Review: The Great North “Risky Beefness Adventure”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

After a near death experience and a spiritual message from his genitals, Beef decides to get back out on the dating scene, specifically to get a nice and casual one night stand (much to the discomfort of his two youngest children). He finds one with a local female friend, but learns soon after that she has publicized their hook up in the paper as a poem, suddenly getting him a lot of attention. This makes him feel a bit weird, especially after learning that same female friend has hooked up with someone else after him, but with the advice of Ham (who is oddly wise about these things) he finds peace and feels good about having gotten laid. Also, Moon and Honeybee’s brother Jerrybee do wacky antics around town in a Yeti costume, which attracts the ire of the local clown community.

OUR TAKE

And now The Great North also returns from break with a mostly exceptional episode!…that kinda peters out at the end. Beef being a single dad has been a clear aspect of his character since the start of the show, with several plots around him showing that he is eager to find companionship again while also clearly being gun shy and healing from his wife leaving him. If I remember correctly, this isn’t even the first time that they’ve had an episode about him trying to date again, but it may be the first time they’ve had him use dating apps? Either way, this episode does a bit of subversion and nuance in that, instead of it being about him trying to find a new long term relationship, it’s really just about Beef wanting to have sex again, no strings attached, which (most of) his family are all very accepting of. Having Moon just nope out and Judy try to be cool before having a breakdown was funny while also not being judgemental, just showing that kids comprehending their parents’ sex lives is just gonna be a bad time. But it’s still good to show that older people trying to get back out there isn’t bad on its own just because they’re older.

My only real issue, aside from how tacked on the Moon and Jerry plot felt, is that the ending and resolution feels like it just…stops. Beef gets a hook up, it gets attention, he feels weird about the attention, hooks up again, is reminded that casual sex means the person you had casual sex with also has casual sex with other people, feels bad about it, talks with his dick AND heart, and then it’s over. Again, very mature and nuanced way of reflecting on these topics, but it also feels kinda unsatisfying as a conclusion. I don’t exactly think it would’ve been better for Beef to go into a jealous, possessive rage about the whole thing, since that would both feel out of character and pretty reductive about the topic, but I suppose I just expected the plot to go…somewhere? Like maybe Beef starts seeing multiple ladies thanks to this increased attention, or just a few ladies. Or maybe he at least gets to tell the lady he hooked up with “hey, thank you for the sex, but also I don’t appreciate you turning it into poetry in the paper” and they just have a nice moment. Perhaps something about how even though they are just “Friends Who Boned”, the sex was beneficial for both of them in different ways, which helps build up Beef’s self-confidence, much like the final conversation with his penis did. But they didn’t, so just like this episode, I will conclude this review very abruptly and flatly. Also, speaking of characters talking to mental apparitions in the sky, where’s Alanis Morissette lately?