The Great North - General Discussion

[PinkRibbons]

Friend breakups in your tweens and teens are seriously shattering. I don't think I'll ever forgive that fair-weather bitch.

*Ahem* I actually mean to say, THERE WAS A GIRL OBSESSED WITH BEES AND SHE WASN'T INTRODUCED TO HONEYBEE?

[DoctorAtomic]

The whole dinner scene at Kima's was great character building. 
Wow, Kima's mom is something else. Stacey B peaked in high school. Cut her at the knees. 

Judy's "oh no" was a brilliant line reading too. I can see where Judy is at in her head, but she was still being a bit much. The other two were right to call her out. 

Dump 2K sounds like a good party though. 

[tennisgurl]

"No dad, eggplants mean...actually yeah I'm going to send one." Keeping it spicy I see!

We finally get to meet Stacey B, and she fully sucks. Those teen girl friend breakups are a thousand time worse than couple break ups, they seriously sting. Pun not intended...

[DoctorAtomic]

I do wonder how active Ham is with Crispin. Judy doesn't have a problem talking about third base in front of the entire family or whatever is on the mezzanine, so I don't really see them as up tight. 

[Galileo908]

Oh man, I loved Skanky. It was even in the group photo in the intro before Beef gave it away! and of course the family got Skanky back. And then it got stolen. And stolen again. And then Beef stole it to throw it in the river. The story of why Beef hated Skanky was really sad and sweet. 

I really like the idea of a town-wide White Elephant Gift Exchange. And like most Lone Moose events, I love how seriously people took it. It was a good excuse to get all the recurring characters into one room. I loved how punchy Delmer was the whole time.

Wilhelm the reindeer was adorable. I figured there was more to that reindeer than being subjected to terrible conditions at Santa's village, so of course it ended up having babies.

[BooksRule]

Watching the White Elephant exchange reminded me that I need to pick up a gift for our work 'Dirty Santa' exchange this week.

"Ooh, a copy of Matthew McConaughey's Vampire novel, 'I'll bite, I'll bite, I'll bite'."

[DoctorAtomic]

I liked the family picture mirrored the opening with Judy setting the timer, etc. The young kids were the same size but just different hair. I think this is the first time Beef was just against the family. 

Of course, Cheesecake has a bong store.

Bobby Lasagna. Do they mean Santiago was Italian?

24 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

I loved how punchy Delmer was the whole time.

He called Beef 'fish boy'. 

Wow, Kathleen threw wet sponges at the kids to get them to leave the house. 

The vet was a new character!

I feel like the close out song would have been great by the Beastie Boys.  

[Galileo908]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I feel like the close out song would have been great by the Beastie Boys.  

That ending song didn't have to go so hard, but it did.

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

The story of why Beef hated Skanky was really sad and sweet.

I thought it was a bit of a copout.  I liked it better when he seemed to hate Skanky just because it was annoying, which would be easy to imagine.  At least it still applied with Honeybee.

[joanne3482]

I love the little true Alaskan touches they throw in. Akutaq, AKA Eskimo Ice Cream, mentioned while at the buffet table, is something that all my Native Alaskan friends make and eat. 

[tennisgurl]

Skanky really took my back, we had one of those annoying kitschy singing Christmas trees growing up, his name was Douglas Fir. My sister and I loved him, my dad tolerated him, and my mom and dog both absolutely loathed him. If we lived by a large body of water I am pretty sure he would have ended up sleeping with the fishes. 

 Delmer was just on fire this week with the burns. The town wide gift exchange is a fun idea, love the weird wood carver giving himself his own wood girlfriend. 

[Galileo908]

Happy New Year! There was a new episode tonight!

"Gettin' crabs with my dad!" Wolf, no. As much as I agree with how creepy whimsi-dermy is, there's a reason why they make good calendar models. Crab corpses won't pinch you if you try to put a diaper on them.

I was not really expecting for an episode that started with Moon investigating a potential murder to end with learning about and dealing with OCD.

Leave it to a Paul F. Tompkins character to explain his breakup like an old noir film, and manifest an OCD dream like a 1930's musical.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Galileo908

[DoctorAtomic]

A Bed and Breakfast in Fairbanks doesn't sound too bad. 

Has there been a solo Moon, separate plot before? I liked Quinn jumped right into the mystery.

One of the movie posters was 'The woman who talked just enough.'

I wasn't expecting a Monk reference. That's a deep cut. 

