Recap / The Great North S1E7 "Period Piece Adventure"

RECAP:
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Original air date: March 21, 2021

Written by: Michelle Badillo & Caroline Levich
Directed by: Will Strode

After Judy asks Alyson to help supervise her school mural project, Alyson ends up taking it over by having them paint a protest piece about belted pads instead. Meanwhile, the local paper prints a story accusing Beef of kicking down Vera's garden gnome so Honeybee, Wolf, and Moon set out to clear his name.

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Tropes:

• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: After Judy calls out Alyson and her club for getting her mural canceled because of their protest piece idea, which she never wanted to do:
  Alyson: Oh, geez. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
  Gill: That we accidentally took a huge opportunity away from Judy, and now we really upset her?
  Alyson: Oh. I was thinking that I would look amazing in a Jeep. But you make a good point.
• Bittersweet Ending: While the club manages to pull off their protest period piece by converting it into a live performance, they're unable to get rid of the belted pads because it turns out that the company gives Lone Moose School 25% of the profits from the pads and Principal Gibbons doesn't want to lose that school budget money stream. Fortunately, the club still gets a small victory by the performance convincing Principal Gibbons to add tampons to the bathroom. Also, Judy does manage to get to do her mural when Alyson tips her off to the wall next to the dumpster behind the mall.
• Clear My Name: Beef is falsely accused of kicking down a garden gnome, so Honeybee, Wolf and Moon set out to clear him.
  Wolf: This is the family name we're talking about, our second most valuable possession after the generator.
• Couch Gag: The boat in the opening is Dinghy Broads.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: While Judy's club's protest period piece failed to get rid of the belted pads from their school, Principal Gibbons promises to include tampons in their budget. When he assumes a box of tampons cost $100 or $150, Kima points out they cost $5.99 and Gibbon realizes they could have had tampons years ago had someone just told him the price.
• Gender-Blender Name: Junkyard Kyle is a woman.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Alyson and Judy's club wants to do a protest mural instead of Judy's idea, Judy tries to get them to change their mind and get Ham to side with her but he tells her "I think when women's issues are on the table, it's time for men to sit quietly down at that table and listen." and that she taught him that, much to Judy's frustration. Later when she tries to get him to side with her again and he's about to say the same thing, she tells him "Stop listening to women, Ham! What do we know?"
• Loophole Abuse: Principal Gibbons bans the kids from painting the vagina mural, but Judy figures that he didn't say anything about them being the mural. So they do a living tableau of it.
• Noodle Incident: After Alyson agrees to supervise the painting of a new mural at school, she mentions that she was on a mural once.
  Alyson: Well, I'm something of a mural queen myself. Lance, an old friend of mine, once painted me on the side of a van wearing a metal bikini riding a dragon. The van caught on fire while being chased by the feds. Lance got fifteen years, no parole. But don't judge him from that, he's a good guy.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Vera has a grudge against Beef because he trespassed on her property. Once, thirty years ago when he was sledding by her house as a kid and left snow tracks on her driveway.
• Politically Motivated Teacher: Judy brings Alyson to supervise her mural, but when she learns of the outdated feminine hygiene products on the dispenser at the girls restroom, Alyson turns it into a protest piece against Judy's wishes.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Principal Gibbons is actually very interested in the final protest piece and has questions about the symbolism. He also explains to the group that the school actually gets a kickback for using the old sanitary belts, and that money pays for things like the art supplies Judy was going to use for the mural. He agrees to use some of this money to put tampons in the girls’ bathroom in the future.
• Red Herring: Examining the boot print at the scene of the crime, the Tobins determine that it's too big to be Beef's, but when they go to the shoe store to corroborate, they learn that the only one who bought boots that size was Beef. Beef admits he bought them by mistake, but never threw one at Vera's gnome. The real culprit turns out to be Junkyard Kyle, who took the boots that Beef was going to give away anyway and threw one as revenge.
• Repetitive Name: The editor-in-chief of The Lone Moose Wind is John Johnson.
• Rule of Three: Two times, Honeybee ends an interrogation of a suspect with “You sick bitch!” The third time, Wolf says it instead, and he immediately feels bad about it.
• Taught by Television: Honeybee believes herself to be a Great Detective because she watches all the Police Procedural shows.
  Moon: With those credentials, we'd be fools to say no.
• That Came Out Wrong: After Judy reveals Alyson and her club are doing a protest mural that involves a huge vagina and she gets Principal Gibbons to agree to her finger murals:
  Judy: So fingers are in and vaginas are out.
  Principal Gibbons: I don't like the way you said that, but yes.
• Waxing Lyrical: Alanis sees Judy sad and asks "What happened? You look like it rained on your wedding day.", referring her song "Ironic". Lampshaded when Judy asks her how many times has she used that line.
• Whodunnit: Honeybee sets out to solve the mystery of who threw a boot at Vera's garden gnome. It turns out to be Junkyard Kyle, who was insulted by Vera for living in the dump, so she threw a boot at her yard so she too would have junk on her property, and accidentally hit the gnome.

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♫ Checking our watches late to a meeting
Hike our skirts up when we're peeing
Business, calling China
Women, implied vagina
Got to have my coffee and my tweed
Wear my tiny glasses while I read
Business, crisp collared shirts
I'm a businesswoman
Women! Who stole my yogurt?
Heads held high up to the sky
I hold my head up high
Heads held high up to the sky
Businesswomen
I'm a business woman. ♫

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