Wallaby Wednesday: Did Rocko save Filburt’s love life before it started?

In 1969, Monty Python’s aspiring lumberjack loses a lot with his song. A quarter-century later, Rocko potentially stops Filburt from making the same mistake.

Rocko and his teeth make a selfless sacrifice when he insists on grabbing a soda with Filburt.

For his personal sake, the timing could not be worse. He is moments removed from repositioning his cavity-stricken tooth after it mutated and rampaged through O-Town amidst Filburt’s dental final.

Fortunately, Gordon the foot makes a subsequent disclaimer that Rocko had his seamless oral health restored by a certified dentist. Whether the wallaby indulged in an acidic, sugary beverage in between is thus a minor long-term detail.

Regardless, little does he know the long-term favor he does Filburt by preempting the turtle’s proposed song about sweeping chimneys. Without that ending to Season 1’s “Rinse and Spit,” several later episodes might not be have been possible. Not the least among those include Season 3’s two-part “The Big Question/Answer” and Season 4’s “From Here to Maternity.”

To understand why, you have to know Monty Python, the revolutionary British sketch squad.

Once you see both “Rinse and Spit” and the Monty Python’s Flying Circus episode “The Ant, an Introduction,” you appreciate the parallels. Just as Filburt never had an interest in dentistry, Michael Palin’s troubled character did not want to be a barber. Their respective dreamy monologues about sweeping chimneys and lumberjacking effortlessly evoke one another. Whether the January 1994 segment or December 1969 sketch does the reminding depends on which you saw first.

The crucial difference is that Terry Jones, Palin’s last barbershop customer, lets his acquaintance sing. As a result, Palin divulges some discomfiting interests that, fairly or unfairly, turn off his friends and girlfriend. The latter (Connie Booth) breaks down and breaks up with him for suddenly not seeming as “rugged” as she thought.

There is no telling whether Filburt’s song would have endangered, let alone doomed, his budding relationship with Dr. Hutchison. But given the saga’s subsequent events, that mystery is better off left as it is.

The best-case scenario for Filburt and Hutchison will come to fruition. Thanks to Rocko, we never see the earliest worst-case scenario.

Whether it comes from growing up in a Commonwealth nation or otherwise, Rocko is implicitly more familiar with Python. As such, he knows what Filburt is risking and does not hesitate to stop him. All he needs to do is remind him of his post-test plans for a soda and add, “No song.”

If not for that interruption, the faithful remake of “The Lumberjack Song” may have yielded revelations Hutchison might not have been ready for. Sure, by Season 4’s “Closet Clown” neither she nor anyone else bats at at his admission to “wearing European-style undergarments.”

But by that point, the two are married with quadruplets. And while Filburt has not abandoned all of his arguably quirky or less-than-age-appropriate ventures, he clearly gave up whatever he needed to make his relationship work.

Conversely, “Rinse and Spit” is the Rocko canon’s first look at Hutchison, let alone Filburt’s interest in her. And even if no one else knows about the latter yet, Rocko gets a reliable hint. Before starting his dental final, Filburt points to his then-professor and whispers, “Isn’t she cute?”

Despite their nearly concluded teacher-student dynamic, Filburt and Hutchison have a lot to learn about one another. Their romance is not even in a primordial stage, as Filburt’s first step is offering her a soda. His hopes of making a sound impression on her are too delicate for awkward, deeply personal details.

Just like his occupational preferences, Filburt’s repellant secrets may differ from those of Palin’s aspiring lumberjack. But potential turn-offs to a would-be lover range far beyond cross-dressing and bar-hopping.

As another Python project, The Life of Brian, reminds us, “we’re all individuals” and “all different.” Not yet knowing Hutchison beyond dental school, Filburt must start small in learning more about her before spilling his secrets.

As it happens, after Filburt relents to Rocko’s advice, he and Hutchison do not appear simultaneously again for a year. By the time they do, they are close enough to spend Christmas together, implicitly without any other friends or family.

Hutch’s next appearance after that comes in “Kiss Me I’m Foreign,” when she sadly agrees to a break. With that said, by the segment’s end, the two restore their relationship, as Filburt ends his faux marriage with Rocko. This time they have made a comparatively small sacrifice to preserve their Australian friend’s stay in America (which was mistakenly imperiled anyway).

Beyond that, two more Filburt-Hutchison crossovers precede “The Big Question.” Apart from annoying her with his malingering in “Bye Bye Birdie,” he displays nothing that could remotely threaten their relationship.

As their love grows and strengthens, they keep a low shared profile in the two-plus years between “Rinse and Spit” and “The Big Question.” That decision pays dividends, as they resist their contentious families’ petty objections and go through with the wedding.

By taking that approach to his love life, Filburt has clearly let Rocko’s subtle advice sink in. As his romantic storyline proves, he learns that some things are best kept under wraps.

And so, we never hear of his chimney-sweeping aspirations again. But we see plenty of him and Hutch, first as a couple and then as parents to boot.

That tradeoff, which comes with odd jobs and hobbies in other fields, is inarguably worth making. Even if Rocko has to temporarily exacerbate his cavity so he can persuade Filburt to start on the better path.