I mean, I get the problem with not moving the trains; it basically cost a relationship. I don't think organizing the shed is that much of a thing though. I don't see why it all needed to be moved to put the pot in there. 

[theatremouse]

I was on-board with the bashing "TV OCD" and the song - but then they ruined it by having the guy so easily be able to move the things after the talk with Moon.

Yes, there was already space in the shed for the kombucha without moving anything. But the reason it couldn't go in there is because "that's not where it goes" and it was way way WAY too easy for him to get to the point of moving the shed stuff. So the show kind earned and then immediately lost its "real OCD" cred from me.

[Galileo908]

"Who could ever forget The Grumbler?"

Okay, so they snuck in a Three Stories episode on us. At the very least, Ham's LOTR spoof was fun. It was also totally in character for Judy to imagine a Devil Wears Prada bed story. And of course Moon wanted a racecar bed that actually races.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm with Beef. I have my first adult mattress. It's still in top shape though. 

[SoMuchTV]

It might have been local, but I got a mattress ad right after Moon’s story.

[DoctorAtomic]

My network has mattress ads on Sunday nights all the time for Denver Mattress.

[theatremouse]

The episode made no sense. The kids all knew his bed sucked because it was way too old. So they have an opinion on what bed he should buy now because they'll inherit it? When it is also way too old and thus sucks by then?

But I'm also grumpy/bored at Three Stories episodes.

[tennisgurl]

Look at them, sneaking in a stealthy three stories episode. I know that a lot of people are over the three story format, and I do think that its been overused, but I still always like this shows parody episodes. They're so specific in a way that I appreciate from a parody and the stories feel very on brand for whoever is telling the story. 

I love when in Judy's Devil Wears Prada story they had the bit where relatable brunette Judy gives her friends mattresses and then they complain about how much brunette Judy sucks, while keeping the mattresses. The shade. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I like that they brought in the pizza restaurant girl for that scene. In Ham's story, one of the 'orcs' was Moon's frenemy. 

The mattress plot was kind of dumb, but in character for this family. 

[Galileo908]

The scary part is I can imagine a coarse smoothie. 

Zelda Blorp was the perfect name for a human disaster. Congratulations, we finally found someone worse off than Gayle.

Beef becoming a dad at 19 because he's unable to say no to whatever women tell him definitely tracks for him.

Of course Phoenix turned out to be a guy. And a MLM marketing scheme. The "Goddess Milk" was an incredibly unsubtle, but hilarious image.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Galileo908

[DoctorAtomic]

Alanis is back again with her 90s memories.

Is the first time Beef said he was a dad at 19?

I know the family is whacky, but I liked the kids actually being the voices of reason when Beef invented the fake wife.

This was a little too sitcommy on the Beef plot. 

I did feel bad for Judy when she had her meltdown. 

[tennisgurl]

On 2/26/2023 at 7:58 PM, Galileo908 said:

Zelda Blorp was the perfect name for a human disaster. Congratulations, we finally found someone worse off than Gayle.

 

We never thought it would happen, but here we are. A disaster person such a disaster that even Gayle looks well adjusted standing next to her. I am not surprised that Beef was unable to say no to this hot mess, its long established that he's too nice to say no to anyone and he's naturally attracted to disaster people. 

The plot with Honeybee and Judy was cute, even if their big ladies festival turned out to be a weird cult/pyramid scheme. You really have to be up on your movie references to keep up with Honeybee! 

"Feminism started with three old British ladies who wanted to vote or something." 

Edited March 2, 2023 by tennisgurl

[theatremouse]

I was stuck on the whole Beef plot with "yes we agreed to marry at 40 if neither married by then" NOT "if neither of us is married at that time". Beef was married by 40. And divorced. Pact is void. I thought it the second she walked in the door. I know then there's no episode if they were clever enough to insist that be the end of it, but it was so obvious it annoyed me.

[DoctorAtomic]

I said the same when I mentioned the plot was too sitcommy for me. Beef did say he had been married already, but that was just disregarded.

I can't say the plot is inconsistent. Beef copped to generally agreeing what women suggest to him which was why he 'was a dad at 19.' He panicked when Zelda showed up and started rambling about the new wife, but even the kids were trying to get him to put on the brakes. Beef couldn't get out of his own way. They just dialed up the characterizations a little too much for me. 

I did think it was nice that Beef's girlfriends all showed up to play the new wife just on Wolf's weird, rambly email. 

[Galileo908]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:58 PM, Galileo908 said:

Beef becoming a dad at 19 because he's unable to say no to whatever women tell him definitely tracks for him.

