The Great North - General Discussion

[Galileo908]

I'm all for any reason for Nick Offerman to giggle, especially when it's to build a prop boat.

"Sign me up for two copies. One to watch, and one to be buried with." Same, Beef. He's being such a great dad.

Man, Judy losing the part to Chrissy, who can't sing, and having to sing her parts from the orchestra pit (after being cast as a stool!) was totally insulting! But having her sing for both Chrissy and the male lead was pretty clever. I liked how her and Chrissy were able to bond in the end. Guidance counselors suck. That was true when I was in High School so many years ago, it's still true now.

It's nice to see Alanis be integral for the past two plots. That "exemplary typhoon" song was great.

[DoctorAtomic]

They opened with Alanis two weeks in a row. And more kids plots. The 90s grrlrock jokes just kill. Great use of 'wicked' and other New England bon mots for the play too. 

3 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Man, Judy losing the part to Chrissy, who can't sing, and having to sing her parts from the orchestra pit (after being cast as a stool!) was totally insulting!

I'll give Chrissy some credit; she was just as surprised. Why couldn't they just get actual stools. 

"I swear I just felt a ghost pass through me". So punk. She's my favorite of the side characters. 

Not for nothing, the guidance counselor is highly unprofessional. 

[PinkRibbons]

Yeah, my final episode impression was: "So... Miss McNamara is a straight-up bitch." I actually was giving her too much credit throughout the episode; I saw the whole "Chrissy needs to be forced to shine" motive for her, but I thought Judy was more of an accidental casualty of the help-Chrissy-plan. It was only when McNamara started in on Judy being an attention-seeking pain that I was like, oh, she's that teacher/school administrator.

(This episode hit me hard. When I was in elementary, I missed a ton of school being sick. More than once other students would do ostentatiously "nice" things for me that were super performative, not particularly thoughtful and clearly egged on by teachers. I always felt humiliated af. This whole episode I was identifying with Judy, thinking about being the person who has to look bad for someone else to shine, but now I think about it I was also Chrissy, this person that did not want the attention for that specific reason. )
 

[DoctorAtomic]

I also liked the counterpoint that Chrissy was actually good at volleyball so she did actually shine. It's not like you always have to shine all the time. 

It's not like Judy doesn't have friends or is so obnoxious she needed to be taken down a peg. 

She did save the show because she knew all the lines, and no one objected to her playing the male lead either. 

Edited March 14, 2022 by DoctorAtomic

[tennisgurl]

Miss McNamara really sucks, I felt bad for Chrissy and Judy. Glad that things worked out, even after Miss McNamara's massive dick move trying to pull a Lina Lamont on poor Judy, who just wanted to do something she loves and also possibly get with her sort of ex boyfriend. 

Beef getting super excited for his one line was great, Nick's giggle are just so infectious. 

Its nice seeing Alanis getting more focus, I feel like she is really having fun with all of these 90s music references.  

[DoctorAtomic]

I really wasn't into the riotgrrl music in the 90s, but you couldn't avoid it because it was everywhere. I live for the 90s jokes here. Human Cat Cafe Lisa Loeb is arguably one of the best burns ever. 

I actually genuinely like Alanis. I remember when she was just a kid on tv. 

[Galileo908]

Group Soup was definitely conceived pre-Covid. It's kinda gross, I don't blame Moon and Honeybee for not getting involved in that.

I honestly liked Moon an Honeybee's plot. I loved seeing them bond over stuff like Shark Week and math and searching for Moon's real dad. Yeah, Beef is his real dad, and still a really good one.

[DoctorAtomic]

I wouldn't be messing with the moose either. They aren't nice. 

[tennisgurl]

I wouldn't want to mess with a moose, I might just wish the moose and my van well and buy a new car.

I really liked Moon and Honeybee having a story together, binding over shark week and Honeybee wanting to be a good big sister, it was quite cute and it did a lot to give Moon, who is often the most underutilized kid, a lot of time to show his personality.

[joanne3482]

Just now, tennisgurl said:

I wouldn't want to mess with a moose, I might just wish the moose and my van well and buy a new car.

I lived in Alaska for 5 years and spent 4 summers working at a summer camp up there. moose can be very dangerous. I remember we'd get a mama moose in our lake and her dang baby would be in the trees and we'd be stuck in our cabin or in the craft room because you don't ever walk between the two. 

