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Stiff Upper Ed
It might not seem pleasing that the Eds usually lose in the end, but a big factor making this direction work is when they’re set up to deserve it. Whether they go too far with annoying others, legitimately hurt them, or overlook a specific detail, it only makes sense that they get some comeuppance. Factors that make it an issue are when they’re all punished when only one or two of them was truly in the wrong, or if everyone just mistreats them unprovoked. Unfortunately, this cartoon is an instance where this setup doesn’t work as the Eds are mistreated by everyone for no good reason, and it comes off as a bit of a bore in the process.
Now, the first few minutes of the cartoon have probably the best entertainment value. They follow the usual setup with the Eds preparing a scam for the neighborhood kids, in this case, selling bubble wrap as mini trampolines. It stands out with Eddy dressing up as a number of kids acting excited over what’s being promoted; and the actual demonstration set off by Ed sending Double D bouncing on a bunch of bubble wrap piles by popping some himself. This action uses up all of the supply, so the Eds have to get some more.
This circumstance leads to the main plot when they pass through Ed’s backyard to get more bubble wrap, and discover that Sarah and Jimmy have set it up for their own purposes. They’ve turned the backyard into their own personal club for “rich people” and designed it for members only, and it’s easy to tell that the Eds are not among them. From here, Eddy calls for the group to abandon their planned scam and set out on joining this rich club, and it’s here where the cartoon takes a turn for the worse. It becomes nothing but a drawn-out routine of the Eds presenting themselves as rich to try and prove eligible for the club, only for Sarah and Jimmy to turn them down or just ignore them. Without them doing anything to motivate such mistreatment, everything they do is simply futile. Because they get nowhere as Sarah and Jimmy remain very stubborn and judgmental, nothing of substance ever happens, making the experience as dull as it is unpleasant. There’s at least one amusing sequence with the Eds trying to look rich with a cardboard yacht, only for Ed’s antics to “sink” it, but other than that, it’s pretty unremarkable.
The setup gets even more frustrating when Sarah and Jimmy welcome the other “members” of their rich club, basically every other neighborhood kid. This is a huge giveaway that their club isn’t really exclusive and is neglecting the Eds for the sick sake of it. Some kids don’t even look rich with Jonny and Plank just wearing colanders on their head, and Kevin arriving in his usual clothes. It’s at this point when one must wonder why Eddy is even bothering with trying to join this club when they’re deliberately excluding him and his friends. They’re also clearly pretending to be rich considering they use toy boats for yacht races, rocking horses for polo, and the rich clothes are just costumes. An argument can be made that this does tie into a deeper desire to just be included with others and be well liked, which admittedly is commendable. However, with no real progress being made, the experience is just a big frustration.
There is something to be gained when a heated discussion does bring a slight change in direction. The Eds ultimately do get accepted into the rich club like they were aiming for, but while that seems like things will pick up, there’s unfortunately another catch. Rather than actual members, they’re assigned to be total servants or busboys to the rest of the club and are assigned to the most demeaning tasks. Literally the rest of the cartoon is nothing but Ed being tasked to tie Kevin’s shoe; Double D providing members shade and later providing food to Rolf who’s near impossible to satisfy; and Eddy having to carry everyone around in a cardboard box on his back. Basically, it’s just the Eds being mistreated and nothing else all the way to the end. Nothing stands out as particularly funny, there are no standout qualities other than the kids being relentless jerks, and nothing big is gained from any of this. Making this especially known is the cartoon just kind of stopping instead of reaching any natural conclusion. Eddy makes a comment about the situation after collapsing from everyone’s weight, and then suddenly, the cartoon’s over.
When all is said and done, the cartoon ends up being one that just exists, being fueled by an unremarkable story with nothing of substance. There are solid humor beats here and there, but they’re not enough to make up for a mostly dull and unpleasant experience, especially one that’s unwarranted.
D
Here’s Mud in Your Ed
Everything unfolds with things going ever so miserably for Jimmy. A pleasant leisurely activity with Sarah takes a nasty turn when Jonny appears, and antics lead her to get involved in a very aggressive argument. As it’s never resolved, this moment is solely meant to serve as a catalyst for Jimmy being extra intimidated and depressed. Once the Eds become aware of this, Eddy sees this as an opportunity.
To feed into Jimmy’s desire for happiness, Eddy devises the scam for the day; a theme park all about smiles with some promising attractions to it. Considering the usual way the Eds’ scams work, one might expect the cartoon to be an explore of exactly what the Eds created for the scam. However, when Jimmy goes in expecting a fun time with a huge dose of smiles, all he finds is a desolate alley which isn’t a happy sight at all. In other words, this was all a cruel joke in which this scam actually feels like a legit scam, and honestly, it’s very off-putting, even by the Eds’ usual standards. The way they typically work is that they’re designed as legit attractions and products kids would want to buy, and the time and effort put into each creation is clear. It feels like the Eds are actually trying to deliver on what they’re promising their customers. There’s absolutely no reason why they wouldn’t try putting together the attractions promised when they’ve proven capable of the effort in the past. They’ve even done something like this through making a city with all sorts of attractions made entirely of cardboard. But no, this is all instead a cruel elaborate trick to get Jimmy’s money just so the Eds can get a jawbreaker, because that’s all that matters.
