Episode 201: Politics

Before seeing this episode, it would probably be a good idea to see “The Art of the Sucker Punch” for a good Shannon introduction.

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
Shannon – Emo Philips
Ken Addleburg – Bill Braudis
Mr. Lynch – Ron Lynch

Synopsis: Brendon is running for class president, and actually wins. However, Brendon’s connection to Shannon may be his downfall. McGuirk decides to try his hand at standup comedy as “The Soccer Comic”, and Paula wins the “Nicest Teacher of the Month” award at her school.

History:
· This is the first episode of the second season.
· This is the first episode to be animated in Flash as opposed to Squigglevision.
· This is the first episode made specifically for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.
· This episode introduces us to Ken Addleburg, the hard-to-understand oddjobber in Brendon’s town.

Lawn Gnomes:
· Another episode where I couldn’t find one.

Brendon’s Filmography:
· “Vote Brendon Small” – Do books burn your eyes when you read them? Brendon Small believes it is time to move away from books and into videos for learning. Vote Brendon Small for class president.
· “Thieves” – Actually not a movie but rather a set up to get Shannon. It kind of works.

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· Brendon’s video contains a couple of small cracks at Thurman Thackery (the glasses joke, Brendon’s mumbling at the end).
· The two different movies both relate to the storylines of Act I and Act II: Act I is about getting elected, Act II is about thieves.

Song Lyrics:
· Shannon’s Theme (No lyrics, just ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba)

Random Observations & Facts:
· Jason wrote “Jason Rules!” on the lower left corner of his poster.
· Brendon ends up using Jason’s train/mom poster in his campaign. He apparently adds “Brendon for Presidint”.
· Thurman Thackery wears a “Vote Thurman” pin.
· Brendon spits on Thackery’s glasses.
· There is crude drawing of Paula on Paula’s chalkboard with stink lines.
· In “Vote Brendon Small”, Brendon stands in front of two signs: “Book Bad” and “Video Good”.
· The eye chart is apparently in Japanese.
· When Melissa says, “They’ll call you four eyes and idiot” when talking about glasses, she is holding a picture of Thurman Thackery.
· One of the soccer players runs into the goal post.
· Brendon and Paula’s conversation, in the correct order:
Brendon: This fish is dry.
Paula: It’s meatloaf.
Brendon: This is meatloaf?
Paula: Yes.
Brendon: This meatloaf is dry.
· Paula has made dinner in a sort of a smiley face shape.
· In the background when Brendon learns he won, a sign says “Think Big Vote Small”.
· Shannon drinks “Fizz Soda”.
· Shannon has gotten worse since the last time we’ve seen him. He was just a neighborhood bully in The Art of the Sucker Punch, but in this episode he breaks into cars, steals computers, writes graffiti and smashes hoods.
· During the “Shannon’s Theme” video, the background changes color and he does different things to the kid he’s giving a wedgie to.
· In the school hall a sign says “Don’t Be A Quack, Don’t Use Smack”. This has appeared in several episodes since.
· Shannon’s official hall pass: “From the DESK of the office of the president; LEAVE HIM ALONE! B. Small”
· Melissa rolls her eyes and leaves after Brendon and Lynch start talking.
· The music that plays right before we go into Brendon’s office has never been played on Home Movies since.
· There is a crude picture of Brendon on Brendon’s chalkboard right next to where it says “President Small”.
· Other comedians performing on the same night as McGuirk: “Jay Bird & Patty”, “Crazy Mike”, “Match Head” (his picture fits his name), and “Clowny”.
· There is a game of Tic-Tac-Toe played on McGuirk’s “notes”.
· Several people raise their hand when McGuirk asks, “does anybody still listen to classical music?”
· Jason laughs as Thackery falls.

Past Episode References:
· The Published Poet from Episode 108 – Method of Acting is once again in Paula’s class.
· Inconsistency – In Episode 103 – The Art of the Sucker Punch, we hear that Shannon doesn’t go to Brendon’s school. However, in this episode he does.
· Brendon, Jason & Melissa say, “We got Shannon! Right in the Cannon!” In The Art of the Sucker Punch, Shannon’s fighting name was “Shannon the Cannon”.

Movie & Other References:
· At the “Laugh, Damn It!” bar, there are people who resemble Jerry Seinfeld, Carrotop, Andrew “Dice” Clay and Marcel Marceau.
· Melissa and Jason play Bonnie & Clyde in “Thieves”.

End Credits: Spoken: McGuirk’s mom heckles him.

Reviews: (Keep in mind these reviews were taken from the first time the episode aired, and the big thing was the new animation) WARNING: Spoilers

Spectre: The flash animated zooms were so freaking cool... everything was amazing to me. Better animation, great lines, ... I thought everything was great. And we get tons of Shannon. The whole Shannon montage was hilarious. A

RandomGuy: I loved it. When Home Movies first debuted on UPN, I caught the first episode, and for the first couple of minutes, I hated it. By the end though, when Brendon was asking Erik to play Freebird on his violin, I had fallen in love with the show. I've been watching it ever since, and it's easily my fave Adult Swim show. I found myself more or less doing the same thing with this episode. At the first the dialogue seemed off, the new animation annoying, but by the end, I had laughed a lot and really enjoyed the whole thing. The lack of squigglevision was a first a problem, but really, the show is so much clearer, brighter, and smoother that I have to admit the animation is a step up (seeing the original squigglevision in an AS promo, later in the evening, it clearly looked worse). I'll admit, the music is an unwelcome change, I was sorry to see that neither Dwayne nor Erik were in this episode (and Melissa is ALWAYS underused), but overall, I was impressed. With Williams Street episodes being released sporadically, and Cowboy Bebop in reruns, Home Movies is THE Adult Swim show for the forseeable future, and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Shnay: I think this is definitely one of the weaker HM episodes. It had a fair amount of plot and subplots that unfolded at a pretty good pace. However, I think a lot of the comedy was lacking, and we didn't see any character development, either. I'm fine with no character development as long as the comedy is strong and steady enough to carry the episode. Unfortunately--it wasn't.