Also, this establishes that Wolf is 21, if Beef was 40 like Zelda.

[DoctorAtomic]

Wolf has way too healthy of a relationship with Honeybee for a 21 y/o.

[theatremouse]

I had been assuming he was 24 or something, even though that'd be a way bigger gap between him and Ham than I think makes sense for what we know of their parents' relationship. So I guess 21 is a more logical timeline, even though that seems too young too. Ugh I don't know.

[DoctorAtomic]

I thought 30, with Beef in his 50s. Which would make him way older than Judy and Ham. When did Kathleen leave? 

It makes sense he's only 21 given how he acts in relation to Beef. I always thought he was a little childish for a 30 y/o. 

I don't know how a 19/20 y/o would be able to run off to meet Honeybee at the restaurant from Final Destination without Beef freaking, but that doesn't seem too farfetched, and given how impulsive Beef was. It's consistent. 

[PinkRibbons]

I think Honeybee might be meant to be a little older, like closer to 25. But the thing with Wolf is that while he is very silly, he's actually pretty emotionally mature, which is why marriage seems to suit him so well. He's also got a skill set, a steady job (even if for some reason he couldn't stay on The Mighty Kathleen he could always get work in another fishing operation), some pretty surprising smarts (he CRUSHED that crossword in the Disaster Day episode, not to mention his wilderness survival skills are pretty great), and a good heart. He's a catch.

Wolf is kind of the best-case scenario of someone who was parentified. He stepped in to help Beef after Kathleen left (and I'm guessing even before that, since she was such a trainwreck), not only taking care of his siblings but also managing an emotionally distraught father. I bet his teens were probably pretty tough, but maybe his optimism and lack of cynicism is what helped the whole family through it.

Quote

I thought 30, with Beef in his 50s. Which would make him way older than Judy and Ham. When did Kathleen leave? 

From stuff that's been said, I would estimate that Kathleen has been gone for four years. I think they mentioned she left around the time Judy had her first kiss, which I think was in 7th grade? So she would have been about twelve, and she turned sixteen in the series premiere.

Edited March 3, 2023 by PinkRibbons

[DoctorAtomic]

Wolf having to grow up fast makes a lot of sense. He probably was working on the boat too since he was at least in his teens. 

You could see him gravitating to a stable relationship with someone a little older given the chaos with Kathleen. 

I also think while Beef let's the kids be themselves, he also doesn't baby them. He expects them to grow up. 

I have not analyzed anyone in real life to this degree. 

[Galileo908]

What I took away from this: So many people in Lone Moose want to bone Clippy.

Loved Delmer wanting to do The Purge.

Beef as a coach for the Little Mr. Ketchikan Canned Sausage Gentlemen Pageant was great. "Clump of boys" is a hell of a phrase. And gasp, Beef sabotaged himself to frame his brother so he could win?! Who knew that dressing up as hot dogs was such serious business?

[DoctorAtomic]

Beef has a streak to him. You don't see it pop up much, but there had to be a reason Kathleen was into him.

Mom had a little wine during the birth. Wow.

A 30 year ban seemed a little much to me for a prank.

38 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

What I took away from this: So many people in Lone Moose want to bone Clippy.

Yet somehow, this made so much sense for Lone Moose. Honeybee having Gaffigan on her list was kind of out there. 

The frontage at school - "Homework cancelled. Focus on sausage pageant."

I wondered if Moon actually drank coffee. 

I was thinking that Wolf wasn't really an insult comic, so I liked the way he flipped it up. 

The reading of "I also have sex with a lot of people" killed. Where does she find them all? Lone Moose isn't too population dense. 

 

[joanne3482]

14 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

The reading of "I also have sex with a lot of people" killed. Where does she find them all? Lone Moose isn't too population dense. 

Tourists, seasonal laborers who come in for the fishing season. I don't know if Lone Moose has their own cannery but that would also be a source of lovers. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I suppose. They really only have the one bar to go to. It's not like she would have to run around all over the place looking. 

[tennisgurl]

18 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

The reading of "I also have sex with a lot of people" killed.

"This is a roller coaster of emotions you have created, Wolf!" 

Beef sure does have a wild side to him, setting Brian up was absolutely devious, even if it ended up backfiring. He's normally so chill that its always a shock when he goes totally wild on something. 

I love that Moon and Ham tried to do the whole "we both win" thing only for everyone to tell them to keep competing even with their family in strife. Alaskans thrive on competition and meats that can be frozen.  

