Monday, August 12, 2013

"Lamb Chop's Play Along: The Wallet" TV Show Review

Hi, I'm the Amateur Critic. I review just about anything.


My observation of Lamb Chop’s Play Along has continued. This time, I observed the episode “The Wallet,” where the characters Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy encounter a lost wallet.

            This episode was one of my favorites. In fact, of all the episodes that I would watch on Youtube, I watched this episode many, many times. I liked that the plot was solid and straightforward, because we had the internal and external conflicts, and we had a strong resolution at the end of the show.

            So, without further ado, this is “The Wallet” on Lamb Chop’s Play Along.

 

Act 1:
 
The story starts when we see Charlie Horse is arm-wrestling with Hush Puppy.
-Who’s winning? We don’t know. But telling by Charlie’s mumbling, “I got ya… I got ya…” we can say that Charlie’s winning.

            Just then, Lamb Chop interrupts the game, causing Charlie to lose.
-Listen to when Charlie’s arm gets slammed into the table. You can hear his arm sizzle as soon as his arm slams into the table. What, are they frying his arm on a frying pan?

            Charlie Horse gets mad at Lamb Chop, and asks her why she had disturbed the arm-wrestling match. Lamb Chop’s explanation: she wanted to tell them that she found a wallet with $50 in it. This catches the attention of Charlie and Hush Puppy.

 
-Just remember that this episode was in the 90s. $50 was a lot of money back then. Imagine how it does today, with the economy and all that…

            Charlie wants to keep the money, but Lamb Chop believes that Shari would want them to give the wallet back to the person who lost. However, Lamb Chop thinks about wanting things like…

Lamb Chop: “…a skipping rope and a new yo-yo, a hula hoop…”
Charlie Horse: “Yeah, well, how about a catcher’s mitt, a basketball…”
Hush Puppy: “A chocolate-covered steak bone! Mmmm…”
-It’s like the kids are going down their wish list in this scene. This is $50 in a wallet that we’re talking about, not $100 that given to them exclusively.

            Just then, Charlie takes the wallet from Lamb Chop, and Lamb Chop panics because she still wants to do the right thing and return the wallet. But Charlie Horse, with his smart-alec demeanor, tells her that it would be impossible to track the owner down. Suddenly, Hush Puppy finds the owner’s contact information inside the wallet, leading to disappointment to Charlie Horse.

 
-You can actually hear Charlie growl with hate, as Hush Puppy reads the owner’s contact information. Well, Charlie, since you have a big mouth, why don’t you give somebody else a chance to say what they have to say?

 

Act 2:
 
Lamb Chop is standing in front of the mirror, going over what she’s going to say to the owner of the wallet. And then out of nowhere, her own reflection speaks to her.
-You heard right! Her own reflection speaks to her face-to-face. Mirror, mirror, on the wall. What is the weirdest scene of this show of all?

            Lamb Chop’s reflection wants her to keep the money and spend it, but Lamb Chop herself wants to give the wallet back. They argue back and forth, until Shari comes in and sees what sees doing. By the time Lamb Chop sees Shari come in, the reflection returns back to normal.
-Big… bleepin’ surprise. Not!

            Lamb Chop explains her predicament to Shari, saying that part of her wants to keep the money, but another part of her wants to give the wallet back. Shari tells her that she needs to decide what’s best for her. Finally, Lamb Chop decides to return the wallet.

 

Act 3:

            We see Hush Puppy and Charlie Horse reading books in the [see-through] living room. Hush Puppy tells Charlie that he had overheard Lamb Chop and Shari talking about the wallet. According to Hush Puppy…
 
-Lamb Chop’s keeping the money? I don’t know if that was the case.
-In this living room scene, you can easily spot written humor. For example, the fact that Hush Puppy puts a glass up to his ear to listen to the conversation, but getting an earful of chocolate milk. But then, he puts a glass up to the wall… with grapefruit juice in it. Can you believe that? How can anyone hear anything through any kind of drink?

            Lamb Chop and Shari come into the living room. Lamb Chop announces that she returned the wallet to its owner. She then said that the owner gave her “a big reward” and “a big thank you.”
 
It turns out she got a quarter from the guy, which is another disappointment to Charlie Horse. But don’t you worry, Lamb Chop tells him that he and Hush Puppy can “share the big thank you.”

-I can’t believe the story ends there. I wish there was an alternate ending for this episode, because I felt that there should’ve been more said from Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy… well, especially Hush Puppy, because he’s adorable in this episode.

 

            And that was… a funny-as-heck episode of Lamb Chop’s Play Along. But how was it, in my opinion?

            Well, the writing in this episode wasn’t bad. The written humor was used to the show’s advantage. Plus, it touches on a moral that you find things, you shouldn’t keep them if they don’t belong to you.

            So ask me: if I was to find a wallet with $50 in it, would I keep it or give it back?

            My answer: I would return the wallet to its owner, because what would I want with somebody else’s $50?
            Anyway, I’ll give this episode of Lamb Chop’s Play Along an A-.
 
Amateur Critic
Source: Lamb Chop's Play Along
All rights go to Shari Lewis.

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