1x03 Schooltown Follies

• Love that intro music :D
• Greg's Adelaide song :)

Wirt: "Hey! What? I'm not a pushover!"
Beatrice: "Hold on, Wirt, let me get to my point."
Wirt: [Scoffs] "Fine."
Beatrice: "See, Greg? No willpower whatsoever."

Greg: "We need to do our part to make the world a better place!"

Beatrice: "Bluebirds have a short life span. You two are LITERALLY killing me every moment I'm forced to spend with you."

Beatrice: "And that wild gorilla on the loose!"

Greg: "So, my theory is hot dogs are not actually dogs, regardless of what they teach you in school."

Greg: "I think that cat is too old."
Old cat: "Rowr."
Greg: "Sorry, kitty. We'll have to find another old cat."
[Raccoon pitying old cat]

[Greg slams piano]
Teacher: "Oh, like this?"
[Pleasant piano play]
Greg: "Mm... Good enough."

Father: "Is this what I've been paying for?!"

• Bro, he's not impressed by animals who play music?
• Normal people DO exist!

Father: "I guess the world really is as sweet as potatoes and molasses."

Wirt: "So, want me to tell Greg it's time to get going?"
Beatrice: "Nah, let him have his fun.
Greg: [Singing] "Filled with cream and candy rocks!"
Beatrice: "Hey, Wirt.
Wirt: "Yeah?"
Beatrice: "Tie your shoe."
Wirt: "Oh. Mm. Okay."

• :)

[8.0/10] Another really fun outing. I really liked what I might term the B-story here, with Wirt responding to Beatrice saying that he’s a pushover who does whatever anyone tells him by taking that philosophy to an absurd extreme, following a random teacher’s instructions no matter how silly or dangerous they may be. Him going along with class punishments and meal time and bed time purely out of spite for Beatrice’s backhanded compliment for him was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the payoff, where Beatrice admitted that he wasn’t a pushover...because he could also be a stubborn little jerk. It’s a fun, almost sitcom subversion place to take it. (Particularly when it seems like Beatrice and Wirt are going to have a heart-to-heart moment and instead Beatrice just says, “Wirt, tie your shoe.”)

(Crazy theory:Beatrice will get turned into a human by this magician they’re all going to go see, and sooner or later she and Wirt will fall in love.)

But I love Greg’s “take action and try to make the world better” approach to the situation just as much. There’s a certain youthful zeal and weirdness to Greg that’s a ton of fun. Him horsing around with the animals who are otherwise playing hooky, trying to play games like “two old cats” and singing an ode to potatoes and molasses is just a lot of fun. Greg’s goofy innocence is infectious here, and his silliness is great.

I also like the weirdness of the setup. The very fact that some young teacher was tasked with her father to teach woodland creatures how to spell and do math as part of some money making scheme is utterly bizarre. The teacher singing wistful songs about her two-timing lover who, amid rampant giant gorilla attacks, is just as strange (though I actually like the “indie ukulele tune” vibe of the song). It’s got some of that trademark Adventure Time off the wall creativity which I like.

I also like the solution to all of this! Greg stealing the instruments from the teacher’s father (who wants to sell them to recoup some of his investment) in order to have a benefit concert for the school is actually really clever. Plus, the setup and payoff with Wirt’s untied shoelace leading to him revealing that the attacking gorilla is just, in fact, the teacher’s lost love is so out of left field and fun.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It had a level of irreverences and just plain peculiarness to the setups and payoffs that really worked for me, with some subtly clockwork plotting. Good work all around!