YMMV / Dinosaurs S 01 E 03 Hurling Day

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Earl says that his father gave him his pair of special hurling gloves as a gift on his wedding day, passed on from father to son in the Sinclair family for generations. Was this just to keep the tradition alive, or did Earl's father resent Ethyl as much as Earl did and wanted to give his son a special hurling item as soon as she became his mother-in-law?
  • Is everybody at Earl's work (even Richfield) really proud of him for getting to hurl his mother-in-law, or does Ethyl actually have some kind of reputation that gets them all to dislike her as much as Earl doeas (after all, she is not their mother in law)?
  • Richfield does describe Hurling Day as a tradition-set social equalizer to justify not mistreating Earl like he usually does and, given his character, it's likely he just enjoys the idea of someone he doesn't care about (even if it's someone he doesn't hate) being hurled to death.
  • Is Baby's abuse of Earl because he's particularly bratty, or is it just something many/all baby dinosaurs do? Ethyl shows Robbie a photo of him as a baby, hitting his grandpa on the head with a pot, just like Baby does to Earl now.
  • Does Ethel want Fran to get divorced and remarried because she really hates Earl and wishes for a better son in law just before she gets hurled, or is she trying to deny Earl the pleasure of hurling her?
  • Was Fran actually taking her mothers upcoming demise surprisingly well until Robbie convinced her otherwise, or was she just really holding in her feelings (especially since it meant so much to Earl), only for Robbie's speech convinced her to take a stand and show her true feelings on the subject?
• Angst? What Angst?: Until Robbie convinces Fran halfway through the episode that they should not let Ethyl get hurled, Fran takes the upcoming hurling of her own mother pretty well. While it is a longtime dinosaur tradition and a way of life, one would think Fran would be a little sad or tearful over the inevitable close to when it's expected to happen.
  • To a lesser extent, Robbie is the only one of the children to think it's wrong for Ethyl to be hurled. Charlene and Baby don't seem to have any objections. Probably justified for the Baby, who is likely too young to really understand what's going on, while Charlene just now learns what Ethyl's fate will be (having been told Grandpa Louie had gone on a cruise as opposed to being hurled) and seems to care more about what Ethyl is leaving her.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The dinosaurs’ tradition of throwing elders off a cliff when they become 73 is exactly the same as the one done by the cultists in Midsommar.