However, I don't want to leave this week with nothing, so I'm going to perform the classic cop-out pretty much all internet reviewers do when they don't want to do anything else that week: A Top Ten List! This is only my second one after "10 Franchises You Didn't Know Had Licensed Brick Sets", and this one is going to be on a topic I've been sitting on for quite some time: Ed, Edd, n Eddy!
I LOVE Ed, Edd, n Eddy! It's not only one of my favorite cartoons(if not my FAVORITE cartoon), but it's one of my favorite shows PERIOD! Imagine The Three Stooges if they were kids, placed in a slightly more modern setting(or possibly the same setting, since it's never let on when exactly the show takes place), and animated like someone was drawing during the middle of a 7.5 earthquake. That is only the TIP of how wacky and fun this show is! It's the adventures of Ed(the tall guy with a build and brain like a brick who's unhealthily obsessed with cheesy sci-fi/horror and who speaks mostly in word salads), Edd(aka "Double-D", the smartest and most verbose one of the bunch who's very OCD and a neat freak, yet is the only one who shows any common sense or decency and is usually the (reluctantly)greatest contributor to Eddy's scam-of-the-day), and Eddy(the self-proclaimed leader of the trio and a mischievous little goblin who's constantly attempting get-rich-quick schemes to bilk the neighborhood kids out of their money that usually fail due to his greed and lack of foresight), as they live out their day-to-day lives as kids in a cul-de-sac located in the fictional Peach Creek. Most of the episodes revolve around Eddy either coming up with a scam to earn some cash to buy jawbreakers or trying to one-up/get revenge on another kid(s), Ed and Double-D assisting him in their own ways(usually to the detriment of Eddy's plan), and a lot of slapstick and other shenanigans following, usually ending with one or all three worse off than how they started, in a fitting punishment to how they treated others during the episode. It's Looney Tunes meets Peanuts, and I love every minute of it!
If you asked me to name the one thing that makes this show work, I unfortunately couldn't come up with an answer. ...Because EVERYTHING about the show works! The cast is small, but unique and varied, each one having a distinct look and personality that allow them to tackle each situation differently in a way kids their age might actually react(if they lived down the street from Ren & Stimpy.) The voice actors for each character are EXTREMELY convincing, each one performing a unique voice that I've never heard from any of their other characters that perfectly matches their roles and makes each kid in the show stand out. The setting is also small, but highly detailed, convincing me that these characters actually do reside in a small neighborhood with elements(construction site, junkyard, creek, etc.) you'd probably find in a real life setting. The animation is unique, having a VERY scribbly and spastic quality, yet still looking solid and matching the fast-paced, surreal nature of the show. The slapstick and spoken humor is HILARIOUS, every consequence and reaction having PERFECT timing in relation to the actions on screen, and most of the dialog(especially from Ed) being snappy and highly quotable, especially out-of-context. Even the comedic twist endings, usually with Eddy and the gang losing all they've accomplished and ending up stuck in some other predicament, feel justified, since Eddy is such a jerk and you want to see him get his comeuppance. Most episodes are tightly paced, are very character-driven, contain GREAT comedy, and are animated with a level of detail and energy you don't see in many other shows. It's one of the last great "cartoon" cartoons(as well as Cartoon Cartoons[see what I did there?]), and an incredible show for young and old, kids and adults, sentient and non-sapient beings!
One of the most surprising facts about the show is that every episode was directed, produced, and co-written by series creator Danny Antonucci. His close involvement gave the entire series a consistent tone and sense of continuity(as far as wacky 11-minute cartoons go) similar shows lack, especially helped by his veteran skills in writing and animation. If you go back and watch his earlier works like Lupo the Butcher and The Grunts, even if you don't like them(especially The Grunts), you can see even back then how tight the pacing was and how bizarrely surreal yet down-to-earth his tone is, and that's what makes Ed, Edd, n Eddy such a treat to watch! It's a cartoon with cartoony logic and exaggerations, but with characters and situations people can relate to. He's a master of animation, and he helped make one of the greatest animated shows of all time! ...I just wish he's done something since then...
