Review: The Great North “Beef’s Craig Beef Adventure”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

When Wolf discovers that Beef secretly wants a jet ski, he formulates a plan to get it. Then, Ham bonds with a novelty singing fish toy.

Our Take:  

It’s no secret that we want another episode of The Great North, and it never failed to give us what we promised. This week brings us yet another sitcom-like scenario that sees Wolf getting an expensive gift for his father. Meanwhile, Ham has a strange fondness for a fish toy.

The episode begins with Wolf and Beef shopping for a boat. When Wolf sees that Beef is looking at an expensive jet ski, he thinks Beef’s going through a mid-life crisis. Wolf also discovers that Beef uses a new cologne, sugar for his coffee, and a reversible belt. Wolf and the family then decide to do a Herring Run to raise enough money to buy the jet ski for Beef. Meanwhile, Ham grows attached to the Croonin’ Colton singing fish toy and plans to save its fish species.

The plot is undoubtedly a fishing trip with the Tobins with Beef catching Herring and Ham unsuccessfully saving them. But, more importantly, it involves a rivalry between Beef and his former friend Craig. It did sound like a misunderstanding at first, but later on, it turns out that Craig is actually trying to prevent the Tobins from catching any fish. While it’s not the best episode the show’s second season had to offer, it’s still a pleasant episode that struggled with its fish-related humor.

Part of the episode’s plot focused more on Beef’s “beef” with Craig since they stopped hanging out with one another when they went into high school. As usual, it relied on the formula that we’ve seen in other sitcoms before. We have the one person who seems lovely in the beginning but later reveals their true nature near the end. Even though it didn’t have any refreshing ideas to keep the formula from being stale, it offered plenty of enjoyable moments between Beef and Craig to maintain the show’s kind-hearted and humorous nature.

The humor included some chuckle-worthy scenes, including the “Halfway Done” song and Craig passing out from the cold water. However, they weren’t enough to get the episode in shipshape like Beef’s boat. The segment involving Ham’s affection over a singing, talking fish toy was probably the weakest part of the storyline. It’s not just because of its execution. It’s also because the jokes didn’t land as much as I hoped. The segment turned out to be more awkward than awkwardly funny as the show usually represents.

Overall, “Beef’s Craig Beef Adventure” is a fine episode that features a fun little feud between two former friends. Although, its fish-related humor was almost as foul as the fish themselves. It’s a suitable fishing trip that’s far from tedious, but it also didn’t deliver anything else to make it more exciting.