"That's why we need to go to war with Winnipeg!" I wanted to see even more of the competition, it looks like my kind of sausage competition. 

[DoctorAtomic]

She was so excited to announce it. 

[Galileo908]

"Day drinking? Car sleeping? Are we the coolest family ever?"

We finally get some momentum on Beef/Alyson! and of course it's all a disaster because Beef and Alyson are just that akward. But then they kissed and mutually decided to just date around! And here I thought Jobiathan wasn't real, and not a giant catfish.

I just loved the absurdity of the Love Choo-Choo. "The boat already had a theme. The theme was a boat."

And oh, Wolf, you're just so needy with getting people to like you. I'm more like Cody. By which I mean, getting awfully suspicious when people are overly friendly to me. And not being a garbage person. 

[DoctorAtomic]

One does not simply day drink with Cheesecake. And they were drinking at the curling club! 

I do not like tinkle talk. 

I've got to work 'the lodge lobby is closed' into conversation. 

I don't really feel too bad for Beef. At some point, you have to make a move or a lady is going to take it as a hint and move on. Kathleen just telling Beef he was her boyfriend really didn't help. I do agree he should date around. 

Swipe North sounds like a wild movie. Poor Ann Hathaway. She almost ended up with the Easter Bunny. 

I never noticed that Wolf and Honeybee had their wedding picture up in their house. 

That was actually good growth for Beef. He hasn't really had any insight since the divorced club. 

 

[tennisgurl]

Beef actually made some real progress on opening himself up to moving on from his divorce, even if it was just a kiss and having some real talk with Alyson. They aren't in the right place to be in a relationship right now but one day they might be. 

Love that Alyson's idea to get rid of her internet fiancé was to pretend to be a robot. Not a method I've heard of but surprisingly effective. 

Oh Wolf, he wanted so badly for everyone to like him that he didn't even notice what a garbage person that guy was. Hopefully his strangler buddy never gets parole! I'm also hoping that one day we get an appearance by this mountain man who shows up to the Tobin house to staff his sacks full of pinecones. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I wonder if there were some inside jokes in the dialogue only for the actors. 

[theatremouse]

Did Beef say he'd never been on a date? Was there not an episode in which he accidentally had three dates at the same time? Him being bad at going on a date, I get, but him not having been on one, when we've seen it? Distracted me the whole episode.

[DoctorAtomic]

I think he meant a formal date. Beef didn't really ask any of the three of them out. He just agreed. 

Taking the larger context, Kathleen told him he was her boyfriend. Presumably, she was pregnant not so fast after; he's married with four kids, and she's gone. Now all of sudden, he's 40. I can see him saying he's never really been on a date. 

[Galileo908]

Wolf and Honeybee, especially Wolf, are not ready for kids. Of course they have a Sailor Moon wig. I wish there was more of the choir drama. And the creepy doll party.

I liked Moon's subplot. How do you do a wilderness retreat for a kid used to the wilderness? Take him to Anchorage, and teach him how to survive a night in the city.

 

[DoctorAtomic]

I liked that because moon knows too much outdoors that Beef took him to Anchorage. I'd suggest that you do need a cell phone to survive in the big city. Wandering around a city late at night with no phone isn't smart. And leaving the bags after you've been warned. 

You don't really see Ham and Judy plotting together. The funny part is, I doubt anyone would have issues with them throwing a party. Of course, beer or hard milk wouldn't be allowed. 

Was the Abominable Snowman, or whatever they call it, walking in the background of the outhouse?

[Galileo908]

20 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

And leaving the bags after you've been warned. 

There was a guy who thought they were Terminators! What were they supposed to do?!

[DoctorAtomic]

They're Terminators. They could pretend to terminate him. 

[tennisgurl]

Wolf and Honeybee will be good parents one day, but that day is not for awhile. That plot was really fun, but both subplots were so fun that I ended up wanting more of both, the creepy doll birthday and the singing sexy seniors. 

You never know if teens drinking will get drunk, get a tattoo, or a creepy doll might actually be cursed and start strangling people with their porcelain hands. 

Beef taking Moon to Anchorage instead of the wilderness was a really smart move. How do you challenge a kid who knows all about how to survive in nature? Take him to the city and have him try to make it through the night. 

Edited March 27, 2023 by tennisgurl

[DoctorAtomic]

Complete with a 'rip page out of phonebook at payphone' trope. I don't know if that's been shown on tv this century.