However, when you're involved with an animated series associated with tight deadlines, low budgets, long production times, and a studio breathing down your neck to produce episodes with near-perfect animation, dialog, humor, and character writing, lest your project be taken away from you and/or outright canceled, even if you're the greatest writer in the universe, you're going to end up producing some clunkers. It's true of any show/movie/comic/game/music, especially those produced on a budget with strict deadlines, and Ed, Edd, n Eddy is no exception. While the series on the whole has shown exceptional quality in nearly every aspect, there are a few episodes that slipped through the cracks where they obviously didn't have enough time to rewrite the script, and/or they had to go with very weak ideas to get the episode produced on time.
So let's forget about the memorable moments of the show and dive underneath the gold plating to the episodes that really should have been left on the cutting room floor. These are tainted jawbreakers not even Ed would want to suck on, but we're taking a bite anyway. These are, in my opinion:
The Top Ten WORST Ed, Edd, n Eddy Episodes
Some quick rules before we start the countdown. I'm judging these episodes based on overall quality of the plot, humor, and how accurate the character personalities are, NOT on how much they were overplayed. Some of these episodes were shown on TV ALL the time, to the point even 14-year-old me got sick of them and, to this day, I don't want to watch them, but that doesn't reflect the episodes' quality or how well they stand out from the rest of the series. If anything, it means they're some of the best episodes, and might end up on another certain list when I get around to it. So, for the purposes of this list, I'm going to ignore how many times I've seen the episode and instead pretend that I've seen it for the first time, focusing on the elements already present and how well they're presented.
Also, I'm ignoring Season 1 entirely. If I didn't, the entire list would be made up of Season 1 episodes. The show didn't start off very strongly, but I don't think it's fair to judge the entire series based on a time where it was clear they didn't know what they were doing. It was a learning process for everyone, and it let them reflect on their mistakes and refine their writing and producing to give us the exceptional quality of the rest of the show. As we don't judge famous writers and directors based solely on their early works, so we shouldn't let Season 1 serve as an overall example of the show's quality.
I think that's it, so let's start off this look at the squiggliest of linework with
#10: In Like Ed
The Eds feel shown-up by how knowledgeable Kevin is of each resident of the Cul-De-Sac, hence his success at a competing yard sale, and they come to the conclusion that Kevin is actually part of an underground network. So they don spy gear and sneak into what they assume is Kevin's center of information, only to discover, eventually, that it's Jimmy's birthday party, and they've ruined everything with their imaginative paranoia.
This is an episode that could have been funny(and still slightly is, hence it only being at #10), but a word of advice for any aspiring writers: Don't give away your twist before you reveal that there's a twist! We know from the first second they spot the party that it's NOT Kevin's "underground network", and that it's Jimmy's birthday, so the surprise reveal is lost on us, the viewers. From there, we know that they're going to misinterpret what they see, they're going to mess everything up, and they're going to embarrass themselves in the process, and all we can do is watch every embarrassing moment pass... The joke might have been salvageable if it was just Ed and Eddy misunderstanding the event, while Double-D repeatedly tries to warn them, but when DOUBLE-D doesn't catch on that the party's not Kevin's, you've messed up somewhere while writing this!
I like the idea, I like the spy gear, I like the kids playing at espionage, I just wish it was part of a stronger story. Or, at the very least, they kept the event vague until the Eds ruin everything and it's revealed that it's Jimmy's party. As is, it's a weak beginning, followed by some of the biggest facepalm-inducing moments of the series.
#9: I Am Curious Ed
Jimmy and Sarah discover that their goldfish have had babies, and, being the youngest members of the Cul-De-Sac, they wonder where babies come from. So they go around the neighborhood, asking everyone, getting either no answer or a farfetched response, until they just give up and go home. Oh, and the Eds show up for the last half.
Season 5 was one of the more "interesting" seasons, in that episodes were either really GOOD or really BAD. This was one of the latter. It's one of two episodes that was basically "Ed, Edd, n Eddy without Ed, Edd, or Eddy", following the Season 4 "See No Ed" episode. However, while that one used the Eds absence to build up tension and explore the other characters until the very end, this one just feels like it meanders around without a point. It legitimately feels like Jono Howard and Danny Antonucci were writing stream-of-consciousness and just putting things down on paper as they occurred to them, resulting in a loose narrative and perspective that just changes on a whim. The result is a very boring episode with few laughs and little input from the characters to hold it together and make it interesting.
The rest of the Cul-De-Sac is just as interesting as the Eds, so this episode shouldn't be as lifeless and humorless as it is. Also, it just ends with the question not being answered. Not much of a beginning, not much of an ending, not much substance behind a mediocre-at-best subject. It's ironic that they're asking where babies come from, because this episode is indeed a bad egg...
