Top 3 Episodes I Want to Avoid

Childhood trauma, or just unpleasant memories, everyone has them, you're not special. Simply put, throughout my childhood I've been exposed to stuff like Guns N' Roses, thrillers like Requiem for a Dream and The Sopranos, let's just say kid me was quite surprised with the end of Member's Only, but let's not get off track.

Everyone, no matter what, has that one show or episode they do not want to go back to for whatever reason, as in directly avoiding the episode however possible, like you've seen enough to get the gist of it, it is exactly how you remembered it, maybe even worse, and sometimes the episode is just so effective that if you seek to criticize it then you'd come off as petty, but you need some outlet to discuss it.

These are three episodes of three different shows that I do not want to revisit, knowing what's in them and what made me uncomfortable. Episodes would be ranked by the likelihood of me going back to them.

Honorable Mention

I won't include Helga's Makeover because I discussed that in my top 5 list of the worst Hey Arnold episodes, even though this is also one I want to avoid for the fact that it's exactly how I remember it, its off nature and all. However, people would often claim the first season is more of an experimental period and thus the writing was not entirely on the wall, the episode can be forgiven for that, I just don't find it enjoyable. I can watch the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode Who Killed Who? In spite of sharing a similar off premise, that one was just kinda stale and thus the message suffocates what the show was known for.

Speaking of Billy and Mandy, Get out of My Head is another honorable mention. Let me tell you, a majority of the Grim and Evil era was much darker than I remembered, okay not that dark, just in certain areas. I avoided this at first, but I kinda grew to accept it, realizing Billy had faced far worse or similar punishments Hell, one of them, Spider's Little Daddy, became one of my favorite episodes. But I think the reason this episode ranks lower is because Billy's stupidity wasn't firmly established, but nevertheless I'm not ready to write the episode off just yet.

Okay here we go.

#3: The Simpsons: War of the Simpsons

I needed a filler spot, and this was it. This placed number one on my worst episodes of The Simpsons list, and I did a full review of it not too long ago. This came out in the show's second season, when things were starting to gel, so no season 1 quirkiness. How bad is this episode for me, I couldn't even make it through a short clip on YouTube, my fight or flight kicked in and that was it.

Even compared to older and some later episodes, this felt off. It was the first episode to focus on the dysfunction between Homer and Marge's marriage, but previous episodes implied Marge at best settled, it just felt wrong, and that is the one term I can use to sum up the entire episode. This was long before we got the flashbacks to Homer and Marge's younger years, as if the writers wanted to make sure this didn't take any further prominence.

If you want my full thoughts, check out my review of the episode.

#2: Hey Arnold!: Mugged

Hey Arnold is a show I have a very mixed opinion on, I love the episodes I do, but there're a lot of faults I need to hold it up to, when Hey Arnold fucks up, it tends to fuck up hard, though my choice for the worst episode is not the usual one, and Mugged is not a bad episode, if it was it would've landed on my old list.

This episode didn't land on here because it's bad, far from it. This is an instance where an episode managed to get it right, maybe too right. The episode basically dealt with a power trip Arnold went on after learning how to fight from Gertie, right down to the Taxi Driver reference and him attacking an innocent bystander. The one thing that set me off was the confrontation after the latter, not that Arnold didn't deserve it, it was actually an effective way to knock him off his high horse. It just worked a bit too well, and the fact that this was released during the show's first season, which is when a show is at its most experimental, they pull out whatever stops they saw fit, hell even Caesar got in on it. For me, it perfectly represents a blow to one's ego, their idealized reality shattering when they see the true extent of what they have done, and it's far from pleasent.

It's funny how the five people that confront Arnold would be seen again in later episodes, old guy with a moustache and Martha (short haired lady) would be seen in Das Subway, the latter being seen more prevalently in later episodes. I guess the blue baseball cap kid got his design tweaked in Harold's Bar Mitzvah or I misremembered? Of course this was long before Caesar started answering the phone, and if you're a Hey Arnold fan you'd know what I'm talking about.

