with peanut butter, to even Honeybee not at the camera once being told to press the record button before having to be corrected by Wolf, you can tell that the production is going to crap. And it’s going to be a very long night.
Literally. Going into the montage with the rest of the Tobins not doing what they’re being told, as if their brains are being turned to mush, even though it’s only the second step of the three steps when experiencing the flu. They are suggesting the horse option to tie in with the princess theme. And, as I said, the production is going down the crapper as the flu conditions get worse by the hour. The delirium is kicking into high gear throughout the montage, taking turns with the horse costume, much to Wolf’s dismay as he inches closer to hitting phase two of the bug. Already getting flashbacks to back when I got hit with COVID for the first time, just without the delirium and more of feeling like shit. Though you can say that this is pretty much COVID brain in a nutshell after getting hit with it, but wouldn’t go as far as creating delirium-like symptoms. How should I know? I’m not a doctor.
The rest of the Tobins aren’t the only ones who are dealing with a hard night ahead because the montage features Moon currently losing his dominance at the slumber party. Having to do Rustle’s bidding, by force, with Russell having to follow along just to make his cousin happy, not knowing that, like Moon, what was supposed to be him dictating the slumber party. From eating a salad bowl to watching a different movie that Rustle suggested to even pulling out a briefcase and giving one of the two friendship bracelets to Russell, leaving Moon out of it, you already know that Moon is not happy with Rustle making the calls on where this slumber party is going. To the point where he is moments away from wanting to crash out once we get to the end of the montage, and decides to have a private talk with Russell about Rustle and the things that he is doing, going into the next scene.
Going back to the subplot with the production already going down to crap. And since no one knows how to play the role of the horse, once again, what do you expect from everyone who had succumbed to Mariner’s Flu and is undergoing phase two of the flu that made them feel loopy and lost, Wolf decides to pull out what he thinks would be the ultimate ace in the hole. By going upstairs and waking Beef up so he can go and take up the role. Because, of course, he would when going to the person who is pretty much patient zero when being responsible for giving everyone but Moon the flu. It’s pretty much a last-ditch effort to make sure things go right for the video to be filmed and edited so that it can be sent to Mayor Peppers to give to his niece. Besides, we already know that the production would go to crap because of everyone getting hit with the flu. Shades of what happened in the subplot in Season 3’s “Arranger-ous Minds Adventure” with the photo contest when creating crab pictures for the calendar.
Going back to the main plot of the episode, Moon and Russell have a private talk inside the closet where the laundry machines are. Talking about Rustle because Moon doesn’t like what Rustle is doing. He’s trying to play nice because he doesn’t want to upset Russell by bringing in his cousin as his plus one for the slumber party. Russel, of course, is just fine with having his cousin around because to him, it’s just a couple of buddies to spend a night at his place, and he was excited to have his cousin and Moon meet because having two of them would make the slumber party, in his opinion, feel like a night he’ll never forget. Not knowing that it’s pretty much two people clashing over which direction the slumber party goes. But Russell can’t see it, mainly because we’re about to reach the halfway mark of the episode, as Russell leaves the closet and rejoins Rustle as the two prepare to do what Rustle wants to do next.
Causing Moon to go back into the closet, and he is about to lose it with everything that is going on. Telling himself, when looking at himself in the reflection of the laundry machine door, that he is now getting tired of what Rustle is doing to the slumber party. Doesn’t like how things went his (Rustle’s) way with him controlling Russell and having the slumber party go his way in what was supposed to be a slumber party with him (Moon) and Russell, with Moon calling the shots. Feeling his dominance slipping away in just a couple of hours of the night. And now, he decides to say enough is enough and must find a way to get his dominance back. And he plans on doing it by plotting ways to get Rustle out of the house. But what exactly? What is the game plan here to do the job?
The answer, once we reached the halfway point of the episode, is that there is once Moon leaves the closet when the DVD player opened on itself, which gave Rustle quite the scare because of how jumpy he was from the player opening by itself for no apparent reason, and we don’t see any of them stepping or sitting on the remote. Talk about a faulty DVD player that needed to be repaired or replaced. But that moment with the DVD player gives Moon the idea to scare Rustle out of the house, going into the second half of the episode, a la how Louise does it when scaring away Jodi, Harley, and Abby, mostly Jodi and Harley, in her would-be slumber party. And should probably stop comparing moments in The Great North to Bob’s Burgers because something tells me it’s how people are not watching the show. Especially with the show’s status, at the time of writing and possibly posting, still in purgatory.
