Review: Big City Greens “Desserted; The Gifted”

Overview
“Desserted”
Cricket takes the family to Crispy’s for dinner, but his Dad has reservations about how he’ll handle the bill. Little do they know, they’ll get quite a bit more than they bargained for.

“The Gifted”
Tilly and Cricket compete to see if their Dad, Bill, actually likes their homemade Father’s Day gifts, or if he’s just trying to spare their feelings.

Our Take

This show is a classic take on the “fish out of water” family comedy that we all know and love.

Country folk Cricket, Tilly, Bill, and Gramma are making their way in the big city, and in these two episodes, their hilarious yet loving dynamic is on full display.

In “Desserted”, Cricket gets the family into a bit of a pickle (with all the fixin’s!) with his scheme to pay for dinner by completing the Crispy Sundae Challenge. He further locks them into this wild haired approach by replacing his Dad’s money with Cricket Bucks: “They have no monetary value!” While the situation is as unconventional as the Crispy waitstaff’s flair, solving it as a family is where this show really shines. Cricket’s voice actor Chris Houghton has his day in the sun with his realization about the likelihood of completing the challenge, and subsequently trying to weasel out of it. Unfortunately, as waitress Gina explains: “NO ONE! BREAKS! THE CRISPY RULES!”

“The Gifted” is a slightly more realistic situation, where the siblings are celebrating Father’s Day with homemade gifts. Tilly (you may recognize Marieve Herington’s voice from How I Met Your Mother) puts considerably more effort into her gift than Cricket’s “Cricket Coupons”, and is certain her Dad will appreciate the effort. When he reacts to both gifts the same, the siblings dive straight into shenanigans to determine how their Dad really feels about their presents.

These stories are rendered in Simpsons-esque 2D animation, but with exceptionally detailed grime and emotions that fully draw viewers in. The voice cast, Chris Houghton and Marieve Herington, as mentioned above, and joined by Artemis Pebdani for Gramma and Bob Joles for Bill, lean into the country accents without making fun of them, and generally make the family feel genuine and full of love.

Overall, these episodes, and the series as a whole is exceptionally sweet and charming, and well worth a country fried try.