Cattle Court: Opinions and Analysis

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
As no suprise, season seven hits us once again with a spectacular episode!

I enjoyed every plot in this episode, and I can't really pick a favorite. Hal and Dewey was great because it was really insightful on what Hal's whole thinking is on "life". According to him, life is full of nothing but disappointment:D . And I really enjoyed his version of the game "LIFE". In the actual board game, it always ends up being a happy scenario, and if you ask me, Hal's "LIFE" was ALOT more realistic and sensible. The part of the plot I loved is when Hal finally wins and instead of giving Dewey some little heartfelt speech on finally achieving goals, Hal...gloats and calls Dewey a looser:D . Reese had a great plot as well! Im suprised he dropped the telemarketing job so quickly though(?). Anyway, I loved how he met, of all things, a vegetarian girl, and how he goes on that picnic packing meat for himself(Reese needs meat every five minutes?:D ). Damn funny when the dogs attack him and go straight for his crotch(anyone else notice that?). It was really funny at the end seeing Reese release the animals at the slaughterhouse. I wonder if that won him the girl for the rest of this season? Malcolm and Lois had a great plot and it was one of the funniest of the show. I loved how Malcolm got Craig to start timidly attacking Lois by doing trivial stuff such as putting her name tag upside down:)D ). It was soo funny at the end to see Craig in the leather jacket ready to take his life on the road, and of course his goal was to eat a certain type of pancake at every IHOP in the US:D ! I loved Craig's line after he was trampled by all the animals Reese freed: "When you need someone to paint your lawn or mow your house!":D

Now the verdict:
Hal/Dewey-10/10 Hal's version of LIFE was genius!
Lois/Malcolm/Craig-9.5/10 Craig is the most ridiculous human being on earth!
Reese-9.5/10 Great story for him and his dream about being tried by animals was hilarious!
OVERALL-9.5/10

Season seven proves lightining hits twice...and thrice...and fourthice...and fifthice.....and you get the picture.:)
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
Sadly i was dissappointed with the episode. IMO not a strong point of the season, plots where a bit predictable, the whole Vegatrain plot has been done similar before, and i just didnt really thinks it was that good.

I loved Craig in it tho, and that was a good plot, epecially the pen thing and his evil laugh. Well the whole is it the correct order things it debatable becuase we have seen hal jump from job to job without much explanastions and the purpose of the telemarketing job was as a storyline and as they often do in mitm they revert back to orginal setup after stortyline finishes. SO maybe the other orer was better but i dont think i was a big deal, i could see it fine.

Well done to tyno for guessing that the picture MITM18 gave us was from a dream. Althought i did realy like the whole reese plot, the court its self was quite good.
 

rzombie1988

New member
I liked this episode but I felt I've seen some of it before in different episodes. With the whole doing little things to get someone mad being used last episode by Dewey(also used in an early episode by the Krelboynes), and Hal doing something that is time consuming to teach a lesson. Didn't Reese release some animal in the past as well?

I don't understand why Reese is now back at his old job, unless because the last two episodes really did get shuffled, which someone said.

I was also dissapointed with this episode because it's not doing anything to lead or even tease to the last episode.

The episode was good, but I really don't know how to judge it. Some parts brought it up but then others brought it right back down so, I'd say it was a 5 out of 10.
 

Kratos

New member
RE; Reese's Job... after this weeks eppy might it be safe to say he got the sack? :p Or maybe from his ethical stance he quit fully.

He might have had two jobs? His telemarking thing might have been temp work. He might not be working at all now. With only two eps left it's possible we might never find out!


I enjoyed Lois/Malcolm/Craig plot the most this week. Craig is truly unlucky around that family!
 

ahelm13

New member
Let me explain the Reese thing.

The two previously aired episodes (Stevie in the Hospital and Bomb Shelter) were produced AFTER Cattle Court. One would assume that Reese gets fired after letting all of the cattle loose and so he then gets the job as a telemarketer in Stevie in the Hospital.

Usually showing Malcolm episodes out of production order doesn't effect the long term trends, but this time it did.

About the episode, I thought it was pretty good. It was fun to see Hal and Dewey and the game and even though it seemed Hal wanted to teach Dewey a lesson, I think that he really just wanted to win.

Reese was interesting with his plan to hide the meat, and the dream sequence was also very amusing.

