I finally got to see "Something Old, Something Bloo"...glad I didn't have to wait as long for it as I did for "Say It Isn't Sew".
My verdict? A marked improvement on what came before it this season, and hopefully a sign of better things to come; certainly, I got more laughs out of this than "Cheese A Go-Go" and "Say It Isn't Sew" combined. Yes, it was yet another "ker-azy mayhem" episode (or at least it turned into one in the second half - I'll get back to that), but it was done with a flair and imaginative wit lacking in the other episodes I mentioned. Bloo had a good showing this time out; I still think that Keith Ferguson is taking the voice too high too often these days, but his "old geezer" voice was great, and I liked his interactions with "grandson" Mac, as well as his latest crack at Frankie's expense:
"...but it's going to be so boooring! I mean, old people are so...old. No offence, Frankie."
"None taken. Wait, what? Hey!!"
The "BattyMadame" section of the episode, meanwhile, was pure silliness, but this time it really worked; partly this was because even the daft parts were wittily written (loved the Granny Gadgets, and of course the "Kapow!" bit), but what I liked most was that they remembered that lunacy often works best when anchored by a straight man, leading to pricelessly bemused, baffled and disgusted reactions from Mac and especially Mr. Herriman ("
This never ends well." 
). I did find Madame Foster's final speech about the elderly oversimplified the issue a little (what about the old and infirm who can't be active any more?), but it was still nice to see
Foster's aspiring to have a point again.
Still, I did have one or two lingering reservations. For one thing, I still haven't quite got a handle on Madame Foster; this was one of her funniest outings (and seeing her eyes was weird), but I can't shrug the feeling that the writers have made her far more of an insane and slightly intimidating old kook than they might have intended to. It's always seemed to me like the sweet, kindly Madame of "A Lost Claus" or "Emancipation Complication" is what the character
ought to be, so how come we don't see more of that? The other thing that set my alarm bells ringing a little was the sudden tonal shift halfway through the episode when "BattyMadame" turned up; as I discussed, the section was funny enough for it not to be a problem, but it doesn't change the fact that, just like in "The Buck Swaps Here", the writers essentially eschewed a logical third act in favour of an OTT absurdist comedy sequence that didn't make a great deal of sense. Don't get me wrong, I do like gags and silliness, but I usually prefer to flow organically from a properly structured plot, and that's been Season Five's weakest suit by far; it just discourages me a little that, having done an outstanding job of keeping an involving narrative going for forty minutes on "Good Wilt Hunting" last year, they now barely seem able to sustain one for ten.
Again, hopefully it's a problem that will be addressed by later episodes...
Nevertheless, it's still a fine effort; one of the best pure comedy episodes since "Bus The Two Of Us", and certainly the best of Season Five so far. Onwards and upwards!