Also I remember someone upthread talking about the house they live in.  It is very Alaskan to just keep adding on bits and pieces to an existing house.  

[Galileo908]

I loved the sudden bleep from Beef when he talked about the swear jar. I wish we saw what was in the mystery can, but whatever was in it smelled so bad Beef was willing to burn the house down to get rid of it.

Judy's ceramics plot was pretty fun. I got a big laugh out of the ceramic shirt she made for Moon. I can't believe that the family preferred to take daily pottery lessons and sign up for a retreat rather than have the guts to tell Judy she was terrible. This wasn't the first ceramics plot in a show that had a no Swayze-ing rule.

I appreciated all the gross 70s food Ham made for Goldie's party. It was all so wonderfully animated, too. Goldie was wonderfully freaky. I felt bad for Ham, really. He just wanted to give an old lady a nice time and she manipulated him.

[DoctorAtomic]

I can't believe they got a 69 joke through. I liked Ham's plot because they're continuing his baking and he's got his own thing going on with the old people's home. 

[Popples]

13 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

I loved the sudden bleep from Beef when he talked about the swear jar. I wish we saw what was in the mystery can, but whatever was in it smelled so bad Beef was willing to burn the house down to get rid of it.

I was hoping Beef would open it up outside and say something like, "We were all wrong, it was rancid artichokes". It must have been an appallingly god-awful smell for everyone to not give the money in the jar a second thought.

[akg]

20 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

I can't believe that the family preferred to take daily pottery lessons and sign up for a retreat rather than have the guts to tell Judy she was terrible.

I thought they all fell in love with pottery the same way Judy did so were excited about the classes/retreat?

Thank you to everyone who comments here. I marathoned the entire show over Christmas and didn't realize it was coming back. Seeing new posts sent me immediately back to hulu.

 

[theatremouse]

Yeah it was strongly implied Kirk has so much charisma they were continuing due to him.

[tennisgurl]

"He 69ed his way into heaven." Oh damn, they really got away with a lot in this one didn't they? I about fell out of my seat.

I'm not surprised that no one in Judy's family heat the heart to tell her that her art sucks, they're all too nice and Judy is pretty sensitive. The increasingly terrible pottery was really funny, as was everyone falling instantly in love with the pottery teacher. "The people at the home are used to hardships. Some of them were in wars."

The animation of the gross 70s food was really good. Looked fun AND nasty.

[SoMuchTV]

4 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm not surprised that no one in Judy's family heat the heart to tell her that her art sucks, they're all too nice and Judy is pretty sensitive. The increasingly terrible pottery was really funny, as was everyone falling instantly in love with the pottery teacher. "The people at the home are used to hardships. Some of them were in wars."

I dunno, it takes some kind of talent to sculpt(?) a piece of pottery that someone could actually wear!

[DoctorAtomic]

Moon was stuck on the ground and couldn't get up. Beef was going to get the saw. I don't know if that's talent. 

With the 69 crack, I was worried that the party was going to be some old folks' swingers party. Poor Ham would have had a stroke. 

[Galileo908]

I mean, O-69 had been a running joke in bingo halls back when I was a kid, old folks knew what that meant. "Nice" is just the latest evolution of it. 

On 3/28/2022 at 6:16 PM, akg said:

I thought they all fell in love with pottery the same way Judy did so were excited about the classes/retreat?

You were all right. Somehow I misremembered something I had just seen.

[Galileo908]

Mooses.

Honestly, Nick Offerman would LOVE a log museum, so that plot was just perfect for Beef. I'm happy Beef got his log in the end. I loved that he was completely on board with Moon running away from home to live a life of hustling pinball at truck stops.

Man, the Tobins really ARE disgusting buffet people. Solidarity. Honeybee lining her purse with foil to smuggle out lasagna and crab rangoon is just Goals. I've said it before, but Wolf and Honeybee are Couple Goals, true and true.

I love how the whole family is afraid of Debbie. It was nice to see some development for her.

[DoctorAtomic]

I liked the quick callback line about bartering with Beef to get the museum raised up.

I liked Moon's buffet plate - chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, ice cream. 

Edited April 11, 2022 by DoctorAtomic

[tennisgurl]

I would love going to be log museum with Nick Offerman. Glad that Beef got his log and the museum guy is off to Florida to get a girlfriend/boyfriend while wearing thing underwear where hopefully no one will accuse him of causing 9/11.  

