"The View From You"/"To Clean Or Not To Clean"/"Great Ball Of Firefighters"
"The View From You" - Tutter and the gang at mouse school have to come up with an art project expressing their point of view. Tutter thinks his point of view isn't exciting enough and wants to film "Mouse in Space" to really wow the class. It's a classic Tutter moment with him dressed in a snazzy director's outfit complete with bullhorn. The episode then shifts to Treelo, who creates a number of abstract paintings expressing her point of view. This inspires Tutter to go back to the basics and create a film showing how a small mouse sees a big world.
A pretty good episode, with Tutter displaying a lot of personality. It's also nice to see Treelo featured. I would have like to see a Tutter-centered musical number, but I freely admit to a strong pro-Tutter bias. A decent episode overall.
"To Clean Or Not To Clean" - In a nutshell, this episode is a pastiche of stock footage. The sole highlight is learning just how Bear supports himself and makes those mortgage payments on the Big Blue House -- he's a sales rep for Bearcraft Tools! While he's away on business, he leaves Lois in control, so to speak. It turns out that Lois isn't a very good housekeeper, and lets everyone play and not do chores. The house is a mess! [insert the obvious stock footage]. What would happen if no one took a bath? [insert the obvious stock footage]. And it's a good idea to brush your teeth! [insert the obvious stock footage].
Although I am not a huge fan of the stock footage shows, heck, it's a new episode with new lead-ins to the stock clips. But overall, this is at heart a stock footage show.
"Great Ball Of Firefighters" - As with many Season Four episodes, this one focuses on helping the community. The Firehouse is holding its first annual fund-raiser ball. Bear's in charge of refreshments (although thankfully, he turns out to have some help). Pip and Pop, supervised by Etta and Otto, stir bowls of punch and snacks while Bear goes to pick Tutter up from Mouse School. All the mice are doing a new dance, the Mumble Mambo (an inspired and catchy new dance set to the tune of the Grandma Mambo). The lyrics with the instructions for the steps are all mumbled, and poor Tutter can't follow along. All the mice look at him and ask why he isn't dancing and mumbling. Can it be that he doesn't know the newest mouse dance craze?!?! Tutter is thankful to escape outside when Bear calls his name. If he can't learn the Mumble Mambo, he's going to be washed up at Mouse School! Meanwhile, Ojo and Doc Hogg watch an old-fashioned musical. Ojo puts on her tiara and practices waltzing with Tutter. (Lesson: It can be hard to waltz with someone who is not roughly comparable in size). Bear, Ojo, and Tutter arrive at the ball, accompanied by their expectations. Ojo is crushed when the ball turns out to be a casual get-together at a barn instead of a fancy event. Her expectations have not been met. But Tutter's have, as the mice are all talking about the Mumble Mambo and he's the odd mouse out. They both begin to leave, but Bear sings a nice song about keeping an open mind, accompanied by Doc Hog on the banjo and Miss Maxwell on the drums. The song is set to a waltz beat, so Ojo and Tutter waltz. All the mice want to learn how, and Tutter and Ojo agree to teach them in exchange for Mumble Mambo lessons.
A very satisfying episode, and IMO, the best of the three new episodes so far because of the nice character development, catchy songs, and good storyline.
More reviews to follow! I for one am greatly enjoying new episode week.
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(That doesn't mean I'm sad it's just....y'know....Tutter.)