Nagged to Ed - Ed, Edd, N Eddy Episode 2 Review

 Intro

Ed, Edd N Eddy for the longest time has been my personal favorite cartoon. Recently, HBOMax has picked up several cartoons from the late 90s and early 2000s. Unsurprisingly, I went on an immediate nostalgia bender and binged watch the entire series with my lady love. And what better way to celebrate several of my favorite cartoons than by systematically reviewing each episode, starting with the dorks of Peach Creek.

To keep things simple and to help me keep my sanity, allow me to break down how I plan on scoring these episodes:

Each will be given a rating out of 10. To help solidify what those numbers mean, I have adopted a system similar to Angry Joe's rating system. To explain further:

10- Big Boi Lovings. Any issues are minor enough that they do not affect the score.

9- P. Awesome. Nearly flawless, has a have issues that are bad enough.

8- P. Great. The media is great. Not perfect but better than most.

7- P. Good. Above average with some rough issues.

6- Hard Enjoy. I want to be a huge fan of it, but it's rough.

5- Aight. Average, just okay.

4- Unoffensive. I didn't enjoy it, but I certainly don't hate it.

3- Bad. Has enough issues to make angry or regret consuming it.

2- Poopie Bad Stuff. Terrible. No enjoyment, but it didn't cause me to rant.

1- Dupid. I hate it. Enough to get angry any time I think about it.

Furthermore, key points I'll judge an episode on are:

Visual - Whether they be character, backgrounds or accessories.

Comedy - This is a haha funny show, so it needs decent comedy.

Story - The plot of the episode. The narrative attempting to be told.

The Scam - The ploy the Eds develop to get the money from the other kids.

Normally I would also talk about music and acting for visual media - and I'll definitely still touch upon it - but since it's a cartoon, most of the music and sound effects will be repeated throughout the series, so I would be repeating myself a lot. As far as voice acting goes, I'll also touch upon it -but wouldn't want it to affect the score, unless it's either extremely bad or extremely good.

With the formalities out of the way, let's dive into episode two of Ed, Edd N' Eddy 

Nagged to Ed

We are introduced to the title screen; a pair of hands wearing rubber gloves and cleaning dishes. The sink is full of soap and several dishes and a planted cactus is hanging from a rope. We can draw a few assumptions from the title card. The title, “Nagged to Ed”, can suggest that the Eds will be forced or guilted into chores by someone's complaining. The hanging cactus could foreshadow a character with a “prickly” personality could be the one that is nagging the dorks into doing the dishes. As far as title cards go, this one is pretty forgettable. Nothing too positive or negative to say here.

The episode opens with Double D tending to an insect collection in his garage. Ed is with him and makes a comment about seeing the beetle Edd is tending to in a movie called “I Married A Thorax”. Double D ignores the comment and continues going through his checklist. The two characters continue to play out their archetypes in this scene, reinforcing the idea of Double D being the organized nerd and Ed being the horror movie junkie.

It is then revealed that Eddy is also with the boys, but he is much less impressed about Double D's collection. Double D then announces that it is time for his monthly insect expedition. He hands the boys various clothes so that they can safely travel into the nearby forest to capture another insect, so that Edd can study the local ecosystem. Eddy is bored with the idea, complaining that insects bug him. Ed is indifferent, more so just happy to be hanging with his friends rather than the task at hand.

The boys travel deep into the forest before Eddy becomes spooped by the nature noises and calls it quit. He ditches the boys and wanders a few feet on his own before letting out a shout. The other Eds are understandably concerned and rush to their friend's aid. Once they catch up with Eddy they discover a giant spider web. Double D is impressed by the size and craftmanship of the web and begins to look a bit more closely at it. Eddy nervously chuckles and is still fearful enough to suggest that the boys go back home. He turns to leave but sees Ed foolishly jump into the web and start bouncing on it.

A moment later they start to hear giggling in the distance. They then hear the “K-I-S-S-I-N-G” tease being whispered. Now all three boys are scared and work to try to pull Ed down from the web he is stuck in. The music intensifies and the boys scream as they begin to run through the woods. Every way they turn, however, they end up seeing a set of three eyes staring at them. The boys continue screaming and running before falling into a pool of muck. Three people surround the Eds as they struggle to get out of the swamp. We get an inverted color swap of the dorks before the scene changes.

