REVIEW: THE CLEVELAND SHOW “ESCAPE FROM GOOCHLAND”

In the Season 4 opener, Cleveland and his gang head over to Goochland on Halloween for the annual football clash with their high-school arch rivals, but when they accidentally destroy their car, the guys are forced to sneak out of  town. Meanwhile, Donna’s sexy Halloween costume lands her in trouble with the police; and the kids go trick-or-treating (mostly tricking) dressed up as their parents.

Spoilers Below

Cleveland and his gang head over to Goochland on Halloween for the annual football clash with their high-school arch rivals but he has to bring Federline as the designated driver. After a sound whipping, Federline tries to drive after having too much to drink but instead he accidentally destroys their rival Chet Butler’s car.  Chet’s not too happy about it and promises bodily harm on Cleveland so the guys are forced to sneak out of  town while in disguise. Not too long after, the gang kick Federline out but he just flies away dressed like Inspector Gadget and comes back with Goochland’s mascot and an angry mob in tow  which destroys downtown Stoolbend.  Turns out according to Gus the bartender, the mascot is rightfully belonged to Stoolbend and as such Fed wants to fight back…and Cleveland agrees!  Thanks to rolling black outs and equipped with mole eyes, the Stoolbend mob battles the Goochland mob

Meanwhile, Donna decides to bar Roberta from wearing a whorish halloween costume and instead wears it herself while waiting at a motel bar for Cleveland to get out of his football game. Unfortunately, she gets cited for prostitution. Because of this Rallo is at home having suffered some sort of injury while making a halloween costume and no one is there to help the baby out. Reason being is due to financial constraints, the only kid that is allowed to dress up this halloween is Rallo.  So, to get back at their parents, Junior and Roberta decide to dress up them and cause all sorts of trouble around town which leads them right in the middle of the mob war which has already turned over the police van Donna was in and set her free. Chet, threatens to kill Junior but Cleveland summons a river monster and then a bridge made of rats to ensure his kids get to safety…except Rallo who is dead!

Booy oh boys The Cleveland Show is back and its kicked off its fourth season with a halloween bang! What I think the writers are doing with Cleveland is they are starting to do more make-believe shit similar to Family Guy which makes sense because this is a spin off its allowed to do that. And with ideas like a rat bridge, a big huge monster, and Fed flying off dressed like Gadget, that practice is in full swing which officially puts The Cleveland Show more in the middle as almost a hybrid Family Dad or American Guy. If the producers continue to go on this trend I do believe it will work so it will be interesting to watch the next few weeks. That said, the main plot for ‘escape’ was a lot of fun but I felt there were TOO many strands in the other story lines that kind of started making me forget for a while only to have to remind me later. Oh yea, and Seth MacFarlane is out as Ted the Bear, and the new guy playing as him, Jess Harnell isn’t all that great right now and it needs some work. The pitch of Tim’s voice comes off a bit to high coming off almost like a Fozzy Bear but high.

Score

8/10

Bubbleblabber's Review System