Review: HouseBroken “Who’s Found Themselves in One of Those Magical Christmas Life Swap Switcheroos?/Who’s Having a Merry Trashmas?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Who’s Found Themselves in One of Those Magical Christmas Life Swap Switcheroos?

Honey’s holiday wish comes true when a mix-up at the vet sends her to a dream home while her idiotic doppelgänger goes to live with Chief. Meanwhile, Max has to hide from his new owner David Spade when he discovers that Spade wants to make him the holiday ham.

Who’s Having a Merry Trashmas?

Honey and Chief are home alone for the holidays. When a mysterious intruder tries to break in, they team up with Raccoon to protect the family home. Meanwhile, Chico experiences hunger for the first time, and Elsa falls in love with a robot dog.

Our Take:

The sophomore season of Fox’s recent animated sitcom is getting this therapy session started sooner than expected this year. I hope you got your leashes ready because it’s going to be wild. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, HouseBroken pulled in enough viewerships to warrant a second season. I only watched a few episodes of the show, and I thought it was watchable regarding the all-star cast and humor. It doesn’t stack up with The Simpsons and Family Guy, but it’s enjoyable enough for me to give its second season a chance.

The two-part season premiere is kicking off the show’s holiday party with not one but two Christmas-themed episodes to get the furry pets into the Christmas spirit. The first episode offers a plot similar to The Prince and the Pauper, in which Honey and her dense lookalike, Lady Capulet, unintentionally switch places. While Honey lives the glamorous life at Lady’s wealthy home, Lady is at Honey’s regular home, spending her goofy hours with Chief.

The episode’s title speaks for itself regarding the story. It delivers the usual “life-swap” scenario that’s due to the “magical” Buddhist statue that Honey wishes upon. Honey eventually realizes that her new life isn’t as glamorous as she thought it would be when she can’t do the stuff she usually does in her old life. There’s nothing in its plot that we haven’t seen in other life-swap-related episodes, but it offers enough moments in the comedy to make this first gift watchable. Additionally, the side plot involving Max running from David Spade gave me a couple of chuckles, mainly because I enjoy Spade’s charisma in his other projects. 

The second episode, “Who’s Having a Merry Trashmas?”, has the pets celebrating Trashmas, a garbage version of Christmas. Unfortunately, Honey and Chief are the only ones not celebrating due to their garbage disappearing. Even worse, their owner, Jill, has gone, too, with Raccoon left to run the place. So while their friends celebrate the holiday in their own homes, Honey and Chief spend the day defending their home from an intruder, who happens to be a dog-walker.

“Who’s Having a Merry Trashmas” has a plot similar to the Christmas comedy classic, “Home Alone”, but from the pets’ perspectives. The most notable examples are Honey performing Macauley Culkin’s iconic shock face and the dogs using harmful traps to drive the intruder away. Like its previous episode, “Who’s Having a Merry Trashmas?” offers an amusing take on a familiar story yet struggles to do much to make it unique. The scenes involving the other pets were also enjoyable, including Chico’s hunger and Elsa’s crush on a robot dog, even if they feel a bit cluttered.

Overall, the holiday episodes of HouseBroken deliver plenty of Christmas joy in the humor and all-star cast to satisfy the show’s fans. However, the series still struggles to provide anything exciting in its episodes’ basic and overly familiar plots. The first episode offers an enjoyable run-of-the-mill life-swap episode featuring a suitable message about appreciating the life you have. However, the second episode felt more like an actual Christmas special, with the Trash-squash narrating the Trashmas version of Twas the Night Before Christmas. In short, both episodes set the stage for another serviceable season of the animated pet-focused sitcom. More importantly, they serve as early Christmas gifts that I didn’t mind getting this year.