Friday, November 26, 2021

The Luck of the Ed / Ed... Pass It On - (Ed Edd n Eddy Season 3 Episode 12) - 'Toon Reviews 47

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The Luck of the Ed

When the general public looks at shows like this, they’ll often classify them as being for kids.  Such a judgement isn’t really fair as it compartmentalizes it for just one demographic as if anyone older shouldn’t be watching it.  Really, the best way to figure out the kind of people the show is aiming for is to actually watch it.  By doing this, a conclusion can be made that there are plenty of works that can resonate well with kids and adults alike.  In the case of this show, it’s certainly appealing for kids, but people older can also connect well with the inventive art style, exhilarating personalities, and smart comedy.  For this particular cartoon, the comedy is something adults can probably get more than kids.  

The story is about Eddy getting Ed to hide his prized magazines.  However, after Ed does that, he can’t remember where he left them, so the Eds try to retrace his steps.  The thing is that Ed’s memory is extremely scattered and nothing adds up.  There isn’t even a good look at what the magazines look like anywhere prior.  This is where the more adult area becomes apparent.  We might not see the magazines, but a few hints suggest what they’re like.  Eddy talking suggestively about them gives a strong implication at first.  Then moments like Eddy worried about their pictures when he thinks the magazines fell in a sewer and Double D surprised that he reads them are even clearer signs.  In a way, the cartoon is saying that these magazines are sexy magazines full of porn-like pictures.  It’s features like this that broaden the reach of not just of this cartoon but the whole show.  Without showing anything too raunchy and uncomfortable, adults can get the reference and find it clever while kids sit back and have a fun time.  This could very well justify how the cartoon goes when it comes to hunting the magazines down, or rather not.  

Ed’s recollection of where he hid the magazines, as mentioned earlier, has no concise answer.  First it seems like he was simply carrying it, got caught up in his antics, and dropped them in a sewer.  Then, Double D’s microscope suggests that Ed buried the magazines in the sandbox, only when they look there, they stop without even looking through the whole thing.  During this time though, Eddy’s growing frustration over the situation explodes.  He’s so paranoid about what happened to his magazines that he’s constantly snapping at everyone and gets unjustly suspicious over kids he doesn’t like such as Kevin being the culprit.  They come to a head when he irrationally thinks his friends were working with Kevin to steal his magazines.  

This results in a climax of escalation where he takes Double D’s hat and Ed’s eyebrow and threatens to throw them down the sewer.  

To get Kevin to talk sense into Eddy, his friends steal Kevin’s prized bike which leads them all to the sewer in an aggressive mashup of angry expressions.  Then it seems like Jonny had the magazines all along and Eddy calms down, but he was just carrying an empty box.  Then Ed retraces his steps the way he did before, and that’s it, the cartoon just ends.  There turns out to be absolutely no clue as to where the magazines are, meaning that the aggression and stress have no payoff and wasn’t really worth it.  However, given the suggestive clues about what the magazines are like, this could just be a humorous way of censoring them.  When considering that, it’s easier to have more fun with this cartoon as an adult than as a kid.  Still, even after all these years, you wouldn’t be blamed for wondering whatever did happen to those magazines.

A-

Ed…Pass it On

Looking at the Eds’ antics, it’s easy to assume that the motives behind them are very simple.  All they care about could very well just be getting kids’ money and spending it on jawbreakers.  This is why it’s a great touch to get stories to really show the complexities behind how they work.  For this cartoon, deeper motivations for the Eds are brought to the forefront that make them all endearing, and work well with development of some of the biggest mysteries. 

It starts with the Eds pulling off the usual scam, this one filled with a lot of promise being a restaurant right in a living room.  Sadly, it backfires when Ed presents his naked self as a turkey and the kids are too repulsed to finish their meals.  It’s after this when, while lamenting over another failure, Eddy reveals the deeper reason behind what he and his friends do regularly.  He’s after something even deeper than materialistic goods, respect.  It’s something just about everyone wants in some way and a sign of a good productive life of friends and success.  This in turn makes the Eds, Eddy especially, much more relatable, and the cartoon more interesting and engaging than ever.  

