u/HeeHooligan

I've been thinking a lot about Shady Pines lately. It's referenced in other media and pops up frequently within the show, but I kinda noticed something and wanted to get your takes:

At the beginning of the series, we find out Sophia was in Shady Pines because she was recovering from a stroke. She wasn't put there because she was just old or nobody wanted her. But as the series goes on, it seems like the accepted idea is that Sophia was just stuck there for the heck of it. Shady Pines gets used as a threat and we get varied accounts of what the place was actually like (oh really, Ma? Shady Pines had filet mignon?).

So I just kinda wondered at what point did the writers decide to start using Shady Pines as a point of contention for Dorothy and Sophia rather than having a legitimate reason for Sophia to have been there? Probably just an inconsistency due to the show ultimately being a sitcom, but I was curious on other's opinions.

And lastly, which do you prefer? For me, I always liked it better when Shady Pines was a place Sophia had to be to recover. Although I admit, I do enjoy Dorothy's iconic "Shady Pines, Ma" throughout the later seasons.

So obviously this is not Dale's finest hour in a long line of not fine hours and all, but I'm rewatching this episode. The bit where the guys start hiking and "stumble" into John Redcorn who just replies "Heeeeeey. What a coincky-dink" and just saunters over to the guys cracks me up so much. It's so goofy and not particularly smooth for a man who kept an affair from Dale for 13 years. It's so good. Lol

I wanted to chit chat a little about Mr. Terrific, specifically trying to break down a little why the episode itself doesn't really work (to the best of my abilities and based on my opinion at least, haha!)

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First and foremost, Mr. Terrific himself is a terribly unlikable character. He's a washed up performer that hasn't accepted that he needs to move on from the role. Children don't want to watch an aging superhero who speaks to them like they're infants. I realize this next comparison is a bit unfair, but let's look at another famous Mister: Mister Rogers. The way he spoke to children was quietly and calmly, but he never spoke down to them. Compare that the Mister Terrific who over annunciates things and speaks much more slowly than he needs to. It just always gave me the impression that Mr. Terrific's show is the kind of educational programming that isn't really focused on the child's development and more on throwing in things to just try and make a buck off of children's entertainment. And to loop back to a previous point, superheros are larger than life, heroic figures. An old guy in a leotard a superhero does not make.

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More grievous than that is Mr. Terrific himself. We never learn his actual name because he's so full of himself that he thinks he IS Mr. Terrific. He walks around like he's some A list celebrity rather than a child's entertainer, and a washed up one at that. He never speaks kindly to Rose unless it's something that congratulates himself. When offering Dorothy a job, he follow it by saying the only good job on the show is his, which is such an odd thing to say to a prospective new employee. From what we can see, he doesn't really get along well with the other members of the crew and to top that off, the set is horribly mismanaged. The Angie Dickinson bit is something that absolutely should not fly on a program aimed at children, Mr. Mailman can't get his costumes right, which highlights that backstage is also in disarray, and we know that the producer is more than fed up with Mr. Terrific. Top it off with Mr. Terrific's awful attitude and I'm surprised the show wasn't cancelled years earlier.

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So we have a character the show wants us to root for while simultaneously making him insufferable and yet he and his coworkers also treat the actual main characters poorly. We see Terrific chastise Rose when she's not wearing a self congratulatory button celebrating him and then later put Rose in danger by not harnessing her properly when he pulls his publicity stunt. Their entire relationship is based around her being a fan of his and him eating that up. And furthermore, Dorothy gets treated badly by the same crew that can't even be bothered to care about the show until Mr. Terrific gets fired, which always drives me nuts. They throw her on the air and then bully her for simply trying to help, not to mention falsely blaming her for Mr. Terrific being fired in the first place. Mr. Terrific and the producer were openly hostile towards each other, so blaming Dorothy for firing him because he refused to implement the changes she suggested is a little wild to me. And it just doesn't make sense considering again that nobody on set actually seems to care about the show until Mr. Terrific gets fired. Which regrettably also means the jokes they set up because of it aren't funny and are just openly mean to Dorothy for no reason.

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So the heart of the episode is about Mr. Terrific making a comeback, but we have no reason to care at all about him or his career. I realize we only have one episode with him, but the show has proved over and over that it's capable of making us care for one off characters (like Mario, Jake, Ken, and countless others). Even Mother Zbornak, who has had many episodes denigrating her actually gets a lovely scene in the very next episode, which marks her sole appearance in the show.

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We get a subplot with Blanche and her new bed, but I don't really think much about that plot because the A plot is so off. There's no moral to the episode, which is fine, but the events we get caught up in aren't pleasant and center around an unlikeable partner for Rose. Not to mention, Rose herself usually has some pretty decent suitors (for a time at least, cough cough Miles cough cough) but Mr. Terrific himself is arguably her least compelling and least attractive suitor. Rose does get a little starstruck sometimes, lest we forget her brief stint with Goofy, but I just feel bad for her being so blinded by her love of the show and seeing someone who is far less than terrific.

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There are a few jokes in the show that land, my favorite one being the camera guy who gets thrown on scene and counts himself down. Silly, but it gets a chuckle. Otherwise there are a lot of duds here, like the producer calling Dorothy old or the aforementioned Angie Dickinson joke.

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In short, Mr. Terrific just doesn't hold a candle to any of the show's other guests or love interests. Even if we look at him as an antagonist, he still falls flat compared to the likes of folks like Mrs. Claxton or Daisy.

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And there we go. I might be a little all over here (I've just moved and am watching while I unpack) but I was thinking about it and wanted to share. I know Mr. Terrific has been talked about to death, but please feel free to share your thoughts or if you disagree. I'd love to look at this episode at another angle if I've missed something and I enjoy the conversation! 😊