Back at it again where there’s no new Bob’s Burgers episode until we get to the April timeframe at the minimum. Once again, it’s The Great North all around to talk about this week’s episode. But it’s now getting to the realization that we are now about to enter the fourth month of the new year which isn’t even considered new anymore. Man, how time flies by so fast that we’re nearing April and getting into the heart of the spring season. And we still have a lot of season left in what is pretty much a weird season regarding the scheduling following the strikes this past summer. Though not next week because that’s the Easter holiday and FOX has to air NASCAR that night.
In this week’s episode of The Great North, the Tobin family attempts to hit the road after Ham gets accepted to participate in a cake-making competition in New For, yes, New Fork, apparently, the official synopsis made a typo, deciding to take the van for a cross-country trip and things become chaotic even before leaving the house in my spoilerific review of the seventh episode of Season 4 of The Great North, titled” Judy Presents: The Staircake”.
Knowing that The Great North is a sitcom, let alone an animated sitcom, y’all should already be in the know about how road trip episodes play out in the past. We get that treatment in this week’s episode of The Great North with the Tobin family going on a road trip, even if it’s only a two-hour drive to the nearest town where the cake-making competition that Ham is competing, but knowing the script, chaos has to ensue during the drive on their way to their destination.
I mean, nothing wrong with those types of episodes and it’s nice to go through a new setting rather than having the main cast to just stay put at one general location, that being their house, you know, a little worldbuilding didn’t hurt anyone even if it’s just the change of scenery itself and all that stuff. But I know how this song and dance goes when it comes to these types of episodes in certain shows in the post, Bob’s Burgers in particular, meaning that I know how this song and dance goes when it comes to road trip episodes like with this one. So might as well see what this episode has in store when it comes to the road trip theme of things and see how it stacks up to the past episodes from the past series that I’ve watched because each episode from any particular series has its own identity. Or at least that’s how I would treat it. So, let’s get into the highway and explore the episode piece by piece from start to finish, this is “Judy Presents: The Staircake”.
The episode starts with the family at the breakfast table, once more, with some of the Tobin family sharing something whether it’s Wolf thought it was a scab on a part of his body that turned out to be a piece of leftover bacon, while the rest of the family was eating bacon on their plate, or Judy planning on filming with a camera in tow for her mixed media class to make a mini-documentary, which would be the focal point of the episode as it progressed throughout the whole thing from start to finish, the main focus would be on Ham as he announced to the family that he got the letter from the folks over at the Stodgy Roger’s Climb Off that he got the green light for him to participate in the competition. Good for Ham because him entering the contest means that now he has to work his ass off to build a perfect cake that would knock the socks out of the judges. Not in the way where we would have to treat the part where the judges eat the cake and get a reaction as if we’re getting a Food Wars reference, you know, a “foodgasm”, but it’s something that Ham needs now that he got accepted into the competition and now has to work his ass off to make sure the cake is perfect for him to win the whole thing.
The location of the competition is in the nearby town of New Fork, which is a two-hour drive from Lone Moose and you have the family at New Fork, by the way, the official synopsis of the episode when it came out a few weeks ago said New York, as in New York City, as if you would expect the Tobins to go to a long cross-country drive from Lone Moose to New York City, which would take them about three, maybe four days on the road and the cake they would have to carry would probably rot, so it’s a typo at their end for mistakenly spell New Fork with New York if you replace the Y with an F. Anyway, the location of the competition is in New Fork, the name of the town caught the family’s attention and decide to go with Ham there. Mostly because they want to show their support during the competition, but there’s a lot of stuff going over there and already, we have to lay out the groundwork, starting with the fact that New Fork, according to Wolf when explaining to Honeybee about the neighboring town, is a small town like Lone Moose, but converted a bit to look more Parisian. And also having a replica of the Eiffel Tower…of the replica of the Eiffel Tower that you see in Las Vegas. And not the one in Paris, Texas where the Stetson hat is attached to the top of the tower. But the family has their eyes set on New Fork as they need a ride to carry the cake. I would say that they should get a flatbed and attach it to the van or at least get a truck, but that won’t be the case going into the next scene. Oh yeah, and also a surprise visit from Aunt Dirt while getting her coffee. It’s quite clear the Dirt will be a regular, if not, a semi-regular on the show going forward, so this might as well be the new norm going forward by having Aunt Dirt around, and not because her bunker is a hiking distance away from the cabin.
