Review: Bigfoot “Gambler”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Bigfoot’s gambling addiction has taken hold again, but this time he has written checks his giant hairy butt can’t cash, which Marvin the Wolverine and his creepy bears. So now he has 24 hours to get the money he owes or he’s dead. Would they really kill Bigfoot off only five episodes into his first season? Doubtful, but let’s see what happens.

Bigfoot runs into Jimmy, who he doesn’t remember because the only time they’ve met was when he thought he was a cat. Jimmy’s been bullied out of a camping weekend because he crapped himself in front of the other kids, so he leads Bigfoot back to camp entertain people for cash. This goes alright until the bullies in charge of the camp out begin wanting their cut, starting a fight which Jimmy uses get more money. Bigfoot then gets inspiration from the forest to beat them up with “The Magic Dance of the Kaka”, landing him enough money to repay the debt. But this day has been stressful, so Bigfoot takes some time off to relax…at the betting pool.

OUR TAKE

I’m going to say upfront that I more or less enjoyed this episode. Certainly more than last week since there aren’t any obvious plot holes that are impossible to ignore. It’s a pretty functional story overall and is not a bad use of eleven minutes. Plus, if you have stuck with the show for the previous four episodes, this going to be right in line with what you’ve come to expect from Bigfoot so far. Basically Gravity Falls outdoorsy backgrounds with Aqua Teen Hunger Force style situations. There’s even a bit of continuity since this is technically the first time Bigfoot and Jimmy have met, remembering how things went in the previous episode. Overall, an entry consistent in quality with the first four and likely consistent with the remainder of the season.

…wait, you need more? Uh…I think it’s interesting that we’re learning a bit more about how Bigfoot has fallen from grace in the eyes of both people and the forest creatures. I’m not sure we have a whole lot of record showing what him being king of the forest meant, what power he held in that position, or how it impacted relations with Swell (or even if I should be think about it this hard), but it’s clear it’s something he used to take a lot of pride in. And now he’s been reduced to gambling away the money he had (I assume from selling out to people, which could be the thing that tanked his respect from the animals?). Also, I know that the animal characters here are basically just other people for the purposes of the story, but it does make me wonder how their system changed when human money got introduced. Probably not something we’re going to get into this season, if at all, but it’s definitely something I’d like to see explored at a later date.

Bigfoot continues to be a pretty solid new addition to Mondo’s library of shows, with each new episode making pretty proficient use of its unique mixture of humor and humanity (such as you can get with animals and sasquatches). I probably would be having a more fun time with the show if I didn’t have to critically analyze it, but then I wonder if I would have sought it out on my own. Such is the odd nature of this job and my ever changing perception of how I watch these kinds of shows. Either way, I expect another entertaining episode next week.