Tuca & Bertie sends the crew home for the holidays
This week’s Tuca & Bertie saw the birds of a feather flock together back home to their families for the Cadaveri holiday, a sort of mashup of Dia de los Muertos, Halloween, and Thanksgiving after the friends had been flung apart in last week’s episode.
The first half of the episode spends time with Tuca’s sister, Terry, as Tuca tries to prove she’s responsible, a recurring theme between her and her sister.
The Cadaveri holiday provides a nice backdrop for family conflict to arise. Tuca’s niece, Tulip, wants to learn more about Cadaveri and have fun on the holiday, leading Tuca to take her on a yum or yell, a test of Tuca’s ability to be an adult.
The yum or yell is sort of like trick-or-treating and a fun animation detour and all goes well until Tulip gets into fake demon blood that gives her an allergic reaction, leading her sister to say she was right to never have trusted her.
The following day at Bertie’s provides even more insight into her psychological makeup. Like many people in therapy, Bertie is ready to talk about her past traumas and wounds with her family, namely the childhood assault she suffered at the Jelly Lakes (a plot point in the first season).
But while Tuca and Terry get everything off their chest and may be too confrontational, Bertie’s parents shove everything down and refuse to discuss the reality of the situation, including her father’s recent heart problems.
The stark contrast between the families provides more depth and background for the characters we’ve known for nearly twenty episodes now while also serving as a fresh twist on a traditional holiday episode.
“Corpse Week” also gives Tuca and Bertie each an opportunity to deal with their family problems head-on and show the ways they’ve grown independently while still having each other to lean on.
After Bertie confronts her parents, she has Tuca and Speckle to cry to, but Tuca also realizes she needs to make things right with her sister and thank her for helping to raise her after their mother died.
Like BoJack Horseman before it, Tuca & Bertie is at its best when it uses absurdism to reflect real, human emotions and issues, and “Corpse Week” is an excellent example of this tension.
Next. Tuca & Bertie gives us a deeper look at codependency and intimacy. dark
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