Speaking of finding a ride to take the cake to New Fork, Ham and Beef go into the next scene to the junkyard for them to find the perfect vehicle to find if they want to transport the giant cake that Ham will be baking and constructing to New Fork. Leave it to Junkyard Kyle to introduce Beef and Ham to an old bus. And not just any bus, but what appears to be an old Hollywood tour bus. The usual bus you would see when visiting Los Angeles and going on a tour across Hollywood and seeing various sites and locations where each celebrity lives or is spotted during whatever the hell they’re doing. So, the vehicle that the Tobins will be taking to New Fork to transport the cake over is an attachable flatbed or maybe a flatbed truck, but this will do. Just need to go through a few adjustments because it’s an old vehicle that hadn’t been used for a long time, you never know if the engines, the brakes…and pretty much everything even works. But with the clock now ticking…yeah, there’s a need for fixing. It works somewhat fine according to Kyle, it’s just that the bathroom doesn’t work due to what I’m guessing is the lack of plumbing, the brakes being shotty that stopping the bus would be a problem (and hopefully the rest of the family doesn’t get pulled over in the event they go through a red light), and a hassle to get the thing to start up to the point where you can’t turn the thing off until you reached the intended destination, that being New Fork, we might as well have everything set in place for the Ham and the rest of the Tobin family to get ready for the two-hour trip, once Ham begins to construct the cake that he’ll be baking.
With the bus secured and Ham beginning the preparations to build the biggest cake that he can muster up, as seen in the background, Beef decides to lay out the ground rules for the trip that they’re expected to leave the next day. Mostly to explain the whole situation regarding the being on the road aspect of the trip now that the family got a bus to transport the cake. Less of an “Ocean’s Eleven” situation as Honeybee mentioned but it’s more on the line of “Speed” but without the bomb threat regarding a certain speed limit and Sandra Bullock’s character that Wolf, Honeybee, Moon, and Dirt will be protecting for the two hours on the road would be Ham’s cake. If you think that this should be an easy thing to do…it’s not. As Beef stated during the meeting that the roads from Lone Moose to New Fork when using the main road can be treacherous because of the Alaskan winters that would cause potholes and any other obstacles that could stand in the way whether it’s black ice or in Alaska’s case, a moose. Moon, Dirt, Wolf, and Honeybee got their positions settled by Beef to protect the cake and they expect to leave the house around the noontime hour since it is a two-hour drive but they could take the fastest route possible, per Moon’s suggestion, by taking a shortcut on Dead Man’s Valley Death Road…who the fuck name these streets?! I get that it’s Alaska and you remember that small motto at the end of “Rear Genius Adventure” with every Alaskan that they’re born for this. They’re born to face whatever stuff life will throw at them as if they’re ready to give Florida a run for their money…yeah, the name of the road and also oddly specifically easy to name things that would almost certainly drive people away from that road. But that’s not going to stop the Tobin family from making sure they’ll get Ham and the cake to the contest on time come the next day. Not knowing that the meeting was being filmed by Judy for her documentary piece that is going to stick around for the rest of the episode…by the end of the third act to be exact.
Right as we’re preparing to end the first act of the episode, entering the next day, the day of the trip, with Ham putting the finishing touches to the cake resembling one of the landmarks of the state, of course, Judy being behind the camera and film his brother doing the cake decorating as she prepares to film the whole trip. Of course, knowing that she wants the film to be perfect for her sake, she wants the drama. She wants the stakes to be higher so that she doesn’t want the audience to lose their focus if she wants to get a good grade for her class. And she wants that…by trying to add some stakes into the trip and putting some pressure on Ham as they and Moon await for the other Tobin family members to arrive. She wants that good shit. Having the pressure being built onto Ham is the last thing that he needs when preparing to head out.
Wolf and Honeybee make their way to the bus, dressed up as Shrek and Fiona, committing to the bit as they prepare to enter the bus for the trip. Really committing to the bit since they just found out that there’s a little get-together group called the Shrek Appreciation Society and to them, it appears that the two may have found their community. So they have to dress up in style…by going all out on the cosplay in the Shrek and Fiona costumes and painting their faces in greenface. Just don’t tell them that Shrek 2 is coming out for re-release in theaters on April 12 in celebration of the sequel’s 20th anniversary of its release. Just saying. And this is only the beginning of what might be a very long day for Ham to get to New Fork to transport the cake into the competition aside from Wolf and Honeybee dressing up as Shrek and Fiona with Wolf having trouble getting into the bus, mostly because he had to put on a fat suit to get into costume…
We got a worn-out Beef coming out of the house just as we were about to get onto the bus for him to take the wheel. Also, the last thing that Ham needed with the two-hour trip was set and ready to go for the family to take off. So, why did Beef, all of a sudden, look all tired and worn…cooked to be exact like it’s truly doing these things and having to post overnight? The life and times of a somewhat content creator, folks. Beef’s reason was that he was a “very important thing” and not in the way of what you think because Judy had an additional camera as B-roll footage and captured him watching a reality show in the middle of the night. Capturing him in 4K…okay, the camera isn’t in 4K quality but she did catch Beef on candid camera. That alone adds more pressure onto Ham if the family wants to head to New Fork on time for the competition. Especially with Beef who is on the verge of getting knocked out of commission by Father Time just for staying up too late. And if that’s not enough for Ham for the trip that hasn’t even started…
Here comes Aunt Dirt with her carrying a bag on her way to the bus. What’s in the bag? Knowing Aunt Dirt, you really don’t want to know what she has in store for the trip to New Fork. We do get an answer later in the episode around the second act in the episode, but for now, anything that Dirt is carrying is considered sketchy stuff as she makes her way to the bus. Besides all of that, and with everyone in position, it looks like the trip is in place and the Tobins are ready to take off…is what I would say right after about…one-eighth of a mile…
Because Beef decides to clock out. And he clocked out…for the whole second act of the episode. And with Beef out of the picture because of him staying up overnight to watch a reality show, the Tobins are now a designated driver short of driving the bus to go to New Fork as we end the first act and go into the second. Wolf and Honeybee can’t take the wheel separately because they’re in Shrek and Fiona costumes and their hands are too big to take hold of the steering wheel. Judy can’t do it because she has to carry the camera and film the whole trip, which we have never seen Judy drive a car, I just noticed. Trying to remember which episode in the past 62 episodes prior to this one where we even saw Judy driving a car, aside from her once riding a snowmobile that one time in “Rear Genius Adventure”. If we haven’t seen Judy driving a car as long as I can remember, correct me in the comments section below, then that is an interesting fact and also question whether or not Judy has a learner’s permit. Because I think Ham has one and knows how to drive, it would be fair if Judy did have one herself.
