Muppets Now Season 1, Episode 5 recap: The I.T. Factor

Episode 5 of the Disney+ series Muppets Now puts Scooter (David Rudman) on edge once again, this time due to frequent glitches (or technical issues).  He tries to handle it as best he can, but it’s not easy keeping things together as they constantly fall apart.  However, the show must go on, and so it begins with Miss Piggy (Eric Jacobson) dishing out some travel tips, using an annoying dog named Foo-Foo (Peter Linz) as a prop.  She also quickly gets tired of promoting an uncomfortable neck pillow and seems sabotaged (again) by her frenemy and assistant,  Uncle Deadly (Matt Vogel).

This segment has some pretty funny moments, such as getting language lessons from the notoriously incomprehensible Swedish Chef (Bill Barretta).  However, the funniest segment here (for most viewers) might be the cultural shock food segment.  With assistance from Taye Diggs, we see Miss Piggy get grossed out by foods like fried tarantula from Cambodia, sweetbreads (or animal pancreas), jellied moose nose (which they say is from Canada, but also available in Alaska).  In rapid fashion, Miss Piggy also gets grossed out by blood pudding from Ireland,
stink heads (or fermented fish heads) from Alaska, and silkworm pupae from Indonesia!

Muppets Now Bucket List Travel Adventures / Muppet Masters with Uncle Deadly

Seemingly jaded and disgusted by the nature of this episode, Miss Piggy attempts to lighten things up again with a sub-segment called “Bucket List Travel Adventures.”  Theoretically helping her are turkey lady Beverly Plume (Julianne Buescher), some bunny, and actress Linda Cardellini (who is almost a mainstay on “Muppets Now,” at least thus far).  In addition to being annoyed by Foo-Foo (who apparently wants to go to Central Park), a highlight is Miss Piggy’s remark that, if you wish to experience a place as if you live there, visit the DMV.

Then Muppets Now offers another segment, “Muppet Masters with Uncle Deadly.”  Uncle Deadly offers a masterclass in stage combat with Walter (Linz), where we receive stray details about play-fighting in works like Macbeth and Julius Caesar.  Uncle Deadly ends up living up to his name too well but does urge Walter to be vigilant, retain eye contact, and know his blade (the anatomy includes the grip, chappe, forte, and foible).  Then, if you’re concerned this segment was a little too genuinely educational, Pepe the King Prawn (Barretta) swoops in to your rescue with another session of “Pepe’s Unbelievable Game Show”!

 “Pepe’s Unbelievable Game Show”

As mentioned, Scooter has troubles with ongoing glitches in this episode, which is a source of sound problems for “Pepe’s Unbelievable Game Show.”  Nevertheless, Pepe continues with his madcap approach to competitive TV, with contestants Karina (Karina Yzobel) from Texas and Eddie (Edward Mawere) from New York.  Things get crazy with the first game, “La Cabra,” which is a competition to see who can scream louder than Pepe’s goat!  The next game is simply called “Secrets Time,” where the object is simply to tell Pepe your secrets, without even getting any points.

Other games include “Tie a Tie on the Cacti,” and a few strange questions, such as the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard.  Frankly, Pepe almost seems to be angling for his own spinoff show, as this remains one of the highlights of Muppets Now.  It also doesn’t hurt that Pepe still calls Scooter “Scooper,” and it’s hard to tell if it’s by accident or not.  Then, after Kermit (Vogel) offers a brief safety warning, the next segment begins to apply pressure.

Muppet Labs Field Test: Pressure

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (Dave Goelz) and Beaker (Rudman) return with another edition of “Muppet Labs Field Test,” where they deal with scientific principles of pressure.  To retain some educational edge, Blaise Pascal gets name-dropped, as well as Joseph Bramah, who invented the hydraulic press.  The scientific dup use one to squish paper toothpaste, a donut, stress balls, a PB&J sandwich, a microscope, a science fair trophy, grandma’s snow globe, a signed baseball, and a teddybear (poor Beaker’s hand gets caught under the press while trying to save the bear!).  Finally, we learn that all the show’s glitches were due to stupid app filter updates.

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