Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Big Question / The Big Answer (Rocko's Modern Life Season 3 Episode 11) - 'Toon Reviews 36

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The Big Question

In a show where anything goes more often than not, the cartoons that make up this episode impressively bring a big change to the status quo.  It’s one that benefits two prominent characters in the cast, and has several little moments of them together in the background of several past performances.  Filburt and Dr. Hutchison have had a lot of enjoyable chemistry in little moments highlighting their devotion to each other and enjoyment of their company.  For that, it’s only natural that one of them would want to propose, and this episode’s cartoons make for an arc all about that. 
The first part of the arc has Filburt go out to pop the big question to Dr. Hutchison, but things get in the way, some relatable, and some from the show’s realm of ridiculousness.  Of the most relatable obstacles, there’s nervousness over asking the question on Filburt’s part.  While this is not out of the ordinary when it comes to stories of wedding proposals, the approach to it here makes it stand out from normal on a humorous level.  Filburt has funny interactions between his pals supporting him in his attempts to find the courage.  There’s Heffer goofing around with little ways to allude to honestly possible rejection, and Rocko as the hopeless romantic trying to push Filburt to go ahead and ask.  Then there are external obstacles such as Dr. Hutchison’s widow mother and her big objections to Filburt marrying her daughter.  She may be small but she’s very strict with her customs, right down to lifting up Rocko’s car with Filburt and the others inside it and throwing it away. 
The couple Widow Hutchison does support is Dr. Hutchison with a hunky cat called Tiger who’s taking her to a high school reunion.  As Filburt and the others follow her through a mall to a wedding shop, there’s a strong hint at Dr. Hutchison marrying Tiger.  This leads to internal turmoil highlighted by, of all things, Filburt playing whack a mole against the faces of everyone opposing him and Dr. Hutchison getting together.  While completely out-there, this sequence serves its purpose as Filburt soon comes out of his shell, literally, and asks the question.  The thing is, she’s already gone, and the whack-a-mole was just a stand-in for Rocko and Heffer hammering at the shell to come out. 
Filburt’s only other chance now is to catch Dr. Hutchison at the high school reunion and propose to her there.  Here, the cartoon goes for an even crazier route as Filburt goes along with Heffer’s convoluted secret agent setup to humiliate Tiger.  They plant a detonator on the reunion’s cake which will explode into a sea of frosting whose randomness speaks for itself.  The only sane one is Rocko, and though his hopeless romantics are expectedly brushed aside at first, he does talk some sense into Filburt, telling him to just talk to Dr. Hutchison.  This happens at the right time when Dr. Hutchison is invited to cut the cake, causing FIlburt to hurry to stop her, though the explosion goes off anyway.  Everyone’s fine though as they all pop out of the frosting.  Out of a few gags is a scene of endearment to close the cartoon with Dr. Hutchison immediately proposing to Filburt instead of the other way around.  Apparently, she was just as nervous as he was despite sounding chipper as ever, and Tiger’s just a platonic friend supporting her.  Seeing how unpredictable she can be, I can buy this. 
After all the craziness, there’s a clear sense of accomplishment done to a very nice effect.  It’s an interestingly staged proposal to prepare the audience for the wedding.

A

 
The Big Answer

 
Many past moments of Filburt and Dr. Hutchison together showed that they make a great couple. From their cutely staged wedding proposal in the last cartoon, it should be a great turn of events that they’re about to get together.  However, in what turns out to be the most emotional set of character moments of the entire series, there’s lingering doubt to this being so, at least biologically. 
On Dr. Hutchison’s end of the story lies a bulk of the drama over her and FIlburt getting together.  She certainly loves him and is excited for the wedding, but there’s one thing in the way of that.  She can’t stop thinking about her family’s longtime animosity towards turtles, and their belief that cats should never mate with them.  In a strong bit of characterization, Widow Hutchison is willingly supporting her daughter’s wedding even as her old cranky self, but claims she’ll never be happy for it.  That’s enough to fill Dr. Hutchison with genuine tearful sadness.  It also kind of says a lot about her tendency to constantly make sure everything is ok even in the darkest of scenarios.  It’s like she wants everyone to feel good given how hard she takes her own mother not being ok with her situation. 
Amidst the drama is a fair share of laughs to lighten the mood.  Filburt is brought to a very creatively staged bachelor party.  It takes place at an ice cream parlor in an elevated airplane and certainly sounds like a lot of fun.  That said, the ice cream must be a stand-in for something more intoxicating.  Once Heffer gets a good dose of it, he activates the plane, making for a total out of control flight.  After a lot of intense comedy of Rocko and Filburt trying to get it under control and discovering the radio for the air force is a pig, they crash on Rocko’s lawn. 
While Rocko and Heffer rush to the wedding, Filburt finds Dr. Hutchison all alone on a building.  As Filburt gets up to join her and they share a cute moment, Dr. Hutchison claims she can’t go through with things given what’s happened.  While these feelings make sense, it doesn’t shake off how sad it is that she might not get together with her true love after all.  It’s not like current events help her state of mind either.  At the wedding, all the turtles and cats are at major odds with each other, clearly not supporting the wedding.  Heffer even takes sides in the conflict while Rocko remains neutral, but it sounds like it’s out of stupidity and feels like Heffer doesn’t really mean it. 
To not make them too dense, there is a basis to this with their tensions seeming to be over Widow Hutchison’s husband abandoning her. Even so, no one should have more baggage than her.  It turns out her husband is actually a turtle who suddenly shows up for the wedding, only to claim the ice cream plane, giving relevance to the random bachelor party.  As for Filburt and Dr. Hutchison, they happily do end up married after all by eloping and not getting the family’s involved.  Is it convenient? Yes, but it works for how good it is to see these characters with undeniable chemistry get together.  As for the ending of the cats and turtles still fighting and Dr. Hutchison’s turtle dad going into the battle as Widow Hutchison runs after him, it doesn’t lead to much accomplishment.  Still, it’s worth not looking into as even Rocko himself calls the scene weird, and Filburt and Dr. Hutchison officially married really is satisfying enough. 
With a great balance of emotion and great comedy, this is a great end to one of the best constructed wedding arcs I’ve seen in an animated show.
A+

The Ranking

1.      Wacky Delly

2.      The Big Answer

3.      Camera Shy

4.      The Emperor’s New Joe

5.      Ed is Dead: A Thriller

6.      Bye Bye Birdie

7.      Speaking Terms

8.      Sugar Frosted Frights

9.      The Big Question

10.  I See London I See France

11.  Nothing to Sneeze At

12.  Schnit-Heads

13.  Dear John

14.  The Fat Lands

15.  Belch of Destiny

16.  Tooth and Nail

17.  Rocko’s Happy Vermin

18.  Manic Mechanic

19.  Old Fogey Frog

20.  Fish-N-Chumps

21.  Fortune Cookie

 
 
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Heffer finds love in the form of prey, and Rocko suffers worse than usual when spinach get caught in his teeth.

If you would like to check out other Rocko's Modern Life reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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