Top Home Movies Episodes

I have been a little absent (my apologies) and will be working hard to catch up for the rest of the year. But I wanted to do a quick little piece since this poor site has been neglected. I have recently been doing a rewatch of Home Movies (yet again), and so thought I would share what are my favorite episodes. For those who have not yet experienced the joy that is Home Movies a quick overview-

Home Movies is an animated show and is one of the earlier works from Brendon Small (Metalocalypse) and Loren Bouchard (Bob’s Burgers). It follows the character Brendon Small who makes movies with his friends Melissa and Jason everyday after school. He also plays soccer which is coached by John McGuirk played by H Jon Benjamin (Bob). The show went through various stages, season 1 being done in Squigglevision and had a more loose plot and improvisational feel. Season 2 introduced more reoccurring characters and plotlines and this continued through Season 3, while Season 4 falls somewhere in between. It was a pretty hilarious show and as it went on did a lot of movie parodies. Also both Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard’s love of music shine through in various episodes. I plan on writing a longer piece about the show hopefully in the future, but I hope that gives you a solid idea of what it happening. With that

Get Away from My Mom

Honestly gotta give it to the first episode. It’s not the smoothest nor the funniest but it is a really good introduction to the show. We get a look at all aspects of Brendon’s life, from soccer and McGuirk being the hilarious mess he is. The actual movies and the dynamic with Jason and Melissa. But also Brendon’s relationship with his mom, Paula. She can be a bit of a mess, which brings its own humor, but her dynamic with her son is actually really sweet. While the rough edges get smoothed out I do like Paula and Brendon’s dynamic throughout the show.

Dad

Setting aside the fact that Brendon’s father is voiced by sex pest Louis C.K. the episodes involving him did add some nice character development to the show, while still maintaining the overall humor. At the end of the first season Brendon starts to wonder about his absent father, and in this episode we get to meet him as he tries to actually be involved in Brendon’s life. Along with him though comes his trophy girlfriend. The three have a lot of awkward moments, more than a little conflict, and a lot of solid laughs.

Shore Leave

To be honest I could have made this whole list just with season 3 episodes, by far my favorite season. Melissa’s father is concerned that Melissa doesn’t have any women influences in her life so has her join The Fairy Princesses, a “girl scout” like group, but is a total scam to sell stuff. Brendon is being forced to stay the weekend with Fenton, the single most annoying character in not only but any show. While Melissa and Brendon are freaking out Jason is kind of loving the break. The episode is nearly perfect but my god is Fenton hard to deal with. Still it’s hilarious overall and Melissa going rogue on The Fairy Princesses is brilliant.

Storm Warning

Coach McGuirk wants Paula to pose as his girlfriend while his sister in town for a layover. Paula however is worried about getting her finally finished book to her old publisher to get back into writing. The backdrop to all of this is a massive storm. McGuirk ends up watching the kids while Paula is driving in the storm and the dynamics at play are just hilarious. This is one of the most laugh out loud episodes to me. I also love that during the few moments in the series where Jason and McGuirk interact he hates Jason (both are voiced by Jon Benjamin). This may actually be my actual favorite episode in the entire series.

Curses

Brendon makes a movie with a lot of cursing which gets Paula in deep trouble with the other kids’ parents. She forces Brendon to make a cleaner version of his movie while also instituting a swear jar for Brendon. Meanwhile Melissa’s father is finally trying to date which Melissa does not take well and moves in with the Smalls. It is not the best episode plot wise (though fairly solid), but it does have a lot of laugh out loud moments.

In all honesty this was a pretty rough list to put together because there are a lot of other options from each season. I feel like these are each pretty solid and show different elements of the show well, all while being pretty laugh out loud. Stay tuned for more on Home Movies and just more pieces in general!