Review: 9 Years to Neptune “Yogurt Party”

Overview

Pauline invites Natalie to her Yogurt Party leading Natalie to tell escalating white lies to get out of going. Meanwhile, Quentin and Quincy, anxious to watch Mullen’s latest movie, shirk their responsibilities on the ship, leading Sascha to serve as Judge and Jury.



Our Take

Within the two separate subplots, that lead to some strangely comedic levels of absurdity. Susie’s kids Quentin & Quincy have to do chores which ends up leading to a people’s court-style debate on who should do chores with Sascha as the Judge. What I find stupid though is the fact that when Stuart shows up as the plaintiff that even the narrator felt the need to point out that he “doesn’t have a girlfriend”. Later on, Kashmere joins in which escalates the proceedings further leading to an unexpected yet meaningful conclusion.

As for Natalie’s subplot, she begins to learn the hard way that lying her way out of something starts to take its toll even if the lie itself is ridiculous enough for someone as simple-minded as Pauline. As a character, Pauline comes across as having the bland nasally voice and disposition of “Sadness” from Disney’s “Inside Out” who for the most part doesn’t always know when to stop talking. And the homemade Yogurt recipes she mentions in her titular party are downright disgusting to think about.

What both subplots share is the simplistic lessons about honesty. Sometimes you get rewarded for telling the truth and other times, you have an obligation to make things right with those you violated the trust of… It’s a complicated issue that writers tend to claim is more simple than it needs to be through comedic contrivance. In Natalie’s situation, her web of lies could’ve been avoided by politely turning down Pauline’s offer and that would’ve been the end of it, and all Suzie’s kids had to do was put forth the effort so early on and they wouldn’t have to be in some fictionalized court show that keeps making cruel and painfully unfunny jokes at Stuart’s expense…