The next scene opens up on a quiet looking trailer park. We pan over to a blue one before going inside. We instantly see the three Eds laying on the floor and wearing bathrobes. We are then introduced to the Kanker Sisters. These three girls tend to serve as a constant antagonistic force to the Eds. They often show up whenever the boys need to get their comeuppance. The first to speak is Lee, the defacto leader of the sisters and presumably the oldest. She states that she is happy the Eds dropped in. Lee is the tallest of the sisters with red curly hair that covers her eyes, freckles and gold earrings. She usually wears a red polka dot tanktop and high waisted blue jeans. She is usually the most violent of the girls and tends to boss the others around.

The next girl to speak is Marie, the blue haired girl and presumably middle child of the three. She wears goth-like attire; a black tank top, wrist bands and green cargo pants. She is typically seen chewing bubble gum – which, coupled with her aesthetic, could point to her being a bit of a rebellious character. Chewing gum can be used as a trope to show a character is either cool and/or doesn't like to follow the rules. She says that they dressed the boys in their “dads'” robes, insinuating that the three girls are half-siblings. The Eds are obviously confused on their different attire and the three sisters lean in to give them a kiss. With a shriek and a jump, the boys are cowering in the corner.

Lee makes a startling comment about no one being able to hear the boys scream before each one gives their names. The only girl we haven't mentioned is May, a blonde girl who is both the shortest of the three and presumably the youngest. She usually wears a grey t-shirt and red shorts. She is often played as a dumb character and her design lends itself to this. Without sounding too mean, the trope of a blonde hair woman, coupled with the trope of her having bucked teeth, points her personality in the obvious direction. Other than the girls design and the few hints at possible character traits, we have yet to see too much variation.

After they finish announcing their names they state that they just moved in, making them the newest members of the neighborhood. The Eds begin to introduce themselves but Edd is cut off by Marie saying they already know his nickname, Double D. This gives the sisters a creepy, stalker vibe that is absolutely well warranted.

The girls then claim to have cleaned the boys clothes after being questioned by Eddy. They then run off to the kitchen, saying that they will go ahead and make the boys some food. Double D, being the logical one in the group, decides that this is too weird and that they should leave immediately. Eddy protests, thinking the promise of free food is too enticing. The boys begin to explore the home they are in, with Eddy saying their outside surroundings look like a postcard he sent his brother once. This is the first, but not the last, mention of Eddy's brother. He becomes more relevant and more of a character in later episodes – so I'll save writing about him at length for a different time.

Their surroundings seem normal enough. It is worth noting that there is quite a few boating items inside the home. Ed puts on a deep sea divers helmet, there is a sail boat on top of the TV, etc. Eddy then notices that there are drawings of the boys with their matching Kanker counterpart; Lee and Eddy, Edd and Marie, Ed and May. They are concern about the photos but are called away as Marie brings them powdered milk. The boys chug the drink as Marie puts a movie on. The boys sink into the couch and begin watching and taking advantage of being tended to.

The girls are still in the kitchen making lunch and start arguing over who gets to make what. Lee breaks up the argument, once again showing that she has some kind of authority over the others. They get to cooking and eventually produce grotesque looking sandwiches. Some kind of green burgers with ketchup on them. They bring the food out and announce dinner is ready. The boys chow down as the girls sigh affectionately towards them. They eventually sneak away upstairs to get dressed into fancier outfits. They return and and try to entice the boys into complimenting them. The Ed boys are obviously indifferent or otherwise being gross while they are eating. The Kankers get upset before stepping in front of the TV. Eddy orders them to move it and the sisters start to become entitled, saying they are underappreciated and demand that the boys need to do more around here.

The boys are fearful enough to start cleaning up a few things before the Kankers order more demanding dishes be done. The girls are now on the couch, relaxing while they clean up. Ed comes in from the outside and begins tracking mud into the living room. The girls, and Double D, yell at Ed who accidently steps into the bucket that Edd was using to clean up. He slides from the living room into the kitchen, where Eddy hands him laundry to hang outside, and back out into the living room. He trips over Double D and Lee begins to scold him. She makes the claim that “all you sailors are all alike”.

