BubbleCAN Review: Fugget About It ‘Mennonites’

 

Spoilers Below

Any fan of Fugget About It can’t deny the strong social elements that take place throughout the series. Since the very first episode, viewers were introduced to the Falcones and their struggle with culture clash – a mob capo and his family move from the Big Apple to rural Regina, Saskatchewan – dealing with many subcultures not normally found in New York City.

The interesting thing about the Falcones is that each individual member holds their own self-defining norms and exploit their own values, and this week’s episode carries on that underlining theme strong and true, starting with boasting their personal ethnocentrism right of the bat (the same act they committed during their first drive-through Regina in the premier episode).

When Mennonites Jacob, Samuel and Eli commence their journey of rumspringa (or as Uncle Cheech perceives “men in tights” going through a period of “Rumpelstiltskin”), Jimmy decides to take the young Christians under his wing to show them the real world.

Jacob quickly becomes Theresa’s flavor-of-the-week, while Samuel and Eli are constantly hospitalized after mishaps with technology (some include beards and escalators), resulting in an anesthetic dependency.

Theresa experiences culture shock after moving back to the farm with Jacob, where Wi-Fi, whore makeup and other folkways are strongly forbidden by Jacob’s father.

But when Theresa influences the Mennonites to embrace technology, Jacob’s father resorts to his conventional ideologies – she is dubbed a witch and sentenced to burn.

When Cookie realizes that her daughter hasn’t tweeted in over twelve hours, Jimmy grabs his shotgun and packs the family into the SUV to kick some Mennonite ass.

Even a brief cameo by RCMP Special Agent Strait McCool assures the uses of social differences are relevant, even when they’re inconspicuous. The Mountie is proud of his ascribed status as a Canadian and law enforcer, while constantly promoting Canadian mores to his Italian-American charges.

Some viewers may not find the laughs as constant in Fugget About It compared to several immature primetime animated sitcoms, but the series is as deep and clever as some of the more important satires. A different type of humour, but still brilliant!

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