Review: Bless the Harts “Trollin’ with the Homies”

Overview:

Having Betty around the house all the time is beginning to cramp on Wayne and Jenny’s romance. They encourage her to find a job to give her something to do but more importantly get out of the house. But Jenny wasn’t expecting her to land a job as a hostess at the Last Supper. And she quickly finds a way to get her mother out of her workspace. Although Betty is well aware of the reason she lost her job, and she swiftly serves her own revenge.

Meanwhile, Violet and David are looking to expand their social circle. When only one boy comes to their friend audition, they take him on as their newest pupil. Unfortunately, as they spend more time together, the recruit begins adding his own friends to the circle. Soon, Violet and David are the odd ones out once again.

Our Take:

Bless the Harts has been delivering some strong episodes throughout the second season. Some of the more elaborate plots have taken the show from being a King of the Hill knock-off to becoming its own established series. Unfortunately, they cannot all be bangers.

This episode takes a step back to a simpler story that centres around the fragile relationships within the Hart house. And while the dynamics of these characters are fun to explore, expectations for this series have grown well beyond them.

Arguably, the plot of getting the grandma character out of the house by getting her a job has been explored in many other sitcoms. Sure, no other grandma character is quite like Betty Hart. And yes, this episode does take things to another level with a Yelp review rivalry. But it is still not the original storytelling that has given the series success.

The same criticisms could be said for the B-plot involving Violet and David adding to their friend group. Except, in this case, the story unfolds much the same as it would have in a 90s after-school special. They recruit someone they expect to follow them devotedly. They discover that their new friend has a group of their own. And it ends with the new kid being more popular than the initial ones. And this episode follows that cliché plot to a tee.

Additionally, this episode may suffer from taking on the same topic as The Simpsons on the same night. Both shows offered commentary on the theme of internet trolling in the back-to-back episodes. And unfortunately for Bless the Harts, they were beaten out with original and clever writing. And while such a thing may be circumstantial, it does have an impact on how an episode is received if the next show does the same thing but better.

This was not a completely terrible episode. It just does not hold up when compared to other episodes in the season. And you cannot expect Maya Rudolph to carry this series on her back every week. Though I think it is safe to assume that this uninspired episode is a one-off, and there are plenty of strong stories left to come.