Season 4, Episode 2 “So You Think You Can Date?”
Set-Up: Duck Commander employee Martin lets slip that he has a date, and this becomes fodder both for jokes from the Robertson men and a makeover from the Robertson women. Phil is stuck with the granddaughters and has to find a way to entertain them before they drive him crazy.
Hilarity Ensues: Led by Willie’s wife Korie, Willie, Jase, and the Robertson wives go to Martin’s house to try to help him get ready for his date. Despite advice to “be himself,” they try to dress him up in some pastels and make him more presentable. Willie and Jase explore Martin’s refrigerator and find Martin has been hoarding packs of mustard.
Once the makeover is done, the men return to the Duck Commander headquarters, where Uncle Si gives Martin some lessons in “etti-kwette.” This involves Si dressing partially in drag, and playing the part of Martin’s date.
As Jase says, “I’ve seen Si dress like a woman more times than I care to count. Which makes me wonder….Where is he getting all these feather boas?”
The exchange between Si and Martin breaks down as Martin keeps wanting to address his “date” as Brittney, but Si keeps insisting his name is Tiffany. “But my date’s name is Brittney,” Martin says. “I don’t ever want to hear that name again!” Si shoots back.
Major Themes: In addition to the battle of the sexes, this episode involves the internecine war within the sexes as Martin is taken down several notches by the ribbing of his male friends.
The theme of intergenerational conflict plays out between Phil and the granddaughters. As is often the case, Phil is disgusted by their addiction to video games (“digital dementia,” as he calls it) and their general squealyness. He takes them fishing so that when they’re ready to date men they can at least say, “I know how to bait a hook.” Surprisingly, one of the granddaughters actually catches a pretty sizable catfish, but the girls want to throw it back because “it might have brothers and sisters.” This causes Phil to shake his head and mutter, “ ‘It might have brothers and sisters.’ This is what America has come to.”
Is this for real? The most set-up aspect of the show seems to be when Uncle Si puts on drag and acts as Martin’s date. Si getting carried away with the role and insisting on being called Tiffany is truly funny, and I’d like to believe that’s just Si’s natural comic instincts. Uncle Si is also pretty adept at pop culture references, saying the girls want to turn Martin into “Channing Tatum,” and singing Beyonce’s “If you like her than you gotta put a ring on it.”
Somebody had to catch that catfish, as it surfaced as it was being hooked. It’s not too hard to believe a granddaughter of Phil Robertson might have a little bit of talent at fishing.
The Christian Angle The blessing over the food at the end includes Phil thanking God “for these fish you provided us.” One of the themes I’d like to explore as this season of Duck Dynasty unfolds is the way the “bounty of the land” – fish, deer, ducks, frogs, and other game that might be hunted and trapped—is seen as a blessing of Providence. What people who have not witnessed the hunting culture of the South may not understand is that it is both a way of life and an ordering of the cosmos. It is central to many people’s faith that Man was meant to hunt and fish, and to some extent, maintain and conserve, the animals that are in the swamps, forests, rivers, and bayous.
The Wrap-Up: Best line of the show comes from Phil describing the fishing expedition that opens the episode and his brother Si: “If fish were vampires, Silas would be garlic, daylight, and a wooden stake.” Duck Dynasty is on every Wednesday at 10PM Eastern, 9PM Central on A&E.