#8: Who Let The Ed In?
Eddy's trying to scam the kids with a "prize grabber", but Ed suddenly has a new, imaginary friend named Jib, who distracts him away from helping Eddy and ultimately ruins Eddy's scam. Eddy becomes fed up with "Jib's" meddling and tries to get rid of Jib once and for all.
This episode doesn't work for me because Ed doesn't seem like the type to have an imaginary friend. ...At least not a "normal" imaginary friend. I could see Jimmy or Sarah adopting an imaginary friend that would annoy the others, but Ed doesn't seem "normal" enough to think up an original, invisible person. He's a teenager obsessed with bad sci-fi horror movies. If this joke was to work, the imaginary friend would need to be something out of Ed's imagination, like a mutant zombie tyrannosaurus hominid with chainsaws for arms and laser vision that turns whatever he sees into baked lasagna. Or, if we're going for some kind of repressed psyche, make "Jib" smarter than Ed, making him do baffling feats that Ed would never do otherwise. Heck, what would be REALLY funny is if it has the same personality as Eddy, making him do things Eddy would tell him to do, and Eddy would be blind to how "Jib" is acting, saying things like "What kind of jerk does that to his friends?!"
Oh, but none of that matters, as it turns out that "Jib" ISN'T imaginary and is actually real! ...I think? He attacks Eddy, who then calls a bus to get rid of him. ...And he had invisible luggage? ...I'm all for ambiguity, but not when it's THIS unclear and last minute... On top of all that, I can't remember a single funny part of the episode, and it, like the previous episode, just meanders from one point to the next. Heck, the episode gets so bored with ITSELF, that there's 30 seconds of Eddy attacking a tree! I just don't get this episode, and it feels like a missed opportunity to explore the recesses of Ed's mind. ...If "Jib" came from his mind... Which he did? ...But he didn't? ...Why am I putting so much thought into this? MOVE ON!
#7: Dim Lit Ed/My Fair Ed
Yes, two episodes occupy the same space. In the former, all the children of the Cul-De-Sac are suffering from a lack of sense, so Double-D takes it upon himself to try to educate the kids and wake up their brains with a scavenger hunt. The kids immediately come to the conclusion that a jawbreaker is the main prize, and set out to find the things on the list! ...Only to instantly give up, while Ed and Eddy try to beat the jawbreaker out of Double-D. In the latter, Ed and Eddy have finally caused enough destruction around the Cul-De-Sac to get the kids irked at Double-D, whom they warn that they'll hurt if he doesn't do something about Ed and Eddy's carelessness. Double-D convinces them to take some etiquette lessons, which they begrudgingly do, and it seems to work! ...Too well...
While these are two different episodes, they're on this list and in the same position for the same reason. You could sum up these episodes with
"Is everyone stupid?"
"Yes"
"Is that going to change?"
"Nope"
THE END
I feel like these episodes are completely pointless, because we KNOW nothing's going to come of them. The kids are still going to fall for Eddy's scams, and Ed and Eddy are going to remain out-of-control troublemakers. Absolutely nothing will change during or after these episodes, so they're just a waste of time, not only for the characters of the show(especially Double-D), but for the writers who created them! Here's an idea: Actually have the characters appear to change! They give up what they were doing, do a good job, THEN you hit the Reset button and have them revert at the end, either by themselves, or having another character convincing them to go back to their dumb, selfish little selves. To have them go through almost the entire episode without any change, or even any major reaction to the request to change, just makes them feel pointless.
It's actually a shame that these are on this list, because they DO contain some of the most memorable scenes in the series. The scavenger hunt and how each kid reacts to it in their own unique way is pretty funny, and I LOVE Rolf's exclamation of "MY EGGPLANTS!" when Ed and Eddy ruin his garden. It's too bad that the rest of the runtime is facepalmingly embarrassing for Double-D, the writers, and the audience in general. Hopefully, while the characters in these episodes didn't learn anything, YOU did, and now you know how NOT to write these scripts! ...If only I could go back and tell the writers that as well...
