Episode 8Sally, Jimmy and Davey are kicking it along the top of a small retaining wall after school when they hear a monotone "Meow". It is soon determined that this is coming from a kitten that is stuck up in a tree. The indomitable Jimmy, who by now seems to be firmly entrenched as Davey's wingman is enlisted to climb the tree and fetch it. As he does so we notice another case of objects moving by themselves in the background.
Jimmy fetches the cat in as slick a cat retrieval mission as one could ever want to see. Sally of course, wheedles the cat away from Jimmy within three nanoseconds of it's rescue. I'm not sure I see the attraction. It's meow's are monotone, it does freaky shit with it's face and it is all rigid and stiff like it is having some sort of neuromuscular contraction or something. Let us just say it is a grody looking kitty.
It matters not as Sally is a cat lady in waiting. That much is perfectly clear. She thanks God for giving her the cat which kind of knocks Jimmy's nose out of joint a bit. He is like "Whoa! I'm the one that scaled the tree, saved the cat and then gave it to you". Reaffirming her cat lady to be tendencies, Sally tells him that he didn't
make the kitten so screw off. Jimmy being the good dude that he is lets it slide.
The scene cuts over to Davey's house and we notice two cool things. The first is that the Hansen house has a room a with clerestory windows. I like clerestory windows. Just another kick in the balls reminder that I was born too late. We also notice that Jimmy is holding a book entitled "McDuffy Spe" but we never get to see the rest of the title. This is annoying but what is to be done? Did some searching on book titles starting with "McDuffy Spe" but they came back with nothing tangible. We'll never know.
Goliath also meets the cat and of course wants no part of the thing and is worried that it is going to have to live in
his dog house.
Elaine Hansen tells Sally she can keep the cat as long as no one calls to claim it. Sally wastes no time and bungs it into to the scrub tub. Miraculously, the cat doesn't freak out totally in the tub. The prospect of someone calling out of the blue and taking the cat away hangs over Sally like the Sword of Damocles. So much so that she never bothers to name the thing and it remains "kitten" throughout the episode. Tensions are high as the blower rings. Is it the dreaded call? Nope - turns out that Davey and Sally have a package that was delivered over at Jimmy's joint by mistake. Davey makes a beeline over to Jimmy's and the package is pretty damned big. Sally and Goliath lag a bit as she is still in her jammy's but soon the big box is opened and OMG. It is a garden variety, everyday, common, run of the mill, mechanical man. With "Mekano" stamped on its galvanized chest.
Mekano is one weird looking piece of engineering. All boxy, with red Tootsie Pops for ears and wires connecting them to a tenner up top. You would think it would be the device of the hour but nope. Sally notices that there is a wind up cat [of course she notices the cat]. She fires it up and it heads out and tries to attack Goliath. It's murderous attack is only foiled when Goliath does an Ole' at the wall like a master matador and the wind up cat conks out. There is a little detente session between the real cat and Goliath at this point. I guess the big fellah figured well at least the real cat didn't try and rip my throat out and peace is made.
Jimmy and Davey soon have Mekano cooking along. They are not real great at driving it and soon it is headed straight for Jimmy's picture window. In what is probably the funniest moment in the series to date, Mekano gets to the window just as Jimmy's Milf of a Mom raises the shade. As the shade goes up she finds Mekano doing the Snoopy as a Vulture bit and ogling her Milfness. For added drama there is a wonderful musical effect and the Milfy just about wets down both legs. The producers executed this scene to perfection. Still shaken by the horror in the window, Milfy orders Davey and Mekano away. Jimmy laments that it might be a week before he can see Davey again.
We time travel a week ahead as Jimmy arrives over at Davey's. Davey is getting Mekano set up to pitch and Sally is rocking an LA Dodgers hat, which again affirms that the Hansen's live out West. Sally puts the hat on Mekano which magically transforms him from a suave, tormentor of Milf's into a well...there is no nice way to say it, but a dork. As usual, Goliath wants nothing to do with this whole Mekano the pitcher thing. He has to be bribed with bones to catch Mekano. Oh Goliath. Why do you always get suckered in by the bones when you know better? If you could have shown just a little discipline, much evil could have been averted. Alas Goliath's jonesing for bones gets the best of him again. Jimmy steps up to the dish and Mekano delivers the pitch. He's got pretty good heat and blows it right by Jimmy. Mekano's programming must have been inspired by Eddie Feigner as he windmills and shoots it underhand. Whatever. Mekano is unhittable and a couple of burners blow right by Jimmy. The cat, being smarter than it looks, distracts Davey with its Devil Cat ways and he bumps the control unit. Mekano grabs Goliath by the tail and flings him 30 feet in the air and the hapless pooch crashes to earth in a heap with a sickening thud. Goliath limps back to his Dog House to try and get his spleen back in place and the cat comes over and makes kissy face with him in sympathy. Goliath, being the mope that he is falls for it.
The lads dick with Mekano's programming and the automaton wings the ball into the Stratosphere. All the humans leave to try and retrieve the ball. Goliath finally passes out from the internal bleeding and conks out in his Dog House. The cat, being a cat, decides that he hasn't had enough and goes to the control unit and unleashes hell on earth at Goliath. Mekano rages like a berserker out of the north. Reaching deep down inside himself, Goliath somehow finds the inner strength to defend himself and busts Mekano's arm off. The kids return and there is some discussion about Mekano being just so much metal and not even being alive. That only God can create living creatures and this is as it should be. Jimmy discusses a wonderful scheme to try and turn Mekano into some sort of horrid cyborg made out of human body parts that would be (I guess) horked from the graveyard. Sally reaffirms her cat lady to be status by putting the kibosh on this plan. Elaine comes out and tells the kids that it is supper time. They shoo Jimmy away and go inside. The episode ends as Mekano is left in a mangled heap to rust away in the elements. Unloved and unwanted because he is just a machine after all.
A wonderful episode. Had lots of nice little details. Midcentury clerestory windows, hot little Milfy's, a scheming, diabolical cat. Solid as a rock. A reasonable message.
Three and half roses.
