Frank conjures Egyptian voodoo to deal with his mommy issues.
In what can only be described as a “Buffy metaphor moment,” Frank Grimes conjures the god Anubis to deal with his giant mummy — I mean mommy. Yes, this episode ends with a giant monster fight. Ugly Americans redeems a good chunk of its geek points this week and also manages to tell a good story about roommate bonding — without being too overtly homoerotic.
Randall — Mark Lilly’s zombilicious roommate — wakes up in a chipper mood and creates a egg-volcano for his counselor buddy. Mark leaves, oblivious as to why his roommate is suddenly happy Mark finds out later that Randall wants to celebrate the anniversary of their lease signing. On the flip side, Frank Grimes’ dear mummy comes out of her tomb to do what all overbearing “smothers” do best: control her son’s life and destroy his self-esteem. As with last week’s episode, the story does not rely on an abundance of geek references to enhance its humor. Instead, the writers’ rely on good ole’ fashioned situation based comedy to roll off the gags.
And like last week, it does wonders for the entertainment quality. The lack of gags facilitates breathing room for the story and the comedy is enhanced because of the focus on character development. The audience learns that Frank had a very — very being a gargantuan understatement — disturbing childhood. When lying to his mother about his supposed “marriage” to Callie — whose only faking the marriage for jewels — his mother kisses him to demonstrate how Callie should kiss him. Every insane mother in the world of fictional television and film now bawls of happiness because of this delightful “mummy” character and TV geeks are happy because her Mummy powers allow for some interesting visual conflicts. For example, shooting a mummy in the head causes it to become the 10 Egyptian plagues. Gee, they never write that on their tombs.
The battle in the episode’s third act showcases the series’ best animation so far and seeing a silhouette Anubis duke it out with a Mummy just makes nerds’ eyes ooze with joy. Mark Lilly and Randall’s bonding arc also satisfies the inner geek in all of us. We discover that Randall actually feels quite attached to Mark and that Mark also needs Randall. Who else is going to listen Mark’s self-righteous dribble? Well, I suppose Frank would need to listen to Mark, especially in this episode. In fact it is Mark’s therapy session with Frank that helps him realize his need for Randall. This scene was a good way to blend the stories and also helped maintain the rhythm of the episode. Long live giant Mummies and Buffy metaphors.
Some stats and info about Ugly Americans, “Mummy Dearest”
TV SHOW – Ugly Americans
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 9
AIRED ON – September 1st, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Comedy Central
GENRE – Animated Shows, Comedy
CREATED BY – Devin Clark, David M. Stern
CAST – Matt Oberg, Natasha Leggero, Kurt Metzger, Randy Pearlstein, Julie Klausner, Michael-Leon Wooley, Larry Murphy, Devn Clark, Pete Holmes