Review: China IL ”Magical Pet”

Spoilers Below

Frank sings a song about wanting to get ladies and Pony thinks he needs to get a talkn’ to by his brother. Steve doesn’t think it’ll help all that much, but Frank ends up singing a song about the fact that something may be wrong with him when it comes to women so Pony might be on to something.

Baby Cakes wants a magical pet just like all the other Disney Princesses and he tells Pony, and the Professors at the local watering hole. We’re probably more preoccupied with the fact that Frank wants to get laid, so when he attempts to try and hook up with his neighbor, she tells him no because of the fact that he’s bald. Frank has now figured out why women do not like him.

Later at the pet store, BC and his dad are looking for the right pet, but Cakes isn’t happy with the selection due to the fact that none of them seem magical. As a matter of fact, Frank may be closer to finding a magical pet than Baby Cakes after he goes to this Asian drug store and scores some shit to help him grow hair because the shop is managed by a Gizmo (yes, Gizmo from Gremlins) – looking dude. Gizmo could be an upgrade over this dude that Pony is looking to hook up with because after setting up a blind date with him we find out he’s a fucking cyclops named Clint. Worse yet, this girl Barb that Steve asks out at the bar is a half girl-half goat. You would think with all of this crazy shit going down at school that Baby Cakes would have no problem finding something bat-shit crazy, but instead, he refuses to get out of bed.

We come back from break with Frank completely covered in hair as a result of the tonic and then Pony and Steve make a bet on who is going to break up with their freak of nature first. Speaking of freaks of nature, Lenny Cakes heads to a lab run by The Dean which has all of these weird animals. Among the bunch, we have the Cat Powers-singing sad gorilla. The gorilla’s name is Keko and Lenny decides to take him home, but Baby Cakes isn’t all that impressed. Frank’s neighbor Cindy is impressed with Frank’s new hair after he gets a trim, but the tonic is causing the ‘Bigfoot’ look to happen more frequently and he needs to stay incognito for a week until the shit wears off.

Frank heads to the woods where he runs into a bunch of other Bigfoots all suffering from the same side effects from the hair pills. Turns out, these pills are responsible for the legends of folklore when it comes to Bigfoots and Yetis and that they are really just a bunch of guys waiting for the effects to wear off. Baby Cakes is on life support due to not having a magical pet, and Pony is still going at it with Steve over their bet. Fortunately, Lenny Cakes heads into the woods and finds Frank. They make a deal for Frank to be at Baby Cakes’ side until the pills wear off and Baby Cakes LOVES it. BC loves it so much that he opts to have his gorilla returned to The Dean’s lab…and NO ONE wants that.

Turns out, Barb and Clint used to be in a relationship, so it’s safe to call Pony and Steve’s bet a wash. But, BC and Frank are able to catch up and save Keke before the Dean turns her into an oil by-product. The crew takes Keke back to the wild and frees her, but there’s no freeing the beast that is Frank and his quest for vag.

Our Take

I gotta be honest…I think ”Musical” is a strong word to describe the hour-long finale of China IL. If it weren’t for the fact that this show is world-renown for producing awesome music already, I could see the pass, but really ”Magical Pet” seemed more like a throwback to the China IL episodes of season two or one where the music was more prevalent, rather than a full-blown ”Musical”.  In comparison to season three episodes, sure, you can call ”Magical Pet” a musical due to the fact that we didn’t get as many songs in China IL as we have in seasons’ past, but over the entire body of work that is this show, ”Magical Pet” fits like a glove.

Frank’s contribution to the evening seemed a rather garden variety Bigfoot deal, but in fairness, every animated series has done the garden variety Bigfoot episode. As a matter of fact, Comedy Central’s Brickleberry did almost this entire thing back in season one in an episode entitled ‘‘Steve’s Bald” where Steve drank a tonic that causes him to grow so much hair he lives in the woods and everyone mistakes him for a Sasquatch. That’s not to take anything away from the humorous aspects of Frank though, for starters I think he had the best song of all of the original cast members to open up the show, and I think we got to learn a few things about the character along the way.

Steve and Pony’s bit seemed a bit typical for them for a China IL episode, which is fine, but the one BIG story that may have come from it is the possibility of a Pony/Steve relationship brewing. I’ll be interested to see if Brad Neely builds on this in season four because there could be some unique possibilities there. I think an idea like this could lend itself to give us some arcs for the next season, which is something that really hasn’t been done on Adult Swim, let alone on China IL. 

Last, but not least, the star of the show…the sad gorilla by Cat Powers For starters, she was INCREDIBLE. By far, the sad gorilla had the best songs of the evening. Baby Cakes and Frank were simply by-products whilst she was on screen as the guest star sang songs of depression and wallowing in self pity. If Free Willy had songs, the fucking whale would sing songs just like this, but not nearly as beautiful. I’d never thought the words ‘pee’ and ‘poo’ could be sang with such dexterity and breadth than when I heard Cat sing. I couldn’t help but see parallels between Keke’s struggles, and the struggles that have plagued Cat Powers for a lot of her career. Perhaps, these lyrics could even be seen as therapeutic?  In any case, her contributions are Emmy worthy…

Tune in next week as we do a full break down of season three of China IL and where the show stands against all of the other programmings that have aired during the course of 2015.