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Friday, February 19, 2016

Top 20 Full House Episodes: 10-6

#10: The Last Dance (Season 7, Episode 17)

If you’re an easy crier, please don’t watch this episode without a box of tissues. In this episode, we deal with the issue of death and how the family deals with the loss of a loved one. Jesse’s grandfather, “Papouli” comes to visit. You may remember him from the Season 4 premiere, “Greek Week.” He is a sweet, kind grandfather who brightens everyone’s day. When Michelle and Stephanie make a mess in the kitchen, trying to make something for him, he encourages them to laugh it off and throws flour all around. He gives DJ advice about a fight she’s having with Kimmy over a pair of sunglasses. Finally, he teaches Michelle a traditional Greek dance and agrees to come to her school for show and tell. The next thing we see is the family, minus Michelle, sitting around the table the next morning. Before they even say it, you can tell exactly what happened. Papouli died. The family was devastated. True, he was a very old man, but he seemed very healthy and sharp. It was a sudden, unexpected twist in life. Michelle comes back from school, learns what happened, and doesn’t take it very well. Jesse catches her skipping school, because it’s the day that Papouli was supposed to teach the dance. They share a moment about missing Papouli, before Jesse steps in and goes to her show and tell. It’s a very moving, emotional episode that most of us can relate to in some way.

Some people have criticized this episode, saying that it’s hard to feel sad about losing a character who only appeared in two episodes. While it’s true, the audience didn’t spend much time with Papouli, we can tell he meant a lot to the family, specifically Jesse and Michelle. This episode also does a great job and showing the various ways that people cope with grief. Jesse immediately wants to get to work, planning the funeral arrangements. Stephanie tries to put on a brave face and not show her emotion in order to help Jesse. Danny gets impulsive and buys a boat. DJ realizes what’s important in life and makes up with Kimmy. Michelle runs and hides from her problems. While some of these methods aren’t recommended, for example, you shouldn’t buy a boat every time someone dies, it’s a realistic depiction of how people handle tragedy in their own ways. Unless you’re counting Michelle’s goldfish, the only other death this show has dealt with is Pam, Danny’s wife and mother to the girls, but this was different. In the pilot, we catch up with the family a few weeks after her death, so the family had time to process it. In this episode, we get the raw emotion of dealing with Papouli’s death the very next day. It brought a new depth to the characters that I very much enjoyed.

#9: 13 Candles (Season 3, Episode 17)
Another thing that most of us can understand, it’s how awkward and over-emotional teenagers can be. As of this episode, there are officially teenagers in the house, because it’s all about DJ’s 13th birthday party.  The living room is filled with a bunch of hilariously dressed, random teens dancing as DJ and Kimmy wait for the arrival of Kevin, DJ’s current crush. The rest of the family has agreed to give the kids their privacy, except Stephanie, who keeps trying to sneak in because it’s what annoying little sisters do. While this is going on, Becky is upstairs, practicing dancing with Danny for the next episode of Wake Up San Francisco. To no one’s shock, Danny is a terrible dancer, and Jesse steps in to show him how it’s done. This serves two important purposes. First, it gave a reason for Becky to be at the house, which will be needed shortly. Second, it got the guys in the right spot to overhear a game of spin the bottle starting up at the party. Kimmy has rigged the game to ensure that DJ ends up kissing Kevin. The moment is ruined by the barging parent patrol as Danny, Jesse, and Joey obnoxiously burst in with thinly veiled excuses. This leads to the expected over-emotional outburst from DJ who runs off and has a heart to heart with Becky about how special first kisses are. In the end, things are good when Kevin comes back and DJ gets her first kiss.

I love how this episode captures how unnecessarily stressful, the life of a young teenager can be. Unlike the last episode on my countdown, no one died. There’s no real emergency or anything to freak out about. It’s just teenagers not knowing how to handle crushes and parents who aren’t ready for their kids to grow up. Until their last scene, DJ and Kevin keep looking at each other like a deer in the headlights. It’s as if they don’t know how to interact with people. Then there’s the so-called mature adults, who panicked at the first sign of teenage hormones, like they hadn’t even thought of that as a possibility. The only sane one in this episode was Becky, who tried to talk some sense into the guys. There was also very limited screen time for Michelle in this episode, which is a little refreshing. Don’t get me wrong, I think Michelle is a great character, but sometimes she gets dangerously close to Elmo/Steve Urkel territory. That’s my way of describing when a show takes a perfectly good character and focuses on them so much that they overshadow the rest of the cast. It’s episodes like this that keep the balance in order, making it a very important episode.

#8: The House Meets the Mouse, Parts 1 & 2 (Season 6, Episodes 23 & 24)
Full House started a TGIF sitcom tradition of doing a cross-promotional episode at Disney World that would later be followed by Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Roseanne. The setup of why they all end up going is that Jesse’s band gets booked for a Disney World show, so he plans for a small, Katsopolis family vacation. Then suddenly Joey gets to go, because Jesse and Joey’s radio show will do a live broadcast. Then suddenly the Tanners get to go, because Danny’s show is doing reruns and the girls just happen to have a school break. If that wasn’t convenient enough, Kimmy’s family agrees to pay for any vacation that she takes without them. As unbelievable it is that everyone’s schedule just happens to line up, I’m willing to overlook it, because this is a fun episode that breaks the norm and gets the family out of the house and exploring Disney World.