Long story short, the first season was weird, and this is an instance of something working far too well.

#1: Rugrats: Pickles vs. Pickles

I probably talked about this long ago, probably not I dunno, lol. Rugrats is no stranger to dark moments, especially with its pre-Dil seasons. Rugrats featured some pretty interesting nightmare sequences, it was certainly distinct, that along with its humor. Ironically, Angelica's Worst Nightmare isn't that scary to me, even as a kid all the way to now. But what would I consider my most disturbing episode? Well, you can see the title. Pickles Vs. Pickles has never placed on any list regarding creepiest nightmares, which I kinda get as people tend to gravitate more toward the more fantastical ones.

One edge Pickles Vs. Pickles has toward other episodes in my opinion is its realism. As a kid this would not bother anyone, but as an adult, it hits differently. The episode basically cemented Angelica as the brat she is, though to her credit she does have some fans, and represented Drew's inability to lay the hammer down, which ironically he did in earlier in the series, and he managed to be fine, hell, he was far more stern there.

Basically, this basically represents Drew's inability to truly control his daughter and how she practically has free reign under his roof. The fact that this was all a manipulation ploy that has been done multiple times before suggests Drew had this nightmare multiple times, or Angelica had better luck nixing the other foods previously, who knows?

More complicated answer, it's a psychological thriller that basically says a parent sucks at it because they bend to the will of their children and that it is something that can happen in real life, the lack of being able to curb bad behavior so to speak. More simple answer, the judge makes me uncomfortable, how easily he is able to be swayed to let Angelica rep herself and his insistence that she is entirely innocent. It's funny that he is made to resemble Thurgood Marshall, it's almost as if someone got paid some hefty hush money. Now sure, this could've been a sign something was wrong, but... eh screw it, I'm not freaking out over a monster, I'm freaking out over something that can possibly happen, possibly. If it were to happen the judge would have to be a huge pedophile, which is arguably more creepy. If the Rugrats reboot ever remade episodes from the original, how much do you wanna bet that the judge would be modeled after Clarence Thomas?

Also this is one of the few Rugrats episodes to make use of an alternative end credits theme, they obviously went for a more sinister approach here. By that point, after my revisitation of it, I had my fill and I never wanted to see it again.

And that's about it.

Ed, Edd n' Eddy's Useless Season

 Okay, this isn't the first time I ever talked about the fifth season, but chances are it was a very rough take that I will only now put right. I used to be a big fan of Ed, Edd n' Eddy, well I still am, though I don't tune into old episodes. The show is over, the fandom is surprisingly well behaved, and I believe the show is superior to the shit people latch onto these days, for one thing it's not corporate, and no I'm not gonna explain what I mean by that.

But it's not all perfect, obviously. Nobody is reluctant to bring up any of the show's shortcomings, but there was one hangup I have with the show that persisted for so long. It seems like a petty thing to complain about, but the last season of Ed, Edd n' Eddy was so... not good, it actually convinced me that I just wasn't a fan of the show, when that is not the case.

To be fair, I'm not saying one season is better than the other, bad episodes are evenly spread out between seasons, and this wasn't necessarily out of Danny Antonucci's control, he went along with what seemed to be right, I mean aside from going digital, go drawn or go home. I really don't like the fifth season, and I feel it not happening would be inconsequential, and it seems I may not be alone with that, as most EEnE diehards actually liked my Tumblr post with the same opinion, and a common consensus is that it has some good episodes, some bad ones, or they're just happy to get more out of their favorite show.

I'm gonna go over why I don't like the fifth season of Ed, Edd n' Eddy, and why I believe it is expendable.

My Experience

I watched Cartoon Network during the early-2000s, so I was able to catch episodes of the fifth season when they were out. I have seen plenty of the older seasons' episides, I played Candy Machine Deluxe and Spin Stadium whenever I could, and I was basically ready for the long ride with the show.

