S16 E06: Risk E. Rat's Pizza and Amusement Center

[Galileo908]

Quote

The Gang goes to Risk E. Rat's, finding it updated with safety and overcautiousness; Dee takes Frank to find risqué jokes hidden throughout the establishment; Mac plays Skee-Ball to win tickets for a prize.

Airs 7/5/23

[Galileo908]

The gang is me. The old arcades just ain't what the used to be, too clean and sanitized. I loved that Mac brought up the switchblade combs. That was an arcade prize staple. Do they still have those? Hell, I was expecting the girl to tell Mac that they no longer took physical tickets. Or the new animatronic show was just a video screen. (Risk E. Rat getting the Bowling For soup makeover was a good consolation)

Old Chuck E. Cheese's were wild. Some locations had a room with Hippo lounge singer.

I grew up with a place that had a Rock-A-Fire Explosion Band, so I never got to experience Chuck E. Cheese nostalgia. We do need monster representation, after all.

Classic Sunny "both sides"-ing sanding off robot boobs. That was traumatizing.

Frank drinking out of the water fountain with the fry plate was just classic Frank behavior. Also, that was Rob & Kaitlin's kid credited as playing the water fountain kid.

Was not expecting a body count at the end there. Loved the smash cut to ambulances everywhere.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Galileo908

[Lantern7]

I went to Chuck E. Cheese's a few times as a kid. Memories are hazy at best. Months ago, John Oliver did a web-exclusive segment on the history of the franchise. Twenty-eight minutes of wall-to-wall insanity.

So, yeah, this was good "reading" for tonight's episode. Mannequin boobs were a thing, and the segue into fading childhood memories neatly takes you away from realizing there's a head in a box and Dennis isn't coming everywhere. Sure, it's a robot head, but it's a female robot head. Dennis should have gone to the hospital before everyone else.

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

Was not expecting a body count at the end there. Loved the smash cut to ambulances everywhere.

How else could it have ended? The plan was to plug in everything and hope for the best. I think it's for the best we didn't see the carnage play out because our imaginations are way better than anything the writer could have conjured up.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Lantern7

[Gharlane]

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

"Risk E. Rat's Pizza and Amusement Center". The Gang goes to Risk E. Rat's, finding it updated with safety and overcautiousness; Dee takes Frank to find risqué jokes hidden throughout the establishment; Mac plays Skee-Ball to win tickets for a prize.

I was too old for Chuck E Cheese when they came out, but we went a few times to play the video games and the pizza was decent. I always imagined they wouldn't be nearly as fun for kids and probably made you sign waivers IRL. I kinda expected tyhings to wrong when they plugged everything in and turned on the power, but not to that extent!

 

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

The gang is me. The old arcades just ain't what the used to be, too clean and sanitized. I loved that Mac brought up the switchblade combs. That was an arcade prize staple. Do they still have those? Hell, I was expecting the girl to tell Mac that they no longer took physical tickets. Or the new animatronic show was just a video screen. (Risk E. Rat getting the Bowling For soup makeover was a good consolation)

"Bowling For Soup"?

[DoctorAtomic]

As soon as I saw the gang was all going to the Rats place, I was excited to see the total disaster that would evolve.  

My biggest laugh was that there wasn't a bar anymore. Those poor parents. 

I don't think I ever went to Chuck E. Cheese; I should be in the same age range as the gang here. There were other, actual outside amusement parks to go to though. Maybe that's why. 

[Galileo908]

22 hours ago, Gharlane said:

"Bowling For Soup"?

The current version of Chuck E. is voiced by the guy from Bowling For Soup. 

 

[iMonrey]

On 7/5/2023 at 9:31 PM, Galileo908 said:

Also, that was Rob & Kaitlin's kid credited as playing the water fountain kid.

Ah! I was wondering if the kid Mac went into time-out with was his real-life son but I guess not. Also could have sworn it was Jack McBrayer's voice inside the talking dog.

I thought this one was kind of dumb but I've never been to a Chuck E Cheese in my life. That wasn't even a thing when I was a kid. The only real laugh I got out of this was the end when they cut to the aftermath in the parking lot. 

I guess they can't all be gems, but if they're only doing eight episodes a year now I'm worried they're running out of ideas.

[Daltrey]

12 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I was wondering if the kid Mac went into time-out with was his real-life son

I wondered this too. 

Funny how things hit people differently; I thought this was the best of the season so far and one of the best episodes in a while. Having grown up with Chuck E. Cheese as a childhood staple probably DID help.

[Amarsir]

Heading into this I was figuring the place would be unchanged from their youth, completely run down, and the gang being angry at kids for not appreciating it. And I wasn't super excited because we've seen that before. 

Happily it was the opposite. I think the show's just more fun when the world is sensible and the gang is dysfunctional. Sure, other weird characters in their orbit like the McPoyles are good additions too. But my favorites are the people like the lawyer or The Waitress who start normal and get worse with each interaction.

[Lantern7]

In case you didn’t see it the first time, here is John Oliver’s oral history of Chuck E. Cheese.