The Flag In The Pancake! Of Course!

The Cleveland Show, S03E14

Last Sunday, Cleveland tried to bond with his father, the infamously callous Freight Train, but instead Junior is showered with the fatherly love that Cleveland just can't seem to grab (just like a certain flag).  Rallo also gets a car and drives it around town with his friends (What?  All of those mothers, including Donna, should be arrested).  I would have figured a story about Cleveland whining about Freight Train not loving him enough (He should have given up long ago) would have made me want to fast-forward to Rallo being adorably reckless, but it was much better than I thought.

They started the episode strongly with Rallo watching BET's "Projects Runway."  This parody was amplified by Tim Gunn actually voicing himself who was promptly beat on the street by his thug contestants.  I would watch that show, providing they could keep Tim alive (I think he is just a delightful man).  Rallo sweetens the joke by commenting, "Really, BET?"  I don't often watch that channel anymore, but sometimes when I hear about the shows they have (or have had), that is the kind of thing I would say.

We all should by now know that Junior is a genius of some sorts, so when he was predicting the outcome of the game before it had even started, it was a no-brainer that he would be right.  However, I couldn't foresee the kind of system that he would use:  which mascot would win in a "real" fight?  If only it were a matter of imagining the fight between all of those mascots to see which team would be the winner.  I think Junior's most far-fetched calculation (that we were allowed to see, anyway) was when he figured that Clemson's Tiger would win against Texas's Longhorn.  They were fighting in space, on a platform where spikes were coming out of the ground, but the deciding factor was that the bull would just be too clumsy and fall off into the void of space.  With those kinds of scenarios, Junior could just make up any winner he wished.  He should get into writing books because he is out of control with his imagination.  It was funny, though.

Cleveland, and probably the audience, didn't expect that Junior and Freight Train would continue to hang out when the gambling was through (although I had expected Junior to make a bad bet and lose his grandfather's favor that way), but Freight Train and Junior became an unstoppable combo.  Cleveland was beside himself with jealousy, especially when Freight Train referenced Star Wars (here we go again, Seth MacFarlane--it's like watching Muppet Babies sometimes), and Cleveland had been wanting to get him to watch that forever ago.  What was really good about when Junior and FT decided to bond permanently was the cutaway to the two enjoying a teeter-totter.  Their faces were so close while they were lying next to each other, and Junior asked if FT was going to kiss him.  Thank you for voicing what I was thinking with anxiety (you never know in SF world--they like to go there).  Also, Cleveland using a fake guillotine to show that they would continue to gamble over his dead body was good.  Freaked me out for a second, but then I laughed at how far he needed to go to make his point.

I didn't think we would ever understand why FT didn't like Cleveland, beyond just assuming that FT just didn't like how different Cleveland turned out to be from himself, but Cleveland's sappy speech and complaining prompted FT to remind Cleveland of how he let down his father many years ago.  It was all because they competed in this Double Dare-esq showed called "Dare Squared."  Oh, my God!  That takes me back!  When FT was talking about him not finding a flag in a pancake, I was like, "What the hell is he talking about??" until I saw them on that game show.  That was such a great show and so messy!  Of course, Seth MacFarlane puts his own twisted spin on the flag challenge with a toilet and a birth tube out of a woman's vagina, but the pancake thing was very close to something they would actually have on that show.  I loved this reference, and the fact that Cleveland was so blind he couldn't find the flag that was in plain sight (There were many times I was yelling at the TV for the contestants to find those flags that seemed right in their face).  FT claims that incident was the start of his life going to hell.  Unlikely, but I enjoy a good grudge where you can mutter bitterly about something like:

It was under the damn butter.

This will probably go under one of my favorite random references in the SF world.  This one is almost as good as when Peter was fighting Mr. Washee Street Fighter style.

It was pointless to think that FT would change and start loving Cleveland (unless he got into a time machine and found that damn flag), but it was likely that Junior would recognize that Cleveland was a better father than FT would ever be, and those two would be closer after their golf tournament was through.  It was nice that Junior recalled his days of playing golf back in Quahog (where he was a naturally gifted player) and commented that he was heavier now than he was (I'll admit that character change was hard to overlook at first, even though Junior barely had any scenes in Family Guy).

Rallo, during this battle for FT's love, was purchasing himself a car through all the change Donna neglected to collect from him after she would send him on errands for her.  Speaking of neglect, um, who sends a boy of his age to fetch some frosting or anything from the store on his own?  No matter how close it was or safe a neighborhood, Rallo is only about so big--he has a higher chance of falling down a gutter than making it to the store safely.  Donna is messed up!  But Rallo is a little genius, keeping all that money until he had $2900 to spend on a '67 Mustang.  What??  It's amazing what you can buy on the internet and what children can do with the internet despite their young age.

I loved Rallo driving around town in his car with his friends.  I kept thinking he was going to crash right away, but he had several joyrides before that happened.  The absolute best part of him having his own car was when he was lost and asked for directions at the gas station.  Instead of using an address or a map, he showed the cashier a crayon-drawn picture of his house.  That was so cute!!  And hilarious.  I thought he would get caught then and there, but he ran as soon as the guy looked like he was going to call the police.  Again, smart little boy.

You would think that when he was drinking and texting, Rallo would crash the car then.  Nope.  Those writers are good at making you wonder when the inevitable will happen.  Rallo didn't even have an accident when he left the wheel and jumped in the back to beat up his annoying friends.  Dang!  That is some luck.  He finally ran out it when he drove through the golf course and was propelled out of his seat into the air (another cute and funny Rallo moment).  They ended the episode strongly as well with Rallo popping out of the dirt like a little gopher and singing.  I have never seen Caddyshack, but somehow I knew this was a reference to that movie.  How, I'm not sure.  I think I must have heard that there was a gopher in it somewhere, and it's the only 80s movie I can think of about golf (in SF World, you're pretty safe to assume the movie references are from the 80s).  Perhaps I might have thought it even funnier if I had seen the movie, but Rallo makes me smile just on his own account.

This episode was balanced well between it being about Cleveland and also about his sons, without the women in his family really being involved.  However, it makes me worry that next time we'll have to see more of them to preserve the status quo.  If that's the case, I really hope that they put in another little Rallo sidestory (although last week the story wasn't bad on its own).  Rallo always makes everything better.