Tuca & Bertie Season 3 Episode 3 Review: The One Where Bertie Gets Eaten by a Snake
Tuca & Bertie Season 3 Episode 3, “The One Where Bertie Gets Eaten by a Snake,” explores the importance of setting personal boundaries and confidently taking up the space you occupy.
“The One Where Bertie Gets Eaten by a Snake” seems like the title of a Friends episode, and the premise is 50 shades of bizarre. The transportation Tuca and Bertie take that’s a genuine snake births a host of snake babies that invade Bird Town, swallowing unsuspecting passersby without impunity.
BERTIE: Miniature croissants with tiny hotdogs inside? I’ll call them “Porks in a Towel.”
Ergo, the plotline couldn’t possibly stand as a metaphor, right? It’s simply too zany for that. This is Tuca & Bertie, and it thrives on wacky antics masking unexpected profundity.
Tuca and Bertie’s snake experiences represent different things for our eponymous duo. For Bertie, it signifies her lack of self-confidence and self-worth. Bertie doesn’t feel she deserves the space she occupies. So, when she dons the “snake suit,” Bertie’s confidence skyrockets, allowing her to speak her mind boldly in ways she could not before.
TUCA: Bertie, you are living your best snake self, and I am here for it.
Meanwhile, Tuca struggles with setting concrete personal boundaries. It takes getting swallowed by a snake to see the relentless damage wrought by opening herself to toxicity that impedes her healing.
Tuca’s realization that Figgy’s incessant drinking and unwillingness to address his alcoholism is heartbreaking. Her executive decision to end the relationship takes enormous strength and fortitude. Watching Tuca’s growth throughout Tuca & Bertie is so gratifying, and this episode solidifies that gratification.
“The One Where Bertie Gets Eaten by a Snake” provides ample space for hilarious hijinks and witty one-liners based on its premise alone. It’s undoubtedly one of the show’s funnier episodes. However, when you peel away the humorous layers, you find a deeply poignant and universally relatable center that tugs at the heartstrings.
BERTIE: What I’ve got is going to knock your socks off. I hope you’ve got nice feet because, honey, I’m gonna look at them and name each individual toe.
Despite the heartbreak, Bertie learns to stand her ground while radiating confidence in her skin (snakes be damned). Tuca discovers the pain that often accompanies boundaries, especially when you begin your recovery journey. Tuca & Bertie delivers another hard-hitting episode with “The One Where Bertie Gets Eaten by a Snake,” wrapped in humor, heart, and eye-catching artistry.
Stray Observations:
- The snake song/montage deserves a bona fide music video, complete with a big dance number from all the snakes in this episode.
- Every woman can relate to Bertie’s bus experience. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got sunglasses on, headphones in, and you’re fully immersed in a book — some creep will find a way to invade your space.
- Speckle’s dream sequence of falling is all too relatable.
- Most folks (like the one writing this review) get their best ideas in the shower. Perhaps it’s because the steam from the shower opens your pores, allowing total bodily absorption of outside influences that stimulate your creative flow? Or not.
- Good on Tuca for effectively communicating her needs to Figgy. That’s a challenging hurdle to overcome when you struggle with boundaries.
What did you think of this episode of Tuca & Bertie? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Tuca & Bertie airs Sundays at 12/11c on Adult Swim, with next-day streaming on HBO Max.
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Melody McCune
Melody loves TV. Maybe too much. Besides being a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV, she's the Managing Editor for Geek Girl Authority, an Independent Contractor for Sideshow Collectibles, and a Senior Writer for Eulalie Magazine. Additionally, she has bylines in Culturess, Widget, and inkMend on Medium. To top it all off, she's a critic for Rotten Tomatoes and CherryPicks.