When I saw the episodes new, I'll admit, I did like some of them, even those that would go on to be criticized later on, but even as a kid, something about most of the episodes felt... off, and this had stuck with me ever since then, to the point I found myself avoiding reruns of episodes I didn't like.

So no, I'm not doing this just for some contrarian cred, even as a kid I didn't like the fifth season that much, and that hasn't changed frankly.

Last Season Curse

People have often used the term seasonal rot to note shows that gradually began to crumble in its later years, and yes, I know this point is used ad nauseum, but for ever common complaint lies a kernel of truth. For every final season, it often reflects a lessened budget, like with ChalkZone or Real Ghostbusters for instance, or a creative director change, like the Chris Savino seasons of Dexter's Laboratory and PowerPuff Girls, not counting the Games era of Ren and Stimpy because let's be real, they didn't need John Kricfalusi, well, after he made the charaters. It's not always gonna be bad, but if you've been watching the show for a while, you're bound to pick up on a few differences. Seasonal rot does not always mean a show's last season sucks, it means this is a sign that either the creatives were worn to the bone with it, or the networks wanted it off as soon as possible, with a creative change only occurring if the original one steps down.

Danny was with the show all the way to the end, and that was for the better, he was always around to direct the episodes, but the one time he didn't during this season, we got what is often considered to be the worst episode of the entire series, or at least one that lands somewhere in the top five.

Some of the spirit of the previous seasons has been kept intact, but it is mixed in with some very noticeable tweaks that take away from that experience, often trumping what made the show so popular in the first place, and falling into the same trap that most shows do with new writers going off of notecards or struggling with ideas or stripping character personalities away.

The Little Differences

Now what do I mean by spirit? I mean the slapstick comedy in an otherwise normal setting. Danny, or someone, has said they avoid the prospect of characters growing up to preserve the timelessness of the series, which makes sense. The summer setting may also play into the timelessness by ridding any prospect of time moving forward, this shit could happen in the span of a few days or so and none would know the difference.

So obviously I object to the school setting.

I'm not gonna go all Mario fan on this, but I do have my complaints. That timeless setting, by implying that summer is over and having the kids go to school, it sorta takes away from the timelessness the writers were going for. If the show got more seasons, maybe someone would've celebrated their birthday, maybe we would've seen the parents, then you realize The Eds are Coming and Mission Ed Possible, Rock a Bye Ed doesn't really count as it was some depiction of Jonny 2x4 for the sake of the plot.

It's such simple things that were unfortunately cast aside, and so close to the finish-line too. Now look, I know this may sound like I'm making a big deal, fine, but I dunno, what do these changes add to the show at large? Granted, it's not just throwing in new characters on a whim, I like how creative they got to avoid showing any new characters, but if anything this marks a contrast between this and earlier seasons because you rarely saw any other instances in the older episodes. Keep this in mind.

The football episode shows the best and worst of making use of a limited cast for so long. While the Lemonbrook football team are depicted by shoulders, we see shots of a crowd barely shown in, with the Kankers singled out. It just looks awkward, but like, did we need a football episode in Ed, Edd n' Eddy? That episode sucked balls, I'm sorry.

Our Friends in Name Only

And of course I need to get into how the characters feel just as off. To its credit, the characters have more consistency than other characters from shows that slipped into its terminal days, either that or they were more subtle about it. About the only major change I noticed was Ed, who turned out to be far more annoying than he was in the past, either because he tends to speak louder or may have lost more braincells than we were led to believe.

The big problem with the characters, at least for me, is the writing. The stories they are put into either drive them to over the top extremes rarely or never seen in previous seasons, and of course those on the lower end suffer the worst. Nobody likes Sarah, and of course she pulls a devastating fast one in "The Ed is Falling" or whatever the sky is falling episode name was. It's a Sarah plot without anything more to make it stand out, basically the 55% people don't take away from episodes like that.

