Rhett and Link's Buddy System Review: A Frontier Story

"I think we passed that tree before." "Nope, new tree. Trees tend to imitate each other, it's a common tree tactic to confuse explorers."

It's always in the middle of a season that shows get their most experimental and play around with novel ideas the most. Sure, that may prompt a misstep here or there, but it's when shows don't have any mandatory exposition to work through and get to experiment that we get to see things at their most ambitious and potentially-rewarding.

Among one of the most popular ideas is that of flashing back to the olden times, and it's also an idea that yields the most iffy results; more often than not, there's just nothing fun about it, and it becomes an episode of the show that just feels deprived. So it was a pleasant surprise that "A Frontier Story" not only pulled through, but executed the idea flawlessly.

Expectedly but still enjoyably, our frontiersmen protagonists Fairweather Linkis and Billiam Rhark are, in fact, stuck in the same character dynamic as Rhett and Link are. They're two explorers bound together by circumstance, in this case Zachary Taylor sending them off to expand downwards, believing the world to be hollow and contain more land to manifest destiny the crap out of. They repeatedly try to outdo each other only for it to be made hilariously clear that they're both equally inept, and it eventually drives them to team up, however briefly.

This finds them on a strangely quixotic adventure to, again, find the center of the earth, filled with three-eyed Natives and bounties to exploit, but it quickly detours into a hilariously microchastic nougat feud almost immediately. Leading up to that point, though, is equally fun.

Basically, Linkis and Rhark run into Vanessagawea - the Native American equivalent of Vanessa - who tries to dissuade them from their mission on the basis of being really, really dumb, but incensed at the suggestion that his quest to be loved in his father's eye is in vain, Linkis starts digging away at the ground in anger, and with Rhark's help, the two strike... nougat. After failing to market it as a miracle cure-all and getting ostracized by the community (all while, in an amazing twist, Vanessagawea makes her leave as a third-eyed resident of the hidden underground continent), they once again become mortal enemies, and a multigenerational rivalry begins. Ultimately, in a fight over nougat, the two end up hilariously killing each other in the middle of burying the hatchet.

This launches my favorite part of the episode, when "A Frontier Story" and its comedy-drama format gets dropped in favor of the "Ken Burns" approach. It's the perfect change-up to push the episode to the finish line, and it's another excuse for Rhett and Link to do some awesome character work. While Link is enjoyable as Professor Cumming-Rown D'Mountaine of Piedmont Elementary School, Rhett steals the show as Albee Damme Diffideux, a blank-eyed historian with the worst Louisiana drawl you'll ever hear. Make him say insanely weird things like "dirty band-aids and bacon bits," and you get comedy gold. Every sentence Rhett says just kills.

And yes, the details of the documentary are just as absurd as the characters describing them. It's just a multitude of nougat-oriented historical anachronisms, documenting the trajectory of both families and their contributions to American history. I mean, here's an excerpt. It's amazing. I couldn't write enough to do it justice:

"In the '30s, FDR hired Linkis III to build the Nouver Dam, which was to be the biggest damn in Nevada.  It turns out, though, that after prolonged contact with water, nougat gets mushy. But it could've been worse, only 1500 people perished."

"After the explosion of the Hindenburg, Rhark III was able to sell nougat to zeppelin engineers as a non-flammable alternative to hydrogen. Unfortunately, nougat does not float, but the Nougatburg still did explode, killing 1501 persons."

All of this is set to peaceful public-access-documentary music and accompanied by fake photographs of every event, and it's perfect. Oh, and there's also the fact that every member of the Linkis/Rhark dynasty inevitably meet up at the nougat pump to kill each other in any broad multitude of ways from dynamite to telekinesis. It's the sort of hilariously stupid concept that I could only dream of writing. A few deaths later, after discovering the magical taste of nougat by... coincidence... both families partner up and marry (Yes, Linkis V is actually a womano), and it's revealed that the little girl who goes to Rhett and Link's house in the beginning is their daughter trying to peddle some nougat.

All of the events of the episode are nicely framed as a story told by her, and it's a smart way to keep the episode well-paced. Also helping were, with every subsequent cut-back, Rhett and Link sitting in listening in increasingly stranger positions (to the point where they get stacked up on a pile of couch cushions) - it's a fun wrinkle to add to the proceedings. The ultimate ending, too, with Rhett and Link pointing out their "No Soliciting" sign and kicking her out, was the perfect way to finish the job, too, disregarding everything else in the episode and casually resetting the status quo like nobody's business.

With all that said, there's no way to hide that "A Frontier Story" is filler, but dang it, if it isn't amazing.

Notes and Quotes:
-This episode's song, "Down With America," is a bit of an interesting beast to try to discuss, taking the form of a grossly-animated, not-even-Schoolhouse-Rock edutainment music video. I have my issues with the presentation, though they stem more from a lack of resonation so many as an understanding of what's being parodied, so I won't beleaguer that too much, but the increasing darkness of the song, in which Linkis and Rhark outline their goals of enslaving underground Natives and subjecting themselves to idolatry, is sublime, especially with the ignorant cheerfulness of the presentation. It satirizes how much history is sugar-coated, and it's perfectly executed.
-The Renaissance / Rent-a-Séance mix up at the start of the episode was a great, weird little moment to start the episode with.
"Mr. President, it would be an honor for you to completely unload your scent glands on my tree!"'
-"Wow, we've never seen a real Native person before. Only white people playing them in theatrical productions."

-"We Americans don't go around eating stuff out of the ground! We prefer natural foods like cheeseburger, and cheeseburger casseroles, and cheeseburgers without cheese."

-"That's not a contract! This is a- actually this is also a gun."

-The 16 second-long shot of Rhett staring onwards into the distance as triumphant music plays was somehow one of the funniest singular moments in the whole episode; whoever comes up with these quick ideas is brilliant.
-It's worth noting that, on top of Vanessagawea, a lot of other Buddy System regulars made return appearances as historically-imbued counterparts. Ignatius was particularly hilarious trying to navigate the law rulebook to find a sentence for Linkis and Rhark ("Woman who wants to vote: nuh-uh. Child who doesn't want to work: nn-nnn."), while Dylan made another chirpily odd appearance as the old-timey mailman.
-Oh yeah, there's also the ultimate twist that nougat is actually three-eyed underground people waste.

Final Grade: A. "A Frontier Story," simply put, is a silly episode. It's one of those rare episodes where there's an intersection in both having been, most certainly, a joy to create, and a joy to watch. Everything about it hits perfectly and as intended, and in the face of dangerous cliche, it's an episode reeking with charm and effort. I really hope there's a Season 3 so that Buddy System gets to go even more experimental, because these episodes have been spectacular.

For the last Buddy System review of "Virtual Rhettality," CLICK HERE.