Its hilarious how everyone, even her family, is terrified of Debbie. "Her orthodontist came here a few weeks ago and he looked just like you."

[DoctorAtomic]

I like how on here and Bob's the kids just go over and walk to people's houses. 

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I like how on here and Bob's the kids just go over and walk to people's houses. 

Is this not a thing anymore?  When I was a kid, we walked everywhere.  I suppose kids get a ride from their parents now?

I liked the episode, especially the log museum story.  I thought they should have gathered up the pieces and rebuilt it in Beef's yard anyway, no need to keep it open.  But wow, I hate those songs at the end.

[joanne3482]

I had to rewind it three times to catch what the Log Museum curator said to the Tobin children. He called them Twigs and Beary. 🤣

[theatremouse]

I thought he said "the Tobin twins and beary". 

[DoctorAtomic]

He said 'twigs and berries' which prompted savvy San Jose Honeybee to point out that phrase does not mean what they all thought it meant. 

[joanne3482]

1 hour ago, theatremouse said:

I thought he said "the Tobin twins and beary". 

 

46 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

He said 'twigs and berries' which prompted savvy San Jose Honeybee to point out that phrase does not mean what they all thought it meant. 

That's 100% why I had to listen to it 3 times. I thought he said Twins and Beary the first several times too but Honeybee's response didn't make sense. 

[DoctorAtomic]

Honeybee is on top of it. 

[Galileo908]

Once again, Wolf and Honeybee are Couple Goals. They are perfectly comfortable wanting to know about the hottest guy they've ever seen in Lone Moose, and think he's a celebrity. I liked how Wade turned out to be incredibly boring as a person. And he was voiced by Timothy Olyphant! It was just so unfair that he was just a plain weirdo. I love how Oscar Isaac is on his own level of hotness to them (He is The Future). Was dying at "Dead, But Doing It For Me."

I loved Beef playing with his German dolls and making voices for them. Yes, that's Nick Offerman doing EVERY voice for those dolls. No one really talks about how much range he has. I liked that side plot.

[DoctorAtomic]

The other boat in the dock was called The Dirty Londra. Also great 'Brandy' line. Snuck that right in. 

Wow Beef talks to his figurines like Bob talks to the food. But wants to go to the nudie beach. But they set course for the disco in the end. 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by DoctorAtomic

[tennisgurl]

Beef playing with his figurines and doing all their voices had real "Bob and his vegetables" energy. I thought that plot was cute, especially when Judy and Moon joined in the story. He certainly committed to those Bavarian accents. 

Wolf and Honeybee continue to be relationship goals. 

[Galileo908]

I wish I had someone to call "my glamorous Garfield." I loved Honeybee questioning what this family is doing to her when their love of puns is starting to rub off on her.

I felt Wolf's fears about getting old hard. Old Wolf really lost his arms because he got old! I'm only 35 and I gotta start eating like an adult.

I had a feeling that we were gonna find out why they called that cell the Underwater Coffin. It was a nice touch showing the mold where the water went to when it flooded.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm all for watching birds, and Beef got some flirting!

The girl whose parents own the pizza shop returned on the field trip. 

As soon as Wolf mentioned Cheesecake, I knew there was trouble. Bethany is so punk getting in the barber's chair.

We need to know more about Santiago. He's always around. 

[tennisgurl]

Oh Honeybee, that family really is rubbing off on you. I can definitely feel for Wolf on getting old, I'm only in my early 30's and live in fear of being old enough to talk about second mortgages. Hopefully I wont be leading any kids into an underwater coffins at least as a part of my quarter life crisis. 

Nice seeing the girl who's family owns the pizza shop and the references to Cheesecake, who continues to be wild. 

This situation really is pretty dramatic, Wolf, belts or no.

[DoctorAtomic]

It was still worth it. The cell was cool. 

[Galileo908]

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Oh Honeybee, that family really is rubbing off on you. I can definitely feel for Wolf on getting old, I'm only in my early 30's and live in fear of being old enough to talk about second mortgages. Hopefully I wont be leading any kids into an underwater coffins at least as a part of my quarter life crisis. 

I'm in my mid-thirties (sigh) and I've passed my quarter-life crisis, and I'm probably now in a third-life crisis at this point?

[Galileo908]

Aww, Crispin’s family celebrated him coming out by setting off fireworks. And burned down their mailbox. I like how the show is covering Ham feeling disappointed about how his coming out wasn't dramatic at all. Ham's coming out song at the end was really sweet. The Tobins are a really great family.