Judy is off the list to be the next person up to take over the driver’s seat because she has to carry the camera and film. Like hell that Ham would let Moon drive, so that leaves Dirt, who had an expired license since going into hiding, also she’s old, so that’s a big fat no. Meaning that Ham will be the one who will be taking over the wheel by default. And with the clock ticking, the family wasted no time and headed off with Beef sitting in the backseat and Ham taking the wheel, thus, we have ourselves a road trip to kick off the second act of the episode…about a minute after it began after Beef fell asleep.
The family finally gets on the open road as the drive to New Fork with Ham now on the clock to get to Lone Moose with Judy, of course, behind the camera as she begins to film the road trip with her “interviewing” Ham while he is driving as a fill-in for Beef, who is currently asleep due to him staying up overnight watching TV, and despite the constant sleep screaming that Beef had to yell that often going to catch a lot of people on the bus off guard because of him oversleeping, especially with Ham, who is driving at the moment, and a crash because of a single sound from a worn-out Beef was the last thing that Ham needed. Judy, behind the camera, decided to pass the time by interviewing Ham while he was driving on the road and asking him about what happened earlier before taking off with Beef falling asleep that almost caused a crash that would’ve resulted in the cake falling off. Asking as if she was hoping to see Ham a bit of remorse and wanted to be upset but decided to be chill. It’s only a small mishap, nothing major, and Ham hopes that what happened back in the house is only a one-time thing and nothing else will happen throughout the entire trip. Though, knowing these types of episodes, knowing the script…this is the only the beginning of what might as well be a very long drive to Ham’s destination. And Judy notices it because despite the minor mishap right as the bus was taken off, she wasn’t going to record a lot of footage for her to capture just by going around the bus and having people doing nothing to pass the time or film the road altogether as if Judy would be considering turning the documentary into a road geeking video, and yes, that is a community on YouTube where people use the camera and record their trip on the road, she wants drama. She wants the good shit to help her film her video if she wants to get a passing grade for her media class throughout the trip. That’s where she gets an idea to make sure things go smoothly for Judy to make her video look more interesting.
By turning the bathroom of the bus that is not for use into a confession room like you see in reality shows whenever the contestant talks about certain stuff, mostly the challenges and vents about how much that person in their team or the other team sucks, it’s like that for Judy to have everyone on the bus sans Ham to spill what and why they wanted to go to New Fork, pretty much Judy telling whoever goes into the defunct bathroom the real reason why they want to go to the neighboring town as if the trip wasn’t even about supporting Ham at all. Aunt Dirt becomes the first victim, I mean, person by choice from Judy to be interviewed for why she wanted to go to New Fork when being questioned about the bag that she had to carry to the bus earlier in the episode, of course, while at the same time, telling Dirt and later Wolf, Honeybee, Moon (though he would know right away), and a tuckered out Beef, about the muskrats living in the toilet, and yes, there are muskrats in the toilet, not chipmunks as what Dirt thought when she uh…ate on her way to the cabin. So, Dirt confesses her reason why she wanted to go to New Fork and even though I feel like I’m somewhat ripping this episode to shreds, the one highlight from this episode that I would have to give praise is, of course, finally getting a backstory on Dirt in her younger days leading up to her deciding to hide in the bunker for 60 years.
