Review: The Great North “Bee’s All That Adventure”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Kima and her family host a very surprising visitor during Lone Moose’s “lower-48” exchange student week. Meanwhile, Ham fails to care for a cactus.

Our Take:
It’s exchange student week at Lone Moose! Unfortunately, what seemed to be a regular and fun week turned out to be something more embarrassing. This week’s episode has Judi and her friends hanging out with an exchange student named Jill, a beekeeper from Beesville. Unfortunately, Jill’s passion for bees paints Judi and her friends as a bigger target for some bullying by Judi’s childhood friend Stacey B. To avoid being humiliated, Judi gives Jill a makeover so she’ll fit in.
The storyline follows the basic formula from other shows involving people being embarrassed by others’ bizarre personalities and passions. However, it also focuses on the rivalry between Judi and Stacey B., who were once childhood friends until Stacey hung out with the popular kids. The episode sees Judi fixing up Jill to get back at Stacey. Unfortunately, this resulted in Jill hanging out with Stacey, much to Judi’s shock.
At first glance, this seemed like another run-of-the-mill reflection on the importance of appreciating one’s differences, which it is. However, as the plot progresses, it focuses more on Judi’s desire to get even with her former friend, leading to her losing her real friends due to them being taken for granted. The episode offers a heartfelt message about appreciating your friends who care for you and leaving those who disrespected you behind. Sadly, the story doesn’t offer much else to its formula, and the addition of Jill felt like a waste during the third act.
Then, there’s a side plot involving Ham. He’s tasked to watch over Crispin’s cactus, which he named Robert Plantingson. However, his carelessness resulted in the cactus being thrown into the dump by Beef. This forces Beef and Ham to sneak into the dump to retrieve it. When they found it, they saw that the cactus was already destroyed. Like Judi’s plot, the B plot has Ham learning an important lesson that helps him grow as a person and a loving partner for Crispin. Ham worries that his failure to be responsible would make him a terrible person for Crispin. But after hearing Beef’s story, he learns that taking responsibility involves more than just taking care of something.
“Bee’s All That Adventure” offers a similar plot we’ve seen numerous times, yet doesn’t have much else to make it stand out. However, it compensates for it with a slew of heartfelt messages that develop the characters further. Judi learns it’s important to appreciate her faithful friends in life, while Ham learns about responsibility. These moments, along with some good humor, are enough to overcome some of its narrative flaws. It’s far from a great episode in my eyes, but it’ll surely leave some viewers buzzing with joy.