“It’s always been Witherspoon.”
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
While it’s certainly not strange to have a guest star like Reese Witherspoon on the show, it was odd that “Walk the Swine” gave Piggy yet another big passive aggressive feud (that switched to flat-out aggressive this week) after her already having done the rounds with Elizabeth Banks and Christina Applegate. It’s only the fifth episode and Piggy’s hatred of high-profile actresses has dominated most of the story to date.
I guess it should be said that Piggy’s beef with Witherspoon was meant to be the ultimate in Piggy feuds. As in, Reese is the one that started it all, and possibly even got Piggy on her actress-hating roll. “It’s always been Witherspoon,” Uncle Deadly moaned to Kermit. “Always.”
Which is totally fine. And actually a good story. I just wish it had come a bit later in the season. Hell, even a few more episodes would have felt like proper spacing. It coming so close to the Applegate “cake video” episode made it feel somewhat underwhelming. Though I did like it when Reese finally showed some teeth and decided to stop playing the “nice girl” game. She got just as petty as Piggy toward the end and that helped rescue the thread a bit. As did Piggy’s elaborate method of out-apologizing Witherspoon via overwrought musical number.
Unfortunately, the rest of the episode wasn’t able to rise above the usual modern Muppets trappings. Scooter’s car accident story with Rizzo was a bust (with no real resolution) and Fozzie’s offended girlfriend arc was just more of this show recycling past sitcom plots. As if to say that this new version of the Muppets is funny simply because it’s basically all the shows you used to watch (or currently watch) but with iconic puppets saying the lines instead of people.
It was cool to see Riki Lindhome back, as I did wonder what had happened to Fozzie’s girl after the pilot seemed to make their relationship out to be a big deal. And I did laugh at Bobo telling Fozzie that he uses a towel to dry off, not the shake off method – because “I have an associates degree.” And did Becky break up with Fozzie there at the end, or was she just done with the on-camera interview? Until I’m shown otherwise, I’m pleasantly accepting her “I’m done” as a split from Fozzie.
Giving Reese Witherspoon some funny, spiteful beats to play was a good move, though placing her feud with Piggy so close to Piggy’s other beefs definitely worked to undermine the specialness. Other than that, “Walk the Swine” was basically what we’ve come to expect from these new Muppets. Modern problems, modern angst and anxieties, and old jokes.
