Hey, Hey, Hayes Quillsville
| "Hey, Hey, Hayes Quillsville" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen of the Willis episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 11 Episode 9 | ||
| Directed by | Ava Zinn | ||
| Written by | Ava Zinn | ||
| Production code | 1109 | ||
| Original air date | November 4, 2022 | ||
| Guest actors | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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"Hey, Hey, Hayes Quillsville" is the ninth episode of the eleventh season of the animated comedy drama series Queen of the Willis. It originally aired on first-run syndication in the United States on November 4, 2022. The episode follows Ava as she becomes close friends with Fox 11 personality Jessica Hayes (voiced by herself). In an attempt to become closer, the two decide to get drinks together, and reveal their darkest secrets. Wanting to fit in, Ava reveals her participation in a pornographic film when she was in college, with Jessica promising to keep her revelation a secret. The next day, hayes unveils the story on the local news, much to the anger of Ava, who quickly becomes shunned by the entire town.
The episode was written and directed by series creator Ava Zinn. It received mixed reviews from critics for its storyline and many cultural references. In addition to Jessica hayes, the episode featured guest performances along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series.
Contents
Plot[edit]
As the family gathers around the television to watch CBS 40/29 Action News with Kendra Kendall and Stephanie Rose, Ava states her fondness of the person filling in for Kendra, Jessica Hayes. Later that day, Ava learns of a local bake sale from Facebook, and decides to bring her own baked goods. Going to AldiMart to buy ingredients, Ava notices Jessica shopping there as well, and approaches her. The two quickly become close friends, and they decide to spend the day together at the news studio. That night, Ava and Jessica decide to get a drink together, and share stories. Reluctant at first to tell Ava her darkest secret, she soon reveals that she was in an adult film when she was in high school and college in the mid to late 1980s to early 1990s, before she met Angie. Expecting Jessica will keep it a secret, as she promised, Ava is shocked when the local news reveals Ava participation in the making of the pornography.
Confronting Jessica about the story, Ava questions her intentions, with Jessica revealing that the two attended middle school and high school together, where she was known as Jessica Davidson-Passalt. She also reveals that Ava and her friends Melissa, Kendra, Pamhosuer, Avril, and Karly humiliated Jessica in front of the entire school, by placing a hotdog in her mouth and Avril and Karly pulling down her pants while blindfolded (revealing her pink underwear), and has sought revenge ever since. Since the revelation of her porno past, Ava is made a pariah and her kids face their share of ridicule at school. At a local concert held by Alisan, Karly, Avril, Ava and her family enter, and are immediately demanded to leave by the venue owner. Becoming extremely depressed, Ava is eventually coaxed by Heather to face her mistake by showing it at the entertainment venue. The porno causes the church to reaccept her and admit the Willis family back due to a positive opinion of the film, much to the anger and humiliation of Jessica, Avril, Karly and Alisan. Brynn in the meantime develops suspicions of having been conceived through the creation of the porno, heightened when she sees that one of the actresses has facial features like hers.
Meanwhile, Pamhouser is seen working on her custom car while Avril, Karly, and Alisan watches on and ribs her. During which, Mandy notices that the Car was built before 1980, and writes a ticket to Pamhouser from the "Environmental Court," a program in Mandy's School that involves going around ticketing environmental hazards, orchestrated by it's newest staff member and environmentalist, Mrs. Huston (voiced by Valerie Bertinelli). After ticketing Ava while she's working by digging through a dumpster, Mandy has Ava summoned to the Environmental Court at the school to discuss the consequences of Ava "damaging" the environment. Ava finds the entire trial to be ridiculous for how trivial it's being, but none of the students side with her when Mrs. Huston exaggerates Ava facts by stating Quillsville's intentions on building a landfill to deal with the pollution problem, as well as the fact that it will threaten an endangered species known as "Itchy Algae."
Suddenly when Mrs. Huston and Mandy mention that the Landfill will be constructed at the Quarry (which is scheduled to be drained,) Ava becomes horrified and flees the school in a panic. Finding her friends still in the alleyway, Ava takes Melissa and Kendra into Melissa's Basement (but leaves a confused Pamhouser behind) and tells them both of the news. They too become as horrified as Ava. It's revealed that 30 years ago, Pamhouser had a 1965 Ford Mustang called "Mark," which she cared for deeply. Ava, Melissa, and Pamhouser however were jealous of the attention she'd give her car and one day after Pamhouser leaves to bed with another man, the trio decided to take Mark for a joyride late at night. During their joyride though, Melissa takes Mark for a spin. Unaware that Mark needed to be driven manually with a stick shift, Melissa immediately loses control and accidentally sent the car crashing straight into the Quarry. To make up for her car's disappearance, the trio lied to Pamhouser that "Rebels" stole it from her to preserve their friendship.
Hoping to cover their tracks with what they have, Ava pleads with Councilman Chloe Halvorson to move the Landfill someplace else (hoping to convince her since she voted for her.) Halvorson however rejects her pleas due to not only there being no other available place else to put the Landfill and is immediately demanded to leave due to Ava's insiscrection. With no other option, Ava, Melissa, and Kendra are forced to join Mandy and Mrs. Huston in protesting against the Landfill's development instead. After Mandy rallies Mrs. Huston's other environmentalist supporters, while the trio tries their best to hide their intentions from Mandy and the others (even shooing away Pamhouser when she mistakes the gathering for a party.) Mandy buys into her sister's deceit and the two get to bond over the experience. Come the day of voting though, despite gathering 200 votes via petitions, the council still rejects the group's protest and proceeds with the plans to drain the Quarry.