It was nice to see a sense of finality for Craig, and the converation after the bulls wreck the motorcycle was very funny.
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
Maybe I've just been spoiled by all the excellent season 7 episodes that we've seen recently, but I have to agree with others who said that this one wasn't really anything special. Not that it was bad, but it didn't leave me with that big grin on my face that I usually have after watching an awesome episode. :D

The Malcolm/Lois/Craig plot was my favorite. It's funny that Craig still thinks there's a chance between him and Lois after all these years. Malcolm's trying to trick him into thinking that Lois only uses him and takes advange of him was funny, yet mean at the same time. Craig is so sensitive and "in love" with Lois that he just can't fathom telling her 'no' to anything so he resorts to silly little pranks that she wouldn't even notice and tries to make himself believe that he's really doing something to get back at her. And it wouldn't be a fitting Craig episode if something terrible didn't happen to him before it was over. Poor guy!

The Hal/Dewey plot kind of dragged on for me. But I have to give Hal props for trying to invent a game that was true to life in an effort to show Dewey that bad/unexpected things happen and life isn't just fun and games. It was funny at the end when Dewey was being sincere and admitting that he had learned a "life lesson" and Hal laughed in his face and called him a loser. :D BTW, did anyone else notice the camera seemed to be shaking around a lot during that last scene? I think they were trying to make us feel their delirium from being up playing the game for so long. Either that, or I'm gong crazy. :D

Reeses' plot was okay. I thought it was a little extreme that he couldn't go without meat for one afternoon so he had to resort to "rigging" himself with a hidden stash. Of course, it was just a plot device so Carrie would discover his secret. Nice save by him at the end when he set the cows free from the slaughterhouse--even though we're led to believe that it ended badly for them.

Question: Do blood sausages really have blood in them? That's enough to make someone want to be a vegetarian right there! :Sick:
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
ahelm13 said:
The two previously aired episodes (Stevie in the Hospital and Bomb Shelter) were produced AFTER Cattle Court. One would assume that Reese gets fired after letting all of the cattle loose and so he then gets the job as a telemarketer in Stevie in the Hospital.

Usually showing Malcolm episodes out of production order doesn't effect the long term trends, but this time it did.

Thanks for clearing that up for everyone; that's certainly what happened--it was even scheduled to be aired in the right order and then Cattle Court got backed up 2 weeks for whatever reason...

Anyway, I think what we've seen now the last couple of weeks are a series of episodes meant to tie up loose ends. There's many an affair that the writers have left us hanging on, and I think as the series comes to a close, they're ready to make sure we know what's going on before we won't have anymore updates, if you will. Last week's confirmed the friendship between Malcolm and Stevie. This week, Craig's feelings since episode 2 are confirmed to us, and I have a feeling that trend will continue with Morp and Graduation. With this in mind, it was a great episode.
 

Kratos

New member
Wildcat said:
Reeses' plot was okay. I thought it was a little extreme that he couldn't go without meat for one afternoon so he had to resort to "rigging" himself with a hidden stash. Of course, it was just a plot device so Carrie would discover his secret. Nice save by him at the end when he set the cows free from the slaughterhouse--even though we're led to believe that it ended badly for them.

Question: Do blood sausages really have blood in them? That's enough to make someone want to be a vegetarian right there! :Sick:


I agree it was a bit OTT, but it did crack me up a little. I also think it works better that Justin (I think????? :confused: ???) is a veggie and loves dogs so the actor and charactor couldnt be more different. :p

Lois; "found; a tumour" lol Hal is so wicked.

Sausages are so disgusting anyways, its all the rubbish that comes off the other animal parts, then it all gets mashed together *vomits*
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
Im pretty sure loads willbe left unanswered, its the MITM style, and it gives us something to do.

I regard to Christina, i know a couple of people who have to have meat in every meal - werid i know buts its pretty comman.
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
I know this is slightly off topic, but it does kind of relate to the episode and I had to share.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding)

Blood sausage or black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking down the blood of an animal with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled.....The ingredients include pig's blood, suet, bread, barley and oatmeal.....The most common variant of German Blutwurst is made from fatty pork meat, beef blood and filler such as barley. Though already cooked and "ready to eat" it is usually served warm.

I'm sorry, but :Sick:. It doesn't sound quite as gross as they made it look on the show though (with blood actually dripping out of it.)

