Overview (Spoilers Below):
Beef and Judy tell alternate versions of a wild day. The rest of the Tobins try to finish reading a challenging novel.
Our Take:
After a week-long hiatus, The Great North is back with an episode that might be as crazy as Honeybee’s visit with the three Halloween ghosts. The third season continues to prevent the show from getting plowed over by its competition during Fox’s animation block, and it’s easy to understand why. If not, then you should get off the internet and watch this cozy and heartwarming series. I’ve been enjoying the new season’s episodes so far, including last week’s “Christmas Carol” episode with a Halloween twist. So now we see if the family’s embarrassing experience at the mall can keep the season going.
“Mall-mento Adventure” is what you’d expect from the title alone, with Beef and Judy having a father-daughter trip to the mall to fix Alyson’s cash register. Unfortunately, things went south quickly when an incident interrupted their trip. Not remembering how it happened, Beef and Judy share their sides of what happened at the mall.
The episode references Christopher Nolan’s mystery thriller “Memento” regarding its title and plot, providing a nonlinear narrative of the events at the mall. The only difference is that it doesn’t involve memory loss or any sequences in reverse order. Instead, “Mall-mento Adventure” offers two different perspectives involving Beef and Judy’s misinterpretations of how they react toward each other.
Beef’s side sees him trying not to embarrass himself in front of Judy when Honeybee tells him about her “embarrassing dad mall” scenario. However, this results in him ripping his pants, spilling food on himself, and causing a fire, resulting in Judy’s embarrassment. But her side of the story showcases that Judy is actually heartbroken due to getting dumped by a poet named Holden, who already has his sights on another girl.
While this is happening, the Tobins and Jerry try to read the novel, The Electric Monocle, before they watch its film adaptation. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get through it because of how terrible and boring it was. This resulted in Wolf sneaking off to see the movie without them. This segment connects to its A plot with Wolf going to the same mall to see the film, concluding with him and the Tobins meeting Beef and Judy after the incident.
“Mall-mento Adventure” struggles to parody Nolan’s 2000 classic cleverly. But it easily compensates for it with the plot’s humorous depiction of its “mall dad” situation. Even the moments involving the Tobins reading an overly complicated novel have their share of charm, including their attempts to read one page without falling asleep. Also, the film adaptation is just as bad as the book. Hopefully, that would save you guys the trouble.