Cousin Danica was as awful as I was expecting, she's so great. She loves brown because all the other colors are desperate for attention. Like, the entire house is brown. I thought she was gonna be the Orca Bay Slicer, but Wolf and Honeybee jumping to that conclusion made it seem unlikely. 

Love that Wolf thinks of Christopher Meloni as a "gorgeous crime fighting giraffe."

Oh my god, I love the concept of "Frankly, Frasier," Niles's commentary over Frasier episodes.

[DoctorAtomic]

Danny Vroom. Brilliant!

I like the callback to the first episode of the show when Ham said he was gay and they said they knew. 

This was a little too wacky for me. I like that the show is eccentric, but a bankrobbing cousin is a bit much. 

tbh, I think the cousin plot kind of clouded what was a really good vibe about Ham coming out. 

[PinkRibbons]

I had to literally pause the episode because I laughed so hard at Danica calling any animal at the zoo with babies "whore".

[SoMuchTV]

19 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Oh my god, I love the concept of "Frankly, Frasier," Niles's commentary over Frasier episodes.

Please tell me that’s at least a podcast!

[tennisgurl]

I cant decide what I want to watch more, "Danny Vroom" or "Frankly, Frasier" they both sound amazing. I liked the call back to the first episode where Ham keeps coming out to everyone over and over, I enjoyed how they explored how he felt like his coming out should have felt more dramatic and that he might have missed out on something. It really is sweet how supportive everyone is, so much so that they will give him the fake dramatic coming out he wanted. 

I agree with Honeybee about an adult saying tummy, its just weird. Possibly cousin Danica's worst crime, even worse than the robberies. She really was as awful as promised, I love it. "You don't seem like the kind of person who eats sauce."

[Galileo908]

On 5/8/2022 at 9:59 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

This was a little too wacky for me. I like that the show is eccentric, but a bankrobbing cousin is a bit much. 

Robbing the first bank because she was desperate, but then kept doing it because she's awful and loved doing it DOES track for these shows, though.

Judging by what we've seen of her in this, I would've loved some kind of cutaway to how she robbed at least one of them.

Edited May 11, 2022 by Galileo908

[Galileo908]

Wolf stuck in the grate shot my anxieties into overdrive. Thank god he was able to get out. I liked him bonding with Neckbone (which was her legal name)

I loved everything about the indoor waterpark. I, too, am too polite about taking an inner tube on the lazy river.

The Olivia Objections commercial was so great.

[DoctorAtomic]

Clever of Wolf to use the umbrella and shirt to make a line, and then again to use the selfie stick to open the grate. Way too much on the "Houston we have a _____" line though. 

[PinkRibbons]

I like that Wolf gives off a completely natural "bumbling doofus that we all love" vibe while also actually having some mad Alaska problem-solving skills. Beef doesn't raise a child who can't survive anything as simple as falling down into a sewer pipe.

Anyone else notice the animation on Moon's two hairs on the top of his head as he walked? I've never seen a show do that kind of detail before!

[tennisgurl]

I love everything about Olivia Objections. "Please consult your doctor if you believe you have retained Olivia Objections."

Wolf might be a lovable goober who cant keep his swim trunks on, but he showed some great survival skills getting out of that sewer pipe and getting back to the park. 

That was one sorry ass water park, no wonder even Beef shot them the finger as they drove out. Not a single drop of cheese for your nachos? Blasphemy. 

[Galileo908]

Of course Beef was the Fiend of Familyland. But thankfully the sceptic tank incident was an accident. I liked the reveal that it's the incident that led to Moon's conception. Also, was this the first time we actually saw Kathleen?! They just dropped that face reveal so casually.

Moon looks like an acorn without his bear suit. I thought the skunks were cute, and I'm not surprised he tried to keep one as a pet.

I gotta say that season 2 was a step up from the first. Can't wait for season 3 in the fall!

Edited May 23, 2022 by Galileo908

[DoctorAtomic]

How many restaurants does Lone Moose have? I don't recall a Russian restaurant before.

I liked that Judy was all horned up for a camp trip.

39 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Also, was this the first time we actually saw Kathleen?!

No, they showed her when Wolf went back to the dance class and found out Kathleen was cheating on Beef with someone there. 

[DoctorAtomic]

CALL BACK TO THE GERMANS