Attending open houses, signing texts and begging for funding — all in a day’s work on FOX’s Animal Control. Season 3 Episode 9, “Retrievers and Fruit Bats,” sees the return of Roman Park, played by the always delightful Ken Jeong. This penultimate outing also brings about Patel and Shred’s open house and stirs up those Emily/Shred feels. (Shremily? Emed? What’s the ship name, folks?) It’s another fun episode.
Below, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite quotes from “Retrievers and Fruit Bats.” Proceed at your peril.
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Technologically Advanced
VICTORIA: “You’re only five minutes late.”
EMILY: “Six, actually. I’m sorry I let you all down. [cries]”
Poor Emily (Vella Lovell). Nobody’s harder on Emily than, well, Emily. Only our favorite animal control director would assume that being six minutes late is the end of the world and that she’s disappointed her employees, who, let’s be real, couldn’t care less. Give yourself grace, Emily. And eat all the potatoes.
VICTORIA: “Shouldn’t I do that? On account of me texting since I was seven and you wearing your cell phone on your belt up until last year?”
Victoria (Grace Palmer) and Frank (Joel McHale) trading barbs will never get old. Sure, the series is heavily hinting at their inevitable coupling, but the chemistry is there. It’s chemistry-ing. However, to be fair, McHale could have chemistry with a brick wall. He’s that charismatic. Almost more charismatic than the guy who’s famous for being charismatic (I know it’s not the exact quote; sue me).
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Join the Cult
SHRED: “I thought you two were carpooling?”
BETTANY: “She’s out singing Mary J. Blige to a dead butterfly.”
I’m glad Bettany (Krystal Smith) is getting more screen time, and the writers are fleshing her out beyond being Emily’s assistant. And it seems like Bettany and Shred (Michael Rowland) have mended fences, thereby squashing their beef. Bettany and Patel (Ravi Patel) are also a dynamite pairing.
Side note: we need a deleted scene featuring Emily singing Mary J. Blige to a dead butterfly. For science.
FRANK: “I’m loving the new look. It’s very cult leader chic.”
RICK: “Thank you. I fell in love with linen in Nepal. I haven’t looked back since.”
Listen, Rick (Kevin Bigley) getting a beard was the best thing that happened to him (in my humble opinion). Separately, despite his current cult leader look, you can’t deny that linen is comfortable as hell. Let’s destigmatize linen, people.
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See Things Eye to Eye
SHRED: “I want a hypoallergenic dog that I named after Frank who died saving my life on a kayaking trip. And I want kids — two girls and a boy, with a boy in the middle. I want a little boy sandwich.”
Now, we need a flash-forward segment depicting Frank’s gallant demise during this kayaking trip. After all, Shred’s future hypoallergenic dog must earn his name. Also, Shred should never say “little boy sandwich” in a public space. That might put him on a few lists.
ROMAN: “Stand up, Frank. Is this a presentation or not?”
FRANK: “I thought you wanted this to be at eye level.”
Is there anything better than a Joel McHale/Ken Jeong comedic feud? Whether it’s Community, Animal Control or IRL, these two are gold together. The clever one-liners are always a-flying.
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What are your favorite quotes from Animal Control‘s “Retrievers and Fruit Bats”? Sound off in the comments below.
Animal Control airs its Season 3 finale on Thursday, March 13, at 9 pm EST on FOX, with next-day streaming on Hulu.
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet.
Bylines in: Tell-Tale TV, Culturess, Sideshow Collectibles, and inkMend on Medium.
Critic: Rotten Tomatoes, CherryPicks, and the Hollywood Creative Alliance.
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