The Muppets 1.04: “Pig Out”
Piggy, Animal, and a selfie stick.
While this episode may have a bit of trouble with Fozzie and Statler, however, when it comes to Piggy’s A-plot, it basically fires on all cylinders. It starts off with Piggy overhearing Honeydew and Beaker talking to Bobo about going out for drinks after the show and thereby learning that the entire staff hangs out at Rowlf’s every night after Up Late wraps, and she instantly demands that Kermit get her invited, despite his protestations that he doesn’t go either, as it’s the crew’s chance to blow off some steam about the bosses (which then cuts to footage of the entire gang laughing their heads off at Beaker’s killer impression of Piggy at one of these late-night gab sessions; rarely has his “Me-me-me-me-me” been put to better use!). Piggy, however, insists that Kermit work his magic, promising to reject the invitation once she gets it. “I just want to be asked,” she says. Which is all just so perfectly Piggy. She wants to be “surprised” by an invitation that she demanded in order to feel better about herself, even though it isn’t actually sincere, and then to boost her ego and sense of power even further, she gets to say “no”!
But once Pepe actually asks her–well, technically she actually supplies the words herself, since he has trouble even getting them out–she actually says yes, a brilliant move on her part that puts the frog in his place while simultaneously lifting herself up even further. “Back when I was a young chorus girl,” she tells him afterwards, “every now and then, the star would join us after the show and it would be such a thrill. Now, it’s time for me to brighten my crew’s drab little lives!” As always, this show truly understands Miss Piggy and what drives her. Yes, she’s entirely self-deluded in many, colorful ways to the point that she’ll even believe her own hype (that she created herself!), but at the same time, as Kermit says later, “she’s so desperate to be loved,” and that underlying desperation (come to think of it, a running theme with many of the Muppets) is what softens her sometimes jagged edges.
And, though, the evening begins as a total disaster, with her trying to “relate” to them by discussing the “terrible” day she had trying to deal with her landscape designer and then being stuck in traffic in her limo (Rizzo says, “I’ve had more fun in a glue trap!”), when her friend, Ed Helms, arrives at Rowlf’s and joins them, she finally stops trying so hard to get them to like her and just has fun with them, leading to a brilliant evening of karaoke in which all of the Muppets there take part. Ed, Piggy, Scooter, and Bobo sing the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe,” Gonzo, Rizzo, and Pepe do the B-52’s “Love Shack,” the Swedish Chef does a hilarious, insta-classic take on Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” Janice sings Lisa Loeb’s “Stay” (during which Uncle Deadly has to close Sam’s agape mouth for him!), Beaker and Honeydew take on the roles of Sonny and Cher in “I’ve Got You, Babe,” Sam does his aforementioned Bette Midler cover, and Ed, Sweetums, and Bobo perform a rousing rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop, Believin'”. Which is all wonderful, because it honors the Muppets’ musical roots, and specifically their 70s musical roots (Cher was actually one of the Muppets’ biggest proponents and their appearances on her show were very influential in their finally getting their own show).
Also, after a bunch of episodes stuffed with guest stars, it was nice to have one that quieted down a bit (relatively) and just had a single one, who as with most of the previous celebrities, beautifully blended into the Muppets’ world. I particularly love how Piggy thought his having a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese was strange until he explains to her that he only did it because his young niece had had one there and didn’t invite him, so he had done the same, not inviting her. After being offended by Christina Applegate’s lack of rudeness to restaurant hostesses last week, this is childish vindictiveness she can get behind (and relate to)! He also tosses himself into the karaoke with a terrifically Muppety lack of abandon. And his presence also allows for a fantastically meta moment in which Floyd asks Ed where he might know him from and Ed answers, “Maybe The Office,” which The Muppets‘ format specifically parodies, and Floyd thinks he means their office.
More Karaoke fun!