As Dirt tells the story, the year was 1962, two years before the Great Alaskan Earthquake and Dirt’s signal of going off the grid, where we have a young Dirt taking a stroll across the woods, minding her own business before she spotted something that caught her attention. An item to be precise. What kind of item that Dirt find deep in the woods? A basketball. You’re already saying when seeing this in the backstory, “A basketball? Really?” But not just any basketball that Dirt found while taking a stroll in the woods because according to her, the basketball is a pristine, straight-out-of-the-box clean as shit that she is planning on taking it to a party later that night and show it off to earn herself some clout. Poised to be the talk of the town after finding the freshest shit that Dirt can find deep in the woods, until one small trip to the post office when preparing to send a package that contains a gun for her niece following her christening, not an ideal gift to send to someone after an important moment in religious studies but this is America and it is the 1960s, times were different. Anyway, Dirt was about to become the talk of the town with the basketball she found until she came across her old friend Hilda about the item in question. And what did Hilda do after that encounter at the post office leading up to the night of the dance? She got the ball herself and claims that she did it first. Pissing off Dirt enough to destroy the ball. And right as March Madness was already underway and the NBA Playoffs right around the corner.
So we got our understanding of why Dirt wanted to go to New Fork…revenge. Retribution, mind you. She held on to a grudge for 62 years against her old friend who she thought was a good friend to her before deciding to one-up her over something as dumb as a basketball that would put a friendship on thin ice. And the item that was stored inside the bag that Dirt had to carry into the bus? A couple of basketballs that both she and Moon have to buy from the store and finds out that Hilda lives in New Fork, thus, wanting to go to the neighboring town to seek revenge. And it’s not just the basketball that Dirt had a grudge against Hilda because whenever she tries something new like a new hairdo, wearing glasses, or getting treatment for polio, she’s always one step ahead of her and it pretty much irks the fuck out of her that she held on to her grudge for more than 60 years during before, during, and after hiding in the bunker, as well as finding out that Hilda, unlike some of the people who were around the moment the earthquake struck, is alive and well. Enough for Dirt, the moment she finally meets with Hilda once arriving and finally put the rivalry to a close…by putting the bitch in her place by throwing the basketballs to her face with one of the basketballs filled with milk. In short, Dirt might be getting ready to put an end to a 62-year grudge between her and her friend by wanting to commit assault (and possible murder knowing that Hilda by now should be old like Dirt) as if she obtained the pinnacle of black Air Force energy and not give a fuck as long as she gets a win for once in her life. Like…damn, Dirt. Like goddamn. And she’s willing to get an arrest record even if it means putting an end to the so-called rivalry between her and Hilda and having the rest of the family to take the fall. Dirt may look like an old lady, but she’s the type of person that you don’t want to fuck around with.
As the road trip progressed with Ham and everyone else making strides and things going well as planned now that they were about 30 miles from reaching New Fork, Ham hoped that if everything wouldn’t turn too distracting or prayed that nothing would happen for the next 30 miles on their way to New Fork, then he should be good to go and make it to the competition on time. However, it looks like another barricade decided to hamper Ham’s shot of making it on time once Wolf sneaks up behind Ham and tells him to hit the brakes because he needs to take a leak, much to Ham’s dismay because he was making progress on the road trip without having to deal with any distractions and this isn’t one of them. Not to mention, a shotty brake that came with the bus that Ham and Beef had to go and claim without even bothering to have it repaired. But despite making progress with the trip, not to mention that the bathroom is out of order and has to house a couple of muskrats, so Ham has no other choice but to slow the bus to a single mile per hour and have the door open for Wolf to do a quickie by the shrub…too bad that once he made it out, more issues arise with Wolf having difficulties to unzip because of his costume, mostly because of the zipper and the fatsuit that Wolf had to wear when putting the costume. That causes Honeybee to step in to help her husband out, not helping Ham’s case to make it to the contest on time, and Honeybee too is having some difficulty. To the point where she falls to the ground and struggles to get up.
Enough for Dirt and later Moon to get out of the bus and help Wolf with his issue, not bothering to get Honeybee up right away. Dirt was the first to get off to help Wolf unzip his zipper, only to have her sleeve getting caught by the zipper because Wolf had to go hard on making the costume when committing to the bit upon arriving at the bus. This causes Moon to leave his post to guard the cake and help Dirt to get the zipper down, leaving the cake to be left in the open and for Ham to do the guarding job. This means that Judy will have to take control of the wheel, despite the fact that she’s holding the camera and wanting to capture the moment. I don’t know who you want to be mad at the most in the episode when it comes to things falling apart for the trip, more later on but the finger-pointing for the episode might be an edge towards Judy herself as if she wants the trip to hit a downward spiral just to capture something for her project to make sure she doesn’t lose an audience. So Judy had to put the camera down as she takes the wheel with Ham going up the stairs to protect the cake while at the same time, Dirt and Moon did their job to get the zipper down of Wolf’s pants before noticing why his dong is painted green as if he has really committed to the bit when dressing up as Shrek to a tee. Nonetheless, the zipper has finally come off and can finally be able to take a leak and talk about a close call with the cake, oh yeah, can’t forget about that with Ham having to protect the cake by his lonesome with having to take control of the wheel and noticing the patches of black ice because knowing the winters, as Beef stated earlier in the episode, can be treacherous. And that served his point once the Tobin family had to go through mishap after mishap from Wolf struggling to pull the zipper on his suit to the bus almost losing control on the road that would’ve destroyed the cake when coming the patches of black ice on the street.
