‘Ted’ Recap: ‘My Two Dads’

1/19/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

TED -- "My Two Dads" Episode 102 -- Pictured: (l-r) Max Burkholder as John, Seth MacFarlane as voice of Ted -- (Photo by: PEACOCK)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Two of ‘Ted’. To revisit the Series Premiere, click here.

Each and every one of us in life, have had some kind of experience with a bully. For some of us, that experience is second hand, since we’ve known a friend who has been picked on by one and the rest of us… well… we got picked on by a bully. And it wasn’t fun. Because no one enjoys having to fear walking into a room and having someone furiously scream at you or push you about. But that was the experience, and it was one… that oft led to a fantasy in our minds to cope with how annoying and sometimes scary this could be. In that, we always wondered what it would feel like to turn the tables on our bully and hopefully teach them a lesson. Just because their behavior wasn’t healthy in the slightest. But of course, that didn’t happen, we went on with our lives and got an idea of how they ended up for better or for worse at a high school reunion.

But what would have happened… if we were able to turn the tables on our bully and really teach them a valuable lesson? Would we have found a unique agency? Or would we have been no better than the bully that made our day hell? Well, it just so happens that these questions are pondered upon deeply in the next episode of Ted on Peacock. For ‘My Two Dads’ once again saw John and Ted be badly bullied by Clive at school, to the point where Ted took a toilet bath and that left them in a slightly sour mood. That is… until a grand surprise at home gave them an idea. For after a classic Matty blow up regarding how he didn’t want to get a colonoscopy done for reasons that we will get into later, Susan revealed inadvertently that Clive was probably so salty because he didn’t have a father and that gave this duo quite the twisted idea.

In that, they could pretend to be Clive’s dad and get a measure of payback upon him by toying with his heartstrings and that plan totally worked. Simply because… they were able to get Clive to come to the local Friendly’s dressed as a sailor and say ‘ahoy’ to anyone he passed to drop a cruel prank on him and make him suffer. But uh, he suffered a little more than expected. In fact, things got really dark with Clive, and that left the duo feeling pretty awful about themselves. So, they instead, tried to mend fences by dragging this out further to try and make Clive feel better about himself and be better. But that too, got out of hand. Because Clive latched onto this idea and wanted to see his dad, prompting the Thunder Buddies to hire a security guard/hopeful actor to play Clive’s dad in a desperate attempt to close this out. But they were of course caught, and finally opened up about what they did, and why… giving rise to a surprising peace between everyone.

TED -- "My Two Dads" Episode 102 -- Pictured: (l-r) Alanna Ubach as Susan, Seth MacFarlane as voice of Ted, Max Burkholder as John, Scott Grimes as Matty, Giorgia Whigham as Blaire -- (Photo by: PEACOCK)

But before we dig deeper into the themes present there, there was mention of the fact that Matty had real concerns over getting an all-important Colonoscopy, and we need to talk about that. Because Susan did not let that rest in the slightest and that led to fights and an ask from Blaire as to why Matty was so hellbent on not having his personal health made a priority. As it turned out, it wasn’t related to the reasons anyone initially thought, such as some close-minded nonsense… but instead… because he was afraid to spill secrets about his time in Vietnam. Because he believed that doctors wanted those secrets, and that they also wanted to mock his appearance and find sexual pleasure from the procedure. So, he asked Blaire to join him during the procedure to make sure his secrets didn’t spill, and well… that went poorly. Since Blaire had to hide in his gurney, after a bribe, since they didn’t let her in initially. And well, the experience was so weird, and affirming in some respects… since they did mock Matty, and someone thought this was hot, that she demanded retribution.

In the form of having Matty, be honest about his secrets. Because enough was enough. The air HAD to be cleared and well, that secret was uh… uh… not what anyone expected it to be. Because Matty didn’t have some horrible story about having to fight for his life in a harrowing manner that would urge someone to have Matty see a psychiatrist to deal with such matters. Nor was he harboring some kind of national secret or memory of a mission that revealed something shocking to him and his unit. Nope. Turned out, Matty’s big secret… was that he gave a dog a hand job during the war. Yup. You read that right. He helped a dog rub one out. All because he was concerned about the health of the dog and having its red rocket make contact with the ground. So, he did his duty and made things weird twice over in his life. But uh yeah, he did serve his country and like Susan said, we thank him so much for that.

But uh, all dog pleasure aside, make no mistake about it… this episode had a solid lesson. In that, if we flipped the script on a bully, we’d be no better than them. So, the best outcome for anyone being bullied is to work to find common ground with them, so peace can be made and well… that lesson only added to the wonder of one hilarious episode. One that featured some amazing jokes for certain. Because John’s obsession with the backstory for his Friendly’s cover was the stuff of legend, as was the whole two dad dynamic of Ted and John and let’s be honest… Matty freakin’ stole the show here. Because that story, was so out of left field and so unexpected, that it took this reporter a good ten minutes to get the laughs out before continuing with the episode. But that’s what we have come to expect from this franchise, and now that Clive and John, and Ted are cool and Matty’s conscience is clear… it should be interesting to see what other amazing moments await us as this story continues along. Until next time.

Watch ‘Ted’

0 Comments