#6: Your Ed Here/Smile for the Ed
Another two episodes in the same slot. In the former, Kevin finds Eddy's wallet and learns that his middle name is "Skipper", so he blackmails Eddy into doing every embarrassing thing he says or he'll let the Cul-De-Sac in on Eddy's little skeleton in the closet. In the latter, it's school picture day, and Eddy has to get that perfect headshot so he can inherit his big brother's room. However, Kevin ruins it for him, then rubs salt in the wound by photocopying the botched picture and pasting it all over school, ruining Eddy's chances of getting a new room and scarring him for life.
Again, these two episodes are here because of the same fatal flaw they share: Kevin is a complete bully! You might be saying "Well, duh, that's his role on the show, isn't it?" ...Not exactly. Kevin has an ego and a short temper, yes, but he's earned them by being the cool kid. He's the rich kid, the popular kid, the talented kid, the kid that everyone on the Cul-De-Sac wants to be BECAUSE he's so good at what he does, and he's surprisingly considerate of others, even the "weirdo" kid Jonny and some of the Eds(especially Double-D) on occasion. He can be rough and insulting, yes, but usually only when provoked, like when Eddy ruins his bike, or tries to tell too obvious a lie. In these cases, we WANT Kevin to act brutally, or at least call the Eds "dorks", because it seems justified for him to retaliate in the face of yet another Eddy scam! And in a lot of episodes, he DOES get vengeance, such as encasing the Eds in cement for throwing a chair through his window, leading them on an endless and painful chase after a balloon after they sell him a faulty bike that breaks down, dropping a piano on Eddy for messing up his bike, etc. It's cartoonishly brutal, yes, and he does sometimes act too mean towards others for no reason, but for the most part, he's just acting like a kid his age, he deserves the respect he gets, and the Eds deserve what he dishes out.
I say all this because, in these episodes, Kevin is straight-up mean to Eddy for no reason! All Eddy did was drop his wallet and dress up nicely for a school picture. That's it! Kevin was in no way involved with any of this and nothing Eddy did caused him pain or otherwise humiliated him! He just decides to put Eddy through this intense torture and humiliation for the fun of it! Not only does it seem too mean-spirited and out of character for Kevin, but it switches the character dynamics. Now we're feeling bad for Eddy, who IS a bully, and hoping that Kevin gets his comeuppance. For this to work, we'd need to see Kevin in some sort of misery beforehand or afterwards, and Eddy to come out on top somehow! But it doesn't, because Kevin never does pay for torturing Eddy, and Eddy's just put through the same pain he's always put through, only this time, without provocation! Even without the cruel tortures Kevin puts Eddy through(dressing up as Jimmy, acting like a seal, kissing Double-D on the lips, being forced to see his bad portrait all over the school, getting his last-chance photo ruined AGAIN by Kevin, etc.), it's just PAINFUL to watch, since nothing comes of it except... Pain! Eddy already pays for his pranks and misdeeds, we don't need episodes dedicated solely to him getting punished for things he didn't do! So unless you like episodes that are just one long bullying session from a kid who shouldn't BE the bully towards another kid who didn't DO anything, stay as far away from these episodes as the distance across both Kevin and Eddy's combined egos.
#5: Once Bitten, Twice Ed
Eddy has an idea for a theme park-themed scam, and he invites the Cul-De-Sac kids to "Raccoon Roundup". When it fails, he tweaks the idea and gives them the same thing, slightly different aesthetics. Repeat ad nauseam...
Admitting that you only have one joke, and a mediocre one at that, doesn't automatically make it funny! If anything, it tires it out and annoys the audience even faster! Yet, that's this episode. Eddy has an idea, it doesn't work, he tries again with slight variation, it still doesn't work, repeat until the episode is over! That's it! There is literally no variation! It's the same joke over and over, done in the exact same way! ...How is that funny? There's no actual payoff, so there's no reward for watching the episode all the way through. The Eds don't come up with anything major to spice things up, they just glue some more cardboard on top of stuff. There aren't even any jokes from the other characters pointing out that they're doing the same thing over and over again, nor any side jokes or slapstick moments to distract us from this boring plot!
The only thing that changes is that the kids get tired of the scam after a few iterations and just stop coming. And you know what? That's the audience! The audience is just as tired of this repetitive episode and also wants it to end! If you've made a comedy where people are BEGGING for the end, you've failed at comedy, as well as film in general! If you've ever wanted a literal interpretation of the definition of insanity... Well, you're probably also insane...
