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They Call Him Mr. Ed
When the Eds set out on an endeavor, there’s usually solid entertainment and antics. In this case, the entertainment is interesting, but it’s easy to wonder what exactly the motive behind everything they’re doing is.
Eddy appears to explain the day’s plan to his friends that they’re going “up,” and that’s it. Such vagueness makes itself clear right away, in that it’s hard to figure out what exactly is meant by “up.” A lot of visual clues make it seem like he’s referring to up in a directional sense. The clearest one is a running gag involving an elevator; Ed constantly adds random objects to it allowing it to go higher. However, the bulk of the plan involves Eddy running an office business called Ed Co.. This suggests that when Eddy means “up” he means going up in terms of profits. Isn’t that the same as what he’s always trying to accomplish with his scams? If this is what the office is meant to do, what makes it different from the Eds’ usual routine? It’s never even discussed what Ed Co. is supposed to specialize in. It’s nothing more than a basic office setup with kids taking on office worker roles without doing anything to specialize in actual business.
From that perspective, the endeavor is hard for the audience to get behind. All that’s discussed is that the Eds are trying to go up, but it’s never clear how they do it with this office. One might think they’re doing so by saying the word “up” constantly; it, or a variation of up, is stated a whopping 71 times throughout the cartoon in fact. In some regards, how the characters work that word into their sentences is pretty amusing. However, being connected to a mostly baseless plan makes it hard to really get behind, and the mentions of the word "up" to get old very quickly.
Even with the baseless direction behind Ed Co., it is nice to see the Eds get legit attention from the neighborhood kids. They take interest in what they’re doing and take up positions in office work, meaning the Eds seem to be starting a trend for once and are growing real social connections. That said, it’s hard to believe that their goal of going up would take a downturn just because Kevin shows up to say hi to Nazz working as their secretary. In fact, his mentions of “down” don’t feel like they’d thwart their plans of going up. A more believable way for the plan to backfire comes when Eddy inadvertently mentions pay, and everyone working starts to realize they’re getting nothing for this. They all leave, but really, they should have known this isn’t a real business and the Eds wouldn’t actually be getting any money. Again, it doesn’t even specialize in what real businesses do.
So, the Eds’ push for bettering their reputation backfires again, but there is an interesting payoff to the gag with Ed and the elevator. All the Eds take it as up as they can get, all the way to the moon in fact, which leaves Eddy ecstatic. This makes it seem like he DID mean up in a literal directional sense after all, but then what was the point of the office? If this was all he wanted to do, he could have just spent the day building a big tower. It probably would have even led to the same ending punchline with the structure falling apart and the Eds wanting to go down.
Now, there is mild amusement, clever gags, and brief moments of triumph for the Eds from the events of the cartoon. Still, as enjoyable as this cartoon can be, a clearly baseless and confusing motive and some overused routines hold it back from a high place in the ranking.
B+
For the Ed By the Ed
If their constant failures weren’t clear enough, this show loves to emphasize huge the Eds are as outcasts in their community. It’s already beginning to go too far, but some cartoons make that point bigger than others such as this one.
It all begins when a simple game of superheroes featuring Jonny and Plank stumbles into an act of heroism. Jimmy is at the mercy of the dreaded Kanker sisters, and Jonny lets go of Plank at the right moment. Plank lands in the right places which causes commotion with the Kankers and blocks a creepy-crawly from touching Jimmy. Whether or not there’s a secret sentience to this hunk of wood, Plank is hailed as a hero for this. Jonny and Jimmy go around hailing Plank as the king of the cul-de-sac, and it isn’t long before the Eds notice, and Eddy is offended. Given his desire for respect, he feels that he should be king and promptly demands an election.
It’s here when the reputation the Eds have among their peers is reminded. When Eddy announces that he'd like to challenge Plank in an election, no one seems interested in what his campaign. It’s a combination of how the neighborhood kids typically view him and a lack of a plan of how he’ll compete. Still, from a certain perspective, it’s kind of sad that they favor a literal piece of wood over Eddy.
Eddy now has to result to unethical means to even have a chance at this election, so he has Ed try to dig up dirt on Plank, the clearly more popular contender. Impressively, through literally digging up dirt on Plank, Eddy does find a picture of Plank doing something shameful. It’s apparently so shameful that the picture isn’t even shown. Some might say that it could be very raunchy, sexual even, a clear case of opening up several interpretations that can get all ages engaged in this show. For Eddy’s sake, this discovery does seem effective as everyone is very disgusted with Plank when he shows the picture. Jonny, of course, does not hesitate to vouch for his friend, claiming it was a simple mistake, though one can think it will take more than that to restore Plank’s trust.
