The Greatest Western Animation Episode Ever

[Avaitor]

Little Ed Blue
Bye, Bye Greasy
The Red Ball
China, IL The Musical

[Exelicon00]

Bye, Bye Greasy
Little Ed Blue
The Red Ball
China, IL The Musical

[LumRanmaYasha]

Another tough round!

China, IL the Musical
Bye, Bye Greasy
The Red Ball
Little Ed Blue

Spoiler

China, IL the Musical - A great series finale that shows off the characters at their best by, funnily enough, showing them at their worst. Frank's pathetically horny, Steve and Pony are spitefully competing to prove their moral superiority over each other in a way that shows off how egotistical and sociopathic they are, and Baby Cakes' selfishness and delusions are on full display. And yet, everything these characters do in this episode is hillarious and endearing to me. I think Frank comes off the best - his horniness turning him into a hairy monster, but at the end of the day he stands up for what is right, convincing Baby Cakes to get over himself and appreciate that the people around him are magical in their own right, to help the Gorilla escape and return home. But I also love how the other character threads end up resolving in a really sweet way showing off the love Leonard has for his high-maintence manchild and the friendship between Steve and Pony. I also think the songs in this episode are absolutley hillarious from beginning to end, and really help give this episode a grandoise feel that makes it a bittersweet but fitting finale for the show.

Bye Bye Greasy - Tied with History as my favorite episode of the show - I really flip flop between the two. Brendan having to direct a play is an interesting idea outside his wheelhouse and it's fun to see it fall apart, especially with all the shenanigans outside his control like Shanon's suspension and Melissa's kiwi allergy. McGurick is also a riot in this episode, and the scene where he performs the Racer song in the locked car always has me in stitches. This is also another pretty memorable musical episode - Shanon's singing "Me alone in a letter" always sticks in my mind for some reason. This is honestly a good episode for that character, displaying more sides to the typical bully by showing that he really does have a theatrical side to him. But this episode uses all the characters really well, which helps make it one of the show's best.

The Red Ball - The rivalry between Huey and Ming and the sheer violence of the kickball game are really great. Lots of great moments in here, like Grandad bailing on running the bases only to be hit in the head with the ball anyway, Riley calling a home run only to embarrassingly miss every kick, and Huey revealing he knows chinese to the two shitalkers on the other team and proceeded to knock their asses out of the game. Great stuff.

Little Ed Blue - This is a great episode showing the normally chipper Ed in an unusally sour mood that the other Eds have to figure out. I think my favorite moment is when Sarah angrily yells that he can't kick her out of the house because she lives there too, and in a rare moment of defiance he shouts back at her - "SO MOVE!" which freaks even her out and causes her to back off and flee. Really funny character-based gags all throughout, making it a really memorable one.

[close]

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

"Little Ed Blue" (Ed, Edd n' Eddy) - 12
"The Red Ball" (The Boondocks) - 9
"China, IL The Musical" (China, IL) - 7
"Bye, Bye Greasy" (Home Movies) - 12

"Little Ed Blue" and "Bye, Bye Greasy" move on to round 2! The next match will be up shortly.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Round 1: Match 24


"Zuko Alone" (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

VS.


"The Boiling Rock, Part 1 and Part 2" (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

VS.


" I Am the Night" (Batman: The Animated Series)

VS.


"The Dabba Don" (Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law)

[Avaitor]

Oh man, tough round.

I think I'm going to go same as ranked, although I flip-flop between those Avatar eps. I'm surprised that B:TAS is only third this time, but I do think this one is a little pretentious, if still impactful. And I also really do like that Harvey Birdman episode.

[Exelicon00]

Zuko Alone
The Dabba Don
I Am the Night
The Boiling Rock

[Dreamer2]

I Am The Night
The Boiling Rock
Zuko Alone
The Dabba Don

[LumRanmaYasha]

I'm surprised how I'm voting this round, but I'm going:

The Boiling Rock
Zuko Alone
The Dabba Don
I Am the Night

Spoiler

I thought I was burned out on Avatar just because it's been so talked up in recent years, but rewatching these episodes and I'm floored all over again at how damn good the show is. These episodes have pitch-perfect writing; stories with strong focus on character development that simultaneously provide worldbuilding and backstory, expertly paced and delivered with brilliant dialogue rooted in characterization and making the best out of every interaction and moment. It definitely helps that these were both Zuko episodes and he's the show's best written character, but the reason I'm edging Boiling Rock over Zuko Alone is because it accomplishes so much in its runtime and delivers a really novel story with really satisfying resolutions to mulitple conflicts between characters. Both are just so excellent though and remind me there's good reason for this show to be considered one of the best television shows of all time.

