Episode Discussion - "The Little Peas" (11/22/07)

[InsaneFan]

Sorry I really don't post here at this forum anymore, but I just had to say this.


I think you guys have too great an image of Frankie in your heads. She's not perfect, no girl is...And y'know, I think I recall reading somewhere that you fanboys find her perfect through everything, even imperfections.

To me, this episode gave her a whole 'nother dimension. Made her seem a lot more real. I didn't like seeing her so down on herself either, but I could relate to her. Not saying I couldn't before, but it just...Yeah.

You can blame it on the writer, but I for one choose to accept it as canon.



As for Peas, well...I actually liked the little guy. His voice was kind of annoying, but I liked him.

And the Jackie-Fluffer moment...Well, it was a bit odd at first, but that "forget about it, let's just go outside" bit was pretty funny. Cx


Now, I didn't totally love the episode...It was kind of annoying that they reused so much of tBC. It gave me the impression that they were in a hurry to throw together another episode, so they just went back and grabbed the scenes as filler. The idea of tLP was pretty cool, seeing an old episode from a different perspective, but I was hoping that they weren't going to use so many old scenes.


Overall, yeah. I liked the episode. There were just some things that could stand to be changed.

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by InsaneFan

You can blame it on the writer, but I for one choose to accept it as canon.

Canon or not it's still revisionist history. Frankie doesn't get a lot of triumphs in the show, and stealing one away from her, which is exactly what this episode did, was an unecessary slap in the face.

[koosie]

Originally Posted by Cassini90125

Canon or not it's still revisionist history. Frankie doesn't get a lot of triumphs in the show, and stealing one away from her, which is exactly what this episode did, was an unecessary slap in the face.

I don't know about 'revisionist' history as the episodes themeslves are a sort of akshantic record of what transpired at Fosters. It's not so much revising history so much as clarifying it as now you know more about what happened than you did previously. You merely assumed without all the full facts that Frankie came up with the idea of using this disaster to beg for money.

As for Frankie having few triumphs, I think being elected President by a huge margin by the whole house is more of a triumph than begging for cash after a desparate set of events. Little Peas did something nice for Frankie and you're being mean not to aknowledge that. Besides he has that darling little thimble hat. How big is he, anyhow? He does seem to change a lot, become almost microscopic at one point. I like Peas. Even if I stand alone!

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by koosie

I don't know about 'revisionist' history as the episodes themeslves are a sort of akshantic record of what transpired at Fosters. It's not so much revising history so much as clarifying it as now you know more about what happened than you did previously. You merely assumed without all the full facts that Frankie came up with the idea of using this disaster to beg for money.

It's a revision in that Peas wasn't even thought of by the writers until long after The Big Cheese had aired. By the same argument, we can't ever know if it was really Mac's plan to battle the extremeasaurus way back in the pilot episode; how do we know Peas wasn't there, whispering the plan in his ear? Or perhaps Wilt would never had made that fateful call to Foul Larry without Peas's encouragement. Did we see Peas in House Of Bloo's or Good Wilt Hunting? No. Nor did we see him in The Big Cheese. But apparently just because we didn't see him doesn't mean he wasn't there, right? No, The Little Peas is a revision, a rewrite, as surely as some of the later Star Trek series occasionally rewrote what had been canon in the original classic. But now, having aired, it's canon, and Frankie and her fans are a little poorer for it.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Originally Posted by koosie

I don't know about 'revisionist' history as the episodes themeslves are a sort of akshantic record of what transpired at Fosters. It's not so much revising history so much as clarifying it as now you know more about what happened than you did previously. You merely assumed without all the full facts that Frankie came up with the idea of using this disaster to beg for money.

There was nothing to assume because that WAS how it happened, Frankie DID do it by herself and this episode changed it. There is nothing to clarify because nothing needed clarification unless there was something different going on, and there wasn't, because this idea came up AFTER "Big Cheese" was aired.

This wasn't like a director's cut version of the episode where you see all these little things they forgot to put in. This was a total rearrangement of an episode, changing things that were as was to something different. Nothing was cleared up, the only thing that is clear is that the episode was made to LOOK like something was cleared up.

I usually keep the subject of reality and the writers influence in a show separate, it helps become more involved with the show and become more "a part of it". However, I can't ignore that reality difference when it is used in such a blatantly and unnecessary way that robbed Frankie of one of her few spotlight moments.

Its a rare moment when I honestly say "the writers did that, NOT the character" and trust me when I tell you I HATE doing that. But like i said, this is just too obvious and too crappy an alteration to not let that reality kick me in the ass just like how this episode gave Frankie's ass a good kicking.

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by Mr. Marshmallow

Its a rare moment when I honestly say "the writers did that, NOT the character" and trust me when I tell you I HATE doing that. But like i said, this is just too obvious and too crappy an alteration to not let that reality kick me in the ass just like how this episode gave Frankie's ass a good kicking.

Agreed 100%. I have never blamed the writers for what happened in Imposter's and I never will. This is different, though; it feels different in a way that I can't fully describe, and I don't like it. I would far rather keep the writers and the story events separate in my mind but in this one case I can't.

[koosie]

Originally Posted by Cassini90125

It's a revision in that Peas wasn't even thought of by the writers until long after The Big Cheese had aired.

Prove it.

The writers themselves might not have known Peas was there, he is very small. Maybe he was in all those other situations but on the available information, we'd have to conclude not.
You've got to trust that the creators of this show like Frankie too or else you might as well stop watching it because it'll just keep upsetting you. Ugh I'm getting tied in logical knots now but in the end me and Frankie both like Peas. Sorry you're not along for the ride.

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by koosie

Prove it.

The writers themselves might not have known Peas was there, he is very small. Maybe he was in all those other situations but on the available information, we'd have to conclude not.

Oh, give me a break. Peas, and every other aspect of the show, isn't something that the writers discover; it's something that they create. If he wasn't there before, it's because he didn't exist, not because the writers overlooked him.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

I have to agree with Cass, this sort of "future planning" stuff is not really reserved for such things like this show. Only shows like Buffy the vampire slayer, or Heroes would incorporate such long advance story preparations because they have complex and intricate story lines that require thinking and preparing ahead of time.

Nothing about Peas or this episode is anything that would require additional thinking or planning over, its a one shot concept with a one shot character. None of the other one shot IF characters had this much time devoted to them, that's because they were not the SOUL point of the episode, like Peas was here.

There was nothing in this episode or about Peas himself that would make me think or say the creators planned this out from the very moment they started writing "The Big Cheese". All this Peas thing was a "open door" for the creators to slide a new episode, in fact, this is as close to a "cheap" episode as you can get.

Nothing happened here that would make ANYONE want to think about it well in advance. This felt like a last minute idea to scrap up an episode without doing anything too complicated, so they stick us with an episode which we already saw with a character we never saw before and take away something we already knew before and wiped their asses with it.

[BabyCharmander]

While I am just a touch disappointed that Peas was the one who told Frankie how to turn the situation in her favor (albeit in a rather desperate way), it is canon now and there ain't a lot we can do about it.

And I don't see it being such a big deal that she was robbed of one of her few spotlight moments, since every Foster's character... really doesn't have many spotlight moments, anyway. I mean, how many times do we see Bloo get foiled? Things usually turn out pretty bad for Wilt, too. (I mean, how many times has he gotten in jail?) There are more, of course. I'm sure Frankie's still about even with all the other characters in the times she actually HAS succeeded, even with this loss, here.