Review: Bigfoot “Last of His Kind Part 1”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Bigfoot flies to Minnesota to meet with the head of the DAEP regarding his reckless behavior, which is important to them because he’s the only known one of his kind and his death means the end of his species. Their solution is to breed with the closest species to his, a western lowland gorilla named Pretty Pretty who was the first gorilla to speak. But to the surprise of the agent, the two of them have history. Specifically an extensive romantic relationship that suddenly ended when she found out he went to see ANOTHER old flame…the Loch Ness Monster, who he was ALSO in a relationship with for several centuries, but they had to end it because Bigfoot was too famous and he didn’t want her to deal with tourists like he did. However, with Bigfoot’s fame clearly waning, he should be free to start things up again! So he heads out to Scotland to finally rekindle things.

OUR TAKE

The first half of the season finale starts digging into the farthest back in Bigfoot’s storied history than we’ve ever seen, showing us a greater reach of his backstory that takes us even outside his involvement with the town of Swell! This should feel like a very momentous occasion!

…and yet it kind of falls into the same level of “meh” that the previous stories did. And I have to think that this might be due to the fact that this story itself is not really put together all that well. For one, despite it feeling like a direct follow up to last week’s episode where Bigfoot got put on the Endangered Species List, it practically ends up being almost entirely separate from that without even the slightest of references to it. Not that I necessarily need that but I think a little sign of continuity would go a long way to making the world of this story (even for an episodic comedy show) feel more alive and lived in.

Another sticking point for me is that the conceit of the plot is Bigfoot going to the DAEP to discuss ways of preserving his species which involves him breeding with other species which will likely not give birth to pure bred Bigfoots, so it seems just a bit misguided. Not to mention they could just see what Bigfoot remembers about how he was raised or maybe take some DNA heritage tests? I’m not really a geneticist of any kind but I can’t help but notice a lot of perfectly good options are flat out ignored here. In fact, a lot of the episodes this season feel sort of like second drafts that still needed one or two more rewrites, but I can get into that later.

So, now the season finale looks to be Bigfoot going to finally be with an old love who he has not been with in some time due to his escalating fame, but now can return because that fame is dwindling. I can’t help but wonder where this is headed, though I have some guesses. Given that it’s been at least a few decades since they’ve seen each other (depending on when Bigfoot’s last trip to Scotland was), it could be that she’s found someone else and Bigfoot will simply be alone and forced to return to Swell. Or maybe he’ll be able to find love there after all and yet still be tempted to return? But then again it’s not like he’d be leaving much behind if he chose to stay, aside from Warren, who seems pretty chill with whatever Bigfoot decides to do most of the time. Certainly not likely to be a finale villain at this rate like I thought! Whatever happens, next week is the end of the season, so pour a tall one out for Bigfoot.