7.5/10. Another entertaining episode. The pillow fight between Joan and Cleo was pretty gratuitous, but it was at least in a self-aware fashion, and the way that the whole thing devolved into a Benny Hill routine was the perfectly irreverent way to deal with that. Little bits in the story like Toots making his house flood proof (only for it to catch on fire) or Joan toting that can of broth around everywhere with her for the episode kept the laugh-factor high. The odd couple pairing between Joan and Cleo paid some dividends, and the I Love Lucy room-dividing bit turning into a horizontal divide that spawned an all out war between them was nicely absurd.
The B-stories were a little lacking. Gandhi and JFK arguing for no reason didn't have many laughs, though did work well when getting absorbed by the Benny Hill routine at the end. And Scudworth ignoring Mr. Butlertron in favor of his robopuppy-esque (and secret spy) mechanical dog had some easy comedic beats, but at least gave Mr. B a chance to be entertainingly jealous and vengeful.
The comedic highlight of the episode, though, was Abe's conflict resolution seminar skills. The application of pointless trust exercises to try to resolve major issues with people, and Abe's oblivious and misguided attempts to emulate the real Abe Lincoln ("try the churros!") were hilarious, and did a nice job at tying all this insanity together.
Overall, a little shaggier than some of the shows more focused episodes, but a lot to laugh at here.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-10-30T18:41:38Z
7.5/10. Another entertaining episode. The pillow fight between Joan and Cleo was pretty gratuitous, but it was at least in a self-aware fashion, and the way that the whole thing devolved into a Benny Hill routine was the perfectly irreverent way to deal with that. Little bits in the story like Toots making his house flood proof (only for it to catch on fire) or Joan toting that can of broth around everywhere with her for the episode kept the laugh-factor high. The odd couple pairing between Joan and Cleo paid some dividends, and the I Love Lucy room-dividing bit turning into a horizontal divide that spawned an all out war between them was nicely absurd.
The B-stories were a little lacking. Gandhi and JFK arguing for no reason didn't have many laughs, though did work well when getting absorbed by the Benny Hill routine at the end. And Scudworth ignoring Mr. Butlertron in favor of his robopuppy-esque (and secret spy) mechanical dog had some easy comedic beats, but at least gave Mr. B a chance to be entertainingly jealous and vengeful.
The comedic highlight of the episode, though, was Abe's conflict resolution seminar skills. The application of pointless trust exercises to try to resolve major issues with people, and Abe's oblivious and misguided attempts to emulate the real Abe Lincoln ("try the churros!") were hilarious, and did a nice job at tying all this insanity together.
Overall, a little shaggier than some of the shows more focused episodes, but a lot to laugh at here.