Review: The Great North “As Goldie As It Gets”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The Tobin family is eager to see what’s in Beef’s mystery can, but Ham and Judy have more pressing issues to attend to. Judy is taking a class at a local pottery studio, and becomes obsessed with bringing back terrible gifts to her family, who are too nice to tell her the truth. Meanwhile, Ham helps out an elderly woman named Goldie and the two of them throw a massive rager.

Our Take:

This week’s new episode of The Great North finds Ham helping out at an old folks’ home and getting roped into throwing an unsanctioned and probably illegal party. It’s also one of the first times I can remember the show featuring Ham in such a starring role, which makes As Goldie As It Gets a special little snowflake of an episode.

The middle male child of the Tobin family is usually relegated to being the quick comedy relief. In most episodes, he just shows up in group scenes to say something that sounds slightly stoned and then disappears. But Ham is the hero of this week’s A-plot, and I was excited to see more of him. And I think the show does a solid job of expanding his character, showing how, when he’s not being overshadowed by more expressive family members, Ham is a sensitive, caring person who goes out of his way to help others—even if it means throwing a massive rager in a condemned building.

Despite having the age and appearance of a teenage rebel, it’s Ham’s friend Goldie who plays the part of the mischief maker here. Goldie is a fun side character, half traditional granny, half snarky sidekick, and Holland Taylor performs the role with gusto.

What doesn’t have as much energy is Judy’s subplot. It revolves around her being terrible at pottery and the rest of her family not being brave enough to tell her the truth. It’s kind of slow and a little unbelievable that Judy, who we’ve seen do a lot of emotional growing recently, doesn’t already realize her plates full of holes are not stellar work. She sort of brushes her older work aside near the end, but it’s still kind of a pointless plot that doesn’t really go anywhere. (Besides Beef, Wolf, Honeybee, and Moon potentially going to Tahiti.)

As Goldie As It Gets finds the Great North getting pretty heavy in some ways. With a storyline that dances with death and the time we spend with our loved ones, it’s no surprise that the emotions run a bit higher than usual this week. But it’s also a great opportunity to get a look into Ham’s character and what he’s like when he’s not the one-liner, one-off bonus family member. All in all, I’d say this was one of the better episodes of the show this season—and that’s no lie, Goldie.