Recap / The Great North S4E02 "Risky Beefness Adventure"

RECAP:
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Original air date: February 18, 2024

Written by: Ted Travelstead
Directed by: Neil Graf

After experiencing a near-death experience, Beef decides to get back in the dating game so he can have sex again. After several bad dates, he runs into Greta Meatweep again and they have a one-night stand. Unfortunately for Beef, Greta reveals their one-night stand in the poem column of the local newspaper. Meanwhile, Jerry and Moon work together as a Bigfoot and Lil' Bigfoot entertainers, but a duo of clowns are not fond of them stealing their business.

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Tropes:

• Adults Dressed as Children: One of Beef's matches on the dating app is a woman who dresses as a toddler with a giant lollipop due to being into "ageplay". She speaks completely in Baby Talk while attempting to get Beef play the role of her "daddy" who'll change her diaper and then have sex with her. All in public.
• Big Brother Instinct: Jerry always wanted a little brother and he treats Moon like one since they're in-laws and they work together as children entertainers as Bigfoot and his Little Brother. But when a clown duo are threatening them for stealing their business and they challenge them to a Costume Battle, Jerry realizes that as a big brother, he needs to protect Moon and not get him involved in a crazy, dangerous situation so he decides to retire their gimmick for his safety and they both run away from the fight.
• Cloudcuckoolander: One of Beef's matches on the dating app is a woman who proudly proclaims herself to be the inventor of cups and excitedly tells Beef that she can "tell" that he's Hillary Clinton in drag (which she's into). Zelda Blop also makes a reappearance, and Beef flees her the moment she walks into the Russian Restaurant.
• Continuity Nod:
  • One of Beef's matches is Zelda Blop, the spinster who Beef had a marriage agreement with in "Sister Pact Too Adventure".
  • Among the costumed entertainers Jerry and Moon encounter in the woods include Potato Patty from "Dip the Halls Adventure" and Noodie from "Tasteful Noods Adventure".
• Couch Gag:
  • The boat in the opening is "Fish Fish Bang Bang".
  • Wolf's T-Shirt says "Life in the Gas Lane".
• Danger Takes a Backseat: When Jerry and Moon come back to see that Jerry's car has been vandalized by the clown duo with pies, after Jerry uses the windshield wiper to wipe the pies off his windshield, the clowns reveal themselves inside the car in the backseat and challenge them to a Costume Battle.
• Dating Service Disaster: Beef's matches are mostly crazy people:
  • A delusional woman who thinks she invented cups and that Beef is really Hillary Clinton wearing a skinsuit.
  • A woman who is into ageplay, she has 2 accounts, both of which matched with Beef.
  • Zelda Blop, a delusional woman who has dolls which she treats as her children.
  • Delmer: a straight man who is in his 70's who helped raise Beef & his brother.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: When the clown duo arrives to warn Jerry and Moon for stealing their business while they're eating ice cream, the bigger clown takes Jerry's ice cream and eats it in front of him out of spite.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The Yeti can be spotted after Jerry and Moon leave a house after performing for a birthday party. The Yeti is wearing a birthday cone hat and digging through some trash, and when the Yeti spots Jerry and Moon, he quickly leaves before he's noticed.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: After Beef's fish net accidentally knocks him off his boat, he tries to swim back but his leg is tangled in the net. While hallucinating in the cold water, Beef's penis, Cindy, tells him how to untangle his leg from the net if he promises to start having sex again.
• Hidden Depths: Ham is shown to be emotionally mature and very wise to give Beef & Wolf proper romantic advice in the episode.
• Incompatible Orientation: An unusual case when the dating app matches Beef with Delmer of all people and they're both disappointed since both of them are straight and not attracted to each other (on top of Delmer also being old enough to have been a father figure to Beef when he was young).
• Laughing Mad: When Judy is unable to take any more sex talk, she breaks the table and goes into a fit of laughing madness.
• Monster Clown: Downplayed. The clown duo threaten Jerry and Moon for stealing their business and later vandalizes Jerry's car with pies for ignoring their warning. Later, they challenge them to a Costume Battle where they fistfight in their underwear and the winner burns the loser's costume. Seeing this is too crazy and dangerous, Jerry and Moon retire their Bigfoot and his Little Brother gimmick and run away from the fight.