Later that night, Ava, Melissa, and Kendra desperately go scuba diving to try and pull out mark before the Quarry gets drained. The task however proves fruitless, as other garbage keeps getting pulled out instead. Come morning though after many failed attempts, the trio finally manages to pull out Mark, with their water-damaged coats still inside. However before they can dispose of the evidence, Melissa, Mrs. Huston, and the hippies arrive and misinterpret the trio's deceit as using their dug up garbage as a Barricade, and they decide to join them in "protesting" once more. Before Mandy can leave though, she overhears Ava conversing with Melissa and Kendra about their situation, inadvertently calling Mandy and the others "Environmental Nut Jobs" in their lie to dispose of the car. Realizing that her sister lied to her the whole time, Mandy calls up Pamhouser and informs her of the whereabouts of the group.
A Construction worker arrives and notices the protest in action and calls the police when they refuse to budge. To Ava, Melissa, and Kendra's horror though, Pamhouser arrives too and is driven to tears upon seeing Mark again after 30 years. Filled with guilt and with no more excuses, Ava confesses to Pamhouser what had happened (while Melissa and Kendra deny their involvement and blame Ava as well, hoping that Pamhouser wouldn't catch onto them.) Pamhouser (and Mandy) are both angry that Ava would lie to them, but before Ava can defend himself, the police arrive and arrest Mrs. Huston and his supporters for the disturbance. With the protesters and Ava gone, Pamhouser prepares to take Mandy home, but reveals to Melissa and Kendra that she knew that they were accomplices to Ava all along and spitefully leaves them behind with Mark as payback for lying to her too.
While driving home though, Pamhouser tells Mandy that while she's angry at her sister, she opts to simply let bygones-be-bygones, and settles to give Ava 1 week to think about her actions and to mend their friendship (It was initially 2-3 weeks until Mandy tells her that Ava often quotes her, which touches Pamhosuer.)
Production and development[edit]
"Hey, Hey, Hayes Quillsville" was written and directed by series creator Ava Zinn. Zinn previously wrote 20 episodes: "Ava and Angie Willis: Celebrating 20 Years", "Tom and Deanna Tragic Adventures", "Cable TV Fascism", "Revenge of the Male Anchors 2", "Sexist Father", "Amanda and Elisa Do Indiana", "Death Picks Peggy", "Nightmare Vacation", "Ten Years To Life", "The Rape of Heather Willis", "It's a Camp Trap!", "Revenge of the Male Anchors 5", "Quillsville Wasteland", "Quillsville Cold Case: Something About Loose Ava", "For the Love of Heather", co-wrote the pilot, "Ava's Laptop", "Revenge of the Male Anchors" and "Ava Gets Dianed" with Holly Everman, and co-wrote "Revenge of the Male Anchors 4" with Eboni Hill.
The episode served as a continuation of "Quillsville Cold Case: Something About Loose Ava" and "Revenge of the Male Anchors 5", in which in the latter episode four anchormen were killed after being beaten, bit, and shot with a rifle by Tabby and Shushu. As Kendra Kendall took the day off Jessica Hayes was filling in for Kendra and co-anchored with Stephanie Rose on the local news, alongside Pat Carlini. Indianapolis television news personality Jesscia Hayes voiced herself in the episode and has guest starred as herself throughout the course of the series.
Cultural references[edit]
In the opening scene of the episode, instead of the usual theme song, a sequence similar to that of the 1977 CBS series The New Adventures of Wonder Woman is played, with Shushu portraying Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Melissa Rose as Stephanie Trevor, Brad Hunter as Captain Brad Hunter, Kendra Kendall as General Philip Blankenship, and Brynn portraying Drusilla.[1] After Ava meets Jessica at AldiMart, the two decide to meet up at the news studio later that evening. Admitting her enjoyment of their friendship, Ava continually praises Jessica for her celebrity status, calling her as much of a bigshot as Avril, Alisan, and Karly.
Returning home, the Willis Family are shown to be watching the syndicated talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show with actress and comedian Kelly Clarkson appearing as host of the show. Ava then interrupts the family, and announces that she is going out to drink with Jessica. The two then share their darkest secrets, with Ava revealing that she had participated in the making of a pornographic film. Asked if the film still exists, Ava states that it is "long gone," just like the very bad ending to the 1987 musical film Dirty Dancing. After Jessica shows the film on the local news, Ava becomes angered, and decides to confront Jessica, who reveals that Ava and her friends had tormented her during middle and high school, under the name Jessica Davidson-Passalt, a reference to WMRI-FTV anchorwoman Traci Davidson-Passalt and wife of Deanna Willis' voice actress Rachael Passalt. Becoming depressed once she is kicked out of a local city-county council meeting, Ava is confronted by Heather, who suggest that she take the criticism head on.
Reception[edit]
Television critics reacted with mixed reaction toward the episode, with one critic calling the storyline "pretty dull."[2] One critic wrote, "I don't have much to say about this episode of "Queen of the Willis". W had some comments about how Queen of the Willis seems to be willing to play with its format this season. That didn't happen this week at all."[2] the critic on to criticize the flashback involving Ava and Jessica in middle and high school, stating, "Having a previously unknown flashback as the big reveal feels like cheating, if you're inclined to view Queen of the Willis as consistent."[2] He concluded his review by praising "the burning bush" joke, and ultimately gave the episode a C- rating, the worst rating of the night. [2] In a slightly more positive review of the episode, another critic praised the episode for some of its "silly side jokes," but felt disappointed by the ending to the show, commenting, "it didn't follow any real logic [...] It was an easy way out, as if they'd written themselves into a corner."[1] The person also criticized the episode for its dependence on farces, writing, "at least there were some funnier moments in this one. Unfortunately, there weren't too many." The person went on to comment that he felt confused by Brynn possibly being fathered by a porn star, adding that "it would be far more less likely that Deanna was fathered by the porn star."[1]