Later on in the evening, Scooter suggests that they all have to leave in order to get up early for work the next morning but Piggy reassures him that there’s no reason to pay heed to that “little green buzzkill”. They can stay out as late as they want and come in as late as they want the next morning. Basically, Piggy’s being the “fun” parent, completely unaware of how much work it takes to actually put on her show. And so, the next day, when Kermit arrives early, expecting everyone to have had a miserable time, he’s taken aback to say the least to discover a completely empty studio. Other than Yolanda, that is, who explains to him what happened and then delivers the line of the night, “Hey, Kermit, be a hero. Get me one 8th of an Advil, woud ya?”
Finally, once everyone has been coralled into work and to the morning meeting, Kermit is shocked to see their sorry, exhausted, hungover state. Some of them have exhausted, droopy eyes (Pepe, Animal, Beaker), some are missing their glasses (Scooter, looking absolutely bizarre without his signature specs, explaining that he dropped them while performing “Maniac” from Flashdance and proceeded to step on them “like 400 times”) and some are wearing one another’s clothes (Beaker and Honeydew; “If it happens outside of work, we don’t owe him an explanation,” Honeydew firmly says to Beaker.). And just as Kermit is about to command that none of them go out that late with Piggy ever again, she sails in, inviting them all to a party with Usher that very night. And of course they all excitedly say yes, because she’s the cool mom now, leaving Kermit to have to manipulate her into withdrawing the invitation.
“You’re too special…to hang out with the crew,” he tells her. “You’re a glamorous icon, Piggy…You’re an ideal that they should be reaching for…What’s best for them is to see that you’re unapproachable…Like the stars in the sky, you were meant to be admired from a distance.” And she agrees. “I do feel bad for them,” she says, then correcting herself: “No, wait, I envy them. What I would give to know what it’s like to look up and see me from below!” Which is particularly funny because the camera then cuts to an enormous photo of Piggy hanging over both of them, meaning she has definitely experienced this sensation before!
Finally, she breaks all their hearts, but thanks to Kermit’s pep talk, believes she’s doing it for them, really. It’s for their own good that they not hang out with her, and so she tells them that she’ll be having a wonderful time at the party without them! After she leaves, Kermit apologizes on her behalf. “What can I say?” he says. “I’ll never know how Piggy’s brain works,” chuckling deviously to himself on his way out. “What can I say?” he told the camera shortly before. “I can manipulate with the best, because I learned from the best….Piggy really is the best, isn’t she?” A great moment, as it leaves the possibility open that he isn’t just referring to her being the best in terms of deviousness.
Now, overall, I found this plot a smashing success, full of great individual bits while also coming together beautifully both on comedic and character development levels. I have a small amount of concern regarding the fact that this is the second episode of four that culminated with Kermit manipulating Piggy, not because I necessarily have a problem with that but in both cases, the method and outcome are similar, using Piggy’s own egotism against her. However, if the writers don’t return to this well too often, I won’t have a problem with it going forwards.
A self-satisfied Kermit.
I know some people have expressed concern about Kermit sometimes seeming a bit more ruthless on this show, but even on The Muppet Show, Kermit was an often frazzled producer trying to juggle and wrangle tons of crazy people and things, always putting out dozens of fires at once. The implication here seems to be that he learned some new methods of dealing with them from Piggy herself, which I like, and we did have that sweet moment last week where Kermit realized he hadn’t been fair to Fozzie, implying he hasn’t gone “dark,” to speak.
Basically, we’re just seeing a very stressed-out Kermit here. It would be nice to get more tender moments from him a la the final few scenes of last week, but at the same time, we are still getting them in subtler doses, such as the little catch in his voice when he calls Piggy “the best”. Also, after quite a few years of a sometimes overly softened Kermit, it’s nice to see him have a bit more of an edge again. People forget that, when Jim was alive, Kermit could be a bit snarky and sarcastic. In fact, Jim himself would say that that was one of their primary divergences in personality!
I sign off for now with just one final question: is it so difficult to actually feature Rowlf in an episode in which Muppets sing at a bar that is…oh, yeah…owned by Rowlf? Sheesh!
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