• Near-Death Experience: Beef fell in frigid waters and his netting tangled his legs. Beef's near-death experience has caused him to hallucinate a penis in the sky that tells him that he needs to get back in the dating market, even if it is only sexual.
• Not in Front of the Kid: Inverted, Beef was willing to talk about sex in front of Moon, a 10-year-old who walks away immediately. Judy, who wants to be sex positive but is uncomfortable with the subject, eventually ends up breaking the table and going laughing mad when she has had enough.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Moon's subplot with Jerry is set into motion by him opting to eat his breakfast outside when the conversation turns to his father's desire to have sex. Throughout the episode, Judy's only role is to hide how mortified she is by the constant topic of Beef's sex life until she snaps and breaks off a piece of the table in frustration. Averted with Ham and especially Wolf, who encourages Beef and throws a party to celebrate him getting laid, with a cake and a banner. If anything, everyone else has to hold back Wolf's enthusiasm about it.
• Pie in the Face: Not to a face, but to a car. After Jerry and Moon finish performing for a birthday party, they see that the clown duo have thrown multiple pies at Jerry's car.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is based off of Risky Business.
• Running Gag: Judy trying to hide her discomfort when Beef's sex life is being constantly brought up.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • The moment Beef starts talking about wanting to have sex again during breakfast, Moon immediately takes his breakfast and eats outside, not wanting to hear it. Later, when Moon goes downstairs and sees the family is having cake for breakfast and Wolf explains they're celebrating Beef having sex again, he immediately goes back to his room.
  • After seeing how crazy and dangerous the costume battle is going to be, Jerry decides to retire his Bigfoot and his Little Brother gimmick for Moon's safety and they run away to avoid fighting the clown duo.
• Serious Business: Because of Jerry and Moon's success of being the Bigfoot and his Little Brother Duo for kids' birthday parties, a duo of clowns show up and threaten them for stealing their business. When Jerry and Moon ignore their threat, the clowns retaliate by pieing Jerry's car and challenging them to a costume battle in the woods with other costumed party entertainers watching. When Jerry and Moon arrive at the woods, the clown duo explains the costume battle, they'll strip down to their underwear (so they don't stain their costume with blood), they get into a fistfight, and the winner burns the loser's costume. Seeing that this is too crazy and wanting to protect Moon, Jerry decides to retire the Bigfoot and his Little Brother gimmick and they both run away from the fight.
• Shout-Out: After the Clown Duo leaves Jerry's car after challenging him and Moon to a Costume Battle, Jerry comments that they make the clown from It seem chill.
• Sky Face: When Beef starts hallucinating in the cold water, he sees his penis in the clouds who talks to him. When he needs to talk with his sky penis again, he recreates the scenario again by jumping in the cold water and he also gets a chance to meet his heart in the cloud.
• Special Guest: Jack McBrayer guest stars as Beef's penis named Cindy. And Jon Hamm guest stars as Beef's heart named Dennis.
• Too Much Information: After dealing with a near-death experience while seeing his penis in the sky who tells him to start having sex again, he decides to tell this to his family. Moon and Judy are the only ones disturbed by this, with Moon leaving the room to avoid hearing more and Judy trying to suppress her discomfort. Later, after dealing with several bad dates, Beef tells his family, sans Moon, that he's going to stay in and "read" the new fisherwomen magazine, causing Judy to chug down her drink and swish it in her mouth to hide her discomfort.
• Touché: Beef is confused that his heart is named Dennis, who responds that his name is Beef, which he concedes.
• Unexplained Accent: When Beef asks why his penis has a southern accent, Cindy explains he's from down south... of Beef's body.
• We Are Not Going Through That Again: When Beef sees that his next date is with Zelda Blop, he immediately walks away while saying multiple no's.

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♫ The penis is the gateway to the heart
I'm your Johnson
And I'm where you should start
I'm here to hold your hand through love
And I'm closer to your farts
It's me
The downsouth Donald
That's the gateway to your heart
People see me hanging around
Think I'm up to nothing good
But I have schemes and dreams, you know
I'm not just made of wood
(Not just made of wood)
Get to know me better
And you'll see I can unlock
The golden road to that hunky dude
The one that beats ticktock
I'm the penis, the gateway to your heart ♫

—Cindy