Review: Tuca & Bertie “The Moss”

Overview:

Tuca and Bertie’s idyllic home lives face unprecedented disruption when meddlesome new management takes over their apartment building. Tuca, Bertie, and the rest of the tenets rally together to keep their homes safe, but their collective efforts may still not be enough to stave off this march of “progress.” Bertie stresses over the status and stability of her apartment, but a different type of housing stresses pushes Speckle into a panic. Finally, without a client’s tastes to cater towards, Speckle is able to let his uncompromised architectural visions finally get realized. The artistic freedom feels liberating for Speckle, yet what it brings out in both him, and his home, leaves Bertie eyeing the exit.

Our Take:

The typical conflicts that consume episodes of Tuca & Bertie revolve around the emotional states and personal crises of the series’ two central characters. These internal woes are still ever-present in “The Moss,” but this also feels like a very different and much bigger episode due to the territory that it explores. “The Moss” gets into gentrification and societal woes over more personal issues, but it still turns this material into relevant, emotional content. It’s a welcome change of pace for the series as it tackles something bigger than the norm, but that it still fits with Tuca & Bertie’s existing themes and conflicts.

“Adulting” and the oppressive problems that the world unexpectedly throws at people is perfect material for this show’s audience as well as something that couldn’t have been explored through the exaggerated social standing and celebrity that was present within BoJack Horseman. Tuca & Bertie and BoJack Horseman still share a lot of the same DNA and can explore comparable tones, but it’s these varieties of grounded and staggering honest stories that really give Tuca & Bertie its voice and help bring it to life. It’s not always fun material to wade through, especially when both Tuca and Bertie already have their wings full with plenty of other personal troubles. It seems unfair, yet realistic, that they now also have to worry about stresses that can feel impossible to overcome at the time, like a rent hike that can be so substantial that it might as well be an increase of a million dollars.

The moss plays a literal role in this episode as its presence becomes more all-encompassing, like some John Carpenter-esque invading entity, but it’s also a strong visual metaphor for the strangling feeling that gentrification creates. The moss is more present whenever Tuca and Bertie turn around. It continues to assert its dominance, change its surroundings, and slowly release dread, just like the changes in ownership and occupants that begin to take over the building. Additionally, this curious moss and its growing presence is sometimes used to punctuate visual gags, but it’s representative of very depressing subject matter that seems like it may be setting up the second half of this season to put Tuca and Bertie in even more vulnerable and challenging positions.

On the topic of character development, “The Moss” also does considerable work with Speckle and it’s so far his standout episode from the season. Speckle’s architectural passions and frustrations become a major driving force here. His desire to transform his and Bertie’s starter home into perfection is just as much an allegory as what’s going on with the moss in the apartment complex. Speckle has never been able to work on a house without the client’s expectations on his mind and even this fixer-upper house has had Speckle consider Bertie’s interests before he’s made any radical renovations. This new level of freedom allows him to finally go “full Speckle” on a project, which is an exciting opportunity for him, but also one that launches unexpected pressure when he crumbles under the weight of just how many things there are to consider. It’s an effective message that Speckle struggles to understand what he really wants, despite finally having the opportunity to explore such things. 

“The Moss” may not be the funniest episode of the season, but it’s definitely one of the installments that has the most to say. “The Moss” sets up some serious subject matter for the rest of the season that takes a step back from the typical Tuca and Bertie unity, but it’s still a very satisfying story that feels like an important stepping-stone for the characters and series. “The Moss” continues to move things forward in a manner that’s challenging and in which the characters may not be ready for, but it’s one that feels true to life and necessary. 

Oh, and Martha is totally one step away from constructing a Bertie voodoo effigy if she hasn’t done so already. Watch out for her.