My Brother, My Brother and Me Review: Tarantulas and Travis Did a Hit (Season 1 Episode 3)

The McElroy brothers are re-branding the tarantula!

On My Brother, My Brother and Me Season 1 Episode 3, the McElroys face their biggest challenge yet: helping a man convince his wife that it’d be totally cool to own a tarantula.

Why is this such a challenge?

Middlest brother Travis HATES tarantulas.

In order to help Dan from Massachusettes, the brothers decide that tarantulas need a reformation, affectionately re-naming them ‘ranchos,’ which sounds more like a new flavor of Doritos than a fuzzy spider.

Throughout the episode, Travis’ fear of tarantulas is put to the test. A spider expert brings hundreds of the creepy-crawlies into the studio.

While Justin and Griffin are charmed by the eight-legged freaks, Travis cowers in the corner, not even brave enough to stand at the table.

I can’t say I blame him – spiders are super scary. Big fuzzy spiders are even scarier, even when you try to make them cuter by naming them after Doritos.

Travis DOES face his fear, and lets the tarantula crawl across his hand. That alone should get Dan some major points with Alex.

The McElroys once again visit Mayor Steve Williams, asking for his permission to hold Huntington’s first-ever Tarantula Parade.

Their best attempts at coaxing him with anti-Mayor campaign videos fail – Mayor Williams isn’t going to shut down his town for tarantulas, even if it will help Dan.

Naturally, the brothers throw the parade anyway, complete with a high school marching band that repeatedly plays “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Parade goers chant, “Dan Should Get a Tarantula,” as a giant float clad in paper-mache spiders slowly drives on.

It’s the weirdest, yet most stunning, impromptu parade I’ve ever witnessed on television.

The brothers even attempt to normalize the ranchos by giving them their own spider sitcom – which doesn’t really go anywhere because they’re just tarantulas crawling. They don’t have much to work with.

Here’s the thing about this question: Justin, Travis, and Griffin actually DO work pretty hard on this. They never lose sight of the goal. Their determination to get Dan’s wife Alex to allow a tarantula into her home never wavers.

It’s unlike anything we’ve seen thus far for the McElroys. By the episode’s end, they ARE kind-of tarantula experts, in a sense.

However, when the moment of truth arrives for Dan, despite everything the McElroys have done to convince Alex otherwise, she still refuses Dan’s request to own a tarantula.

Hey, you can’t win them all.

Maybe if Reginald VelJohnson had shown up, things would have been different. I can only sit back and dream of the great Family Matters tarantula jokes that could have existed if he’d only taken their call.

So many missed opportunities for spiders saying, “Did I do that?” Let’s have a moment of silence for the bits that could have been…

As the series goes on, I can’t help but wonder how the McElroys haven’t had a television show prior to this. Their natural chemistry, comedic timing, and willingness to try anything seem to be the perfect fit for television.

What did you think of this episode of My Brother, My Brother and Me? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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My Brother, My Brother and Me Season 1 is available for streaming on Seeso.

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