Episode 209: Class Trip

Cast:
Brendon Small/Perry/ Ken Addleburg – Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis/Coach Jon McGuirk/Walter – H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins – Melissa Bardin Galsky
Paula Small – Janine Ditullo
Mr. Lynch – Ron Lynch
Fenton Muley – Sam Seder
Clarice – Valerie Kappa

Synopsis: Brendon attempts escape during a field trip to shoot a movie, but the situation becomes much harder when Paula becomes a chaperone. McGuirk needs money, and needs a new identity to get it.

History:
· This episode introduces Clarice. She appeared in Season 3, where we meet "her boyfriend".

Lawn Gnomes: (Click for picture)
· There is a golden lawn gnome in the safe at the beginning of “The Queen of Diamonds”.

Brendon’s Filmography:
· “The Queen of Diamonds” – Crime drama about a woman caught in blackmail with a mysterious man. Or something.

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· At the beginning of “The Queen of Diamonds”, the Queen of Diamonds (Melissa) is trying to steal diamonds without her father noticing. In the episode, Brendon is trying to sneak away on the field trip without Paula noticing.

The Plotline Connection: (TheJazzFighter)
· Well, everyone goes on the Class Trip, including Paula, so thats a bit of a connection. McGuirks stoyline eventually gets mixed in with the main storyline.

Songs:
· This episode features the “Bus Guitar Theme” at the end. Acoustic and pretty good.

Random Observations & Facts:
· Melissa shines the flashlight on Jason’s shadow. If she shines a light on something, shouldn’t that get rid of the shadow?
· The flashlight in “The Queen of Diamonds” says “Property Q. of D.”
· Signs in the teacher’s lounge: “Plastic: It’s here to stay!” “Shop Class (Picture of a finger) It’s No Joke”
· There is a note from Eddie in the teacher’s lounge (see Past Episode References)
· When McGuirk is electrocuted, we can see: A metal plate in his head, what appears to be a tail, something metal under his ribs on one side and something round (a marble?) on the other.
· McGuirk first applies for a job at “Bustlin Burger”.
· McGuirk gets a job at Galaxy Coffee. Their signs include “Over 1 Billion LifeForms Served” “Come In We Are Open Earthlings” “Lunar Latte”
· Mistake: Jason is one year younger than Brendon and Melissa, yet he goes on their class’s field trip.
· The bus says “Skool Bus”.
· Reactions to Addleburg tossing out Lynch: Fenton looks on with a smug look on his face, Walter & Perry look worried, Paula starts laughing.
· Jason is reading the personals when he’s in the bathroom.
· Ken apparently weight lifted 180 lbs.
· Walter & Perry are on an exercise bike together in the weight room.
· Everyone apparently bought merchandise from Galaxy Coffee: Paula has a mug, Lynch has a hat, Walter & Perry got some biscotti, McGuirk got a mug and a pin, and Brendon got a shirt and a hat.
· Instead of just having the rattling sound during the Soup2Nuts logo, you hear Jason’s line: “Uh…need more T.P.!”

Past Episode References:
· In the teacher’s lounge, there is a note: “Dear John, Doing Better In Arizona. Miss you a lot. Love, Eddie”. This is a reference to Episode 207 – Dad. Now isn’t that sweet?
· The cartoonist in Episode 208 – Therapy is seen at Galaxy Coffee. I have a feeling it could represent one of the Home Movies writers/animators.
· Red Eye Whiskey is available in the hotel room mini-fridge. This first appeared in Episode 112 – Law and Boarder.
· The published poet from Episode 108 – Method of Acting makes his third appearance on the show in the coffee shop.

Movie References:
· The main movie in the episode is a reference to "Psycho". (Thanks to J. Kustes for reminding me to add this)

End Credits: “Bus Guitar Music”

Reviews: WARNING: Spoilers

Spectre: I think I have witnessed either the best or one of the best episodes of the season. Everything was so well put together. You know how in nearly every HM episode there is a new movie that Brendon and his friends create? Well, the one in this episode, while not being as classic as the shrinking man one, was indeed classic. A hilarious spoof of Hitchcock films, everything was perfect. As the episode goes on, later segments of their movie get better because of the suspense off the camera -- for fear that -- them, filming in a hotel -- are going to be caught (it's illegal). So you'll be laughing at what seems like unintentional moments to Brendon that are incredibly intentional.

