(S05E05) "I shook it! Only processed meat makes that sound!" - Shake

Blame the President's Day holiday weekend, but I completely forgot about Aqua Teeen Hunger Force on Sunday night. If anything, it was a pleasant surprise when the lightbulb went off in my head this morning and I realized I had something funny to watch. Then... I watched it. Not so funny. To be honest, I thought this episode jumped around a lot. It actually felt more like a few different elements that got folded together to make one big mess.

As has been the trend with many ATHF episodes of late, this one focused on Carl. In an effort to score more chicks (nothing new there), he purchased a recorder (Remember those crappy flutes you had to play in third grade music class?) that guaranteed "vagina domination." Women's rights groups around the world are giddy with that I'm sure.

So after getting the recorder, Carl played it and the tiny little instrument possessed his body by way of hundreds of wires infiltrating his central nervous system. (Think Picard after he became Locutus during his Borg assimilation.) Then Hoppy Bunny showed up and made Carl dress up like an elf.

Essentially, Hoppy Bunny made the fake infomercial so that he could possess some dimwit and force him to play the recorder. Sort of like the Pied Piper. Only this time, fake animals came to frolic at the sound of Carl's flute. And by fake, I mean "furries." Hoppy Bunny and all his friends (pandas, cats, bumble bees, etc.) were "furries." If you're not sure what it is I'm referring to, I highly suggest watching the episode of Entourage entitled "The Day Fuckers." Drama and Turtle give you a complete download on the "furry" culture.

So needless to say, the Aqua Teen's front yard looked like a convention for b-rated college mascots. This is where the episode kind of fell flat for me. It was funny when Shake made money off the furries by using Frylock's bedroom as a parking lot (Level C4 - Promenade... hilarious), but you could see where a different story line got folded into this episode later on when Frylock's room was suddenly empty and back to normal. It was a big goof and ATHF is usually good about continuity, so that's why I thought it seemed off.

Throw in the addition of Shake stealing and subsequently pawning off Frylock's jewel and it just got weird. When has Shake ever expressed interest in Frylock's jewel? And what's the deal with Frylock's job? Are we ever going to find out what it is? This isn't the first time he's expressed having a bad day at work and he definitely doesn't work at the mall at that meat juice kiosk anymore. I dunno, seemed off. This episode just didn't do it for me.