However, the show certainly had its moments. The "Bonnie and Clyde" movie, Lynch locked out of his classroom, and Shannon's "I suppose I didn't have to" line were all pretty good. I also loved almost everything about McGuirk's subplot. When he was dealing with Melissa's "heckling" I was laughing and feeling bad for her at the same time (I was also glad to see Brendan step in and stick up for her ). His stand up act as "The Soccer Comic" was pretty great too. "...Well, at least I can afford to pay for it...B-because I just robbed it...I robbed the bank." Good stuff. And the similar bit with Brendan at the end was also funny.

While there was some pretty good comedy at points, I feel that most of it fell kinda flat, and the good moments lost a lot of effect due to many slow moments (like the flower scenes; one was plenty). The episode took a while to really pick up, as most of the scenes between Brendan and his purple haired opponent (I forget his name) kinda dragged on. I would have liked to have seen more done with Jason and Melissa's fear of Shannon, as I thought the scene in Brendan's "office" worked well and had a lot more comedic potential. Also, Paula's subplot didn't really add anything more than a filler for time.

So, overall, it was ok, but not the usuall HM quality.

Mynd Hed: This episode was all right. Shannon's always good as the sort of bully NOBODY remembers from their youth. "I'm a thug. It's what I do. You don't break into cars: I do. I don't play with dolls: you do." Other than that, it fell kinda flat. McGuirk's standup routine should have been funny for its sheer patheticness, but I dunno, I just found it drab instead. I think that the writers just had a hard time adjusting to the switch away from retroscripting, because as I recall the episodes will start getting funnier than this after a while.

Overall Grade: C+

StrangerAtaru: And so the flash era begins with a minor miracle: a fun little HM episodes that, while not perfect, we can still take as fun. The center of the episode revolves around Brendon's election bid for class president against the incumbent, where we have a very funny initial meeting between Brendon, Jason and Melissa (where all they get out of it is a poster featuring a train and Jason's mom) followed by the eventual commercial promoting Brendon's campaign, and weird promise. (sure Brendon, Jason couldn't read the eye chart because it was Japanese) But of course as we all know, everything changes because of the infamous return of Shannon, who now for some reason goes to Brendon's school. The whole factor of Shannon's immunity once Brendon mysteriously wins leads to a now famous montage of Shannon causing havoc and the main characters trying to control him even if it means Brendon's resignation. (and a just as funny resignation speech, very much like Nixon fused with Kennedy, with some side comments to boot) But there was other fun stuff happening in this episode as well: Lynch has a great role as a constant victim to everything going on at the school. (Well they were his Sinatra tapes). And Paula has a fun little subplot of her own involving an award she wins and, consequently, her with the flowers she receives. (Enjoy it while it lasts, Paula...sorry, a bit for foreshadowing) On the other hand, the weak link to this episode is McGuirk and his subplot about wanting to be a stand-up comic. Sure he was supposed to be awful, but it really didn't help the episode too much other than the thing during the credits where he fights with his mom.

DrWeird: A nice, simple, funny episode starts off season two. Although "Politics" isn't as good as "The Art of the Sucker Punch", it is still a very good episode.

Shannon was great in this one. Emo Philips voice really gives that character some weird kind of depth. Shannon's song after the commercial was great (and well-animated). A few nitpicks here: In "The Art of the Sucker Punch", Melissa said Shannon doesn't go to the same school, but in this one, he does. Also, Shannon has gotten worse since the last time we've seen him; before he was just a bully, now he's robbing cars. Tsk tsk...

The campaign storyline was good as well. Best points include the campaign video (I can't read, the words burn my eyes!) Shannon's line "Nothing about apples, I hope" (fav line in the episode) and Brendon resignation speech. Thurman Thackery wasn't a very interesting character, but I don't think he was supposed to be.

Paula's storyline was simple and good (which doesn't happen much to Paula in season two). Brendon & Paula had some great conversations in this one (This meatloaf is dry), and the short part with Paula and her class was great. Ken Addleburg makes his first appearance in this one, BTW.

Now, as for McGuirk's comedian storyline, I have mixed feelings. First of all, the premise comes off a little gimmicky (hey, what if McGuirk was a comedian?). McGuirk was funny when he heckled Brendon & Melissa, but then his actual stand-up routine just went on way too long. I know the jokes weren't supposed to be funny, but the unfunny ness of the jokes I didn't think was that funny (follow me?). I mean, he wasn't a funny comedian; I could've got that jokes without seeing his whole performance. McGuirk at the mic was the down point of the episode for me (which doesn't happen often).

Despite that one problem, Politics is a great episode, and I'll give it an A-.

Positives: Brendon running for president, Shannon, Paula and the flowers, McGuirk with Melissa/Brendon
Negatives: McGuirk's actual standup routine