Review: Bless the Harts “Cremains of the Day”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Violet tells the legend of Lydia, a ghost in Greenpoint who hitches a ride AND THEN…disappears. This legend scares Wayne something fierce, so his friend Leonard suggests a stake out to get rid of his fear. Meanwhile, Jenny is getting ready for an upcoming Halloween Bridge Party that her late father Ed loved to go to, but is heartbroken to find out that this will be the last one now that construction of a new highway will be taking out the bridge. This means it’s the last chance for Betty to fulfill Ed’s dying wish to have his cremated remains spread over the bridge at the Bridge Party, which she has put off for the thirteen years since he passed.

The party is surprisingly watered down, as well as completely dry of alcohol, so Jenny recruits Brenda and The Brendas to liven things up, including a spirited Satanic ballad. But when it comes time to release the ashes, Jenny can’t bring herself to do it and steals them into the night. Being covered in fire extinguisher, she’s mistaken for Lydia by Wayne, who she mistakes for the spirit of her father (who I guess was voiced by Ike Barinholtz too, which…has some disturbing implications). Yet somehow, through pure miscommunication, the two resolve their spiritual issues, with Wayne moving past his fear of Lydia and Jenny coming back to dump the ashes over the bridge with Betty.

OUR TAKE

Bless the Harts has their first Halloween episode to celebrate breaking the new Fox show curse with an early second season pick up! This is kind of surprising considering the ratings and comments I’ve been seeing about the show…and due to this episode being pretty unremarkable overall. It has plenty of the character work that the previous episodes have provided, but the animation just could not hold it up. I know that this is early days for the series and I have pointed out how you could point to any Fox animated sitcom at their fourth episode and notice it being far from what they would be known for in their respective primes, but this one was noticeably undercooked.

Especially for a Halloween episode, which should be a chance for the animators to stretch their legs with the weird and surreal and psychedelic, this one is frighteningly tepid. And in case it wasn’t clear, that’s not good. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if this first season just put off a Halloween episode until its now confirmed second season so they could at least do it right, but here we are, with instances of non-animation and uncreative choices that bring me back to the early King of the Hill episodes in the worst way possible. To reiterate, no show is as good as it could be in its first season, but there’s also the increasing standards of the time which Bless the Harts is not currently living up to. This isn’t even THAT BAD an episode, it was just really middle of the road, which is arguably worse

That all said, I’m glad the show is now getting more room to breathe and flesh itself out. It means more chances for the characters to grow, for the show’s humor to become refined and polished, and for the world to expand to a more lived in place people will sit down to watch on Sunday nights. I’m critical of the show because I expect more from it, which I hope the remaining nine episodes of this season and who knows how many from the next will give me reason to know I expected correctly. I just pray that next year’s Halloween episode takes some more chances that can help it stand out. Seriously, I would pay my soul to the devil to not have another boring snorefest in what should be the potentially most entertaining holiday.