At least that mishap finally came to a close as the Tobins on the bus continue their way to New Fork as they see the road sign to Dead Man’s Violent Death Road, again, who the fuck name these streets, the suggested road that Moon thought it would serve as a “shortcut” to get to New Fork when being on the first floor of the bus instead of serving his post upstairs with Dirt to protect the cake. But that’s not going to stop Moon from manipulating Ham into taking the route, thinking that it would help Ham to get to his destination. And remember folks, remember…okay, I’m surprised no one brought it up, the Tobin family didn’t even have a GPS on standby on their way to New Fork. Sure, the family should know where the town is located since it’s a two-hour drive that they don’t even need it, and also knowing that they would be deep in the woods from one town to the other, knowing that Lone Moose and New Fork are rural towns, in between those two towns is where they would have some trouble getting signal unless you’re by a cell tower. Besides, if they do have GPS installed on either of the family members’ phones, Moon’s supposed “shortcut” that he suggested to Ham would not happen and have to find a way to mess around unless the directions have the two options where to decide which road would be less time-consuming. As if you’re driving to or from…let’s say Texas, and when driving through Louisiana and your only option for a less time-consuming route would be to either take Interstate 12 north of Lake Pontchartrain or continue to use Interstate 10 through New Orleans.
Moon gets interviewed by Judy as we’re by the end of the first half of the episode and going into the second half, with a shortened third act, and we get Moon’s reason for why he wanted to go to New Fork…or rather, miles outside of New Fork and there’s one attraction that caught his eye since, according to him, his last visit back when Kathleen was around with Kathleen, of course, love to have affairs with that time around being the owner of the attraction, that happened to be a fireworks store. But it’s not just any fireworks store because that store contains grenades. You read that right folks, grenades. A 10-year-old boy like Moon wants to get his hands on a couple of grenades in his possession. As for why he wanted to get some grenades into his pockets? He just wanted to take them, with good care of course, taking a hike through the woods, and then make his way to New Fork…with grenades, mostly to rejoin the family without even noticing. Yeah, nothing too concerning about having a kid, let alone a 10-year-old boy like Moon having possession of a couple of grenades, going into town with possession of ammunition in his pockets, even though he wouldn’t do something as dumb as accidentally removing the safety pin, but the last thing that the Tobin family wants is Moon on a newspaper cover just for having grenades in his possession as if he’s participating in a real live Grand Theft Auto.
As for how Moon would get into the shop from a bus that has a shotty brake? It boils down to timing because according to Moon, timing is the name of the game for him to make his escape from the bus and go into the store by finding the right tree with the right branch for him to make the daring escape as if he got the powers of using slowing down time. Manipulating Ham to take the shortcut is the first step to getting to the targeted destination for Moon to visit. As for whether or not Dead Man’s Violent Death Road is an actual shortcut for Ham to take, according to Moon, it does…if they survive. Thus, to end the first half of the episode, Ham takes up Moon’s suggestion and takes the exit to make things quicker and thus, satisfy him to take a quicker route (even though he’s probably going to regret it later as Judy stated). Yeah, this is definitely “Just the Trip” 2.0 when looking at the episode. This is “Just the Trip” 2.0 with this episode. For reference…
In this episode, funny enough that the episode from Bob’s Burgers as a reference was written by the Molyneuxs, mostly because the character of Nat is there and she is a national treasure and I will not hear any fucking slander, but it does feel like I’m rewatching “Just the Trip” from Bob’s Burgers where the Belchers go on a road trip for Spring Break by joining their friend Nat to an animal sanctuary to deliver the bag of snakes to her ex-girlfriend who owns the sanctuary and mishaps had to take place from the snake situation, knowing Gene’s phobia of the slithering animal, to Louise’s attempt, like with Moon in the episode, eyeing on an attraction and she had to make sure that the limo would make a pit stop by weaponizing Tina’s road sickness once she gave Tina a book to read. It’s sort of like that with this episode if you think about it since we’re talking comparisons to this show to Bob’s Burgers. I would take any other shows that you watch where a road trip would be the theme of a certain episode but this was on top of my mind when watching this episode. So, ending the second act of the episode, the end of the first half, Ham takes up Moon’s word and takes Dead Man’s Violent Death Road and not knowing that the road is taking them to the fireworks and grenade shop, it seems that it’s smooth sailing from here on out for Ham to what he believes would be the easy way to New Fork without any issues and less time-consuming.
