Review: Son of Zorn “All Hail Son of Zorn”

Is this the last ride for Zorn?

Courtesy: FOX

Spoilers Below

Much of Son of Zorn Season 1 has been driven by culture clash and misunderstandings that ruin everything. But this time, the major misunderstanding actually causes things to work out for the best! Alan and Layla are on the outs, and everyone is on the case to get them back together, but of course Zorn totally misses what the point of contention is in the first place. Not to worry, because the blended family dynamics are much better than they have ever been, so hiccups both major and minor can be overcome.

Alan at first foolishly takes Zorn’s advice to put together a big, romantic gesture, which is really not up Layla’s alley. It is not so much that she is immense to such outsize displays of romance, it’s that they do not really address what’s really bothering her: namely, Alan falling in with the in crowd and thereby losing himself. So he turns to Edie and corrects course, but we do not see most of that because much of the episode is devoted to Zorn and Craig cooking up a scheme.

In Zephyria, one would typically go about making himself a suitable suitor by emerging victorious in battle and then being declared a king. They do not quite have the same system in Orange County … or do they?! You see, there’s this little honorific called “Prom King,” and Zorn is going to make sure that his son is high school royalty. Craig ends up doing most of the grunt work, which is fine by him, as he is quite excited to be Zorn’s sidekick. He runs afoul of the mean girls in the prom committee, and I wish we could have seen more of Shannon before the actual prom, but Craig’s reporting of their nastiness fills that niche.

Alan’s total lack of shame at bringing his mom as his date starts to bring Layla back into his good graces, but his swift appointment to King threatens to undo all that. Considering how easily people are bought and sold in this town, Layla should really give Alan the benefit of the doubt and suspect that something untoward may be afoot. But it’s no biggie, because Alan seizes the opportunity to affirm himself as the dork that Layla fell for. Crisis averted!

Meanwhile, over at Sanitation Solutions, Zorn and Linda sniff out an opportunity when Todd is out of the office for a few days. If sales go up like crazy during this time, with Linda as the de facto boss, then perhaps she can go back to being the full-time head honcho. Recognizing an untapped market, she and Zorn make a big sale with the previously soap-less people of Zephyria. Unfortunately, they are a little sloppy with locking down payments, and instead of money, they end up saddled with a bunch of goats.It turns out, though, that sloppiness is actually the way to go in this situation. Upon discovering the mess when returning to the office, Todd fires himself, since this all happened under his watch.

Alas, sloppiness is not the way to go in all situations. Zorn has been ignoring the pleas for help from his countrymen all episode, and that comes back to bite him, when Vulchazor (voiced by a slithering Fred Armisen), the one behind all the pillaging of Zephyria, captures him. And so this is how Season 1 ends, on a cliffhanger, which suggests a fair bit of confidence that there will be a Season 2 to resolve everything. Does this mean Alan, Edie, and Craig are headed to Zephyria? I for one am excited for such a proposition.

Also: Alan’s pregnant! Thanks to some funky Zephyrian biology, men can give birth, which begs the question: are Zephyrians a completely different species from humans? And if so, how to explain the crossbreeding? And if not, how to explain the different anatomy? So many questions for Season 2 to answer.

Memorable Lines and Other Stones of Insight:

-“Looks like my friend’s dead, so we can do your thing now.”

-Apparently Zorn thinks Linda will become a man “again” if she reclaims the job of boss.

-Shannon has a black belt in hurting Craig’s feelings.

-Based on the way he walks (or any other evidence available), do we think Alan’s two penises are an uppy-downy or a side-by-side?

-“You know, Edie, we married too soon, because I’m in love with this Chablis.”

-And here is the last Craig line of the season that improves so much via Tim Meadows’ delivery: “We’re gonna be gran-partners in crime!”

SCORE
7.0/10