Episode 408: Cho and the Adventures of Amy Lee

Cast:
Brendon Small/Junior/Perry/Maggie McFarland - Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis/Coach Jon McGuirk/Walter - H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins - Melissa Bardin Galsky
Paula Small - Janine Ditullo
Josie Small - Loren Bouchard
Fenton/Cho - Sam Seder

Synopsis: Brendon's accidental goal at a soccer game ends up ruining the streak of opposing goalie Cho. Cho seeks his revenge. The gang hangs out with Walter & Perry after they save Brendon's life, and when McGuirk hears some Scottish music he is reminded of his childhood.

Lawn Gnomes:
· Gnome shaped wizard figures are availible at "Items on Shelves".
· A gnome symbol is seen on the kilt given to McGuirk.

Brendon’s Filmography:
· "Amy Lee" - An invisible (kind of) Amy Lee shows a man his past through a box of rememberances.

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· "Amy Lee" (and the original movie "Amelie") shows people looking at their past when given items of their earlier days. The exact same thing happens to McGuirk when Brendon brings him the kilt. Brendon even addresses the box as being from "Amy Lee".

Random Observations & Facts:
· This episode has the longest "first act" (before commercial break).
· The store in Brendon's movie is called "Poisson".
· The box given by Amy Lee says "Choco Sampler".
· The newspaper headline reads: "Maggie Mania!"
· Grandpa's sweatshirt says "State U" (or "State University").
· Brendon, Jason, Melissa, Walter & Perry go to "Items on Shelves" to shop.
· Walter's shirt says "Dough Bots" and has a picture of a donut shaped robot.
· Also availible in the store: "Naughty Cards" and temporary tattoos.
· Melissa stares dreamingly at Cho as he acts.
· McGuirk gets into his Highland dancing clothes extremely quickly.

Past Episode References:
· This episode seems to run with the idea of Walter & Perry's "evil side", hinted at in episodes like "Storm Warning".

Movie & Other References:
· "Amy Lee" is based on the film "Amelie". Duh. They even say it! How did you not know that?

End Credits: McGuirk calls Maggie.

Reviews:
GMB: This episode was "eh." I realise Walter and Perry have their fans but uh, I don't watch the show for them. Every week they seem to take over more and more of the episode, never mind being written wildly inconsistently.

Speaking of which, Melissa, Brendan and Jason apparently also put on their idiot hats and minced around blindly for the episode playing off of Cho, who may be the most bland, unmemorable, and useless foil in "Home Movies" long run.

In any case, the McGuirk stuff worked (as did Jason's nightmare), everything else didn't, and using Amelie as a basis for the movie does it no favors since I thought Amelie was femmy and stupid.

Still better than the godless, festering, bucket of whale vomit that was "Honkey Magoo" C

Jaguar: This was a great episode. When Brendon said "We're all dying, Melissa", my mind couldn't help but wander to the cancellation. Walter and Perry were...different in this episode, and I'm not sure whether it was good or bad. I couldn't help but laugh when Brendon kept punching his grandpa. It did get a bit redundant after the first two times he did it, though. Cho annoyed me for some reason, but his reformed personality was a breath of fresh air (because all we need is another stale bully) . Jason, as always, was a highlight. I had the Bagpipe Song playing in my head for the next few hours after this episode. McGuirk, once again, carried the majority of this episode. I didn't mind, though, seeing that this season has easily made him my favorite character of the bunch.

Well, I guess I'll wrap it up--Jaggy liked this one. A+.

MovieGuy: So in conclusion, this was one of the best episodes this season or ever. I enjoyed everyone including Brendon's grandfather. Brendon's grandfather didn't seem creepy to me this time around. He was funny and they didn't overuse him.

McGuirk's storyline was the best. Nicely done and panned out nicely. Walter and Perry are starting to get on my nerves, literally (don not put your nerves on the screen when they are around.)

Nice to actually see a movie this season. I wanna know how these kids gets such nice makeup. To my knowledge, I don't think it BLEEPED during the whole show. Cho was a funny character and I hope he doesn't come back in the final episodes. =( As we end Home Movies, I hope every episode will be as funny and smart as this one.

My positives were Brendon's story, McGuirk's story, Amy Lee, Cho, Grandpa, Cho is short for "Chump"
My negatives were too much Walter & Perry?
Grade: A+

TacoHunter: I really liked this episode. And I learned the series have been canned from this thread. Which I don't mind, there were just too many really bad episodes this season to justify this series to keep going on.

But this episode though, I thought it was great. I really don't like where W&P are going. What made them funny was their innocence. They could go to hell and back and still have a stupid smile on their face 'cause they're together. Sure, it DOES make sense one why they would become a bunch of psychopaths, but that's just not why we love them.

Oh well, aside from W&P's psychotic nature, I really enjoyed this episode. I thought Brendan punching his grandfather was funny, and even though I could have easily lived without seeing McGuirk's ass, it still made me laugh.

Fone Bone: I was laughing so hard at this episode. Walter and Perry playing chase and then smash the butterfly was so funny as was their shoplifting. I loved how when Brenden asked why they don't hang out with them, Jason says "Who would want to?" and Paula says "Jason has a good point." I love Paula and that whole conversation in the lawn chairs was the best part of the episode. Jason: "I love hanging out at the Small's."

Coach McGuirk's stuff was good too. I love it when his psychotic breakdowns freak out Brenden. His Scottish dancing was bizarre in the best John McGuirk manner.

The movie parody of "Amelie" was funny too. I like how they got Cho involved and that changed him into a hippie. I also loved it when W&P saved Brenden from him by being freaky. Jason's cracks at his lame one-liners was so funny as was Melissa's bizarro crush culminating in beating down Brenden for wrecking him. A very funny show. ****1/2

The Landstander: Wow, I didn't care for this one at all. Watching this with "Those Bitches Tried to Cheat Me" shows how this season can work really well or just fall completely flat.

A bunch of stuff happens in this episode. Brendon's team takes on a major opponent, and Brendon accidently scores a goal. Cho gets mad at Brendon, and Walter & Perry help him out. Walter & Perry demand Brendon, Jason, and Melissa hang out with them because of this. Brendon's grandfather helps him fight in case this happens again. McGuirk discovers his old fondness for Scottish Highland Dancing. The movie is an "Amelie" parody entitled "Amy Lee". Notice how nothing really connects? Each plot seems like an idea that might've worked in another episode, but are tossed in haphazardly for a quick joke. The best connection I can make is the idea of pressuring someone. Maybe.

Now, HM is usually not a big plot show anyway, so this could work if it had that good old dialogue humor fans know and love. It...doesn't. Walter & Perry are great characters and I actually don't think the show overkilled them in general; but here, they are plain annoying as hell. Their evil side comes out of nowhere, and seems cheap and forced. Bleh. Brendon's grandpa...was just there, really. Though that sequence with Brendon punching him lasted far, far too long. Cho just wasn't a very good character.

The best part of the episode, oddly enough, was McGuirk's Scottish Highland Dancing plot. It was kinda neat to get some info on his father, and maybe even some background into why McGuirk coaches (or, to word better, doesn't coach) the way he does. But even that winds up as a quick "look at McGuirk's ass" joke in the end.

Low on humor, character, and plot, this episode did little for me. If I sound a bit harsh, it's because I really enjoy the show and therefore hate when they have an episode that goes against everything that makes it work. A mediocre episode.