Now, since Eddy’s been known to get respect back when his brother was around, he gets an idea to earn the kids’ respect.  He’s going to make it seem like his brother is coming home to the cul-de-sac which should in turn boost his status since he’d be with someone so revered.  He sets up a sign and decorations at his house welcoming his brother home to give such an impression, and the rumor takes effect.  The big takeaway is how there are different approaches to Eddy’s brother returning.  In some cases, his return causes fear and worry with Kevin visibly scared of the prospect of his presence, while Rolf goes to extreme measures to protect his home and chickens.  However, Jonny and Nazz are more excited about Eddy’s brother, seeing him as someone cool, though Nazz surprisingly goes further through sporting a random climbing getup.  This only adds to the mystery behind this character where there’s no clear reason of what to make of him.  

What isn’t a mystery is that this is all a ruse just as Eddy planned, and it’s actually working.  He’s allowed access to hang out with the other kids in sort of a “party at Kevin’s house,” and just being among peers feels much more meaningful than anything.  He’s a part of something and seen as someone big, and to him it’s rewarding even if he is figuratively riding on someone’s coattails with the 'respect' feels more like fear-mongering.  It’s this element that slowly leads to his undoing though as Sarah and Jimmy, known to see through scams the best, barge in and ask where his brother even is.  This shows he can’t keep the rumor up forever, but Eddy tries in saying that his brother simply missed a bus and will come the next day.  

This spares him the expected scorn from revealed lies, but the next day his comeuppance comes in a more unique way.  It seems that his brother comes after all, and instead of being grateful and excited that he’ll have real honest respect now, Eddy is scared of his presence all throughout.  It’s a huge departure from his impressed views of his sibling as is him rushing off to make him a sundae.  While this is an appropriate consequence for the rumor, it’s actually clever foreshadowing for his brother’s actual appearance; here he’s really Sarah and Jimmy in disguise.  

So Eddy’s brother really doesn’t come and the mystery remains, but this cartoon is still one of the show’s most intriguing for what it builds up and the characters it develops.

A+

Series Ranking

1.      An Ed is Born

2.      One + One = Ed

3.      A Glass of Warm Ed

4.      It Came from Outer Ed

5.      Rent-A-Ed

6.      Once Upon an Ed

7.      Fa La La La Ed

8.      Urban Ed

9.      Ed…Pass it On

10.  Laugh Ed Laugh

11.  Dawn of the Eds

12.  Wish You Were Ed

13.  Dueling Eds

14.  Mirror, Mirror On the Ed

15.  Gimme, Gimme Never Ed

16.  Ed-N-Seek

17.  Keeping Up With the Eds

18.  Who Let the Ed In

19.  Avast Ye Eds

20.  Flea Bitten Ed

21.  Fool on the Ed

22.  Ready Set Ed

23.  The Ed-Touchables

24.  Who What Where Ed

25.  Dear Ed

26.  Momma’s Little Ed

27.  Hot Buttered Ed

28.  Ed or Tails

29.  Stop Look and Ed

30.  See No Ed

31.  Shoo Ed

32.  Rock-a-Bye Ed

33.  Ed in a Halfshell

34.  Scrambled Ed

35.  O-Ed Eleven

36.  Vert Ed Go

37.  Oath to an Ed

38.  Ed, Ed, and Away

39.  Button Yer Ed

40.  An Ed in the Bush

41.  Read All About Ed

42.  Rambling Ed

43.  Home Cooked Ed

44.  Honor Thy Ed

45.  Floss Your Ed

46.  Quick Shot Ed

47.  Look Into My Eds

48.  The Luck of the Ed

49.  Is There An Ed in the House?

50.  Knock, Knock Who’s Ed

51.  A Boy and His Ed

52.  Eds-Aggerate

53.  Three Squares and an Ed

54.  Will Work for Ed

55.  Boys Will Be Eds

56.  High Heeled Ed

57.  Know-it-All Ed

58.  For Your Ed Only

59.  Dim Lit Ed

60.  Cry Ed

61.  Eeny Meeny Miney Ed

62.  A Pinch to Grow an Ed

63.  Pop Goes the Ed

64.  Hands Across Ed

65.  An Ed Too Many

66.  Sir Ed-a-Lot

67.  Over Your Ed

68.  From Here to Ed

69.  A Key to My Ed

70.  X Marks the Ed

71.  It’s Way Ed

72.  In Like Ed

73.  My Fair Ed

74.  To Sir With Ed

75.  Nagged to Ed

76.  Tag Yer Ed

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the last episode of Season 3 where the Eds have debt to pay when Ed is pressured into spending Sarah's money on jawbreakers, and everything goes out with a bang with the rampage that comes from Ed thinking he's a monster.

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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