And I gotta ask, why are Sarah and Jimmy in the same grade as everyone else? Otherwise why have them go to school if you're gonna treat it like it's still summer? It's almost as if this makes no sense even by an over the top cartoon's standard.

All I can say about Kevin is that he is a contributing factor to Smile for the Ed being seen as one of the worst episodes in the show, and yeah, seeing it brand new as a kid, all I can say is you had one job. On the other hand, maybe this was Danny's way of messing with the network, showing them what would happen if you separate him from the show. If that's true, that is clever, but it may've worked far too well.

But the one character I feel that suffered the worst because of the writing, was Edd. Much like how the season convinced me I didn't like the show, this season convinced me I didn't like Edd. The biggest draw here is when Edd smugly leaves Eddy to suffer for what he did or was associated with, even being involved with most of Eddy's misfortunes, or at least the no neck chump business. If you want to quit, just do so Edd, you're supposed to be the smart one right?

You may think 'oh, you see though, it's his way of showing he has backbone, just like in Momma's Little Ed.' And I can understand where you're coming from, but Eddy deserved it at the end, more importantly because he targeted Edd directly.

Really, the best way to compare Edd in most season five episodes is Sorry, Wrong Ed, the similarities are astounding, namely Edd's I don't give a shit about a guy I'm possibly friends with. If this was to set up some big argument, like in Big Picture Show, it wouldn't work because what set him off there was Ed and Eddy screwing with him during the journey to Bro. If it was as you thought it was, the series proper would've ended with Edd joining the Cul De Sac kids, arguably darker than the fourth season finale, because at least there the trio was still in effect.

It feels like sometimes the writers had it out for Eddy. We had some more brutal takedowns by the Kankers, even his own friends would turn against him, something was definitely not right with this, but what do I know?

The Core Element

I'd like to touch upon the slapstick real quick, I'm sure someone is gonna bring that up as a consistent element to the show. Yes, the sight gags and slapstick are here, but compared to those in the older seasons, even these feel off. Sure, they do happen, but... best way I can put it is that the older seasons had some slight restraint, pulling it off when you'd least expect it or having a really good gag pulled. Somehow, the fifth season feels even more cartoony, with faces and gags done that I would have never expected to see in older episodes.

It doesn't feel like they were included because they suited the series they were part of. In this season, it felt like they were included for the sake of being included, but it's as if the writers forgot their own work, or the network demanded more of it that we go overboard most of the time.

Check out an old episode, then one of the fifth season episodes, and tell me if you see something similar.

Its own

Interestingly, it was here that the show transitioned to digital animation, so me going on about the little differences hones in on how alien this season feels compared to others. With the gag execution, the treatment of most characters and the common setting, you can remove this season from the show and, really, what harm would it do? Anything new that occurred had done so in this season anyhow.

But you may be thinking, well without the fifth season, we wouldn't get Big Picture Show. Okay, maybe you have a point, but by then Ed, Edd n' Eddy was still very popular so I'm sure we would've gotten the movie regardless of the fifth season occurring or not. Especially so, since the movie occurred in the Summer, when the older seasons did. The use of digital animation in it helps make the spectacle more believable and feel like a grand finale. For one thing it looks better than The Loud House Movie, possibly even the Casagrandes Movie.

The fifth season has similar animation to Big Picture Show, and that dulls the spectacle aspect just a tad. The fact the fifth season throws in a new setting placement and hints of other characters ruins the mystique the movie would offer, in terms of the Eds exploring the world outside of the Cul De Sac, seeing small hints of new people, especially Bro at the end. Now, of course the kids make peace at the end, so that is a good thing at least, but we could've come to that without the fifth season.

If anyone was gonna bring up releasing the movie earlier because there would be no new content between when the movie came out and the fifth season did, how about a compromise? They could waste less time on a, quite frankly divisive season and just produce the holiday specials and participate in CN Invaded, new content in small increments, building up to a grand finale. I won't say some traces of the fifth season's writing didn't get into this movie, but at most it feels like the spirit of the older seasons was kept. Hell, even the over the top gags make more sense as this was a TV film with higher ambition than the previous seasons.