#4: 'Tween a Rock and an Ed Place
Jonny invites the Eds over for Plank's Arbor Day celebration(despite it being September), and Eddy sees this as an opportunity to show off and impress the others. The Eds arrive, only to find that they're the only guests that showed up, and that Jonny is desperate to turn this into a "neverending party."
...Did we need Jonny's creep factor dialed to 11? He's already a kid who lives in his own little world, is a nuisance to everyone else in the neighborhood, and has a block of wood as a best friend! We don't need an episode dedicated to how disturbingly out of touch Jonny is with reality, especially when his party starts literally taking hostages! Jonny is mentally unstable and forever younger than everyone else in the show, which is why the other kids usually avoid him at all costs. Well, now we have the Eds in his house, forced to play by his rules! This isn't charming, fun, or interesting to see if there's anything new revealed about Jonny. It's SCARY! Just add the creepy music, and you have a bad episode of Tales From The Crypt!
On top of that, once again, we have the double sin of no jokes or energetic slapstick in the episode, save for a decent opening where Ed has to find pie by sense of smell, and Eddy being punished for not doing anything! They show up, Jonny tries to get them to play games you play in preschool, nobody else shows up, Eddy tries to leave, he's convinced to stay for a short activity, then Jonny and Ed BOARD UP THE DOOR AND TIE EVERYONES' ARMS TOGETHER UNTIL AN SAPLING BECOMES A FULL GROWN TREE! ...How is this funny? I don't want to laugh at anyone's misfortune. I want to call SWAT and report a kidnapping and potential serial killer! This is an episode that fully embodies the awkwardness of attending a party you don't want to be at. ...With the added fear that your host wants to make YOU the main course while wearing a suit made out of your skin...
#3: Sorry, Wrong Ed
Rolf tries to bury a phone, but Eddy takes an attraction to it and unearths it for his room. However, it starts ringing, and every time he picks up the receiver, something horrible happens to Eddy...
I feel sorry for adding this episode to this list, and at such a high position, because this is one of the more energized episodes with an interesting idea and some funny lines from Ed. ...However, it's also easily one of the most botched in terms of writing. Again, it's an episode where Eddy is punished for no reason. Rolf threw out a phone that he didn't want, Eddy picked it up, and now he's cursed for life, since some sort of misfortune befalls him every time he answers it. ...Which brings up the question of why he keeps answering it? If it causes something bad to happen each time, then don't pick up the receiver! Plus, they never find out if there's someone on the other end of the line, since they hang it up as soon as the disaster happens, so we don't know what the point of answering the phone is! If there's nobody actually calling, then don't risk getting pummeled! Simple as that!
On top of that, they never actually try to get rid of the phone. If it's a source of disaster and Eddy doesn't want it, then why doesn't he try to dispose of it? Smash it, bury it, throw it in the creek, SOMETHING that would render it a useless pile of gears and bells, or at the very least keep it from being answered! The most they try to do is first try to give it back to Rolf, who obviously refuses, then glue it to Jonny's head, who, of course, keeps answering it every time it rings, each time inflicting Eddy with more pain! Even for the Eds, they act too dumb in the face of this catastrophe, when the situation could have so easily been resolved!
However, the absolute WORST part of the episode is how out of character Double-D is, as he is HORRIBLE! All throughout the episode, Eddy claims that the phone is cursed, and that picking up the receiver causes bad things to happen to him. Double-D, however, doesn't believe him. ...Actually, not only does he not believe him, but he becomes clearly more and more annoyed every time it's brought up, to the point where he's shouting at Eddy that he's wrong by the end of the episode! ...And that's all he does! At no point does he try to find an alternative to why these things are happening to Eddy, take the phone apart to find out what makes it tick(in fact, he's the one who points out that this obviously antique phone is ringing without being plugged in), or ever accept the correlation between the phone being answered and some sort of disaster happening to Eddy! Ok, Double-D's always been the most logical and skeptical of the three, so it's understandable that he wouldn't buy a supernatural explanation to things happening to Eddy. However, he's also always been the most observant and curious, willing to go along with the others' paranoia and see if he can solve the problem.
