The Muppets S01E16 “Because… Love” REVIEW

The Muppets S01E16 “Because… Love” REVIEW

0 comments 📅18 April 2016, 20:27

The Muppets S01E16 “Because… Love” REVIEW

Mahna Mahna

stars 3

Airing in the UK on Sky One, Mondays, 8pm

Writers: Scott Weinger, Emily R Wilson
Director: Randall Einhorn

 

Essential Plot Points:

  • After talking to Rowlf and flipping a coin, Kermit decides that he’s going to ask Miss Piggy out again. He sends her a “kissy face” emoji.
  • Leaving hospital, Miss Piggy finds out from Deadly that Kermit said “I love you” twice, and is thrilled that they’re going to get back together.
  • However, after talking to the crew, Kermit starts to waver. Half the guys are on “Team Love”, happy for Miss Piggy and Kermit to rekindle their relationship, and the other half are on “Team Friend” because they know it will be traumatic.
  • When Fozzie tells Kermit that by dating Miss Piggy again, he could lose his job, Kermit really panics. He decides to wait until that night’s show is over to tell Miss Piggy he doesn’t want to get back together.
  • Then, after bumping into Jack White – who happens to be singing to “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, Kermit and Miss Piggy’s favourite song – he thinks it’s a sign. So he changes his mind again.
  • Unfortunately, Miss Piggy discovers that he’s been flip-flopping about their relationship, and is horrified when Fozzie tells her Kermit flipped a coin for her. She calls the whole thing off and says she’s leaving the country to go to Thailand as soon as the show is finished.
  • Jack White plays on the show, but it’s too late – Miss Piggy leaves.
  • Rizzo and Yolanda get engaged.
  • Kermit follows Miss Piggy onto the plane, pours out his heart to her… and she passes out before giving him a reply. They go to Thailand together.

 

Review:

This isn’t quite the barnstorming season finale it could have been, perhaps down to a rather downbeat tone and a slower gag hit-rate than usual. Additionally, while we all love Kermit and Miss Piggy, watching a couple dilly-dallying about getting back together is annoying rather than entertaining – several times during this you want to knock their fuzzy heads together and tell them to get on with it.

Still, Jack White’s rocked-out rendition of “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” in the studio is great fun, as are his talks with Kermit. White’s not the greatest of actors, but you can overlook such issues in a show like this – besides, he’s talking to a green felt puppet, so it’s hard to have an issue with realism.

Pros and cons whiteboard

The crew seem rather subdued in this episode: given that it’s the finale, you’d expect some seriously wacky hijinks, but even the Pros and Cons written on the whiteboard in their office are fairly standard (one line does mention “Piggy maternity leave”, which might be an interesting plot for next year if the frog and pig do make up in Thailand…).

Overall, it’s a shame that the show’s season finale – and, given that we still don’t know its future, possibly its series finale – is rather lacklustre. There isn’t really a sense that anything special is happening; it’s just another episode. Where’s the final twist? The pizzazz? The jaw-dropping ending?

But then again, we do get a little glimpse of Mahna Mahna And tThe Snowths, so all is right in the world again.

_You Are The Sunshine_

 

The Guests:

  • Jack White

 

The Good:

Kermit stroking Rowlf

  • Rowlf gets Kermit to stroke him to calm down, as he’s a licensed therapy dog!

Miss Piggy's big entrance

  • Miss Piggy’s dramatic entrance, complete with femme fatale pose and wind machine, as she arrives to see Kermit is hilarious.

Kermit hiding in a drawer

  • Kermit hiding in a drawer is very sweet, especially when you notice he’s taken a little plant in there with him to make it feel more cheerful.

Happy penguin

  • When Miss Piggy tells her penguin and her dog that they’re “about to get a daddy”, their reactions are so cute. Never has a toy penguin flapped its flippers so adorably.
  • “I want more flowers in that cannon!” yells Pepe, trying to set a romantic mood, which he then shatters by asking, “By the way, where are we on getting a human heart?”
  • We discover that Kermit is Miss Piggy’s calzone pimp.

 

The Bad:

Jack White _Are you driving__

  • Jack White sees Kermit behind the wheel and asks, astonished, “You can drive?” Which seems like a very frog-ist comment to us. Does he have a problem with amphibians driving cars?
  • As far as breathtaking cliffhangers go, Miss Piggy falling asleep on a plane is very, very far from one.

 

The Random:

  • Mahna Mahna And The Snowths have appeared in various Jim Henson shows singing their infamous nonsense song, but their most famous performance was on a 1969 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show:

  • The song was originally composed by Piero Umiliani for a Swedish sex film named Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso [Sweden, Heaven and Hell].
  • Best Quote: Bobo: “These plus-11s are piling up. I’d love permission to maul the next one who asks if I’m the bear from The Revenant.”

Reviewed by Jayne Nelson


Read our reviews of previous episodes of The Muppets

 

 

No Comments

No Comments Yet!

You can be first one to write a comment

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.