Review: The Casagrande’s “Mexican Makeover; Uptown Funk”

Overview

“Mexican Makeover”

When Mama Lupe comes to visit, Abuela tries to get her family at the top of their cultural game with or without their knowledge…

“Uptown Funk”
Adelaide and Carl have an adventure on Mr. Chang’s route, but they must work together to save the day.


Our Take

“Mexican Makeover” as the title implies is all about putting on a front when it comes to traditions. Understandably as the world and generations change, people tend to forget who they were on a cultural level and the idea of impressing a Grandmother who is stuck in the old ways may sound like a Herculean task but in the end, the situation resolves itself in a fun and meaningful way and seems appropriate for “Hispanic Heritage Month”.

As for “Uptown Funk” while the proceedings mostly played for laughs through situational comedy, it’s surprising that Carl has never tried actual Tea before, but It’s also interesting that he’s never been on a Train before either, as he has to get in Adelaide’s good graces just to even partake in something that even Adelaide herself views as Mundane, which I couldn’t help but laugh at the extremes Adelaide is putting Carl through for the sake of it. During the “train” portion of the episode, things get predictable and cliche to a degree that made me say to myself “temptation is a motherfucker” but it leads to a decent ending where everyone found a resolution which made things equally fun.

As a whole, both episodes were fun and entertaining in different ways. The former reminded their family the value of traditions in a positive light, while the Ladder was more Carl-focused but at the end of the day more Adelaide-focused as we see a different side of her as a character that even Carl never expected.