Episode 311: Broken Dreams

AKA That Smarts

Cast:
Brendon Small – Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis – H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins – Melissa Bardin Galsky
Coach Jon McGuirk – H. Jon Benjamin
Paula Small – Janine Ditullo
Josie Small – Loren Bouchard
Walter & Perry – H. Jon Benjamin & Brendon Small
Lifeguard – Brendon Small (almost sure)

Synopsis: Melissa breaks her arm and gets out of a science test. This inspires Brendon to try to break his own arm, until he realizes he should just try and study for the test. Then, Jason mysteriously breaks his arm. Meanwhile, McGuirk tries to become a lifeguard.

History:
· This episode officially reveals Mr. Lynch’s first name is Ronald and Nurse Kirkman’s first name begins with a J (probably Jennifer after the voice actress).

Lawn Gnomes: (Click for picture)
· A lawn gnome is in Brendon’s room while he studies. Then it appears in a bed shot.

Brendon’s Filmography:
· *”The Brain Exchange” – Story of a brain surgeon forced to make a decision when a lover who deserted her comes for an exchange.

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· This episode is about being smart, and the movie about a brain exchange.

Songs:

· Trust Me (Brendon dancing Version)

The world’s got you down, boy
That’s ok
You feel like you just wanna run away
Well put on your pants, boy
Show em’ your strong, boy
What’ll he darn to turn (Not sure about this lyric)
TRUST YOURSELF
You’ve got nothing else to lose
TRUST YOURSELF
What else you gonna do?
TRUST YOURSELF
You gotta fly so high
Like a rocket in the sky
TRUST YOURSELF
Where’s it- (Brendon stops the tape)

· Trust Me (McGuirk End Credits Version)

TRUST YOURSELF
What else you gonna do?
TRUST YOURSELF
You gotta fly to the moon
TRUST YOURSELF
You can do it, boy!
Listen to me dammit
You can do it!
TRUST YOURSELF
I’m gonna come there myself…
TRUST YOURSELF
…and I’ll kick you in the ass if I have to!
TRUST YOURSELF
You can do it.
Trust your @*%! Self
You little *@%!!!
TRUST YOURSELF
You’re a little dirty son of a gun!!!
TRUST YOURSELF
I’m gonna get you…
TRUST YOURSELF

Random Observations & Facts:
· The hospital in Brendon’s movie is the Pauline LeBlanc memorial hospital.
· A sign in the hospital says “The Brain Exchange”. A small slot on the side says “Night Dropoff”.
· Melissa calls Jason’s character “Fitzpantsinson” (it’s “Fitzpantson”)
· On Melissa’s cast: Ed, Dave, a flower, Tim, a cursive name I can’t make out, Sue, Jamie, :), “feel better, NJ” and “DE” (Walter’s start of Dear Perry)
· Perry holds onto Walter’s shirt on the tire so he won’t fall off.
· Lynch has kitten checks.
· Newspaper article: “Lifeguard earns cool Mil.”
· The other check says J. Kirkman, as in Nurse Kirkman. Her check has a Sheriff’s star on it.
· Brendon drinks (and regurgitates) Coco Milk.
· The pool goes from 10ft to 4ft really quickly.
· Sign at Pool: “Do Not Pee In Pool!”
· Brendon has green pajamas.
· Walter has 16 pens in his inside shirt.
· Brendon’s puny; 65 lbs. body breaks a massive tree branch?
· Jars in “The Brain Exchange”: “Livers”, “Leftovers? 1998” “Eyeball” “Sue E.’s Pickled Pigs Humans Fe“ (it cuts off after Fe) “Cap’n Ooey Gooey Glueinsteen’s White Glue”
· Sign in the hospital: “Knowledge is overrated if your dumb”
· Melissa’s cast is covered up with surgical gloves in the second “Brain Exchange” scene.
· Jason’s cast:
Dear Perry,
You are
the bestest
friend ever.
Love, Walter
· McGuirk has several bumps on his head from trying to flip around at the end of the pool.
· Brendon’s textbooks he reads at the table all have names, but I can’t make them out my copy.
· McGuirk puts on his goggles for no real reason when he tells Brendon what he did to the card catalogue
· A lot of blood is on the cards McGuirk tipped over.
· McGuirk reads “Life Guarding”.
· For the record, Brendon’s cast does not disappear when he holds up his X-Ray pictures. The way his cast was put on allows him to move his arm like that, and you can see the cast if you look carefully.
· The lifeguard says “Donald Lynch” despite the fact that when we saw Lynch’s checks it clearly said “Ronald Lynch”.
· In the ending credits, the lyric “Your a little dirty son of a gun” is corrected; an apostrophe is added in red marker and an arrow with an e is putting after the “r”. (Making it “You’re”)

Past Episode References:
· This isn’t a direct reference, but Melissa has a Biology book in her locker. Lynch started teaching biology back in Episode 110 – School Nurse.
· When McGuirk says “Men bleed, Brendon” in the library, it reminds me of “Men sweat, Brendon” from Episode 101 – Get Away From My Mom.
· Surprisingly, we don’t see the Chiquita Banana/Cow tattoos when McGuirk is trying to become a lifeguard.

Movie & Other References:
· At the pool, there is a sign that says “Adult Swim 10:00-1:00 No Kids”. This is a reference to the block where Home Movies appears, Adult Swim (which, at the time, was from 10:00 P.M.-1:00 A.M. Sundays)

End Credits: “Trust Me”

Reviews: WARNING: Spoilers

Jdoggg: Good episode, I wonder if the lifeguard thing is setting up McGuirk as the future host of AS.

Shnay: There were a lot of things I didn't like about this episode. The biggest complaint I have is that the humor, for the most part, just failed. This was due to a couple of things, but I'll get to that later. Also, I was dissapointed to see some of the characters just sort of "thrown in," as if to fill time (namely Paula and Walter and Perry, who simply weren't given any decent lines).

However there were a few good moments this episode had. Jason had some good scenes when acting jealous about Melissa's cast, obnoxiously letting Walter and Perry sign his cast, and being completely obvious that his cast was fake.

But therein lies one of this episode’s main flaws. One of the episode's major plot elements (the cast) just wasn't all that funny to begin with. There are some good things done with it, like the scenes previously listed, but I would have rather seen the jokes based on a stronger premise. The other parts of the story, Brendon's test and McGuirk's lifeguard job, seemed like poorly thought-out side plots that were only used for time fillers. Sure, McGuirk had some good moments, but I felt like they used the same basic jokes with him too much this time (like his shouting in the library).

Lastly, I had two kind of minor issues with the episode. First, I didn't really like how this one had a more "cartoony" vibe than the past episodes. For example, Paula's multiple spit takes (a joke that went on way too long) and McGuirk’s large "bumps" on his head. These just felt out of place. Also, though this is really a small issue, they didn't show McGuirk's tattoos when he took his shirt off. What about "That cow from that cheese", or the Chiquita banana? I was really disappointed to see those left out (they referenced them once after the first episode).

This one had some okay scenes, but most of the comedy fell flat or went too long, and the plot was really weak. It ends up just feeling kinda empty.

Rad Recker: Funny stuff. McGuirk as the life guard mostly. The cast storyline was okay.
Grade: B+