And I'm sure someone is gonna say if we didn't have season five things would end on a very dour note thanks to Take This Ed and Shove It's ending. But let's be real, you can wonder about that. It's not tragic, just a sarcastic yearn for lost youth, by this point everyone was on good terms and just got old. People say the last episode of the fifth season was a good finale, but honestly it felt kinda forced, and it was as if Danny gave an exasperated sigh of relief that he was finished with it. It was like a wet fart basically, especially since, lol, that wasn't even the last episode, and I don't mean Big Picture Show, I mean the lost episode that came from the proposed sixth season, of course they were planning more, but something happened and we never got it. Maybe somewhere, it was because the fifth season was such a groaner that people feared what other seasons would entail.

Final Thoughts

I understand Ed, Edd n' Eddy is a heavily respected show, and I can certainly agree with it. But even as a kid, I didn't like the fifth season's episodes very much. It felt like the show in name only, and it made me feel like I wasn't a fan of the show anymore. It has in quality what it has in expendability, and had this never come out, beyond the holiday specials, I think it would've made Big Picture Show a hell of a lot more satisfying.

Campfire Stories Review

 What makes It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia so good is the chemistry between the actors. This is owed to them having worked on different projects together beforehand. For instance, Rob McElhenney and the lawyer both appeared in a YooHoo commercial, that also featuring the original actress for Dee Reynolds in the pilot, Rob and Charlie Day would appear at separate times in Law and Order, and they would gradually come together in ER, then in 2003, they would get to work on the pilot, as it gradually became what it is now.

However, Rob and Charlie had worked together on something relatively earlier, and this film is credited to how they originally met. So, if there wasn't a Campfire Stories, would there ever have been an It's Always Sunny in Philadelpha?

Background

Campfire Stories is an anthology film released direct-to-video in 2001. It was based on an independent comic book series put out by Don Oriolo, and if that name is familiar, I literally talked about him in my last review, the guy behind Coconut Fred. The film was put out by Velocity Home Entertainment, who had also put out an early Uwe Boll movie by the name of Blackwoods. The film was divided to three directors, and while this wasn't their only rodeo, there isn't anything notable I can list off of them here.

Aside from Charlie and Rob, apparently Perez Hilton was in this, though this was within his first year of acting. The film was shot in New Jersey and apparently was the start of two actors' careers, that's about it. For a while this movie was tricky to find... for free, but in recent months, I got lucky and someone posted it on YouTube, and after I had finished grad school I figured I'd unwind and check out this movie, as well as another called Out of Bounds, but for another time.

What can you expect? Well sit around the fire and let's find out.

The Movie

One thing that bugged me about the start is that we're treated to a two minute intro involving a talking skull done in ultra cheap CGI, trying to overhype the rest of the movie, but then we finally get to the wraparound sections. Charlie and another guy with a speech impediment I guess, he's weird, get a flat and stranded with a girl. As they attempt to find help, they happen upon a desolate campsite and encounter Ranger Bill.

This would be a time to hedge some bets on what the big ol' conclusion is. Is Ranger Bill a psycho killer? Did the three somehow die on the way? Ddi they prevent a realtor from meeting a dealine? But let's not jump to assumed conclusions, this is a cheap rental, I'm giving it a shot.

A tow truck is called and Bill decides to tell the three stories while they wait, I mean this is Campfire Stories so at least we didn't lose that out of the gate. Because we didn't have any summaries of the stories available elsewhere, I didn't know what to expect out of what the tales would consist of, so I had low expectations.

