The Muppets S01E10 “Single All The Way” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on Sky One, Mondays, 8pm
Writers: Bob Kushell, Dave Caplan (teleplay), Greg Mettler, Nell Scovell (story)
Director: Matt Sohn
Essential Plot Points:
- Fozzie breaks up with Becky and is distraught – which is awkward, given that he’s supposed to be a cheerful Santa on the show that night…
- Kermit has never been dumped – he was the one who dumped Miss Piggy earlier that year – and therefore Fozzie says he can’t offer advice. So Kermit sends Fozzie to talk to Miss Piggy. She manages to get him to reconcile with Becky.
- Unfortunately, Fozzie inadvertently upsets Miss Piggy by making her realise that Kermit dumping her means she’ll be alone for Christmas. Kermit has to work hard to cheer her up.
- Elsewhere, Sam is desperate to get Janice to snog him under some mistletoe.
- Guest star Mindy Kaling really can’t sing, but thinks she can.
- Yolanda the rat tricks everybody into making her their Secret Santa recipient.
Review:
It’s almost an irrelevance having a Christmas episode of The Muppets, given that The Muppets Christmas Carol is already out there and has nailed the title of “best Christmas entertainment involving puppets of all time”. But still, the show couldn’t really avoid the season of goodwill, and it delivers a suitably festive – if slight – holiday episode to round off its current run.
It seems that there are two types of celebrity guest star on the show: those who turn up and are saints (Kristin Chenoweth, Christina Applegate) and those who are willing to send themselves up in as many ways possible (Jason Bateman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Mindy Kaling falls into this latter category, gleefully singing horrifically off-key and then boasting about all her fans. It’s surprising, however, that at no point is Miss Piggy happy that she’s a better singer than her guest – wouldn’t the proud porcine be quite chuffed to have her own singing voice deemed even better in comparison to someone else’s? Oh well.
The final singalong is really rather lovely, too – and check out the hat the Swedish Chef chooses to wear when he’s not making food!
The Guests:
- Mindy Kaling
- Echosmith
The Good:
- Animal eating all the tinsel. “Christmas in mah belleh!” We hear ya, Animal, only with us it’s Quality Street.
- Love the continued running joke this season about Scooter’s mum’s boyfriend, but this has to be the best comment yet: “Cut your nails, Ken, you’re not a Spanish guitar player.”
- “Life is a chess game, and what is the most powerful piece on the board? The prawn.” Ah, Pepe. You are truly magnificent.
- The talk between Kermit and Miss Piggy is surprisingly poignant for a couple of puppets. Felt toys can get lonely at Christmas, too!
- Poor Beaker gets electrocuted by a Rudolph nose. Because of course he does.
The Bad:
- Gonzo: “I can’t believe we got Aerosmith to play our Christmas party! And Steven Tyler looks fantastic.” This is a great line, but the joke fizzles out when he’s shown a photo of the real Aerosmith (not Echosmith). It really needed more of a punchline than an “Oh.” Mind you, we can’t think of one, either…
- It’s lovely to see Sam so happy after getting a peck on the cheek from Janice, but his clueless pursuit of the clueless musician is starting to border on the creepy side…
The Random:
- Please accept this video with a hearty, MCM Buzz-style “Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, one and all!”
- Best Quote: Chip: “Sour cream and onion Pringle? They’re shaped like the human tongue!”
Reviewed by Jayne Nelson
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