Welcome Back, Birchum! – As this episode of Mr. Birchum begins, Birchum (Adam Carolla) arrives at the school and speaks to Gage (Alonzo Bodden) in the parking lot. Gage reminds Birchum that their annual humiliation bet is on. Gage says five bucks. Birchum wants to make it ten. The first one to get insulted by a student or punk is the winner. Birchum quickly wins. Karponzi (Tyler Fischer) arrives and introduces himself to Gage and Birchum. He tells them his pronouns before apologizing for being a white male. Gage and Birchum refuse to give Karponzi consent to shake their hands. Karponzi reveals he’s the new JEDI which stands for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Birchum complains that the school wasted money on this nonsense. Karponzi explains he was hired to make everyone feel represented. Gage says he represents the auto shop which is the last stop before juvie. Karponzi claims people describe their teaching philosophy as toxically masculine. After the intro, Birchum speaks about his love for his equipment before students arrive. He introduces the other students to his student aid, Brad. Birchum goes on about the properties of wood before mentioning the donkey system. He gives donkey points when students do things he doesn’t like. If they get enough donkey points, they’ll be sent to the corral. Principal Bortles (Rosanne Barr) interrupts. Karponzi joins her to say Birchum’s safety film has been banned because of its highly problematic content.

Birchum promises not to play Blood on the Bandsaw. When they leave, he ends up playing part two instead. At home, Wendi Birchum (Megyn Kelly) feeds Sawbuck an organic, vegan dog food. Sawbuck doesn’t like it and Richard Birchum doesn’t either. Richard scores points with their daughter Jeanie (Brett Cooper) while Wendi fails to do so. Wendi asks Jeanie if she wants to help her stage her house for the showing. Jeanie isn’t interested, but she may not have a choice. Their son, Eddie (Kyle Dunnigan), isn’t eating with them. Wendi says he’s in a marathon gaming session. Richard confronts him in his room and tells him to turn off the game and eat upstairs. Eddie uses a vibrating chair and drinks Happy Panda energy drink which is only legal in West Virginia.

The school receives complaints about Richard playing the video for his class. Elliot Karponzi is adamant Richard will be punished. He makes it his priority to get rid of Mr. Birchum. During Richard’s class. Bentley and the others get more donkey points. Juan gets a point for speaking Spanish in class. Wendi takes Jeanie to the house she’s trying to sell. Eddie warns Richard that his teammates can see him when he walks into the basement in his underwear. Eddie reminds him that the sports people he idolizes play video games. Richard claims that’s only when they’re injured or on house arrest. Later, Richard complains to Wendi that Eddie is wasting his life playing video games. Wendi argues Eddie has his own channel and he’s getting paid by his subscribers.

He has over 50,000 followers. Richard can’t believe people are paying Eddie to watch him do nothing. Wendi tells her daughter about the importance of using white. Richard ends up with a full corral. He tells them they need to start worrying about being able to take care of themselves. Richard wants them to come to his house on Saturday for a donkey workday. He warns them not to tell their parents. When they arrive, Richard says they’re going to be refinishing his deck. Wendi is not happy to find Jeanie scraping the white paint from the fireplace. At home, Jeanie tells Richard what happened. He agrees it’s a crime against wood. Karponzi uses his phone to collect evidence against Birchum. He calls the principal and asks her to assemble the disciplinary tribunal.

At the school, Richard tells Don Gage why Karponzi wants him fired. Gage says they can’t come after him because he’s black, bilingual, and nonbinary. He calls himself bulletproof. Richard admits that’s genius. Wendi tries to find someone to paint the fireplace only to find her daughter handcuffed to it. Jeanie refuses to let her paint it. The potential buyers arrive and see the fireplace. The woman thinks Jeanie has bad taste. They leave moments later. Jeanie apologizes to her mother. The tribunal begins. Ms. Molina tells Richard he’s allowed to have his union represented present. He denounces his membership. Karponzi alleges Richard made his students slaves. The students speak about the good and bad of Mr. Birchum. Richard says he barely has time to teach anything. He managed to give his students real-world experience.

Karponzi suggests he wasn’t following the rules. Richard calls out Ms. Baudica for breaking the rules when she had him fix her grandfather’s dresser. He also remembers something about Molina, his students, and a spice rack. Richard continues by calling out Mr. McCorkle and saying America is about building things. Molina says they made their decision. At home, Richard confirms he got three days of suspension. He finds out that Eddie might have a girlfriend. Richard and Bucksaw sit outside on the refinished deck.

 

Mr. Birchum Review

The opening episode of Mr. Birchum saw Richard return to school following a break. Elliot Karponzi, who happens to be very progressive, is out to get Richard. When Richard makes his students come to his house to help refinish his deck, Elliot iss nearby, watching, and collecting evidence.

He hopes to use that evidence to bring Birchum down during a tribunal but he fails in the end. Instead, Richard is suspended for three days. As for Richard’s family, his wife Wendi is a real estate agent and his daughter Jeanie is a lot like him. Eddie is the gaming son who has a large following and rarely leaves his gaming chair.

The series has received unbridled hate although the opening episode really wasn’t that terrible. The animations are solid and familiar so most viewers will feel comfortable with them. The characters are diverse meaning there is something for everyone. Most of the voice acting performances are good even though the experience level is limited for many.

The comedy bits are hit or miss with a lot more falling into the latter category. Personally, I smirked a few times but never laughed out laugh. Some of the jokes are clever though. This is mostly a pleasant watch that requires very little from the viewer. With a little more finesse and better jokes, this could easily become a worthwhile binge.

Even in its current state, it is better than what the scores say albeit not perfect in the least. The opening episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Mr. Birchum can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show at the Reel Mockery Forum.