Review: The Freak Brothers “Freakchella”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Q tries to kill the Freak Brothers, but Noah unintentionally thwarts him. The Brothers attend a music festival. They plan to ask Jim Morrison how to get back to the past, but a narc tries to pin them down.

Our Take

This episode featured the characters smoking pot once again, openly around their friends, with even Gretchen taking a puff, while Gretchen grows closer to Franklin. It was interesting to see Q return, with his henchman, Two-Time. This is after his marijuana-filled yacht was accidentally sunk by the brothers earlier in the season. Chomsky and Kitty still have their nice, playful banter. The show manages to make fun of superstar Taylor Swift, twerking, and the current music scene all in the first five minutes of the episode.

Camile, while some may find her unlikable, helps move the story along. The Brothers continue their seemingly never-ending quest to get back to the past. Perhaps they haven’t got to the point of Philip J. Fry in Futurama who accepted that he was in the future and did not attempt to return to a past he considered “lousy.” Although, its not that surprising that Franklin isn’t as enthusiastic about returning to the past because he now has Gretchen in his life, and later after he starts doing drugs with a celebrity singer.

It is ironic that Chuck and Charlie reappear as cops, considering how much pot they smoke. Even, the Norberg the narc laments not seeing the Brothers, declaring they are his arch-enemies. In fact, no one likes him because he is a narc which is why people treated him so badly in the past. More than that, once he leaves, they start smoking joints again.

In some ways, I liked how Taylor Swift appears as a complete jerk, almost on par with her being a lizard person in Inside Job, along with many other celebrities. She is so insecure about herself that she asks Franklin for advice! He predictably asks her to do drugs. I have to admit, it was kinda funny to see her snorting cocaine because she seems like the last person who would ever do drugs. Of course, her song with Franklin is a drug-crazed disaster. She subsequently has a drug overdose.

Having Jim Morrison be a time traveler was a twist I didn’t expect. The fact that he helped Phineas and Freddy is not shocking. This is because the series has been filled with oddities and weird circumstances since the beginning. So why not have him be a time traveler too?

The last part of the episode gets pretty exciting as they race to get to the Four Corners, first chased by cocaine-addled groupies of Taylor Swift, and the narc, while Q and his henchman happen to be on the tour bus Franklin is driving! Morrison easily goes through the portal, while Q and Norberg get what they deserve by going back to 1969.

Time travel has consequences, as the Brothers quickly learn. A narcotics law, named after Norberg, is passed in 1969. It makes weed illegal. In an unexpected twist, the whole episode has been Kitty’s weed-induced nightmare, or so it seems. That is until Q returns from the past!

This episode featured some LGBTQ characters, specifically two women kissing each other, although they are background characters. That was a nice touch in this episode and I hope more characters who are also LGBTQ appear in the series.

I liked this week’s episode a little more than last week, as it came back to the original roots of the series as a stoner comedy. Even so, the earlier episodes of the series are still more enjoyable than this one. I hope that changes in the future.