Not to break away from the review too much, but this episode does beg for a theory of mine to be spoken into existence. Consider the following to be true: The Kanker sisters are different ages; with the Lee being the oldest and May being the youngest. Their age difference could be as little as nearly two years, 20 months to be exact. The girls are all half-siblings as well, meaning they share a mother but different fathers – as was blatantly displayed to us by the robes having different names on them. This, combined with the boating imagery and Lee's comment leads me to this conclusion: All of the girls had a father who was a sailor. It is entirely possible that their mother simply had a thing for sailors, or that Peach Creek resides near a coast where sailing would be optimal. It is my current theory that their mother kept falling in love with a sailor, who would then leave their mother and them – either to continue sailing parts of the world or because they are deadbeats. Because Lee would have witnessed this happen three times, I believe we can pinpoint their fathers' abandonment with how they treat the Eds. They are infatuated with them, with knowing relatively little about their personalities. They are distrusting of the boys and feel like they are lazy when it comes to housework. We see more of this later on, but they are also extremely aggressive with how they romantically approach the boys and how they attempt to keep them. I believe Lee is either taking her mother's bad relationship advice or could possibly be doing the opposite. Since all the men in her life ending up leaving, it isn't a stretch to assume she thinks aggression and holding a man against his will is the only way to keep him in your life. But that's just my current theory and I haven't been able to, yet at least, find anything concrete online.

Back at the trailer park, Eddy finally stands up the Kankers as they are yelling at Ed. The girls quickly retreat and start to cry. They take off into their bedroom and the boys come to check up on them. They are yelled at by Lee to leave and never come back. The boys gladly take the invitation. As they are on their way out, the girls appear once more – this time wearing their default clothes with their hair curled and some sort green face cream on. They tell the boys that they can't leave without meeting their “junior” version of themselves. Each one presents a homemade doll of a corresponding Ed. The boys scream once more and then run for the hills. The girls threatened them for a few moments before showing that they have become even more infatuated with the boys. They giggle and the credits roll.

So let's start the episode score breakdown.

Visual – As far as visuals go, really the only things worth mentioning are the Kankers design and the design of their home. As I stated earlier, the show does a good job of depicting the sisters as individual characters. Lee being the tallest shows a commanding nature. Marie having blue hair and chewing gum shows she could be a rebel. May's blonde hair and buck teeth show she may be simple minded. So as far as that goes, the show succeeds and gets full marks. The trailer park is distinctive enough from the cal-de-sac that we can instantly identify it. We see the clear differences and are able to quickly recognize the Kankers' blue mobile home. This episode does a well enough job to show that the trailer park is probably somewhere we wouldn't want to live, but that may just be because the Kankers themselves are there. Overall, I feel the visuals maintain their rating of:

8/10

P. Great

Comedy – This episode continues the trend of slap stick comedy, but this time mix in some of the stereotypical “Boys vs Girls” comedy that the era was known for. Most of the jokes consists of the Eds tripping or smashing into things. The other half of jokes are the Kankers harassing and scaring the boys. It may be because I've grown as a person, but this episode didn't hold a lot of laughs for me. I can't recall any particular jokes that made me laugh out loud. With that, I believe the rating for the comedy is:

4/10

Unoffensive

The comedy isn't for me, but that doesn't mean it's not for everyone. I'm sure someone can find some laughs here.

Story - The plot of the episode is... okay. It's easy to follow and does a good job of introducing one of the main antagonists of the series. However, I don't generally enjoy this episode. The boys are kidnapped by the Kankers and somewhat forced into a relationship. It's honestly pretty forgettable. It's certainly not one of my favorite episodes and it's one that I don't mind skipping. As far as plot goes, I'd rate it:

3/10

Bad

The story isn't awful but I also would never choose to revisit it.

The Scam 

1/10. 

Dupid. 

There is no scam. My Ed Boys need a scam to be My Ed Boys.

Overall, for the episode “Nagged to Ed” I'd give it a rating of:

4/10

Unoffensive

This episode did drop in story element qualities and comedy from the last episode. This truly just serves as an introduction to the Kankers, which is fine, but I feel like it could've benefited from a little more polish. Perhaps different circumstances or different jokes would've put it a bit higher up on the list. That being said – I wouldn't be too surprised if someone did happen to really enjoy this episode. It may just not be for me.

Are you one of those people? Did you enjoy the second episode more than I did? I would love to hear your thoughts in my comment section below. I appreciate you reading my ramblings and, as I always say, Good Night and Joy Be With You All.