The first story details an escaped mental patient who is tortured at his ward. I'd question if this is true, but have you've even been to Turn-About Ranch or Provo Canyon Boarding School? The director is onto something it seems. The guy would take on a job as a school janitor years later, and some jocks, led by someone who would be better suited as a water or towel boy, harass the janitor to justify the scary element of the story to come soon. After the janitor steals the kid's backpack, he decides the best course of action is to murder him.

He and a few others head out to find him, and yeah they're gonna get picked off one by one. Not even a castration can be considered subversive here, lest the janitor hates when people piss on trees. So of course, the kid gets left alone and after trying to make peace, he backs down and now he's going to go through similar torture, and his girlfriend is dead apparently.

Pretty standard revenge tale, I feel some of it is a bit forced such as the conflict, but I guess the other kills make sense as they joined the dogpile. I'll give Bill the benefit of the doubt of this being a warm-up, though I gotta say it would've been more interesting to have the three share their own stories, stuff that would give viewers a firmer idea on their mentalities or whatever, but that's just me.

The next story details some teens, and it's quite obvious they're crooks I mean look at their outfits, we can't be subtle here. The teens see a Native American enter a restaurant, and they feel like killing somebody today, must've objected to him not wanting the change for a fifty. It is here that the bad CG effects return with a vengeance, not for a lack of quality but because there's so much happening without rhyme or reason. It seems like he summons a snake via a ceremony, but he gets strangled and it turns out the teens did that. Was this meant to be a warning? If so why didn't he do something sooner? This would've made more sense as a prediction rather than a representation of what happened.

And look, it's teens in a horror scenario, you know what that means? Getting high. They do some puffs on a staff the guy had and begin to see more of the so-so CG in this, and they trip harder than anyone I've ever seen, so do they die? Actually no, I had expected them to go that route, but there is one tell that I only then realized was there. It began at a diner with multiple old people, one was apparently dead or non-existent because he was completely still. If you haven't guessed, the teens are made old, and their youth goes into the Native American. I dunno, is this a more acceptable fate? I mean they didn't die at the end, but this reminds me of that one episode of Tales from the Darkside that I don't seem to like.

This consists of three stories, and we're already on the third, and this one is where Rob comes in. In this, two couples stay at a house haunted by the ghost of a relative to one of the girls. This one is fairly slow and kinda hard to really keep up with. The girlfriends reveal to have been caught on tape by the guys in their pranks and they want to get payback... eventually. The girls get them to play hide and seek and blindfold the boys, but then a killer enters the fray. Is it the guys? Is it one of the girls? Is it that deputy that randomly showed up?

Well... not necessarily? Everyone gets killed except for the girls, but then the last girl gets killed and... apparently... the one girl was possessed and killed everyone. I liked the transition at the end, but, I dunno. At least the other ones benefited from being more straightforward. This needed a little extra elbow grease, so to speak

And at the end, with the expectancy of Bill turning out to be a psycho killer still out their, the tow truck arrives, and they all leave. Forgot to mention that at the start Charlie and the other guy were on the way to a party, and the one place that has a working phone is where they were trying to go in the first place. But then oh lawd, Bill is the bartender, and everyone in the stories turns out to be real, and we assume Charlie and the other guy get murdered. I didn't know what to expect, but the girl turning out to be evil was admittedly a twist I didn't see coming. The writers actually made this twist seem surprising, at least in my opinion.

The credits role and we get to see pages from Don's comic, and that's about it.

Final Thoughts

Okay, so for a shorter amount of tales, a lack of predictability or heavy-handed socio-political allegories and not being treated like an idiot the entire time, this is automatically better than American Nightmares.

This is a cheap movie through and through, respectable for its ambition but otherwise having little to show for it. I can respect it for being a little passion project, and of course I've seen much worse. But at the end, perhaps had it not been for this movie, Rob wouldn't have met Charlie and we might not've got It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Now if you'll excuse me, I saw this guy pay for a coffee and not ask for change for a fifty, and now I feel like committing murder before meeting a girl who was possessed by a psycho grandmother who was murdered in her very house 100 years ago tonight.