This was requested to me by LDEJruffFanReturns, I don't know how well I'll cover it, but I appreciate the recommendation.
Last time I've talked about this show, it was just a first impressions affair (coincidentally requested by the same guy), I felt the show got the humor of the books down, and I went after a top pick of the first season. Now I'm going to tackle a lesser episode. The Vexing Villainy of the Vile Vimpire
Break it down
I bring up the first time I talked about the show because... it's a decent gap between here to then, and I might've forgotten some key aspects to this show's humor.
So the episode begins with a line of butt-jokes and explosions. I half expected this to be a lead-up to a creative block had by Harold and George, while I'm let down on this, it isn't for nothing. The payoff to that is that butts and explosions are chalked up to stuff guys like, and you may be seeing where this is- this is a turn-off to female readers.
This episode was recommended to me because it's one of those female empowerment deals. It's not that I feel women shouldn't be represented, I just hate how many go about it. People get mad over them bleeding into existing properties because it gives the idea they can't come up with something creative on their own, made worse when people on both sides are tone-deaf.
This is in general, just fyi.
How they go about it here, my biggest problem is that this episode presents the issue in a black and white fashion. Girls don't like the manly humor of the latest Captain Underpants comic, not some girls, all girls. This harkens back to Fairly Odd Parents, where gender interests are presented in an equally black and white manner. You could've easily cut the controversy in half, some girls happen to enjoy the manly story, some guys feel it's repetitive, see what I mean.
Then strong female characters. Apparently the biggest problem isn't that the story is repetitive, but that there's the lack of a strong female character.
They single out one woman who just screams. Okay, that's fine, while she isn't exactly a damsel in distress, she just acts like one, but it's okay, we get glimpses of girls doing the general girly stuff to drive the point home. If this was a constant, a point could be made, but this occurred four episodes in.
I was hoping for it to be a small part of the plot, but after starting a foodfight, they blame her for it. This is a forced conflict for the sake of pushing a message, not an agenda, but a message. Oh, and Mr. Krupp doesn't get women, both in terms of getting them in bed and reading them, and in order to avoid referrals given by them to their behavior, the boys are forced to better understand girls in general and come to a peaceful conclusion.
Also Melvin, who's crushing hard on the girl in question (Erica for the record.), I have a feeling that he's gonna change her to make up the villain for the day, all because of his dedication to her. Is it safe to call him a simp? I mean Erica gives me nothing to work with. I can buy her plight if she had some dimensions to it.
It may not be this show's brand, but why not have her be a fan of manly things in secret, keeping it so to avoid being made fun of? Why not have her conceive a foil to Captain Underpants parallel to his level of oddity? Why not have it where someone exposes her for being a fan of weird things as she is watching funny videos in the hallway (but then again this is in eyeshot of people and shown by another so that's one idea down the crapper.)
Of George and Harold's attempt at making peace, they wind up making a comic that portrays her as an antagonist. I've read enough Captain Underpants to know where this is going.
At this point I'd like to point out that I'm writing this as I watch the show, if I can pick out predictable moments within seconds it's a strike. I'm guessing the comic doesn't go well as they portray Erica through the negative stereotypes they've associated with her. Wanna know what'd be great? Surprise the hell out of us and have her actually enjoy the comic.
Wanna know how to show a strong female character? Give her thick skin, the ability to not let insults tear hew down, the ability to laugh at herself. The worst thing you can do is show you were offended, because if a point was being made it'd be a big strike against you. Now look, there're some things we can't get past, we get emotional, but.... damn these tangents.
Obviously it doesn't go so well. On the upside, boys and girls hate this, on the downside, Erica is, predictably, upset. I do like the whole are to/am not joke she pulls when we see her again, but that's about it. Oh, and as far as I know she intends to prank the two based on what they wrote in the comic, let's see if I can rank alongside Nostradamus.
Well I may be wrong. Melvin gets things going through an experiment involving him projecting his favorite funny videos through a ray unto a student, which turns them into the vimpire of the comic. This was wrought because of Melvin's bad sense of humor, works for the absurdity of the books it's based on... crap that's all I got.
Oh yeah, of course they fall for the prank, but thankfully the boys take it well, sick of how it usually goes down with a high level embarrassment, one of my worst takeaways from Back at the Barnyard. I do like how they call the "leave the girl behind who would save your asses later" cliche, not because it's calling out a long cliche, but because of how the callout's handled. It goes with the books' humor at the very least.
However I feel about the climax from herein is saved by that one remark, they didn't treat it like it's some big surprise, I just wish this came out at a better time, because back then we didn't have to worry about the protagonists getting neutered to push female empowerment. It was about being equal, not being one ahead, and I mean that generally.
Although this is mostly ruined by some clunkiness, the boys declare they need help from a strong female character. Some implied to literal groveling, and light smugness later and she posts bail, and for the former two you can guess who does what. I will admit, I do like that the three actually work together to solve this, and Erica doesn't just take the reigns, I won't be mad if a girl comes with the final blow, I mean who am I? No Bullshit? Both genders came up with different solutions that worked, so a win for equality.
At the very least things could end on a good note, good in that it doesn't end with the boys getting embarrassed for the sake of pushing a female power agenda. She is offered a chance to help on the comics, but declines and the boys slink to similar old habits.
Overall
Many of these female empowerment deals wear their intentions on the sleeves, so it's a matter of how hard the message is pushed, and compared to the ones I've seen, this one is the best out of all of them. In principal it's obvious how the story would go down, but Erica turned out to be incredibly bearable. She acted only when provoked, which is the best course of action to take and to keep someone on your side.
She isn't preachy, and it seems her habits are callbacks to girl characters from long before. She can't even be considered a feminist in the vein of cartoon females, she isn't preachy or obnoxious, maybe a bit smug bur appropriately so. I'd take her over Margo Sherman and Lisa Simpson, could you believe a cartoon based on a kids book series did a female character better than two prime-time shows?
I dunno, maybe Bart Vs. Itchy and Scratchy dulled my senses to an all-time low where its intents were obvious and we could tell how tone-deaf the writers were? Maybe Helga's Makeover felt like it was written by people who only had half an idea on what the characters were like. Maybe The Critic just had horrible writing from the get-go and Mike Reiss is a ho-
It was too early for the characters to be considered out of place (this was the fourth episode), and comparing to another episode I've seen, everyone was just right.
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