*faints in the aftermath of the epicness I just witnessed. Random penguins run over and throw icy cold water in my face*
*Spluttering* Whew! Okay! We certainly have some stuff to discuss don’t we?
B-Plot:
I’ll start with what I’ve come to call the ‘supporting plot’. So, we have Pizza come to crash the show one last time. He wants to have a DJ come in and guest host, but Kermit leaves it to Pepe, Rizzo and Yolanda to stop the guru at all costs. What we get is Muppet comradery and mayhem worthy of TMS.
Big Mean Carl eats Pizza’s phone and they rush him into a dressing room to lock him up. Yolanda uses her great imitation to act as Pizza and we end up getting some great jokes out of it. I adored Sweetums’ approach to the situation. A nice little message of how just honestly talking to someone can solve a heap of problems. The Muppets get him talking to his father and we never see Pizza again. Good. He wasn’t important anyway!
Moving right along, during the show we have the spectacular mash-up of Muppet Labs and the Swedish Chef. It was a thrill to see Beaker doing what he does best once again and to hear Chef’s theme song! I’m not too familiar with Willie, but I am familiar with ‘On The Road Again’, so he was a heap of fun to watch with the Electric Mayhem.
A-Plot:
WELL, things certainly got interesting didn’t they? We start off with a beautifully puppeteered ‘Single Ladies’ which leads to the most cringe-worthy sight I could have ever hoped NOT TO SEE! Piggy snaps her ankle and has to be convinced to go to the hospital by Kermit, who had been watching admiringly from afar, and Uncle Deadly.
There are so many things here that catch you off guard; for instance, Kermit cowering behind the couch only to realise Piggy wasn’t going to throw the tissue box. Piggy’s character development has been sensational and it makes me want to kiss the nearest Muppet writer. She will never go back to being the flanderized pig she was, Eric Jacobson won’t let her. I’m so froggin’ proud of Eric and the exceptional work he has done on this show!
Moving on, to quell Piggy’s fear of being replaced, Kermit brings the crew to the hospital to do the show from there, which almost turns over into a disaster when Piggy accidently injects herself with morphine. We end up getting yet another throwback with Rowlf coming in to do Veterinarian’s Hospital! My absolute favourite Muppet segment! It was short and sweet, but it made me laugh, so it was perfect in my eyes! As Kermit realizes, this could possibly be one of the best shows they have ever done! I personally would watch this if it happened to Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert.
Once the show is over, we finally hit the climax of the episode as Piggy is about to go into surgery. The doctor asked her if she understands the danger of anaesthesia, she agrees then THIS MOMENT FRIGGIN’ HAPPENS!
Piggy: Just in case though……I love you Kermit!
Kermit: I love you too, Piggy!
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HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS MUPPET GOD HENSON…….It finally happened! He said it! He actually said it!
There was no preamble. No one forced Kermit to say it. No one put him in a stranglehold. Kermit just said it straight and made my heart and mind explode! I mean, I was expecting it, but it still blew my mind hearing it! It’s weird that one sentence can equal about 25 years’ worth of character development! Jim’s Kermit never would have said that, but Steve’s Kermit has come close multiple times.
So just when you’re emotions are stirring in a frenzy, Kermit reaffirms to himself what he just said, not realizing that Piggy had said it under the influence of morphine. Not to mention that one of the cameras had been left running and every other Muppet saw it happen!
I can’t express how happy I was with this episode, but it only gets better with ‘Because….Love’!