Review: Mr. Pickles “The Tree of Flesh” ; “Hats”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

“The Tree of Flesh”

The Sheriff heads to Mexico City to find Grandpa who is the lead witness in a slew of murders in and around Old Town. Grandpa takes Sheriff hostage and the duo heads to an island that has everything we want to know about the upbringing of Mr. Pickles. We meet a long-time hostage of Mr. Pickles that is still alive and wants to end the evil deeds of our titular character once and for all. Together with the hostage, Grandpa heads back to Old Town to take down Mr. Pickles while the Sheriff takes a demented jet ski to do the same. Sheriff shows up to find Mr. Pickles assassinated, but not before we learn that Pickles’ death was a ruse…or is it?

“Hats”

Goodman’s a deputy now, but Floyd eats both his hat as well as Sheriff’s. Problem is, with no hats, the cops lose all of their cop powers. The President arranges a meeting with the force and agrees that hats are the most important piece of showcasing authority while Deputy wants to destroy Floyd who has grown so big he’s the size of a planet. During the transport of Floyd’s body, the cables holding the fat fuck snap off and he begins to roll towards Albuquerque, NM in what could be the end of the city. Sheriff calls back to the Dispatch to cause a seismic shift to alter Floyd’s course. Fortunately, Sheriff is able to put a stop to Floyd before he causes any serious damage.

Our Take

Like South Park, Mr. Pickles kicks off it’s newest season as a show within a show, in this case a series following the Sheriff. It’s a riskier move for Mr. Pickles to go this route given that “Randy” from South Park has won several Emmys, but I’m very much onboard. It’s a different type of risk versus what producers Dave Stewart and Will Carsola did during the show’s third season, and as sonny boy Wayne always says, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. Making Goodman the deputy and building out the department are all correct moves because if you’re gonna alter the show as much as you have, you’re going to need those big guns, but will I be restless without my gratuitous kills from Pickles every week? I’m already missing my death metal intro, even if this new intro is slightly more hilarious in it’s own right. For my money, “Tree of Money” was a bit more interesting and of the type of crazy shit I thought we were going to get into for Mr. Pickles Season Four while “Hats” seems to chart a course for a much more CHiPS experience just with battery acid thrown in the ingredients list.

This may take some getting used to. I’m getting the sense that this season’s Mr. Pickles is gonna be one of those slow burns that could eventually lead to a scorched Earth.