The humor and everything just grew from the start of the episode and began building. I can think of so many good moments. The great, great ending on the bus (featuring Walter and Perry's most uncomfortable moment as of yet; beautiful guitar music and a great way to show our favorite characters in place), Fenton complaining to the guy with the horrible accent about how he can't understand him, Melissa running away from the hotel closet, the movie sequences, Coach McGuirk's name when he works at certain places, etc, etc. Great episode, loved it. Grade: A+

Randomguy: Flawless. A++++ episode. Here's what made this episode a classic:

-As Spectre said, the new film was hilarious. As time went on, its twists got more and more absurd. Jason's "Ok then, let's go to bed" bit that started the episode was insanely funny
-FENTON! Since "The Party" was probably my favorite HM episode, I jumped with joy when I saw Fenton make his second appearance. Just as well done this time around, although he was slightly more subdued. Maybe Coach McGuirk actually did change him a little.
-Walter and Perry. I know some hate them, but I think their little romance subplot is hilarious. I hope they continue to make homophobic viewers feel awkward.
-McGuirk. At first, his subplot was extremely tacked-on, but it endured itself to you. By the end, it came together with the main plot, and brought things full circle.
-The Premise. Having everybody go on a class trip was a great way to get all the characters together within a few feet interacting with some new scenery.
-Absence of Linda and Brendan's dad. I like the new plot with those two, but the brief respite here was welcome.
-Paula. Instead of having her own plot here, she got written in with everybody else, where she's funnier anyway.
-Lynch got some good scenes too. Which elude me right now.
-The ending. It brought everything together, gave all the characters and their relationships a good moment, and came a little closer to confirming my theory that McGuirk is really Brendan's father figure. Creepy though that might be. Their little awkward exchange at the end was very appropriate and strangely affectionate. This was complemented by the AWESOME guitar bus theme, just a simple but beautiful tune with the acoustic guitar. The music this season has been so good (and under appreciated) it's ridiculous. In-between this and Sunset Theme and whatever played at the end of "Therapy", HM NEEDS a CD release. Desperately.

What more can I say? Simply Awesome.

The Condiment King: I actually think I liked this episode a bit better than "The Party", if only because I've seen it less times, but I do think this episode is a bit better. Fenton isn't as full force here, and we have a very solid Brendon, Melissa, and Jason plot of trying to sneak into a hotel to film their latest project, while McGuirk tries to get a job moonlighting at a coffee shop. Both were great.

That same Black Hole Brew was in the refrigerator in the hotel that Ken Addelberg closed. There's a nice gag with Fenton instigating Addelberg with Walter & Perry going crazy and Paula trying to keep up with the kids. Lynch isn't much in this one but he has perhaps the best line of the episode: "I was so afraid I was going to lose some, they were running all over the place." "What happened?" "..I lost some kids."

This is also the introduction of Clarice, who is yet another obsessively annoying character. Its really odd how Home Movies seems to have quite a few of these characters, just different variations of annoyance like how Fenton and Linda whine and Arnold Lindenson never gives you good news or does anything for you. I love the line that McGuirk does to describe her, "Please blink, because blinking shows that you're human." McGuirk is also great how he asks her age and then says that he could "potentially" get involved with a co-worker.

This was another movie that was funny because of its ineptitude, such as Brendon, Melissa, and Jason trying to do their lines from memory. Yet again, Melissa does the literal joke of repeating herself slower when Brendon says slow down. This joke is recurring alot more than I figured. The best part of this is that they lose focus on the plot and run over each other in the lines.

There was no real continuity to this episode like alot of the other episodes of the season with Linda and Andrew or Cynthia or Paula needing a job. None of these lingering storylines showed up in this episode, and yet this episode might have been one of the better episodes of the seasons. Whereas the story arcs of Season 2 were altogether good, perhaps they restricted the material a little bit. Is the end of this episode a "The Graduate" reference? ****

Shnay: I really liked this episode, very solid all around. After the last two "character driven" episodes, this simply focuses on comedy while throwing any logical story out the window (which I'll get to later). It had very good pacing, and stayed pretty funny throughout. Some highlights for me were the opening movie, the hotel manager showing things to Fenton and the kids, and the chaotic confrontations in the coffee shop at the end, to name a few.

