“Little Green Lie” is the perfect example of what makes The Muppets so good; a heartfelt story, some very funny moments, and a returning favorite character that hasn’t been seen in years.
Recap
We open early in the morning at Up Late, where Zoot is awoken by Kermit. Kermit prepares for the arrival of his nephew Robin, who he hasn’t seen in a long time. He tells Zoot that Robin’s parents recently split up, and he wants to give him a good time.
Things get complicated however, as, when Robin arrives, it quickly becomes apparent that he has no idea that Kermit and Miss Piggy have broken up. Miss Piggy and Robin always had a special bond, and Robin can’t wait for the three of them to have fun together. To make matters worse, he tells Kermit that the only thing that got him through his parent’s divorce was knowing that Kermit and Miss Piggy were still together.
Just then Miss Piggy bursts into the room to welcome Robin. Knowing that she would somehow spill the beans on their breakup, Kermit springs into action and tries to kiss her. Miss Piggy is taken aback, and Kermit rushes her outside to fill her in. Surprisingly, Piggy is quite willing to play along, especially after learning that Denise broke up with Kermit (a fact he’d been keeping quiet).
Meanwhile at Pepé, Rizzo, and Gonzo’s bachelor pad, Pepé and Rizzo are having an argument over hair gel when they are interrupted by music in the other room. When they go to investigate, they find Gonzo and Camilla doing couple’s yoga together. The two tell us that things have changed since Camilla moved back. They think she has really messed things up for them, as Gonzo never has time to hang out with them any more.
At the morning meeting, after Big Mean Carl eats Miss Piggy’s dog, Foo-Foo, Kermit tells everyone about the situation with Robin, and asks everyone to pretend that they’re back together. Scooter tells Kermit that he wants to help, but he can’t lie or he’ll break out in hives. Kermit tells him that he doesn’t have to lie, and that they really are back together. To everyone else, Kermit says that they should just steer clear of Robin if they don’t think they can lie,. When Robin enters, everyone scatters.
That night during a game of Friendly Feud on Up Late, hosted by Uncle Deadly, Pepé and Rizzo discuss the Gonzo situation. They decide that they need to find a new wingman. It’s just too weird with only two people. Two people is a couple, but three is a posse. They decide to look around for a new member of their group.
After the show, Kermit suggests to Robin that they go play laser tag. He wants them to be alone, but Robin ends up inviting everyone. A bunch of people, including Miss Piggy, end up joining them. During the game, a news crew shows up and Scooter tells them that the new team must have seen his tweets. Apparently he took to Twitter to announce to the world that Kermit and Miss Piggy reconciled, and now a news crew tracked them there to do a story! Piggy and Kermit immediately hide themselves. If they are caught Robin will know the truth.
Meanwhile at Rowlf’s Tavern, Rizzo and Pepé have found three suitable candidates for their replacement wingman: Sam the Eagle, Big Mean Carl, and Chip the IT Guy. Pepé and Rizzo tell the three that the one who successfully charms the three ladies across the room will be the winner. One of the three ladies is Lara Spencer, one of the hosts of Good Morning America, with whom Pepé has been flirting for years.
It looks like it’s a disaster. Sam does nothing but read a book about the politics of broadcast regulation, Chip chews on ice and gets a brain freeze, and Big Mean Carl barfs Foo-Foo back up right in front of Lara – who looks horrified and snatches her out of his mouth.
Back at laser tag Kermit and Miss Piggy are still in hiding, but they don’t seem to mind. They begin to reminisce about the old days, like this one time they accidentally performed for a dictator and ended up hiding in his collection of stolen art. Just as they think they’re in the clear, the press ambushes them and asks them directly in front of Robin if it’s true that they’re back together. They tell them that it is not true, there’s been a mistake. Robin is horrified at this news. He runs away and hides somewhere in the laser tag arena.
When Kermit and Miss Piggy finally find Robin, he asks them why they broke up. He has come to accept the fact that his parents broke up, and he knows they weren’t right for each other. But, with Kermit and Piggy, everyone knows that they’re meant for each other, no matter how much they fight!
They protest telling him that no, no they are not meant for each other. Robin confesses that he just doesn’t like that everything is changing, but Kermit tells him that, no matter what else changes, he will always be his Uncle Kermit. And Miss Piggy chimes in that she’ll always be his Aunt Miss Piggy. Robin tells them that this does make him feel a little better, and the three of them leave to go get milkshakes together.
Back at Rowlf’s, Pepé and Rizzo are really down. Lara and her friends are leaving with their three potential wingmen, and Lara tells Pepé that he should have asked her out a long time ago. Suddenly Gonzo shows up! Camilla told him to go join his friends. Gonzo tells them that they’re wrong about Camilla. Just because he’s back together with her doesn’t mean they can never hang out. She could even help them out with the ladies; she has really cute friends. Rizzo and Pepé politely decline the offer and suggest that they just have a boy’s night.
