Review: Bless the Harts “Dance Dance Resolution”

 

 

Overview:

All Jenny wants is to find a connection with her teenage daughter. Unfortunately, Violet does not share any of the same interests. Until the young girl discovers the tragic backstory behind one of her mother’s favourite pop stars. But Jenny is going to have to contain her excitement if she wants all her motherly dreams to come true.

Meanwhile, Betty needs a ride out of town and Wayne is hoping to take advantage of the situation and get his mother-in-law to show some appreciation for him. However, getting Betty to show vulnerability will be tougher than he thinks. Especially after they get locked inside of a garage together overnight.

 

Our Take:

Bless the Harts must be the most frustrating adult animated show to watch. At times, the series releases original episodes that challenge the best of Sunday night’s Animation Domination lineup. At other times, the show stands out like a sore thumb for being derivative and drawl.

Earlier this season, Bless the Harts was giving us hilarious episodes about psychoactive fish and murder podcasts. But the latest few episodes have felt like afterschool specials, taking on familial relationships in cliché storylines.

Hopes of this episode being a bounce-back in quality were squashed quickly when the set-up of a buddy road trip between Wayne and Betty was established. The classic plot is one of the most overused in all entertainment for putting two opposite characters in the challenging and isolating circumstance of driving long distances. Though this storyline doubles down by adding the even more cliché situation of locking the two characters in a room together until they resolve their issues.

The primetime sitcom storytelling could be bearable, but this episode takes things too far by damaging its best character.  

Betty, voiced by the powerhouse comedian, Maya Rudolph, is inarguably the strongest thing that Bless the Harts has going. Unfortunately, this plot puts her in the unavoidable situation of recanting some of her most lovable qualities. A character as outrageous as Betty should never be forced to make apologies for the way she is. It would have served the series much better had she told Wayne to fuck himself in place of showing vulnerability.

I mean, nobody loves Betty because she has a heart of gold. It is her selfish and narcissistic way of being that makes her such an interesting character. To diminish that would be the equivalent of having Cartman apologize for what he did to Scott Tenorman, or Kermit being remorseful for being green.

The A-plot does not serve this episode much better. Not only is it another derivative plot plucked from primetime sitcom television, but it is also trying to fix a problem that wasn’t there.

Jenny and Violet have an adorable relationship. The show has established a loving bond that is strengthened by their differences and mirrored through a similar connection between Jenny and her mother. It is expected that the series would explore this mother and daughter relationship, but unnecessary to act as if they have never shared a scene together.  

This plot was mostly a lead up for Jenny discovering a new career as a dance instructor. Hopefully, this does not mean that the star character will be leaving her waitressing job. The show has already altered too much from its original premise. If it does not settle on something soon, viewers are going to become lost very quickly.

Bless the Harts is a much better show when it is having fun with its characters and not trying to make audiences tear up. We can only hope that the series stops taking notes from shows like Full House and can find a groove making original content. Episodes like these just do not hold up against the rest of the growing Animation Domination lineup.