This leads Judy to interview both Wolf and Honeybee as they’re the next folks up to take the stand to be questioned why they wanted to go to New Fork, as well as them fully dressed up as Shrek and Fiona. Earlier in the episode, before going into the bus, Wolf mentioned that there’s a Shrek Appreciation society that is set in New Fork that caught their attention and that alone sold both him and Honeybee, who are big fans of the movie franchise, to get the costumes ready and make their way to where the get-together is at they talk all things Shrek as if it’s some sort of mini-convention. Thinking that they found a place and a community where they can share their passion. But then comes something that would signal as a red flag for the married couple on their way to New Fork regarding some misspellings and certain things that sounded like an innuendo.
And that’s where Judy had to come in to come out as an editor’s note on where the conversation was going with Wolf bringing up what the event they’re heading. More than enough for her to put two and two together and uh…yeah, it’s an orgy party. The so-called get-together that Wolf and Honeybee are planning on going is an orgy party, Judy’s word, not mine. I mean, the red flag was right the moment Wolf brought up something that sounded like innuendo like “swamp romp” and “donkey ride”. Not to mention, spelling the antagonist of the first film, Lord Farquaad, wrong, enough for Judy to figure out right away that they’re heading to an event that sounded like it was originally advertised in their point of view. As for how Judy knows right away that the place would be considered an orgy party…anything on the internet that sounded like an ad out of Craigslist or an event that you found on Facebook would serve as a red flag. What’s funny about this is that Wolf and Honeybee throughout the episode seem oblivious to this. They are oblivious to what is about to come (pause) later in the episode once they arrive at New Fork. Sure, they did find out later in the episode that it’s all not what it was advertised online the day before, but the fact that they’re both grown adults and not know what would constitute as a group orgy but a high schooler like Judy does, using her journalistic instincts of course. Yeah, seven episodes into the fourth season and it does feel like we’re in the earlier seasons of Bob’s Burgers. Gotta keep on riding (pause) all the way to the top of the mountain before we reach peak capacity.
Once Wolf and Honeybee are done with their interview, she decides to bring Beef into the stall for his confession…who is still asleep and was hoping for her dad to wake up for once and tell her to be questioned about the trip, mostly to be interrogated to why he stayed up overnight to watch a reality show rather than getting a good night’s sleep in preparation for the trip. So, Judy decided to take the role of Beef’s part and mimics the guy when being questioned about him staying overnight…or decided to tell her sleepy dad why he should feel ashamed of why Wolf is heading to an orgy without knowing and Moon planning on buying grenades without having him to be accused of possible accidental terrorism. You know, trying to guilt trip the guy. And she does so…by mimicking him while he is asleep as if he would be taking the full blame for all of this. Saying, coming from Judy’s mouth when mimicking him, about pushing women down the stairs and blaming it on owls. Like…you good there, Judy? Are you good? Is there something that needs to be talked about? Just saying. Judy heads out and this is where the mishap that made Ham snap decides to come into play. All hell breaks loose as we’re nearing the end of the third act and going into the fourth once Beef finally decides to wake up from his nap and take a bathroom break, without even noticing that the stall is not for use since it’s housing a pair of muskrats inside the toilet, and thus…
The script wanted a huge mishap to disrupt the trip, we get a mishap that would disrupt the trip once Beef opens the toilet seat that would unleash the muskrats to go on the offensive and wreak havoc, which is the last thing that Ham needed as the bus appears to be making its way towards the fireworks and grenade shop, just as Moon foresaw as he is about to find his perfect timing for him to make his escape once he found a tree with a branch stick out, leaving the family to deal with the situation that is going in the bus. Oh, nothing too serious, just a couple of cranky muskrats that were let out of what was pretty much their home and knowing the animal world, they don’t like to be bothered. To the point where you have to treat it as if a rat invaded your house and try to find a way to capture the animal and let it escape into the wild, and knowing the bus has a shotty brake, to the point where Ham is unable to stop the bus and about to ram his and the family’s way into the fireworks and grenade shop. Luckily, the muskrats aren’t infected with rabies, so that’s a good thing, but again, knowing the animal world, threatening their home, like the freaking toilet seat that Beef had to open, just as Judy was about to give the animals a piece of Nerd rope but by then, the damage is already freaking done. Hell, one of the muskrats made it inside Wolf’s costume and later decided to pop out of the chest portion of the costume, acting like they’re the alien from the movie “Alien” when making that iconic reference. I did say that the script has to bring in a mishap because we’re nearing the fourth act of the episode, and like with most road trip episodes, you know that a mishap had to happen at some point and this is one of them.
