Review: Animals “At a Loss for Words When We Needed Them Most (Or… The Rise and Fall of GrabbagVille)”

 

So cute?

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Grabbagville is a hodgepodge of pet store pets congregated together at the epicenter of what would eventually cause the Green Day event that would wipe out mankind leaving just the animals behind. Problem is, none of them are able to communicate with each other until they gain access to a talkbox that allows them the opportunity to be on the same level playing field in terms of speech, even if they don’t quite get each other yet. Prime example, when Ferret “Yumi” and hamster “Dawn” begin a tryst that eventually goes South which inspires Yumi to go home with her ferret friends only to find out that they are all a bunch of gun-toting stereotypical rednecks that are nowhere near as civilized as the Grabbaggers despite the fact that they are the same species.

As a result of her disagreements with ferret life, Yumi heads back to Grabbagville just in time for a battle with the underground reptiles looking to start a fight because they want the orb. Despite the many casualties, eventually, everyone comes together to create a tech industry that is unrivaled at this juncture. Reptiles, ferrets, and the Grabbaggers come together, united by speech, and look to turn a profit.

Our Take

I love the underlying premise for the episode revolving around all species uniting under a common goal that would hopefully bring good. We haven’t seen producers Phil and Mike get TOO political, but given their proximity to the climate, you can understand how some of those conventions would begin to seep into their writing and this week’s episode was by far the most obvious to that influence.

Lucy Liu, like always, is excellent in the episode portraying the role of “Yumi”. However, I think all of the Southern accents started to wane on me, with both the Geckos (voiced by Mike and Phil) and the ferrets getting all the Southernness that I could possibly handle at any given time. The other issue is, those accents would come in and out of consistency for Mike and Phil, noted New Yorkers, to the point of annoyance. A clear contrast of Southern accents to that of two silly guys attempting Southern accents with that of Will Oldham’s voice via “Father Ferret” being way more legit.

Fortunately, the episode as a whole was strong, even if it was a bit busy and somewhat disheveled in its execution. The fight scenes were very entertaining, Phil and Mike continue to write in love scenes for each other, and the arcs being built out and those that came before have shown a heavier level of writing sophistication that the writers are clearly still learning but are delivering effectively. Site gags hearkening back to prior episodes is one thing, but Phil and Mike appeared to have put a lot of attention to detail in fleshing out this new world of their’s and we are the benefactors.