Going into the second half of the episode and the plan is about to go into full effect right as the three play a round of Etymology Trail, only to be interrupted by the lights going out, causing Rustle to go on a would-be panic attack with Russell trying to calm him down, telling him that it’s just a standard power outage and that there’s nothing to be worried about. But Moon, on the other hand, thinks it’s not a random occurrence when the power goes out, as if there were an issue with the breaker or some dumbass hit a power pole, which doesn’t make sense with the latter option because Alaska do have underground power lines, so let’s say some dumbass tried to dig something that may have hit a power line.
But no, Moon doesn’t think that the power is out because of a random occurrence. Thinking that the house is actually haunted, turning the place into a little house of horrors, in an attempt to get Rustle out of the house. And it didn’t take long for Rustle to scream his way upstairs in full panic after hearing a couple of thumping sounds and “blood” spilling from the closet, don’t even remember blood having bubbles forming from the oozing puddle, but that’s more than enough for Rustle to run away and all control with the slumber party now back into Moon’s hands. Has Moon gone too far with the prank? Well... he’s not dead, so... there’s the silver lining because otherwise... it would not paint a pretty picture and it would turn into an active crime scene despite the sob stories that Rustle had to play from his deck to have the slumber party go his way. It was the only way that Moon had to do for everything to go back to doing things his way. And as long as it doesn’t cause health problems for Rustle, then we should be good from a health standpoint. Speaking of health...
The rest of the Tobins, as we check back at them. Already feeling like shit as everyone was already dealing with phase two of Mariner’s Flu, though Judy was about to take a step closer to reaching phase three of the bug, that being a brief period of being knocked out while riding on Beef when taking the role as the horse before having to collapse on the floor, causing her to wake up. At least Wolf has some common sense left in his mind while experiencing the illness, despite going into phase two of Mariner’s Flu that would have him going through delulu symptoms when realizing that the video is missing something to made it look perfect and not in the way of things going to crap because everyone is looking like crap and fearing that once the video is sent as a birthday present that it would probably send the wrong message just looking at the Tobins and their condition as if they look like a pair of crackheads judging by how bloodshot their eyes are and their behavior looking like as if they took a few pieces too much. Wolf wants to up the ante when it comes to production by wanting to turn the message into a music video. Treating the damn thing like it’s the 1960s or 1970s, where family bands were in their prime. And Judy knows who to turn to for some assistance despite the state she is in.
She turns to Alanis in the sky, and yes, she too got hit with Mariner’s Flu, even though it’s all Judy feeling sick, so it would be no surprise that Alanis would also get sick as a result. But other than that, Judy asks Alanis for some assistance to help with the now music video for Mayor Pepper’s niece, despite the state that the two and everyone else are in. But that’s not going to stop Alanis from wanting to step in to help out, even though it’s all part of the symptoms of the flu when experiencing delirium. And we know that no one other than Judy can see Alanis. So, this might as well be the closest that anyone who isn’t Judy can see Alanis, even though it’s all in Judy’s head, going into the fourth and final act of the episode. At least we have a full circle for the series with Judy now falling from the roof. She almost fell at the start of Season 1’s “Sexi Moose Adventure”, and here we are just 96 episodes later... please support the show. It’s pretty much DEFCON 1 over at The Great North fandom, and it’s not looking pretty.
Checking back with the main plot, and just as Moon thought that shit was going to be sweet now that he thinks that he got rid of Rustle by pranking him... yeah, he thought shit was going to be sweet with him regaining control of the slumber party. Too bad that Rustle decides to snitch because he knew right away, once he calmed himself down, that this was all Moon’s doing, to the point where he told Marie about Moon for the stunt he pulled. And how did he know that it was Moon and not what Russell claimed that it was his old dead cat doing all the work as if its spirit hadn’t left. But no, Rustle knew that it was Moon who pulled the stunt in an attempt to scare him away from the house, since Moon knows a thing or two about it, and also, Russell can’t do jack shit about it when pulling something like this. But yeah, Rustle knew that it was Moon who would pull something like that, and it’s not like he walked around and saw what Moon was doing off-camera, but knew that he would do something like that. Just because he claims that it was supposed to be harmless fun. Living things up a bit because he had to endure everything that Rustle wanted to do in what was supposed to be his night. So, Moon got off with a warning after being snitched out by Rustle.
