Recap / The Great North S1E4 "Romantic Meat-Based Adventure"

RECAP:
Index
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Original air date: February 28, 2021

Written by: Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin & Wendy Molyneux
Directed by: Carlos Ramos & Paul Scarlata

After Judy is unable to kiss her date at the end of her date, she believes her fear of kissing comes from Beef's failed love life so she convinces her family to get Beef to start meeting women again at the "Meet and Meat". Meanwhile, Moon and Ham try to teach a grouse to fly.

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Tropes:

• Awkward Kiss: The last time Judy kissed a boy, his long hair got caught in her braces. She's been scared to try again since.
• Bait-and-Switch: After getting his arm reset, Moon says he asked the doctor to rearrange his bones into a wing but the doctor said no. Wolf replies with, "That's insane... Did they say why?"
• Brick Joke: When Moon leaves Timothy with Wolf and Honeybee to teach him how to fly while he's in school, Honeybee plans to show Timothy Top Gun to get him inspired to fly, but Moon tell her to fast forward through Goose's death scene. Later, when Moon tries to show Timothy how to fly by jumping off a tree and he ends up fracturing his arm, Ham tells Timothy this was the scene from the movie he wasn't supposed to see.
• Callback: Judy and Alanis brings up the time Beef finally stops pretending that Kathleen is dead after she left him from the first episode.
• Cartwright Curse: The reason why Dell rejects going out with Beef is because she sees herself as cursed because her previous husbands died in horrific accidents and doesn't want him to die like them. Her first husband froze to death in their freezer ("He wasn't very bright"), the next two husbands died falling into holes, the fourth husband was in a plane crash and survived but was eaten by his friend, and her recent husband died in a fishing accident where a dock line wrapped around his neck, pulled him into the water, and then popped his head clean off.
• Celeb Crush: Beef says if he dies, there's a shoebox labeled "Poems for Andie MacDowell" in his closet that he would prefer his kids just threw away instead of opening.
• Continuity Nod: Wolf and Honeybee are now living in the guest cabin, which they said they will do in "Sexi Moose Adventure".
• Couch Gag: The boat in the intro is named It's Britney, Fish.
• Did Not Get the Girl: When Beef meets Dell, there's a spark between them, but Dell turns him down for two reason: her previous husbands died in horrific accidents and she doesn't want her bad luck to affect Beef, and she only wanted to meet someone who will give her a job to work on a boat as a fisherman. Beef does offer her a job, but she points out their attraction towards each other would make it difficult to concentrate on the fishing. While she rejects Beef on going on a date and the job offer, she does allow him to ask her again (about the date and the job) after a cooling-off period.
• Flying Flightless Bird: Moon finds a grouse and tries to train it to fly.
• Freudian Excuse: Judy thought she's afraid to kiss anyone again because of her first Awkward Kiss, then it's revealed her first kiss happened after her mother left Beef during the same year. Seeing Beef get hurt made her nervous about relationships.
• Freudian Slip: When Judy meets Steven again at school, she starts imagining Steven with extremely long hair and remembers her disastrous first kiss:
  Judy: Oh, hi, hair. I mean hi there, Steven. I didn't know you'd be here in my mouth. No, I mean here, near my locker.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When Judy keeps meeting Steven again, she would avoid him by coming up with excuses that are Blatant Lies or embarrassing to avoid thinking about kissing him.
• Lampshaded Double Entendre: Everyone tries to tell Judy they'll be a lot of men and very few women at the "Meet and Meat" through Double Entendre, but she doesn't seem to get it:
  Wolf: The "Meet and Meat" is no joke. There's, uh... how do I say this? A lot of pool cues, not a lot of pockets, if you know what I mean.
  Judy: No. What do you mean?
  Wolf: A lot of hot dogs, not a lot of buns.
  Judy: Huh?
  Honeybee: What he's saying is there'll be tons of, uh, Washington Monuments, not a lot of Grand Canyons. Do we need to spell this out for you?
  Judy: Maybe.
  Wolf: A lot of letters, not a lot of envelopes.
  Honeybee: A lot of prairie dogs, not a lot of prairie dog holes.
  Ham: A lot of feet, not a lot of socks.
  Wolf: Ham gets it.
  Moon: Tons of... DVDs, not a ton of... DVD shelves to put 'em on?
  Wolf: Oh, uh, kinda. Yeah. Good try, Moon. A lot of Andre the Giants, not a lot of gigantic sleeping bags.
  Judy: Uh, what are you guys talking about?!
  Wolf: A lot of men, very few women.
  Judy: Oh... okay, then, yeah.
• Overly Long Gag: Wolf using metaphors to explain to Judy that more men than women will be at the mixer. The whole family gets in on giving examples, and Judy still doesn't understand the point.
• Shout-Out:
  • Honeybee suggests showing the grouse Top Gun to get inspired to fly. Moon warns to fast forward through Goose's death scene.
  • Wolf and Honeybee are having a Fonzarelli night, where they watch a Henry Winkler movie; that night, the film is You Don't Mess with the Zohan.
  • Ham thinks Beef should meet someone naturally, like in the movie When Harry Met...; everyone guesses Sally, but Ham actually meant the Hendersons.
  • Beef mentions that their apocalypse supplies include 500 years worth of rice and two Calvin and Hobbes books.
• That Came Out Wrong: Judy does this twice.
  • When Judy and Steven are sharing a box of candy in the movie theater:
    Judy: Due to our mint-sharing agreement, Steven and I had to sit next to each other and the next thing you know, there were a... more than usual number of fingers in that box.
    Alanis: I'm not sure you know what you're saying Judy, but continue.
  • During Judy's song:
    "Me and my dad are gonna date / But not each other, that sounded weird"

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♫ All my girls know how this one goes
So many birds lookin' in your windows
Don't give it away to a gull or pigeon
Your body is your own dominion
Don't let a grouse peek in your blouse
Don't let a peacock down your knee socks
Don't let a seagull look at your keyhole
I've met a lot of birds and they're all B‐holes
Eyes to yourself, Timothy
Keep your rooster crest out of my vest
I'm closing my blinds, go back to your nest. ♫

—Honeybee

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