Across the room Scooter, Robin, Kermit, and Miss Piggy all drink milkshakes. Kermit asks Miss Piggy why everyone is so obsessed with them getting together. They can’t figure it out. They know they have great stage chemistry, but that’s about it. Kermit says he keeps hearing, “For anything to last this long there’s obviously something there.” They look at each other meaningfully, then both go for the same straw in a milkshake. Suddenly Rowlf starts playing “As Time Goes By” on the piano, and they both shout at him, “Not helping!”
Back at Gonzo’s, Camilla is hanging out with two models when she gets a text from Gonzo. His friends aren’t coming back with him. Camilla’s friends are very upset, as they were looking forward to hanging out with Gonzo and his friends. In the end they decide to have an ironic pillow fight, like in all those movies made by men, instead.
Review
“Little Green Lie” was very good. It probably was not my favorite episode, it had far too little Uncle Deadly for that, but it had some downright hilarious scenes and was chock full of emotional drama. Some might argue that this is a bad thing, but I enjoyed it and I love that Kermit and Miss Piggy are mending fences.
It was such a treat to see Robin back. There are so few main Muppet characters left that have not made even a cameo appearance that it made Robin’s starring role so much more special. My only complaint is that his voice was very different, but I quickly got used to the new one. It wasn’t different enough to be off-putting, just different different enough that it was a bit jarring for a long-time Muppet fan.
Besides the inclusion of Robin, I liked that so many Muppets got a bit of the spotlight. Big Mean Carl, Sam, and Chip were great as a secondary trio to Gonzo, Rizzo, and Pepe’s and I hope they can get a bit more screen time together in the future.
Zoot was hysterical (as always), Scooter was hilarious, and Rowlf even got in a few lines. Plus, he had a musical number! It was really short, but it was great nonetheless.
The sequence with Uncle Deadly’s Friendly Feud was one of the best scenes of the whole episode! The Electric Mayhem are always great, but they were in rare weird form it took all my willpower to not transcribe the entire scene in my favorite quotes section. It was just too funny.
One of the best things about this episode was the number of visual gags. We even got Big Mean Carl eating another character! And not just chewing on them, like what happened with Scooter a couple episodes ago, but full on eating and swallowing! He straight up devoured Foo-Foo! And then, many hours later, barfed her back up again, totally fine! It was hilarious! Hands down, one of my all time favorite Muppet moments.
While I’m on the topic of visual gags, lets just go through a few of my favorites from the episode.
“Oh no, no Robin! Don’t eat that!”
“I don’t know, it just seems like eatin’ eggs these days is so… Confrontational!
“He got the ball. He’s happy.”
“No! Wasseh fer de piggen!”
“There ya go. Ya like wet puppies Lara?”
Favorite Quotes
Kermit: “Zoot?!”
Zoot: “Oh! Sorry, father.”
Kermit: “What are you doing here this early?”
Zoot: “Oh! I tried to leave last night, but the sign said fire door. I didn’t wanna risk it.”Scooter: “AAAAAGH!!! OH!!! MONDAY FUNTIMES!!! Whoops! Sorry, I didn’t mean to cuss in front of a child.”
Robin: “Mom told me that those tabloids are just filled with lies. Like, Princess Diana’s ghost did not marry that alien. They’re just living together.”
Miss Piggy: “Robin’s divorced father’s head melted on his dashboard!? That’s horrible!”
Pepé: “It’s the couple’s yoga. A beautiful thing between a man and a woman, but really weird between your blue roommate and a chicken.”
Uncle Deadly: “This is the third least important secret I’m currently keeping.”
Deadly: “Most popular flavor of iced cream. Janice.
Janice: “Um, I try not to eat ice cream, because I think it’s mean that they keep cows in a freezer.”Deadly: “Rhymes with Schmanilla!”
Zoot: “Uuuuuh… Leather!”
Lips: “Spitachio!”
Animal: “WOMAN!”
Entire band: “Good answer! Good answer!”
Deadly: “NO IT IS NOT A GOOD ANSWER!”Robin: “Hey, Miss Piggy! You’re comin’ to laser tag, right?”
Miss Piggy: “Oh, sweetie, the only thing I use lasers for is burning weird things off my body.Scooter: “Hey look, a news crew’s here! They must’ve seen my tweets about you guys being back together! I got a ton of new followers! It’s gonna drive so much traffic to my Pinterest page on miniature horses!”
Scooter: “NOOOOOOOO!!! YOU MADE ME THE FIRST PERSON IN THE WORLD TO LIE ON TWITTEEEER!!!”
Final Thoughts
“Little Green Lie” was a great episode. It may not have been one of The Muppets’ all time bests, but it was up there. It had a whole bunch of downright hilarious moments, and it was great to see Robin again.
Tonight (March 1st) is The Muppets’ hourlong season finale, and – unless the show is picked up for season two – it could also be the series finale. The fact that they will air the final two episodes in one night has me a bit worried. If you’d like a second season of The Muppets, you can tweet @ABCNetwork using #RenewTheMuppets. If enough of us make our voices heard, hopefully they’ll see that the demand is there!
What did you think of this episode? What was your favorite moment?
Edited by: Hannah Wilkes