Not only does Double-D never try to fix the problem, he continually makes the problem worse! All throughout the episode, when he's not yelling at Eddy that the phone isn't cursed, he's openly mocking him for all the problems suddenly occurring to him, including teasing him for his mattress suddenly breaking and suggesting they see if "Rolf buried one somewhere." ...For anyone unfamiliar with Double-D, he is a complete boy scout, always trying to help others and rushing to their aid, usually Eddy's, whenever something goes wrong. Here, Eddy is continually pummeled, crushed, smashed, and even sprayed by a skunk, and yet Double-D just stands to the sidelines and makes snide remarks, not even lifting a finger to help him! And at the end, when the phone's gone, yet Eddy's still suffering painful misfortune, what does Double-D do? HE GRINS! He grins, rushes over to Eddy, and gloats that he was right(he's not) and that everything happening to Eddy was mere coincidence! All while still doing nothing while Eddy's in continual pain! Congratulations, "Sorry, Wrong Ed"! You've turned one of the smartest, most caring characters in all of cartoons into the worst kind of internet troll! He disagrees with an opinion, makes no attempt to disprove the opinion, and is only satisfied if the barest shred of evidence proving HIS viewpoint right is found, which he then shoves in everyone's face, no matter how sketchy or irrelevant it is! I look forward to seeing Double-D as a regular commenter on every religious and political video on YouTube.
The best example of how Double-D SHOULD be acting would be the Season 5 episode "Run Ed Run", where Ed is scared that the sky is falling and will not let his friends get jawbreakers. Does Double-D continually shout at the top of his lungs that Ed's stupid and nothing will happen? NO! He convinces Ed that Sarah's in trouble, gives him headwear to protect him from the "sky falling", and uses his knowledge of gadgetry to get to the bus to the jawbreaker factory, all while playing along with Ed's delusion! And when the sky DOES end up falling, he's giddy with anticipation to know what his studies will reveal about this impossible phenomenon! THAT'S Double-D! He's open minded, accepting, observant, and still tries to help even if he doesn't agree. The other Double-D... Is so NOT Double-D, you'd think there were wires crossed and they thought they were writing for Heavy D!
...But, if we DID get smart Double-D, he'd probably solve the problem within a few minutes and we wouldn't have a story. ...Of course, why they went with THIS story in the first place is anyone's guess. It's not the worst episode(I mean, we still have two more on this list), but it is the most memorably and infamously bad of the series, and an unfortunate indicator that the show was running out of ideas towards the end of the fourth season, and needed a change of location for the fifth. Maybe watch it just to see a phenomenally botched episode of ANY cartoon, but if you're new to watching the show, avoid it like you should avoid any golden, purple fur-trimmed, cordless phone... Not because they're cursed, but because they're tacky.
*whew* Sorry, I just had a LOT I needed to get out about that episode. The last two won't be so wordy. ...Though that might be because there's even less to them than this episode, hence why they're the two top positions on this list. What are they? Well...
#2: To Sir With Ed
Eddy's never-seen parents are out for the night, so they leave Nazz to babysit. However, Eddy thinks that Nazz has finally fallen in love with him and this is a date, so he seeks the advice of the other Eds on how to make the night one she'll never forget.
...Do I even need to explain why this episode is bad? This goes right back to "In Like Ed", where we, the audience, can see what's going to happen before anything even happens. It's a huge misunderstanding, where the Eds are going to embarrass themselves, they're going to act in a stupefyingly inappropriate way to the situation, and they'll eventually find out the truth and that they've acted like idiots(more so than usual) throughout the episode. Except while "In Like Ed" had an interesting idea, some good jokes, and a slightly-fun approach to how they're treating a birthday party as a spy ring, this has... Nothing. It's every babysitter episode of every cartoon you've ever seen, only this time, the kid thinks he's dating his babysitter... No huge twist, no plot sidetrack, not even any good humor. In fact, the humor in this one is some of the most suggestive and creepy of the whole series, and not in the way you're thinking. I didn't need an image of Ed humping Double-D's leg like a dog, or sucking on Eddy's leg, or disrobing Eddy and throwing him in the bath, or the bathtub falling through the floor, giving everyone a good view of Eddy's privates... These aren't just bad jokes, they're eye-bleedingly bad jokes, making this episode an instance where it would have been more fun if it DIDN'T bother adding anything funny!