Causing the two, once Marie leaves, to go at each other’s throats. Causing the slumber party to... well, it has been gone the crapper if you’re Moon throughout the night, but this slumber party is already crumbling, and the night that Russell was not hoping for this to happen, seeing both his friend and his cousin bicker like spoiled brats who can’t have things go their way. Though, Russell, I’m pretty sure you have to see the writing on the wall here by now on what is going on because of how oblivious you are. Yeah, your friend and your cousin hate each other. They fucking hate each other, and it’s primarily because of how they want to dictate how the slumber party would go with no compromise to get the two to just enjoy each other’s company. I mean, Moon tried to be nice after having to switch the sleeping bags, and was hoping for the “I did what you asked, now it’s my turn” routine with everything else before the entire night goes in Rustle’s favor. Having to weaponize the sob stories just to get his way and having to treat Russell, well, like a tool.
And oh boy, quite the slip that was coming from both Moon and Rustle after Russell overheard what the slumber party at his house was actually supposed to be between the two, as we prepare to wrap up the third act of the episode. Finding out that he was nothing more than a pushover despite trying to be a gracious host at his own house, where the slumber party would be held. Hoping for tonight to be the night that his friend and his cousin would at least try to play nice, thinking that it would be a night that he wouldn’t forget. And now, it went down the crapper after seeing the infighting between the two, and now, he finally realized that he was nothing more than a tool because the slumber party was nothing more than either Moon and Rustle calling the shots and Russell having to serve as the tool who would have to follow along as if he can’t do Dickey McGee’s acts. Treating it as if, despite that it’s his house, him, as the host, feels like he can’t take up the hosting duties. Even though that’s not the case, and was hoping for tonight to be the night that he would like to spend the night with his friend and cousin, before finding out that he was treated as a pushover, as if he didn’t matter.
So, onto the fourth and final act of the episode, after Russell storms out to his room following that fallout, with Moon and Rustle minding their business in the basement by themselves, with Moon watching his movie and Rustle reading his encyclopedia, they finally realize that they fucked up. They fucked up big time after what happened earlier. Granted, it’s only the fourth act of the episode, with less than four minutes left in the episode. They finally have their Come to Jesus moment and realize that they both have something in common regarding Russell. And despite that, what happened earlier in the night feels like they treat him like a tool, a pushover; they like the guy. That’s their friend, and yes, you could say that a family member can be considered a friend, and they feel bad about it. To the point that they now need to make up for what they did, which they do just that.
But before that, we go back to the subplot of the episode with the musical montage with the family and Alanis in what was supposed to be an actual scene with everyone dressing up as a family band from the 1970s, but you know that it’s a fantasy as part of everyone being delirious from the Mariner’s Flu. I mean, Alanis actually being there and helping the family, even though the family still doesn’t know that Judy has an imaginary friend whom she talks to in the sky, so this pretty much tells you that this is all a fantasy. And this is pretty much the closest the rest of the Tobin family would get to meeting Judy’s Alanis. The song plays, reminiscent of most family bands from the early 1970s like... I don’t know, the Partridge Family or the Jackson 5, I don’t know my music history, so apologies for that. But it does scream reminiscence when having to make that reference, and the musical number was interesting with the whole family minus Moon to play the song as if what happened in reality is all but a dream.
Because we have that one scene where the whole family was going through the delirium phase of Mariner’s Flu with them, well, looking like shit right as Santiago was delivering the toolbox back to the Tobins. I’m guessing that Beef lent Santiago the toolbox and was about to give it back to him once he was done with something, probably some repairs, or Beef left it when doing some repairs and was about to give it back upon seeing what was going on, as if they’re all becoming zombies. But it was a nice little scene with the family and Alanis doing a musical number with them playing as a family band with Alanis as a plus one, as if she’s a fill-in for Moon. And if this truly is it at the time of posting or the time I get to work on the season finale... bask in it, y’all. Bask it all in.
