I have finally caught up and seen the first two episodes and...I'm in agreement with most in that this second episode was better than the first. I actually had some laugh out loud moments - curtesy of the Mayhem - but Kermit was the star in this one for me.
Awesome sauce:
The codes. "We've never been at Code Green" to "We're finally having a Code Green!" was the best. And I seriously want to see a Code Orange.
Uncle Deadly, who I literally did not know of until 1. I came here and discovered he's a fan of our wonderful Count 2. After I saw 2011 Muppets and 3. watched the Alice Cooper episode (that's Deadly's episode, right?). His "tightly woven web of lies" and "shocking, she seems like such a delight" were delights of their own.
The Mayhem. "Dr. Teeth, what was that song called?" "Dead Inside. We wrote it this morning." Almost had me in tears, as did the "gas station sushi". Other then the first three movies, the Mayhem's been kinda in the background, so it's cool to see them up front again.
Kermit. OMG, I hope there's more Kermit deviousness in upcoming episodes cause he's totally enjoyable when he's scheming. The end of the episode where he's telling Piggy how as the only female host, she'll be showing everyone she can't do it without a man and then his little "bye bye" to Josh killed me. Oh, she may have driven him crazy, but no one knows Piggy better or would have her best interests at heart better than Kermit.
Still Good:
THe girl scout cookie thing was a little meh, but also funny, especially if you've ever done what Bobo and Newsie did. And by that I mean, were a child and made your parent sell your annual cookie/candy subscriptions for you. It was good to see Newsie back, but this B/C plot was okay. Funny, but okay.
Sweetums birthday card. As Lisa and Bart Simpson said, I'm a part of the MTV generation, so I neither care or feel. Wait, no, reverse that. I actually wasn't all that offended with Zoot, probably cause everyone assumes he was drawing a wenis, but it doesn't mean he WAS. He could have easily been drawing a joint, with a message for Sweetums to enjoy a joke, take a smoke, and not go broke on his birthday. A giant doobie can also look...inappropriate. And it's Zoot, so yes he would draw that. All Yolanda was something appropriate - drugs on a b-day aren't really appropriate (depending on who's b-day).
Piggy's bragging about Josh Groban in her fitting room. I mentioned this over in the fan fic thread, but we hardly ever ever see Piggy and Kermit being friends, usually because they go from hot to cold to hot like you turn on a light switch. Whether or not anything happened (because it is in Piggy's character to exaggerate or boast about things that may or may not be true), our diva excitedly speaking about her new guy is pretty normal.
Telling it to Kermit, not as normal, unless you consider that perhaps Piggy counts Kermit as one of her closest friends (or she was trying to make him jealous. I'm in a little of column A and a little of column B). I've noticed that while Kermit has like three best friends (Fozzie, Gonzo, and Rowlf)(four, if you include Scooter), Piggy doesn't really have any close friends, period. That we know of and who are in the Muppets, that is. But if she did have a close friend or even a best friend, it seems to be Kermit.
And speaking of, their free pass list. At first, I was like, "why do you have a free pass list?" before I went, "well, of course you do." I can just see this starting as an agrument before one or both of them said, "Fine! We'll make a list!" I actually would like to see this bit again, maybe in terms of a guest on the show. The two of them deciding how it would work -
P: Number 5.
K: I'll only give you number five if I get numbers 2 and 12.
P: I would rather roast on a spit, over an open flame before I gave you number 2.
K: And I would rather burn this entire studio to the ground before you got number 5. Which actually makes that roasting thing a little easier.
If I saw that, the free pass list would move up to Awesome Sauce.
The Yawn:
Fozzie's B/C subplot. I'm with everyone else on the 'why is Jay Leno all mad about you taking a dish he originally stole himself?' but it could be a hypocrite dig - Leno isn't the first star who condemns people for doing things they themselves have done (Metallica, anyone?).
And the girl scout cookie fight. Maybe more fighting, instead of Newsie making a quick exit.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's episode, though I have to ask - Where's Camilla? Last I heard, she and Gonzo were still pretty tight. Is this heartbreak hotel up in Up Late? I've heard through the grapevine that Rowlfie's in ep 3, along with the tavern, so it'll be cool to see it. I can see Rowlf running a tavern, especially given that it's across the street from the people he used to work with; that makes sense.
Again, I'm with the others in that, it's not only nice to see those minor characters come back again (despite Pepe being marketed as huge, especially in the 2011 movie, he hasn't had a lot of screen time), as well as interaction with characters they hadn't been able to interact with before.
Someone on an earlier page mentioned Fozzie as Piggy's sidekick, which seems to be more a Jimmy Fallon/Higgins relationship and maybe not the Andy/Conan that folks may have thought; I would actually love love LOVE to see these two interact more. In fact, Fozzie would be the perfect person for Piggy to let her guard down on; we know she's a jerk with a heart of gold and Fozzie's the perfect person that would exasperate her, but that also holds a sweet spot in her heart. I think Scooter or Gonzo would also fit, however the bear is the easiest and it's hard to be 'hard' on Fozzie when he tries like no body's business.