Now, to be specific, Eddy is the only Ed who’s truly at fault for the whole thing, deliberately organizing the whole thing to be a trick and nothing more. Ed just naively goes along with it due to his lack of intelligence, and Double D is shown to be unaware of his true intentions which makes this scam even worse. As out of line as Eddy is, these factors definitely set him up for some welcome consequences for the rest of the cartoon, and it delivers with that, albeit with more concerns.
A big cause for this comes from Jimmy getting some much-needed sympathy from Rolf who’s going around as a being from his culture known as a guardian pigeon. As Jimmy laments about his day, he gets his own guardian pigeon in the form of Rolf who hears of Eddy's trick. He sets out to help Jimmy by getting back at Eddy, and given the nature of that whole stunt, it all feels warranted. In fact, Eddy already starts getting some comeuppance when he isn’t able to use Jimmy’s quarter to get a jawbreaker as Ed ends up spending it on a rocket ride. Then again, it’s all because he gave Ed the quarter in the first place which highlights another detracting factor to Eddy’s overall portrayal here.
It becomes apparent when he comes across a tree sprouting money that’s said to belong to Rolf. As part of his payback towards Eddy, Rolf appears claiming ownership of this money tree, and says he’ll give away the seed to it if Eddy gives all his possessions. Being easily desperate for cash, Eddy is quick to comply, literally giving Rolf everything he owns in exchange for that seed right down to leaving his bedroom bare and empty.
Now, the issue here is that a huge factor in making all this work is Eddy having to be significantly unintelligent. It’s incredibly obvious that the money tree is fake, and the money it grows are really soup labels with money symbols painted on another side. Along with Eddy letting Ed hold the quarter, it’s not hard to see that this is an incredibly stupid mindset that really isn’t like him. In fact, one doesn’t even need to view the following scenes of Double D investigating the tree, concluding that it’s fake to figure out that this is the case.
As much of a downside to the cartoon this is though, it works fine enough considering that Eddy feels worthy of some sort of punishment. Jimmy’s overt happiness over Eddy falling for the trick is most reflective of this sentiment as is how attached he becomes to Rolf. Now, while Eddy may have been dumb enough to fall for the trick, even when Double D shows him what the money really is, he still has some sense. When looking at the seed itself, he soon understands that it’s actually an empty spool which makes him totally livid.
Just as Rolf is about to have too much of Jimmy, Eddy prevents that sentiment from developing further late at night, banging Ed on his door with rage in response to being tricked. This whole scenario plays out believably and feels entertaining, though the way Rolf deals with this isn’t too remarkable.
He offers to give Eddy the real money tree seed, though it’s clearly not a seed but a bolt. Eddy plants it genuinely believing he’ll get a tree this time, and then the cartoon just ends, no real resolution, just Eddy getting screwed over and nothing more. That said, Double D does have a pretty amusing line to mark the abruptness of the ending, making for a clever fourth wall break. Still, this abrupt ending with nothing to show for it as well as portraying Eddy as too cruel and dumb ultimately work against this cartoon. Thanks to everything he gets feeling right and entertainment from featured character dynamics and some funny lines, it’s still overall a solid watch.
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. Little
Ed Blue
38. Ed
in a Halfshell
39. Scrambled
Ed
40. Pain
in the Ed
41.
O-Ed Eleven
42. Vert
Ed Go
43. Ed
Overboard
44. Oath
to an Ed
45.
Ed, Ed, and Away
46. Button
Yer Ed
47.
An Ed in the Bush
48. Read
All About Ed
49. Rambling
Ed
50. Home
Cooked Ed
51. Honor
Thy Ed
52. Floss
Your Ed
53. Robbin’
Ed
54. Quick
Shot Ed
55. Look
Into My Eds
56.
The Luck of the Ed
57. The
Good Ol’ Ed
58.
Is There An Ed in the House?
59. Knock,
Knock Who’s Ed
60. A
Boy and His Ed
61. Eds-Aggerate
62.
Three Squares and an Ed
63. One
Size Fits Ed
64.
Will Work for Ed
65.
Boys Will Be Eds
66. High
Heeled Ed
67. Know-it-All
Ed
68.
For Your Ed Only
69.
Dim Lit Ed
70. Cry
Ed
71. Eeny
Meeny Miney Ed
72. A
Pinch to Grow an Ed
73. Pop
Goes the Ed
74. Hands
Across Ed
75. They
Call Him Mr. Ed
76. An
Ed Too Many
77. Sir
Ed-a-Lot
78. For
the Ed By the Ed
79. Over
Your Ed
80.
From Here to Ed
81. A
Key to My Ed
82. Once
Bitten Twice Ed
83.
X Marks the Ed
84. It’s
Way Ed
85. Here’s
Mud in Your Ed
86. In
Like Ed
87. A
Twist of Ed
88. A
Case of Ed
89.
Thick as an Ed
90.
My Fair Ed
91. To
Sir With Ed
92. Nagged
to Ed
93. Tag
Yer Ed
94.
Stiff
Upper Ed
95.
Sorry Wrong Ed
96. If
it Smells Like an Ed
97. Your
Ed Here
The next episode faces Eddy with a loss of ideas for scams, and we're introduced to Plank's parents.
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