And on top of all that, this episode forces us to ask a question that takes a lot of the fun out of the series: How old are these characters? I've always been comfortable thinking they were all around the same age(save for Sarah and Jimmy), maybe a year or two apart in some cases, hence why they're all hanging out and doing the same things together. However, apparently Eddy's young enough that he can't be left home alone, while Nazz is old enough to babysit him. ...I've always found this dynamic creepy, where the younger boy/girl falls in love with the much older boy/girl, and not in a cute "puppy love" fashion, but a "true love, I want to marry him/her" way, so Nazz being that much older than Eddy suddenly makes his attraction and attitude toward her throughout the series infinitely more disturbing! Especially considering that he's seen her in revealing swimwear! So, to recap, bad jokes, an embarrassingly obvious reveal, and a new and disturbing retcon for our characters that ruins how you see their relationship for the rest of the series, all make this a PAINFUL episode to sit through, and one that I actively avoid whenever it's on. Not to mention that I HATE babysitter episodes, so even without those unfortunate elements, I still wouldn't like it. Overall, I wish they gave the R. L. Stine treatment to this one...
So far, we've seen nine of what I believe to be the Top 10 Worst Episodes of Ed, Edd, n Eddy. The top spot is coming right up! But first, some honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions:
Stiff Upper Ed
The Eds try to enter the imaginary "Rich Club" that Jimmy and Sarah started and invited everyone else to join. Almost made the list. However, I couldn't find anything to really complain about other than it's just generally not funny. The other episodes on this list all had a trait that actually offended me, while this one just didn't have any good jokes or high energy. It's still bad, just slightly not as bad as the others here.
Out With The Old... In With The Ed
The first episode of season 5 and the introduction of Peach Creek Jr. High. This is one of the few double-length episodes, but, in this case, it should have remained a regular 11 minutes. I like the first half, where the Eds are trying to convince everyone that it's still summer and they outright refuse to go to school until the last minute. The second half where they're in school and they have to make a deal with the Kankers to change classrooms is just drawn out and painful.
Momma's Little Ed
Ed and Eddy trick Double-D into completing ludicrous errands by faking "sticky notes" his parents leave him instructions on. Again, I REALLY like the first half, so much so that this will probably be on my Honorable Mentions when I do the Top Ten BEST Ed, Edd, n Eddy Episodes list, but the second half where Double-D is so fooled, that he decides to run away from home and live with Eddy just seems forced and out of character. If Double-D caught on to Ed and Eddy's forgery, and this was him turning the tables by pretending to be fooled, that would have absolutely MADE this episode! ...But Double-D, the smartest kid in the Cul-De-Sac, being fooled by obvious forgeries and never catching on just makes me facepalm...
If It Smells Like an Ed
The Eds are framed for ruining Jimmy's "Friendship Day" celebration, so they try to solve the mystery of who actually did it by following the main clue of a large, red footprint. I know I said that I wasn't counting episodes based on how overplayed they were, but WOW if this episode wasn't on ALL THE TIME! It's the first double-length episode, and apparently the one they loved the most, since I swear it was on every other day when I watched Cartoon Network! I'm absolutely sick of it, and I never want to see it again! ...But that doesn't mean it's a terrible episode, and there's a lot to like about it. I'm just not crazy about it...
Honor Thy Ed
The Eds explore a haunted house on a bet with Kevin, and end up trapped. Great setup, terrible ending, not very many good jokes. ...That's really all I have to say about this one.
X Marks the Ed
Eddy grows a pimple that continually gets bigger, so the Eds look for a way to make it disappear. There are some great gags and a good amount of energy, plus one of the best endings in the entire series! ...Just the subject matter is... Ewww...
A Case of Ed
Double-D convinces himself that he's contracted a fatal disease, and Ed and Eddy help further his delusions that he may be dying. The main plot with Double-D thinking he's sick is stupid and slow-paced, especially considering that DOUBLE-D has once again chosen to be fooled by ED and EDDY, but I love the bits where Kevin has been grounded, so they're continually torturing him outside his house. ...Only to have Kevin reveal he's been let off early for good behavior, and that he has some business to attend to...
Cool Hand Ed
Eddy's tired of being in school, so he stages a prison-style breakout to get out early. I actually REALLY like this episode for the most part, but the ending is one of the biggest letdowns not only in the show, but in all cartoons I've seen in general! If they rewrote it so they made it out, but school let out early that day, so they just spent all their time trying to get out of a school they could have left at any time, or if they failed to make it out and ended up with several hours of detention every day after school, which Eddy tries to organize another breakout for, that would have made this episode one of my favorites! ...As is, it's a lit fuse to a giant firecracker that lets out the barest minimum of a *snap*.