However, despite clear disgust with the discovery of Plank’s deed, he still gets a unanimous win where Eddy gets only one vote and Plank gets the others (with a few misguided ballots from some kids). The point is that even when Eddy seems to have the upper hand, he’s just that much of an outcast for things to not go his way.
Now one more thing to bring up is Double D’s role in all this. He seems the most out of touch with the plight of being a social outcast mostly from his huge sense of order. The mere idea of an election excites him more than anything to the point of wanting to play by the rules in the process not taking Eddy’s push for respect seriously. He even admonishes Eddy’s schemes by stuffing in more than one ballot with his name on it so they’d be ineffective. Speaking of ineffective, it’s revealed that he was one of the kids who voted for Plank out of majority opinion. Add on him making cookies for the voters that could actually get him good honest money if he wanted, and Double D is more separated from the general nature of the Eds than ever. There's overall a strong impression he’s better off without them which in turn brings more of a harsh truth of how hard it is to be an Ed.
While this cartoon has a somewhat interesting take on elections and candidates, it can also get somber in showing how much the Eds don’t have much of a chance in their environment.
B+
Series Ranking
1.
An Ed is Born
2. One
+ One = Ed
3.
The Day the Ed Stood Still
4. A Glass of Warm
Ed
5.
It Came from Outer Ed
6. Rent-A-Ed
7.
Once Upon an Ed
8. Fa
La La La Ed
9. Urban
Ed
10.
Ed…Pass it On
11. One
of Those Eds
12. Laugh
Ed Laugh
13. Dawn
of the Eds
14. Don’t
Rain on My Ed
15.
Wish You Were Ed
16.
Dueling Eds
17. Mirror,
Mirror On the Ed
18.
Gimme, Gimme Never Ed
19. Ed-N-Seek
20. Keeping
Up With the Eds
21. Who
Let the Ed In
22. Avast
Ye Eds
23. Flea
Bitten Ed
24. Fool
on the Ed
25. Ready
Set Ed
26. The
Ed-Touchables
27. Who
What Where Ed
28. Dear
Ed
29.
Momma’s Little Ed
30.
Brother, Can You Spare an Ed?
31. Hot
Buttered Ed
32.
Ed or Tails
33. Stop
Look and Ed
34.
See No Ed
35. Shoo
Ed
36.
Rock-a-Bye Ed
37. Ed
in a Halfshell
38. Scrambled
Ed
39. Pain
in the Ed
40.
O-Ed Eleven
41. Vert
Ed Go
42. Ed
Overboard
43. Oath
to an Ed
44.
Ed, Ed, and Away
45. Button
Yer Ed
46.
An Ed in the Bush
47. Read
All About Ed
48. Rambling
Ed
49. Home
Cooked Ed
50. Honor
Thy Ed
51. Floss
Your Ed
52. Quick
Shot Ed
53. Look
Into My Eds
54.
The Luck of the Ed
55.
Is There An Ed in the House?
56. Knock,
Knock Who’s Ed
57. A
Boy and His Ed
58. Eds-Aggerate
59.
Three Squares and an Ed
60. One
Size Fits Ed
61.
Will Work for Ed
62.
Boys Will Be Eds
63. High
Heeled Ed
64. Know-it-All
Ed
65.
For Your Ed Only
66.
Dim Lit Ed
67. Cry
Ed
68. Eeny
Meeny Miney Ed
69. A
Pinch to Grow an Ed
70. Pop
Goes the Ed
71. Hands
Across Ed
72.
They
Call Him Mr. Ed
73. An
Ed Too Many
74. Sir
Ed-a-Lot
75.
For
the Ed By the Ed
76. Over
Your Ed
77.
From Here to Ed
78. A
Key to My Ed
79. Once
Bitten Twice Ed
80.
X Marks the Ed
81. It’s
Way Ed
82. In
Like Ed
83.
My Fair Ed
84. To
Sir With Ed
85. Nagged
to Ed
86. Tag
Yer Ed
87. If
it Smells Like an Ed
The next review shows what happens when friendly Ed turns into an aggressive brute, and the Eds just might be able to really one-up the Kankers with reverse psychology.
Next time is the first part of the grand Amphibia finale, "The Three Armies" and "The Beginning of the End."
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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