The point where the bus crashed its way to the fireworks stand at the fireworks and grenade shop resulted in almost every firework going off courtesy of the bus crashing into the stand…that, and also the engine catching on fire. Of course, to no one’s surprise, the cake becomes the fatality in the mishap as the script said, a mishap needed to happen. And Beef accidentally letting out the muskrats from the toilet was that spark that needed to go off. Again, just be thankful that the muskrats didn’t contain any rabies and that no one got some scratches…I could say Wolf got some because one got into his costume during the whole ordeal, but it looks like no one got hurt during the mishap…well, except for Ham’s optimism and dream of getting into the contest on time. Do you know what that scene needs? A rescore, rather, put in a soundtrack from any form of media to add to the insanity that was the muskrat scene. I suggest using the song “Burning Colosseum” from the Battle Tendency soundtrack from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. If you don’t know what I’m talking about…go search up “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Squirrel” and you go see it yourself, even if you have never seen the anime. And before y’all say anything about it, yes, that scene does feel like a nod to Monty Python with the killer rabbit…just, without the animal having to go on the attack mode and chew on a random person’s flesh…and organ. Thank god we didn’t get that because otherwise, that would be a different story. So, everyone got out safe with no injuries and the muskrats are now released into the wild, it looks like the bus has seen better days with the engine burnt to a crisp and now, the cake is being destroyed…
It has now gotten to the point where Ham has finally lost his cool and called his entire family out for using the trip to New Fork for their own leverage. Whether it’s Judy recording the whole trip and hoping for something bad to happen for her to get, you know, not being helpful throughout the trip, Dirt wanting to go on a revenge tour, Wolf and Honeybee wanting to go to a get-together, not knowing that it’s a group orgy, Moon wanting to go to a fireworks and grenade shop, or Beef staying up overnight before taking the wheel and then decided to pass out for the rest of the trip, Ham has the right to be mad that his creation would have to fall apart and suffer some damage, as expected, that’s not the main issue even though that’s one of the two items on the list. The main item for Ham on the list was that he thought that the reason the family joined him on the bus to New Fork was that he wanted the support for the competition and he thought that he was getting it, but instead, it’s the family acting selfish and doing it for their own personal gain that it has gotten to the point where he decided to disown the family and not wanting to be called a Tobin anymore. In short, as Wolf put it to close the third act and go into the fourth, they broke Ham for their respective selfish reasons.
Leave it to Beef to start the fourth act of the episode, in the final five minutes, to step in and console his son and tell him that he should probably not treat the competition as a big deal, but Ham thinks that it is because it’s a competition that he didn’t know that it would matter when compared to the past comments he made that it’s not a big deal before the hours to take off. As if Ham is treating his participation in the competition as, of course, no big deal because he doesn’t want to make anyone a burden but all he ever wants is for the family to show his support. That’s what he thought at first when all of the family joined him for the trip earlier in the episode before finding out that bringing up New Fork would make each of the family members selfishness of each other and Ham does have the right to be mad at the family for that. Though Beef, even though he falls asleep for the rest of the trip, reveals that he has been helpful and you already know where this is going when it comes to the fourth act and things are resolved. Apparently, Beef watching TV overnight while the others are sleeping on the night before the trip was not just any reality show, but it’s a show called “Cynthia, Fix My Cake”, which is a reality show where she appears at people’s random houses through a hot air balloon and helps things out. And that’s what Beef, after watching countless hours of the show, comes in to help his son to fix the cake, well…aside from one of the reasons why Beef became attached to the show, that being the host of the show…rather, her boobs, hence that one scene earlier in the episode where Beef was showing signs of him getting turned on just by looking at the host of the show, but aside from that, you already know where this is going, that being the cake being repaired and coming up with ways to find a ride to New Fork. For the cake, Beef decided to use soil to serve as the chocolate since the cake that Ham made before it was partially destroyed and did not let the judges know the difference between chocolate and soil. As for the ride…
Decided to take the Shrek 2 route and go on a carousel ride with every member of the Tobin family as horses to make their way to the competition and make it to the registration desk on time. Of course, to get the carousel for Ham to get the cake to New Fork, the family decided to trade away their stuff to help Ham after feeling bad for what happened with Judy trading away her camera, Moon giving away his firework money, Wolf and Honeybee with portions of costume, with the owner of the shop seems to be enjoying wearing Fiona boobs while wearing Shrek hands. Dirt, of course, got nothing to trade because the basketballs got destroyed during the mishap, so that’s about it for the family to trade away everything to make sure Ham makes it to the competition on time.
