Review: The Muppets “Pig’s In A Blackout”

Spoilers Below

After a particularly stressful morning involving Patrick Dempsey cancelling his guest spot, Sweetums crashing a golf cart in the studio, and Piggy stuck in an elevator, Kermit passes out. Both Denise and Piggy worry about their main frog. The girls somewhat collectively decide that Kermit needs a long weekend at a spa. They insist that he take the day off to relax. Kermit agrees to visit the spa. He leaves the show in the hands of his Associate Producer, Scooter.

The spa that Piggy and Denise sent Kermit to is a little hippy-dippy. While eating breakfast, which is apparently one blueberry, the guests are instructed to stare at the berry before savoring it. During this ritual, Jason Bateman sits down next to Kermit. His wife apparently sent him here after he had a bit of a breakdown while directing his daughter’s school production of “Wicked.” Unfortunately for Kermit, Jason spends the entire visit trying to get Kermit to find people to work on the show for free. This eventually leads up to Kermit calling one of his friends to do the show’s costumes. But the guests at the spa aren’t supposed to be using technology. The instructor finds Kermit with a phone in his hand. Jason completely throws the frog under the bus and Kermit is ejected from the spa.

At the studio, Scooter tries to be everyone’s friend. First, he has Big Mean Carl, the receptionist, buy coffee for the staff using Scooter’s mother’s credit card. Then, when someone claims it is hot in the office, he turns up the air conditioning. The air conditioner immediately breaks. A pipe breaks through the ceiling, blasting Beaker in the face with Freon. Quietly, Scooter turns the thermostat back to its original position.

However, this one incident has started a multitude of problems. Swedish Chef is trying to carve a sculpture out of a huge slab of butter but now the butter is melting all over the floor. Big Mean Carl, carrying everyone’s coffees, slips on the puddle of butter and splashes Beaker with hot coffee. Poor Beaker. The lights start exploding thanks to the air in the studio cooling and heating back up so quickly. How in the world will Scooter put on a show with no electricity?

Thankfully, Gonzo is there to give Scooter the pep talk he needs. Once Gonzo gets Scooter back on track, the AP has some amazing ideas. He lights the studio with candles, he runs the cameras with the battery from the golf cart, and he gets Pentatonix to perform. They have Piggy present the show as a way to save on electricity and urge their viewers to conserve electricity themselves. You have to admit that Scooter really came through in the end.

But what about Kermit? How is he going to deal with his daily stress? Well, he got rid of his backyard pool and built himself a swamp. Sitting on a log in his swampy backyard, Kermit gets out his banjo and croons a little “Rainbow Connection,” even if his neighbors don’t like it. A perfect way to kick back and relax.

Another episode with very little Fozzy Bear! OK, he did fall down the elevator shaft, which was kinda funny. That is the only time we see him. Instead, most of this episode focuses on Scooter taking control of the show. And Scooter really pulled through. Not only did he manage to get the show on the air, despite all of the problems, he also proved that he can carry a story line by himself. He doesn’t need to be second fiddle to Kermit. As for Kermit’s story, I liked that the pigs tried to get him to relax. There are only a few times we ever see Kermit relaxing. He’s usually the frog in charge, taking on all of the responsibilities and worries that comes with it. Jason Bateman was awesome as the douchey show-businessman who only thinks about himself and is always trying to get others to bend to his will. The episode is definitely in the running for Best Episode of the Season.