Summary
Junior remains an aggravating figure in Poppa’s House Episode 9, and the show’s insistence on burning his childishness for narrative fuel is extremely trying.
Returning in Episode 9 after a hiatus of several weeks, Poppa’s House abides by the principle that a dog makes everything better. But not this show, as it turns out. “Puppy” has the requisite cuteness and life lessons that we’ve come to expect from anything involving man’s best friend, but it also has Junior, whose whiny petulance continues to be – for reasons inexplicable to me – the narrative’s primary source of fuel.
There are two children in this show, and yet for some reason, it’s Junior who’s always acting like one. Here, he’s sulking because Nina has mandated a period of celibacy to help them connect as husband and wife on a deeper – stop saying deeper! – level. I get why this would be annoying, especially if you’re married to Tetona Jackson, but it sends Junior into another woe-is-me spiral that sets up the remainder of the episode.
Stress over celibacy reminds Junior that he wanted a puppy growing up and never got one. He thinks Poppa was mean and cheap and only paid for stuff that he needed rather than wanted. Nobody ever points out that a) having stuff you need is a privilege in and of itself, and b) that the stuff Junior “needed” – like private school and film school! – he didn’t even strictly need.
At the time, Poppa claimed Junior was allergic to animal dander, which Junior assumed was an excuse for him to be miserly. But the most consistent visual gag of Poppa’s House Episode 9 is that Junior really is allergic to dogs, so when Poppa gets him one to prove a point after Ivy recommends he makes a “grand gesture” to prove his love for his son, Junior’s face swells up like the Elephant Man.
Needless to say, Poppa thinks this is brilliant. “Puppy” leans on Junior’s allergy face the same way it did Poppa’s wig in the previous episode. We’re supposed to think it’s funny enough to carry an entire episode. Meanwhile, there’s an interesting underlying point – that Poppa also used the “allergies” excuse to avoid buying Junior a Nintendo and such – that is mentioned once obliquely and never brought up again.
It would have probably been more interesting if Poppa being truthful about the allergies didn’t exonerate him from depriving Junior of other things using the same excuse. Instead, Junior has to drag his big face back to Dad to apologize and explain how he has learned his lesson. Why is the whole show built around this guy learning fundamental lessons like this? He’s a grown man!
The only moment of potentially illuminating softness in the episode is when Poppa sits down with the dog, Popcorn, and explains to it that he had a similar-looking dog when he was young and had to watch it get squashed by a reversing fire truck. From this, we can infer that part of Poppa’s decision not to get Junior a puppy was rooted in fear of experiencing that kind of loss again, which is on-trend for Poppa. If this was the reason and he was lying about the allergies, that would have been better. But “Puppy” wants the visual gag of Junior’s swollen face either way.
Of course, Poppa elects to keep Popcorn, sparing Junior’s kids the trauma of having to ship it off to some mysterious family in Connecticut. Given how frequently Junior is at his dad’s house, I’m not sure how this is a solution. I wouldn’t expect to see Popcorn again going forward, which is perhaps just as well.