And you already know where this is going once Ham arrives at the competition in New Fork. He finally made it in time and was ready for the cake to be judged, hoping that no one noticed the dirt being substituted as the chocolate, and it looked like the judge didn’t notice once she took the slice and ate it. Leading up to the moment Ham wins the competition, to no one’s surprise because you knew that he was going to win it, securing the dub and everyone in the venue, including the rest of the Tobin family eating the cake, not knowing that the soil was used for the cake to patch the thing up, but at least Ham won the competition, even if it was expected, and got the family’s support, so that’s something that he needed for the competition despite the mishap that happened throughout the entirety of the road trip. Entering the final minute of the episode, already past the two-minute warning…
You have Dirt’s old friend Hilda making an appearance after making a voice mail for her to come to the venue, guessing surprised that Dirt came out of hiding, though not knowing that she went into hiding and thought she died after the quake, but surprised at her end that Dirt was alive and hiding in exile inside the bunker. As for the reunion itself once Hilda enters the room…Dirt wanted retribution and uh…yeah, decided to her hands as weapons to beat the shit out of her after holding on to a grudge for 62 years. Committing assault…don’t know if it has gotten to the point where a possible murder might have been committed knowing that Hilda has to be in the same age range as Dirt, just that she had to come in with a walker as if the song “Knuck If You Buck” was playing in the background once Dirt decided to use her hands to beat Hilda up for one-upping her one too many times. So that was Dirt’s side of the story of the visit to New Fork. As for Wolf and Honeybee to wrap up the episode…
Yeah, took them a while but they finally realized that the Group Shrek get-together that they wanted to attend isn’t what it is cracked up to be and Judy was right about the event being a group orgy. Enough for Wolf and Honeybee to realize that they have seen enough and decide to make a break for it before the guy, who I guess is the host of the event, tells the duo that they forgot to take their take-home bags and uh…really don’t want to know what’s inside those bags but whatever it is…I really don’t want to know what’s inside. Really taking the meme phrase “Shrek is love, Shrek is life” to a whole new meaning even though the internet knows what’s up. Don’t try to shit on it.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? Well, knowing road trip episodes where you expect a mishap to happen to make sure things go chaotic their way to the intended destination and knowing right away that you know what the outcome is going to be, it’s not a bad episode. Sure, it does feel like I’m rewatching “Just the Trip” all over again, just with the flair that The Great North had to conjure up into the pot, but despite that the outcome was somewhat predictable, especially going into the fourth act, it’s not a bad episode. There are some parts that I enjoyed from it when watching it and also rewatching it just to get a better understanding.
While the episode title did say “Judy Presents: The Staircake”, as if you thought that we would be getting back-to-back Judy episodes as we saw with Wolf and Honeybee earlier this month, it’s Ham that became the focal point of the episode and the guy did his best to be the brain cell of the family throughout the trip and turning it into a race against the clock to get the cake transported to New Fork even though a mishap had to happen at some point and would soon be fixed, but he did alright in his episode and he did have the right to be mad at his family for using their selfish needs. Though out of the many members of the family that were sort of selfish the most in the episode, that title would belong to Judy for not being somewhat helpful with the trip and instead wanting to document the whole thing. Wishing for lighting to strike, or in her case, hoping for a mishap and drama to erupt so she can get capture it for her to show it to her media class to get a passing grade.
Wolf and Honeybee being oblivious to what the party holds leading up to the end of the episode was something despite being grown adults and should know what the event really is. Moon, channeling his inner Louise, in wanting to derail the trip to make a pit stop at a fireworks and grenade shop was something. Beef was helpful in the episode despite being knocked out of commission for the second and third acts of the episode was nice and wanted to be there for his son. The pointers would have to go to Dirt in this episode. Mostly because we got a backstory to her past years prior to her going into hiding for 60 years and a personal grudge with an old friend over something as dumb as a basketball and hated being one-upped every time she gets the chance to do the opposite. That, and also her committing assault, eating one muskrat off-screen on her way to the cabin and coming around another one during the mishap, Dirt is starting to grow on me for whatever shit she is doing and whether you like the idea or not, she is poised to be a regular, if not, semi-regular character for the foreseeable future. So I’ll give “Judy Presents: The Staircake”…
A 6 out of 10. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. No new episode this upcoming Sunday because that’s the Easter holiday, meaning I get a break for once and some time to relax, but we have an episode the week after that, the day before the Solar Eclipse hits North America and it looks like the potential storyline of Beef and Carissa decides to continue with Beef planning to wrestle a bear in hopes to impress Carissa and Ham helping Dirt to get back into the saddle by going into a couple gay bars to find her gal in the eighth episode of Season 4, “Bear of Beeftown Adventure”.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. Two matches in one week once more in the 2024 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament, now in the cartoon community, with Group D between Cole Tillerman (Central Park) and Sterling Archer (Archer) and also the second match of Group C between Former Champion Luz Noceda (The Owl House) and Fionna “the Human” Campbell (Adventure Time). Polls close on Saturday. And, of course, on Easter Sunday, might as well have that sucker circled on the calendar because we got a match and it should be a good one between Moon Tobin (The Great North) and Sprig Plantar (Amphibia), that’s right folks, Amphibia and The Great North meeting up once more since the 2022 season at the polls. A rematch of the semifinals, just with different candidates on March 31. Of course, y’all should have the drill by now…
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