‘The Great North’ Is Becoming the Progressive Animated Utopia We Need Right Now

I knew I would love The Great North. Anyone from the Bob’s Burgers‘ team is essentially a comedy miracle worker, they’re brilliant writers who are able to turn mundane plots about raccoons and washed up garbage into emotionally resonant sagas. That statement is especially true of the Molyneux sisters, who have been responsible for some of the absolute best episodes of BB. What I never expected was the sort of bra burning, kick-ass, ’70s feminist energy Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux, and Minty Lewis’ new show would weave, along with its laughs. The Great North takes Bob’s Burgers‘ whispers of a progressive, animated utopia and turns it into a reality.

Though Bob’s Burgers never explicitly talks about politics, the show has always existed in a socially progressive world. Jokes are never made about a person’s race, sexuality, or gender. Entire episodes have been spent helping drag queens and lesbian snake owners simply because it’s the right thing to do (or because Linda was bored that day). Bob himself has had several encounters where he’s awkwardly flirted with another man, only to conclude that he’s not good enough for the guy. And one of Bob’s closest friends is Marshmallow, a trans sex worker with a confusing outfit. In Bob’s Burgers, people aren’t mocked for how they identify, or who they love. They’re mocked because they’re a bunch of weirdos.

The same rules apply to The Great North, with one big exception: one of its main characters, Ham (Paul Rust) is openly gay. It seemed as though The Great North was going to take the Bob’s Burgers approach to Ham, proclaiming his sexual orientation without really living in it. At least, that was the case until “Pride & Prejudance Adventure.”

In another twist of Alaskan weirdness, it’s time for the Thomas Wintersbone Memorial Ladies’ Choice Dance, a dance celebrating a long-dead founder who froze to death while building a second house for his wife. And the shark-eyed Judy (Jenny Slate) is hell-bent on asking her crush Crispin (Julio Torres) to the dance. Immediately, it’s clear that Judy and Crispin have absolutely no chemistry together. But Crispin and Ham? That’s another story entirely. True to Judy’s wild imagination, the rest of the episode revolves around her having a conversation with the late Thomas Wintersbone (Leslie Jordan), learning that he and his wife didn’t build two houses to contain their vast love, but because they were both secretly gay and in hiding. Judy gives a speech and abolishes the dance’s outdated rules that require girls to invite guys. In short, Judy realizes that she was using her brother’s sexuality as a prop in her own life, rather than recognizing him as his own fully formed person. The episode ends with Crispin and Ham on the dance floor and another sweet romance possibly in The Great North‘s future.

Judy’s realization about letting LGBTQ+ people be their full selves rather than boxing them up when it’s convenient is a lesson that takes some people years of therapy to process. It’s something that most shows still struggle to understand. How many shows let the sassy gay friend have a romantic life as complicated and fulfilling as their straight counterparts? The list is depressingly short. And yet this sweet little FOX show managed to articulate and remedy this problem in 22 minutes, while firing off jokes left and right.

The Great North didn’t stop there. It followed this insightful episode with “Period Piece Adventure.” After getting an influx of art supplies, Judy wants to express her artistic side by painting over an old school mural. But when Judy’s boss Alyson (Megan Mullally) agrees to be the the adult sponsor, things take a turn. It isn’t long before Alyson convinces the painting group to turn the mural into a protest art piece about the school’s outdated period products, even pitching that they paint a giant vagina on the wall. The rest of the episode follows Judy as she grapples with doing good through activism, and her personal disappointment that her artistic vision was compromised. All of this unfolds with lots of red paint and clam costumes, by the way.

But separate from Judy’s internal struggle, The Great North raises a great point. Pads and tampons should be treated as a universal necessity like toilet paper and drinking fountains. Anyone who has ever had a period would wholeheartedly agree with this. But the fact that we still live in a world where that’s not the case and it’s all too believable that a school would sell outdated period products is proof of how little our society values anyone who has periods.

These larger progressive arguments aren’t sneakily hidden between laughs, like a mom trying to hide broccoli. They’re also not all-consuming and ham-fisted like a clunky after-school special. They feel organic to this show and Judy’s growth as a person. Because of that, these ideas that have made people spiral for decades feel painfully obvious. Of course we should treat people as people. Of course we should cater to the hygienic needs of half our population. The Great North offers a different version of our world, one where people stop being weird about gender or sex or sexuality and instead start changing long-held traditions to help everyone. It’s a shame that this simple act feels so revolutionary. But with the Tobins leading the way, maybe we can learn to be a bit better.

New episodes of The Great North premiere on Fox Sundays at 8:30/7:30c p.m.

Where to stream The Great North