Tuesday, August 20, 2019

It's Way Ed / Laugh Ed Laugh (Ed Edd n Eddy Season 1 Episode 9) - 'Toon Reviews 33

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It’s Way Ed


Throughout the history of pop culture, certain things take the youth by storm down to the point where it becomes common to see them everywhere.  This is referred to as fads, and that makes for an interesting subject for this cartoon.  The material acts as a fun take on how things go in and out of style faster than some may think, though sometimes you can’t help but think it happens on purpose.  It also makes for a huge layer to the Eds’ relationship with the other kids in the neighborhood. 
While they do originally start out by trying to scam them as usual, once they notice the other kids enjoying a plethora of fads, things become different.  They actually want to join in on the fun which highlights a deeper meaning of their actions by just wanting to fit in with a crowd who doesn’t really accept them.  On another note, the fads themselves are very versatile and show a lot of imagination in what the kids get into.  Sometimes they could be walking on stilts, and then later wear hats with a tether ball attached to them called whizz-whazz. 
Now, the versatility of the fads turns out to be the main issue for the Eds.  Every time they get the hang of one fad, the other kids latch onto another, and it’s hard to really figure out why.  It could just be the very nature of things going in and out of style.  It could also be because some fads feature Jimmy getting hurt so the kids change them out of sympathy.  However, the most possible reason turns out to be a jerky one. 
At first, the Eds make the smart move of starting their own fad to stay ahead of the gang and easily become accepted when what they come up with becomes the next big thing.  There’s a vast variety of options they try like carrying a train set on their shoulders, mailboxes on the head, sprinkler systems they wear, and more.  It’s easily the most imaginative set of fads of the cartoon, and eventually, they’re all combined together into one suit called “fad freaky.” 
However, this is where the jerky part of this whole fad thing comes in.  The Eds show up to introduce their fads to the kids, not even asking for money I might add.  For no good reason though, everyone straight up ignores the trend they’re trying to start and focus on their own fads like springs, sunglasses, fly wings, and balloons.  That’s another fun collection, but are they so dense about the Eds that they won’t consider another option for fun?  They always take notice of their scams, so why not now at the one time they show off something for the sake of just hanging out with them?  Their ignorance make the difficulties of the suits weight and intense heat all the more sad to watch.  If they had paid attention to them showing them off and they backfired causing them to lose interest, then this would be a more acceptable failure. 
This isn’t the worst part though.  Once the Eds get the Fad Freaky suits off, the other kids are dressed in their own suits.  They even have the gall to say the Eds are so out of it and miles behind when they’re the ones who came up with it in the first place.  That’s just not right.  Then they purposefully change fads again once the Eds try to put the suits back on.  There’s an attempt to make things better by saying fads go in a cycle and will be in style again, but I fail to see how that will help if fads seem to change on purpose. 
As you can see, the other kids’ treatment towards the Eds goes a little too far with this cartoon. Fortunately the creativity of the many fads and somewhat relatable nature keeps everything fun.

B

Laugh Ed Laugh


By now, the formula for the series is well-established.  A good majority of cartoons are all about the Eds spending their time in elaborate usually misguided scams to get money as well as acceptance from the other kids.  Even if this setup is always easy to expect, it’s kept fresh with constant variations to the formula.  It’s quite impressive that this early on, the show brings a variation of the formula by showing what would happen if the Eds had a day where there are no kids to scam. 
The whole thing begins as a normal day for the group with a scam all set to go.  However, unlike a good number of their scams, they don’t seem to attract any kids at all, and there aren’t any around in fact.  At the same time, it’s easy to see that their scam wouldn’t be a big success anyway, consisting of ice cream made of glue and paint-covered baseballs instead of real ice cream. 
There turns out to be a good reason for a lack of kids.  The homes of the cul-de-sac are laden with quarantine signs, indicating that all the kids except for the Eds are confined to their homes because of chicken pox.  From the looks of it when the Eds check on Jimmy, the conditions seem to be more severe than average with how pale and delusional he alone appears.  Come to think of it, with an epidemic this big, it’s confusing why Ed never noticed that Sarah was sick prior to the reveal considering that she’s his sister, even if he is dumb. 
Needless to say, the Eds are unable to do their usual thing, and what this leads to is given appropriate build up.  Double D and Ed are accepting of this setup and are willing to do other pastimes.  Really, the one who’s actually bothered by not being able to pull scams is Eddy, the typical mastermind of the group.  Being in the position he is, it’s believable that he’s not flexible enough to do anything different from usual, eventually proceeding to lash out at his only friends for ‘boring him.’  Judging them for their characteristics soon after takes things to an even bigger extreme. 
Eddy’s behavior doesn’t stop there though, as he’s then going around the cul-de-sac begging for other kids to come out, including those who flat out hate him like Kevin and Sarah.  Through realizing his desperation, Eddy simply snaps with clever funny scenes to depict this.  His break into insanity is depicted as his brain popping like a popcorn popper, complete with popcorn going all over. 
Then he performs completely random stunts like scamming squirrels out of their nuts or eating a fire hydrant like it’s a jawbreaker, or biting a fence for breakfast.  Insanity comes with any random thing that pops into someone’s head, and there’s certainly a lot of imagination in this take on such a thing.  At the same time, on a deeper level, the scene Eddy’s making shows how vital the other kids are to him.  He has the other Eds as friends, but building up his social status with his scams is what he lives for.  Considering that most people can benefit from befriending as much people as possible, Eddy is practically at his most relatable here. 
Now, the one thing that brings Eddy back to reality is Double D and Ed tricking him into believing he’s rich complete with many greatly animated reactions to a big pile of money.  Once he becomes mad that the money’s fake and hears that the other kids are all better though, Eddy is fully back to normal and ready to scam again. At least he will be as soon as he and the others get out of that confined area. 
This is easily one of the highlights of the first season as an explore of a psyche, and funny and relatable cartoon by itself.
A+

The Ranking

1.      Laugh Ed Laugh

2.      Dawn of the Eds

3.      Ed-N-Seek

4.      Fool on the Ed

5.      The Ed-Touchables

6.      Vert Ed Go

7.      Read All About Ed

8.      Quick Shot Ed

9.      Look Into My Eds

10.  A Boy and His Ed

11.  A Pinch to Grow an Ed

12.  Pop Goes the Ed

13.  An Ed Too Many

14.  Sir Ed-a-Lot

15.  Over Your Ed

16.  It’s Way Ed

17.  Nagged to Ed

18.  Tag Yer Ed

 
 
The next Ed Edd n Eddy review covers one of the show's most ingenius concepts at play with Ed sleepwalking while eating the cul-de-sac out of house and home, and the Eds run into hassles while running a pet boutique while the world is taken over by mating rabbits.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Steven Universe episode that seems "Familiar."
If you would like to check out other Ed Edd n Eddy reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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