The Dabba Don ranking third is one of the reasons I'm suprised at my rankings this round, because this was one of my nominations and I consider it one of my favorite cartoon episodes of all time. Exploiting Fred's money-making schemes and penchant for disguises to characterize him as a Godfather-esque mob boss is brilliant, and I love every joke in this episode, as well as the resolution.

I'm also surpised that I'm ranking I Am the Night last, because I remembered really enjoying this episode, and...I still sorta do, but it leaves me with a lot of mixed feelings. Most of the reasons why I like it is just because the show is so well-directed and animated that it can sell the emotions of the story its telling really well. But rewatching this alongside the Avatar episodes highlighted my biggest problems with it - while the ATLA eps have really naturalistic dialogue that feels true to the characters, this episode feels like philosophizing from a writer's perspective spoken through the mouths of the characters, and its a big difference. I don't know if I'd call it pretentious, per say, but I do think there's such a thing as something being overwritten and written too perfect, or just on the nose. Every beat in this episode feels too well-thought out in a way that doesn't pay attention to how the characters are actually feeling. Batman is the only character with actual angst - he starts the episode mourning his parents and is the only one who feels distressed about Gordon being shot, whereas everyone else just sucks his dick and tells him how great and important he is with the exception of Bullock who is kinda just angry at him for the same old reasons that don't really match Batman's own guiltly feelings. Batman overeacts in odd ways to things like a mook crushing the roses he laid on the spot his parents were shot on and his overly horrified face when he sees Gordon shot. And he really doesn't give up on being Batman for long until one speech from Dick manages to get back to it in minutes. I think the bones of this story are good, but it wasn't convincingly written in a way that made me buy into the scenario and forget that these characters are puppets on a writer's strings like the best episode of cartoons will and do.

[close]

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

"Zuko Alone" (Avatar: The Last Airbender) - 13
"The Boiling Rock, Part 1 and Part 2" (Avatar: The Last Airbender) - 11
" I Am the Night" (Batman: The Animated Series) - 9
"The Dabba Don" (Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law) - 7

"Zuko Alone" and "The Boiling Rock, Part 1 and Part 2" will move on to round 2! The final match of round 1 will be up shortly!

[LumRanmaYasha]

At long last, after nearly two years, we've finally reached the final match of the first round!

Round 1: Match 25


"Summer of 4 Ft. 2" (The Simpsons)

VS.


"It Came From Outer Ed" (Ed, Edd n' Eddy)

VS.


"The Fundraiser" (The Boondocks)

VS.


"Bad Seed" (Major Lazer)

[Dreamer2]

It Came From Outer Ed
The Fundraiser
Summer of 4 Ft. 2
Bad Seed

[Avaitor]

It Came From Outer Ed
Summer of 5 ft 2
Bad Seed
The Fundraiser

[Exelicon00]

Summer of 4 Ft. 2
It Came From Outer Ed
The Fundraiser
Bad Seed

[LumRanmaYasha]

Bad Seed
The Fundraiser
Summer of 4 Ft. 2
It Came From Outer Ed

Spoiler

Bad Seed - Major Lazer was such an awesome show, I'm so bummed it only lasted a season. This episode is still one of my favorites - an awesome psychedelic musical ride through a girl's quest for weed, getting high, and experiencing a bad trip, all backed up with retro-futuristic visuals with an rastafarian aesthetic and Major Lazer's great soundtrack. Like a good high, this show was an ephemeral adventure that is dearly missed. 

The Fundraiser - The concept of Riley becoming a gang leader by selling candy bars is hilarious on its own but this episode takes great jabs at institutional corruption and the exploitative forms of child labor that have been normalized to boot, alongside a ton of great character-jabs and a prominent appearance by one of my favorite supporting characters in the series, Cindy. It escalates in the way you'd expect, but the jokes all land with hilarious precision and the ending is just perfect.

Summer of 4 Ft 2 - A heartfelt episode of Lisa trying to be someone else in order to make friends, but learning to embrace who she is instead and that people do like her for who she is. Homer's subplot buying illegal fireworks also leads to a ton of hillarious gags. This episode is also really quotable too "Lisa...with people?" Lots of sweet and funny moments worty of a season finale during the show's golden years.

It Came From Outer Ed - A hillarious comedy of errors as Eddy and Edd try to and fail to follow Ed's confusing scam scheme. Lots of great jokes and just another great Ed-focused episode that shows off what makes his character so enjoyable in his inscrutable logic and unpredictability.

[close]