So now, going into the two-minute warning of the episode, Moon and Rustle decide to apologize to Russell for what happened back there. You know, the fallout between Moon and Rustle over who gets to control the slumber party, but mainly for treating Russell like he’s a pushover, as if he didn’t matter, even though it’s his house and was supposed to be a host. Trying to be a gracious host in what he thought was going to be a night he’ll never forget, when having both his friend and his cousin in one building. He was looking forward to that night, but instead, all fell apart after seeing both of them arguing and treating Russell as a tool. Moon and Rustle apologize to Russell for what happened and decide, both in agreement, to let him (Russell) choose what to do next in their sleepover, as the two come to a compromise after feeling bad for what happened. Russell’s choice for the three of them to do...
TP’ing houses... his house to be exact. Even though the idea of TP’ing houses would be to throw toilet paper at someone else’s house as an innocent little prank, not treating it as if he’s setting up the decorations for Halloween. Even though it’s not his call, it’s Marie’s. And the same goes for Rustle at the behest of his dad and his girlfriend... who is also called Jamie. Are we sure Rustle isn’t actually a clone of Russell out of a lab? The hairstyle, the facial structure, and now, their parents who happened to be divorced and have romantic partners both named Jamie... tell me I’m wrong on that?! But other than that, it’s all water under the bridge now, following what happened earlier in the night, as Russell now wants to put dog poop into a bag and light it on fire, which Moon and Rustle thinks that it feels like a boring, overused prank, but that’s not going to stop Russell from wanting to feel the thrill of it since, again, it’s his house.
We reached the final scene of the house, going into the next day, with Moon returning home and seeing the house trashed courtesy of his family, now fully recovered from Mariner’s Flu after a rough couple of hours filled with sneezing and acting delusional as if they took gallons of LSD. At least they recovered, so that’s the silver lining. And I say that because the family checks up on the finished product as the episode comes to a close and the result... It’s not that great if you’re the Tobins after what is pretty much the finished product. A full seven hours of unedited footage just sent to Mayor Peppers’ niece. And y’all thought it was going to be your Michael Jordan’s flu game while succumbing to Mariner’s Flu. Should’ve picked a different time while dealing with the illness, but here we are.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all in all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? The first of two from the double header, to be exact. Like the previous episode, it was average at best. But this is pretty much the calm before the storm within the double header. The appetizer before the main course. And this episode... I feel like it should’ve done more with this being a Russell episode. I’m just saying, based on speculation from the script cover that was released last year, leading up to this episode’s airing.
And I say that because out of the many people within Moon’s group and many of the side characters in general, Russell hasn’t gotten any development because when it comes to his character, the things that we know about him would be, despite being one of the three members of the friend group who is from a divorced family, him glazing his mom’s boyfriend Jamie and also, him being a pushover. And the latter was shown in this episode when hosting the slumber party that Moon was going to have the event go his way, before having to lose this dominance at the hands of Russell’s cousin Rustle, making all of the calls. I mean, it’s not a bad episode, but it’s not a good one either, since this is pretty much the appetizer before the main course that is coming, and I probably think it should’ve done more regarding this episode with Russell in the spotlight.
The subplot was something when seeing the whole family getting sick. All but Moon, because it’s his episode, and he can’t have him infect Russell’s place while waiting to get away from what is pretty much a contagious illness. And it was shades of what we saw with the subplot to “Arranger-ous Minds Adventure” with production going wrong as if we’re treating this as the flu game when trying to record a video message for Mayor Peppers’ niece. At least the musical number in the fantasy was nice, as once again it is a reminiscence of music from the early 1970s, when family bands like the Pateridge Family were in their prime. Especially when having Alanis in the scene, and, like I said, this is the closest that the rest of the Tobins get to see Alanis, even though this is all from the result of suffering through delirium as part of Mariner’s Flu. And, once again, if this truly is the end of the road for the show, might as well bask in it all. So, final thoughts, like the last episode, an average episode as this is being treated as the calm before the storm that is the episode after that, and feels like it should’ve done more when it comes to Russell, since it was supposed to be his episode. So, I’ll give “Into the Russsell-verse Adventure”...
A 6 out of 10. But that’s my opinion, and I want to hear yours in the comments below. And folks... we made it. One episode review left on the season, and it’s the episode that got everyone hyped in what might as well be the show’s send-off, unless, of course, it gets another chance at life, then... here we go. And it’s going to be a doozy of a review to serve as a possible send-off, and that would be my take on “It’s a Beef-derful Life Adventure”.
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