And the #1 episode that I absolutely can't stand is
#1: Cleanliness Is Next to Edness
Double-D's shower is under renovation, so he tries to ask the neighborhood kids if he can use theirs, getting filthier and filthier at every stop.
This episode DISGUSTS me! Not only because of the subject matter, but because it has NOTHING that makes the show so good! Like I've mentioned several times in this list, one of the best things about the show is how those who cause trouble are punished for it. Double-D's only sin is going from house to house, begging people to let him bathe. Yet at every stop, he gets pummeled, knocked around, and covered in even more filth, just for asking! Just like how it's not funny when Eddy's punished for nothing, it's even more unfunny when it happens to Double-D, since he's, like I said, the boy scout of the group! He very rarely does anything wrong(without Eddy), and he always comes across as an innocent bystander in the show. To see him reduced to a quivering, filth-encrusted shell of what he once was isn't funny, it's pity-inducing! I don't want to see him go through all this! I WANT HIM TO TAKE A SHOWER! I'll give him my shower, gladly!
Speaking of filth, that's the episode's entire focus. For the most part, the show was very good at not using bottom-of-the-barrel toilet humor, instead focusing on Looney Tunes-esque slapstick and visual gags. There was the occasional exception, but the rest of the humor was usually so good, it could be forgiven. Gross stuff DID pop up often, especially around Ed, but it didn't show the gross stuff for longer than it needed to, and instead focused the humor more on the character reactions to being around or pelted by the rotten food or other stinkbombs. This show was smart in that it knew that humor comes from what you do with the prop, not the prop itself, and that gross-out humor only works fleetingly, instead of uncomfortably drawing these moments out like other shows, especially cartoons, like to do. ...This episode, it IS the gross-out portion that they expect you to laugh at. They expect uproarious laughter at the fact that Double-D is being covered in condiments, dirt, garbage, and even POOP! Yes, they go that far, forcing Double-D to swim through a moat of what's obviously cow and pig feces, in what I think is the only poop joke of the whole series! And right after that, we get an uncomfortable two minutes where Double-D actually snaps and starts completely covering himself in garbage! ...This isn't an episode you want to watch while eating, is what I'm saying...
Even when the focus isn't on Double-D, the humor is still gross and VERY inappropriate, especially for a show that usually steered away from these topics! One of the places Double-D visits in his quest for a shower is Jimmy's "Beauty Salon", where we get to see "duct tape waxing", "ketchup & mustard manicures", and "spaghetti relaxation baths", all of which ends up on Double-D... When Double-D thinks he's FINALLY found a shower at Nazz's place, he's greeted by a tub full of women's undergarments hanging out to dry. And, at one point, to try to block Ed from gazing inside his bedroom, Eddy tapes a porno magazine to the window, which results in Ed grinning from ear-to-ear... Not only did nothing make me laugh, nearly every moment, every botched attempt at humor, made me nauseous to the core!
Oh, and things don't turn out well for Double-D at the end. He finally gets somewhat of a bath, but the ending makes it clear it'll be a long and painful experience.
I HATE this episode. Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate HATE HATE this episode! It's gross, it's unfunny, it feels a LOT longer than it is, and it's INCREDIBLY mean-spirited, even for this show! I'd ask if the writers had even heard of Ed, Edd, n Eddy, but it's still Danny Antonucci, as well as the new head writer for season 5, Rachel Connor, who did write a good amount of GOOD scripts, so there's simply no excuse! If I had the master of this episode, I'd burn it! Whatever format you bought the series on, just delete this certain episode, or at the very least, skip over it! Just DON'T watch it! It's the worst episode of the series, one of the worst episodes I've ever seen of ANY show, and I feel just as dirty watching it as Double-D probably felt covered in it...
And there you have my picks for the Top Ten WORST Ed, Edd, n Eddy episodes. Honestly, I didn't think I could scrounge up 10 of them, but, through careful consideration, I think I managed to find the worst of the worst and justify why I put them on this list. If you disagree, that's fine. You're no worse of a person for it. What episodes do you like or hate of Ed, Edd, n Eddy? Let me know below, as well as if you'd like to see future lists like this!
And yes, I'm going to follow this list up with the Top Ten BEST Ed, Edd, n Eddy Episodes. ...Eventually. Right now, I'm feeling a bit better, so it's back to business with another game review! Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment