Greg has never been a perfect dad, but he’s such a great guy that it’s a shock to see him turn downright rotten in House Guest. It’s also a shame, because his behavior is not only less realistic for him but less interesting. Doubling down on these reservations would be much more realistic and would root his behavior more purely in a place of love, and Steven getting the yips because of it could maintain the plot point of his healing powers fading.Īnyway.
It’s not fair to criticize an episode for what it isn’t, but I’ll just say this and let it go: if the crew wanted to make an episode where Greg feels left out and wants to hang with Steven, Ocean Gem already sets up that he has second thoughts about Steven’s exposure to danger with the Crystal Gems. The misfire is deafening on a show this good at creating natural conflict between consistent characters. And there’s no indication that Steven would be against hanging out with him more, which throws off whatever motive he might have to take extreme measures. Universe hammer in that his major flaw is thoughtlessness when he’s too wrapped up in something, but here he isn’t thoughtless but calculating. There’s no indication, before or after this episode, that this is in keeping with his core character: future showcases of his faults like Maximum Capacity and Greg the Babysitter and Mr. There’s simply no reason for him to lie to Steven about his leg being broken. And it’s what makes Greg Universe in House Guest so disappointing. This is what makes Bob Belcher, the quirky but talented and hard-working father of Bob’s Burgers, so refreshing. When a joke is repeated enough in just the right circumstances, it eventually stops being a joke (see: Donald Trump). It’s a similar to sensation to how the word “nimrod,” which comes from the biblical king of the same name, went from meaning “great hunter” to “idiot” thanks to Bugs Bunny’s ironic usage influencing generations of children. The standard, in cartoons and live action sitcoms alike, is the Dull Dumb Dad. But the Dumb Dad has long surpassed the ubiquity of the Dull Dad, and the trope has in its own way become boring. The trend to dumb down dads originated as a subversion to the paragons of Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver, and later The Cosby Show ( whoops) and Growing Pains ( whoops by proxy for Alan Thicke’s gross son). I mean, there’s literally one named Goofy. Dads in cartoon comedies for all ages can be loving in various ways, but more often than not they’re either bumbling or just plain stupid. The unnamed fathers of Dexter from Freakazoid, Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, and Timmy Turner. “Now Greg, there’s no need to be so pathetic.”
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