Original Airdate: August 9, 2010
Written & Storyboarded by: Kent Osborne, Adam Muto & Niki Yang
Sort of interesting how this episode and the last one have both dealt with our protagonists coming to term with the fact that some jerks are just bound the be jerks (or in this case, have to be). Donny certainly isn’t nearly as interesting as Magic Man; MM is so apathetic and sadistic that it makes him stand out from almost every other character in the series, while Donny is borderline just your stereotypical jerk/bully character with not much that makes him standout. I feel like it could’ve been a good “you can’t force people to change who they are” episode, but what we got was just fine.
I actually really do like the connection between Finn and Donny. Instead of simply chastising Donny for his behavior, Finn does his best to be positive and try to help correct Donny’s wrongdoings, even after Donny fucks up BMO. Also, this is BMO’s first speaking appearance in the series! After a couple episodes of being nothing but a lifeless game console with arms and legs, he finally speaks up. It’s probably worth noting that after this episode I never questioned the fact that Jake was naked after this episode. I always just generally thought every episode after this “he has pants woven from spider webs”.
As usual, the backgrounds in this one are beautiful. This show never does a nighttime shade wrong; the nice darker blue palette is really illuminating and blends extremely well with the characters. The concept of the why-wolves is also a delightfully bizarre and clever idea. The idea of “obnoxegen” was a bit worthy of an eye roll, though.
In the end, despite the episode being fairly light and humorous throughout, things turn out a bit tragically for our anti-hero Donny. Although he happily returns to his life as a jerk in the end, it’s clear that he greatly appreciated and benefited from Finn’s company. Finn was the first person to believe that he could be more than just a bully, and if the end shows anything, it’s that Donny has learned something from spending time with Finn and has learned to care and empathize for others, even if the world calls for him to be a jerk. That’s true heroism right there. It’s a shame we never get to see Donny again. He really should’ve been the special guest host of Ooo’s battle of the bands.
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