Now to nitpick. Why the hell would kids go on a class field trip to a hotel? I thought kids only went to museums or factories. Also, I think Walter and Perry (who, for the record, I find very funny) are supposed to go to a private school, considering they're both wearing uniforms. And finally, why is the sausage guy from "Identifying a Body" managing a hotel? I know he worked another job (which I can't remember now) but seeing him continually appearing as seemingly different characters is kind of strange. But, he's funny, so I'll let it slide.

Pabcool: I felt that even though I wanted to kill Clarice, this episode outdid itself. I enjoyed Fenton's reactions to the very annoying (and very creepy) duo of Walter and Perry. As for the McGuirk sub-plot, it was possibly the best part of this episode. (the Brendon Small thing was genius, and the "don't pay me" line was great) I also enjoyed the throwaway jokes with Alison, ("She was at the airport") and the main plot with Brendon, particularly the actual movie.

I give "Class Trip" An A-.

StrangerAtaru: For some strange reason, when you see an episode like this, a general ensemble episode with various elements we have seen before and stuff you think could be predictable, it should not work. Yet in this case, we have another classic season 2 episode. I'll start with what I consider the weakest link of the situations (even though it was still funny): the whole movie situation with Brendon, Jason and Melissa. While there were some inspired moments, "The Queen of Diamonds" is not one of the more memorable movies to me, partially because it is somewhat confusing to figure out what is going on and where. On the other hand, it is funny seeing those three sneak away and interact within the hotel, leading to some great things occuring. (such as Jason being thought to be a bellhop and the climax of the plot where they have to hide in the hotel room) Paula had some great scenes in this episode with both her son (such as the scene where she reveals she is going on the trip) and Lynch (the list), trying to keep her cool over a situation where some people would find themselves at wit's end. One of the more surprising performances in this episode I thought was Fenton, whom after coming off as "annoying annoying" in "The Party", became more "comedic annoying" here, primarily with his troubles with both Walter and Perry (who had another weird, but funny appearance) and Mr. Addelburg. (unfortunately, this is perhaps one of the only times I actually like Fenton) And then of course is the most problematic, yet comedically rewarding plot in the whole episode: McGurk's part-time job. Although I thought that it was a tad too convinient that he got a job so quickly at a place conviniently placed next to the field trip location in something that got him there in the first place (throwing a coffee machine on the Principal's car), it turned out to be one of the funniest sub-plot of them all. (I mean, only McGurk would steal Brendon's name to have a better background check) Clarise was a tad annoying, but also somewhat funny in saying all of these things that probably had nothing to do with the whole thing. And then, of course, was the classic climax where Brendon goes to the coffee shop.....but I think that part speaks for itself. Overall, a great episode that probably, if someone else tried to do it, wouldn't have been as funny.

The Landstander: Another "let's get every character together" episode that, while not quite as good as The Party, is still quite a watch.

Beginning with a funny sequence involving a botched diamond heist, Brendon needs to film 36 scenes at a hotel, which they will be visiting during a field trip. Simple enough, but Paula agrees to chaperone. The movie is very funny on its own; the plot twists themselves would be fine, but the fact that the cast can't remember their lines just makes it work more. Fenton, Walter & Perry, Lynch, Addleburg and Paula all have some nice hotel material as well. Walter & Perry always worked well with Fenton being their target of annoyance, as he plays well off their eccentricity. A line like "I want to be a bell" is something only improv could produce.

Meanwhile, McGuirk gets into a financial problem when he destroys the principal's car in a bit of rage over a coffee machine. When his background presents problems for potential employers, McGuirk does the logical thing: Tells a coffee shop that his name is Brendon Small. Of course, any situation like this has to come together at some point, which it does in a hilarious coffee house sequence.

The episode ends on a melancholy note, with everyone talking about their experience and Brendon/McGuirk having an odd little moment. There's not much to this episode in theory beyond just having the characters be who they are, but it truly works excellently. Highly Recommended.