Review: Housebroken “Who’s Going to the Vet?”

 

 

Overview:

After Chief swallows Jill’s vibrator whole, it is a direct trip to the vet. Much to his surprise, he gets more relief than passing the vibrator when he connects with the other animals at the hospital. The emotional connections help him to realize how effective group therapy can be. But instead of joining Honey’s group, he decides to start his own, much to her disappointment.

Meanwhile, The Grey One invites Tabitha to stay with him instead of at the cat café. Unfortunately, he neglected to tell her about the musical extravaganza’s hosted by the community of cats each night. If Tabitha refuses to take part in the theatre, it may cost her and The Grey One.

 

Our Take:

Although Housebroken may have started out as a cute animal cartoon, it has developed into something much more fun and adult. This fresh episode pulls no punches. Especially when it comes to humour, opting to have Chief eat his owner’s vibrator instead of the millions of other things that would have required a stomach pump.

The laughs start early as the vibrator storyline gets going in the cold open. Remarks about Jill’s affection for the Property Brothers and her explanation at the veterinary hospital made this one of the best starts yet in the series.

Unfortunately, the rest of the episode is not about the animals understanding of Jill’s relationship with the plastic toy. Instead, the focus is on Chief’s new understanding of Honey’s purpose as an amateur therapist. Although the dim-witted dog does not gain much from his adventure, Honey acquires a valuable lesson of letting him do things his own way.

The fun does shift to the B-plot quickly when The Grey One introduces Tabitha to his humble abode. Though we have seen snippets of how The Grey One lives, this was the first significant endeavour into his hoarder owner’s home. Thankfully, the house overflowing with street cats does not disappoint when it is revealed that they let off steam through music and dance.

The fallout of the previous episode is also addressed when Shel must choose between his two true loves.  Deciding to try to make things work with Darla, the only thing left to do is eliminate Lindsay, the shoe he almost married. Unfortunately, doing so is going to be much more complicated than anticipated.

There were concerns early in this series that some of the super talented cast members would be lost in the large ensemble of voices. Thankfully, comedian powerhouses like Jason Mantzoukas and Will Forte have found themselves some established roles. While the central series premises offer excellent content, having these entertaining side characters adds much to the humour of the show. 

For the interesting start that this episode had, the remainder struggled to keep up. Aside from the Cats parody storyline, the back half of this piece was quiet.  Still, this series gets more exciting as content continues to be added. The ongoing storylines continue to gain complexity and outrageousness, making this a great show to keep up with. With so much going on, it is expected that there would be some slower editions like this one.