(No offense meant to anyone who likes blood sausage. Apparently, in Europe it's pretty common, but not so much in the USA)
 

ReMoss85

New member
Worst episode of the season, easily. And why was I under the impression that Craig was over Lois? Was it just that that storyline hasn't been even mentioned since what, season 2? I suppose it was good to tie up the loose ends, but the "Craig loves Lois" boat has long sailed.
 

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
Geez, am I the only one who liked this episode?! And come on, people, be grateful that we even HAVE MITM right now because come May 14, it's gone, and by then you'll probably be sorry you put down some of the final episodes.
 

PBUNDY

New member
Actually in the episode "Standee", when Lois was trying to get rid of the offensive cardboard guy Craig mentioned that he had clothes for Lois in his car, so he was obviously still into her then.
 

rzombie1988

New member
tony_montana said:
Geez, am I the only one who liked this episode?! And come on, people, be grateful that we even HAVE MITM right now because come May 14, it's gone, and by then you'll probably be sorry you put down some of the final episodes.

I think I speak for all of us, when I say we are grateful. I personally won't be sorry though. I have been expecting more out of them since they are the last few episodes, and I think others have as well. Putting down the episodes and being sorry its gone are two different things altogether. I think it's better that we are honest about how we feel, rather than lying about it and saying we liked them more than we actually did.
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
rzombie1988 said:
I think I speak for all of us, when I say we are grateful. I personally won't be sorry though. I have been expecting more out of them since they are the last few episodes, and I think others have as well. Putting down the episodes and being sorry its gone are two different things altogether. I think it's better that we are honest about how we feel, rather than lying about it and saying we liked them more than we actually did.

I agree, I know I'll definitely be really sad when it's gone, but there's no need to say that I thought the ep was excellent when I didn't really feel that way. It was a good episode--a lot better than some in previous seasons--but by the high standards that season 7 has set so far, it was at the lower end of the spectrum (for me anyway.) Like I mentioned earlier, maybe it's just cause I've been spoiled by all the great eps recently. :D
 

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
I admit as well it wasn't the most stupendous episode ever, but it doesn't deserve the mediocre ratings it is being given. It was more of a "thinking" episode if you ask me, especially with the Hal/Dewey storyline.
 

Malcoholic

New member
The showpiece scene, Reese's nightmare trial by his animal victims, is a great example of how this show uses dream scenes to break the routine of showing the same characters in their familiar situations. The staging achieves a surreal effect using the same technique as Reese's nightmare in "Billboard"--a solid-color background (hot pink in "Billboard," solid black here). The nightmares in both episodes are triggered by repressed feelings of guilt: the background here is that at his job in the meat-packing plant Reese has been moved to the killing floor, where he's involved hands-on in the killing of hundreds of animals every day. The primitive, hunter/predator side of Reese revels in the gore--killing animals is what hunter/predators do; but his repressed, sentimental side causes lurking guilt feelings that emerge in the nightmare. It's a strikingly funny scene, especially the way Reese bungles his defense: "It's not my fault you're all so delicious!" And: "Is anybody else getting hungry?"

The other stories are familiar stuff--Craig's hopeless longing for Lois, Hal's petty childishness. If, as I suspect, this is the last we'll see of Craig, it's an appropriate send-off to show him stuck with the same delusions about a hookup with Lois as when he was first introduced in "Red Dress." This show tends to show the adult characters as trapped in their personalities: they can't change, even when they recognize that their behavior is absurd. Hal is just as trapped; he briefly seems to be actually thinking like a father trying to teach Dewey about the harsh realities of life, but ends up the same immature Hal obsessed with beating his own kid at a board game.

Some culinary side comments:

--Blood pudding doesn't drip blood. The blood is coagulated and firm. The French version, boudin, is very popular in France. It's only disgusting if you fret about what's in it--same as with any sausage!

--@ Kratos: Justin is indeed an extreme animal lover, but he's not a vegetarian, as he often brags about his recipe for chicken piccata.
 

Dabney

Deutscher Moderator
Again (after Stevie in the hospital) a rather poor episode. I hope the writers just kept all their ideas for tha last two episodes. It wasn't much to laugh about in this episode, and the respective storylines weren't too original either.

PS: This boardgame reminded me a lot of "Surgery", when Hal (and all the other family members except Malcolm) bacome very fanatical, too.
 
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