Review: Son of Zorn “The Quest for Craig”

No, this isn’t a game from TinyCo.

Courtesy: FOX

Spoilers Can Be Sniffed Out Below

We jump in right where we last left off, with Edie and Zorn on the hunt for a runaway Craig, and Linda along for the ride. Since Zephyrians have olfactory skills on the level of dogs, Zorn takes a whiff of one of Craig’s sweaters to track him down. Unfortunately, that just leads them to some creepy guy who bought one of Craig’s old sweaters at goodwill. So then Zorn tries switching brains with a hawk to get a better view of the city, but nothing much comes of that.

It turns out that Craig is staying with his brother Robert (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) and Robert’s wife Diane (Tymberlee Hill). Robert is the type of person who is always hitting his family up for money for school or a business investment, and Craig – people-pleaser that he is – is all too happy to indulge him. A further piece of the puzzle is filled in when Diane reveals that she and Craig used to date in college. That union ended the first time Robert asked Diane to dance and Craig promptly transferred. But it is not too late to make up for past mistakes, so Diane convinces Craig to put his happiness first for a change. He immediately follows this advice by rebuffing her attempt to rekindle their romance, and since Diane is a guest character, it is not too hard to laugh at her plight (instead of becoming depressed).

Meanwhile, Zorn and Edie are stuck recharging at a motel, with Linda having stormed off upon suspicion that Edie might still have feelings for Zorn. So it is up to Craig to rescue himself, tracking down his fiancée by means of checking the purchase history of their joint credit card and then displaying the self-concern that Edie has been waiting so long for him to show. Then she makes things right with Linda, a conflict that could have been dragged out, but I am very glad it wasn’t. Oh, and if you’re wondering why Zorn does not just swap brains with Craig in the first place, that concern is directly addressed (too much brain swapping results in lactating blood).

As for Alan and Layla, things appear to be moving along swimmingly, as she has convinced him to show off his Zephyrian legs to the whole school. He agrees to it partly because he believes it means she will make out with him more, but – great girlfriend that she is – she was going to make out with him either way. But she is not so accommodating when the power of his heritage earns him a spot on the football team and thus gets into their personal together time.

Layla is maybe being a bit unreasonable here – surely Alan can have some time of his own to pursue the gridiron. But I suspect that her objection may be more about a belief that football goes against Alan’s true nature. Although with this particular team, I do not know that that is really the case. These are not your typical jocks. The coach (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Pete Gardner, excellent) is desperate for a win and the players are a bunch of “dudes” in the sense that that term is repeated ad infinitum to become fascinatingly meaningless.

Another important issue: does Alan’s Zephyrian heritage make him superhuman enough to the point that he has an unfair advantage? Well, power is one thing, while accuracy is another, as one unfortunate fellow on the sideline discovers. To sum up: the guy that Alan may very well have killed is essentially laughed off (totally in keeping with this show’s spirit), but we’re left hanging regarding his and Layla’s relationship. We’ll be back here next week for the season finale and hopefully some resolution!

Memorable Lines and Other Stones of Insight:

-Zephyrian alimony is really weird. To wit: Edie owes Zorn ten chickens per month.

-Zorn once found “Needle Man in the Mountains of Haystack.” Is that a good or bad pun?

-“You bet your ass I’ll probably be there!”

-Zorn and Edie make up for leaving Linda at a rest stop by buying her the Best of Toto on cassette, which is enough to make up for everything … if it were 30 years ago.

-Who but Craig could say “You changed the ‘R’ to a ‘W’ and it sounded like a kid said it” and make it sound cute instead of patronizing?

-Speaking of Craig, you can always count on him to provide a unique perspective, as the football mishap prompts him to remark that he’s “never seen a live femur before.”

– Zorn’s mixtape really grows on me.

SCORE
7.5/10