Everyone gets their own subplot to follow, complete with their own little lesson. The exception to that is Joey. Apparently he drew the short straw and doesn’t get much, except for a quick scene in an animation studio where he imagines a cartoon version of himself. Jesse’s story is that he’s schedule is so busy that there’s no time for Becky. Between his band rehearsals and his radio show, he’s always stopping in to say hi as he’s rushing off to whatever’s next. Eventually Becky is fed up with him, but he wins her over with a song. The Jesse/Becky lesson: Don’t get too busy to spend time with your family. Danny’s story is that he keeps trying to propose to Vicky, who also found a reason to visit Disney World. He keeps getting nervous and then interrupted by one thing after another. He finally gets the courage and proposes and she accepts. The Danny lesson: Follow your heart and go after the people you love. DJ’s story is my least favorite, to be honest. DJ misses Steve so bad that she sees his face on all the male Disney character actors. She sees him as Aladdin and they don’t even make a subtle reference to the fact that Steve’s actor, Scott Weinger was the voice of Aladdin. That’s a big missed opportunity in my book. Eventually Steve misses DJ so much that he paid for a flight and hotel to meet them for the vacation. The DJ/Steve lesson: Love makes you crazy? I know it’s a stretch, but like I said, I didn’t care for this plot point.

Then there’s the Michelle/Stephanie story. Michelle keeps getting everything she wants, which starts to wear on Stephanie. From the last piece of candy to the window seat on the plane, Michelle is definitely treated like the golden child. This only escalates in a “Princess for the Day” contest, where Michelle takes her turn first and ends up winning. She’s now officially given reign over anything she wants to do. She proceeds to torment her sisters by making them ride the carousel and nothing else, until they get so sick of her that Michelle sneaks away. Michelle going missing is also one of the interruptions that stops Danny from proposing. In the end, Michelle and Stephanie make up and all is right again. The Michelle/Stephanie lessons: Be considerate of others and don’t let annoying people get to you. This is a mega episode with so many plots, it’s surprising that they kept it to two parts. Any one of these stories could have worked as the sole focus of an entire episode. This is how most of the Disney World episodes of TGIF shows go. Since the setting is an entire amusement park instead of one house, there’s more room to let the characters split up and do their own thing. It’s also done in an interesting, captivating way that makes you completely overlook the fact that it’s basically a long advertisement for Disney World.

#7: The Bicycle Thief (Season 7, Episode 11)
I love a comedic take on a heist story, and this episode is just that. There’s no emotional talks, sappy music, or big life lesson. It’s just comedy that ends up being a heist in reverse.  Michelle is convinced that someone stole her bike. Everyone splits up and searches around town. Danny, Jesse, and Joey all come back with bikes that are identical to Michelle’s. It turns out that none of them are Michelle’s bike, which means they’ve all just stolen bikes. To make matters worse, Kimmy Gibbler and Mrs. Carruthers, a lady from the neighborhood, decide to barge in and make the Tanner house their neighborhood watch headquarters. What follows is a lot of hilarious slapstick humor, schemes, and plots as the family tries to sneak the bikes back to their owners without getting caught by the Crime Catchers. We later find out that all of this was unnecessary, since Michelle’s bike was never stolen to begin with. She just left it at her friend’s house and forgot about it. Which led to a great moment when everyone gives her the “are you kidding me?” look.

I love these kinds of stories, where something that’s supposed to be simple, keeps getting more and more complicated. As soon as we realize they stole the bikes, you can tell that it’s going to be funny. In addition to crime catchers, the father of one of the kids whose bike was stolen comes over. This guy has biceps bigger than most children and he knows that someone named Jesse is to blame. This of course leads to a name switch, turning Jesse into Joey, Joey into Danny, and everyone else confused. Between this guy and the Crime Catchers, they also shuffle the bike from the living room to the kitchen to the bedroom, and eventually out a 2 story window, while Stephanie distracts everyone with a card trick. Just when you think they have a clear shot of getting the bikes out undetected, something else happens. You could probably speed up the whole episode and put Benny Hill music over it, and you’d still understand it all.

#6: A Very Tanner Christmas (Season 6, Episode 12)
It’s time for the Christmas episode of Full House. Once again, everyone’s got their own plot, and once again, Joey is jipped out of his own story. I know I’m getting into the higher end of this countdown, but I’m starting to feel bad for the guy. Anyways, getting back to the episode, Becky is feeling homesick for holidays in Nebraska. It’s hard for her to get into the Christmas spirit without snow. Likewise, Danny is finding it hard to get into the Christmas spirit without Vicky, who is off in Sweden. DJ and Steve end up arguing about what’s going to happen to them if Steve moves away for college. While this is going on, Stephanie and Michelle are bursting with anticipation of what new presents they’ll be getting this year, completely missing the point of Christmas.

Here we have four problems, and all of them are either solved by Uncle Jesse or a Santa Claus. Lets start with Uncle Jesse’s accomplishments. He notices how greedy Stephanie and Michelle have been, so he takes them to a homeless shelter to help out. This would have been a great moment, except we don’t actually see them at the shelter, they just talk about it. The whole issue was rushed and very anticlimactic, when it could have been a much bigger part of the episode. We did however, get a fun moment at the end of the episode, when he surprises Becky with a backyard full of snow in San Francisco by buying 17,000 snow cones. Yes, I think it’s safe to say that Uncle Jesse is one of the big heroes of this episode.

The other heroes come in the form of three mystery Santas. Originally, Joey was going to be the only Santa, which leads to some fun confusion when two more Jolly St. Nicks visit the Tanner house. One of them is revealed to be Steve, who has decided to go to a local school to stay with DJ. Another one turns out to be Vicky, who flew back in time to surprise Danny. It’s a nice moment since both of them had been absolutely miserable at the party without their significant others. I still think it’s more impressive that Jesse made it snow and cured greediness and all without dressing up as Santa Claus, but overall, I’m a sucker for happy Christmas episodes.



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