Review: The Great North “Aunt Misbehavin’ Adventure”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Moon can’t take the rejection of his crush turning down his prom-posal, so he stops going to school. While looking for him, they find a hidden underground bunker, in which Beef’s long lost aunt Dirtrude, who hid in the bunker decades ago in fear of communists. While the family get Dirtrude caught up with society, Moon eventually takes the bunker to avoid further rejection, but Dirt and Beef finally manage to get in and convince him to come back out for prom, where he finds out his crush only turned him down so she could bring her pet pig, and the two share a dance.

OUR TAKE

In contrast to some eyebrow raising things that tonight’s Krapopolis episode seemed to have to say, this week’s The Great North ended up being a lot more wholesome! We get introduced to a new member of the Tobin family, Dirtrude, who I’m PRETTY SURE is voiced by Jane Lynch (I just can’t any confirmation at the moment). She’s introduced as a cool and resourceful survivalist who managed to cut herself off from society and live on her own in a cool bunker for, apparently, most of her life. Naturally, Moon instantly admires her for this, while the rest of the family go through the long list of historical and cultural things she missed out on. When Moon is rejected again, he ends up commandeering the bunker, but Dirt is slowly opening up and taking a liking to the world she previously was so eager to push away. And while Beef is initially willing to let Moon have his space and heal at his own pace from feeling the sting of rejection, when it becomes clear Moon is simply running away from a situation he doesn’t want to deal with, Beef is ready to bust down Moon’s walls, both metaphorical and literal, to get him to move forward.

Yeah, the using of a bunker as an emotional shield to hide away from and protect one’s self from a harsh and unfair world is not the most subtle of metaphors, but it does the trick here. Like the rest of the Tobins, Dirt is a survivalist, but also like Beef in particular, she doesn’t always handle emotional problems in the most healthy way. It’s clear she doesn’t connect with people the best after being isolated for so long and having maintained some culturally backwards mindsets, but it’s later revealed that she is a lesbian who was rejected by her “secret girlfriend” who went on to marry some guy. Dirt claims she was running from Communists, but it seems more likely that she was just finding an excuse to hide from rejection, just like Moon is now. So, now both Dirt and Moon are ready to face the world as it comes, and the family has a new family member with a cool extra space! No word on if Dirt will be a recurring character or not, but even this one appearance is a strong start and a great addition to this wholesome show.