Sunday, July 30, 2017

Earthworm Jim 2.6 - Hyper Psy-Crow

Plot: We open on Jim imitating Seinfeld and just dying on stage. None of his foes could have devised a more horrible end. We transition from there to Psy-Crow being brought before Queen Slug-for-a-Butt (and Mrs. Bleveridge), and told if he doesn't bring the Queen the super-suit this time, or else.

Meanwhile, Jim is presenting a Lifetime Achievement award in heroism to the Puce Dynamo, who takes this opportunity to claim credit for inventing everything related to heroism, including costumes and sewing, while blasting the current heroes as phonies. Which sparks Jim's inner fire, as he calls for the heroes to fight evil. Then proceeds to wait in the banquet hall for evil to arrive. Which it does, in the form of Hyper Psy-Crow, as the villain drank an octuple espresso and has various speed-related powers. The other heroes are so busy arguing who gets to stop him, Psy-Crow destroys a pillar and drops the ceiling on them. Jim, Peter, and the Dynamo flee to the Home for Elderly Heroes.

Jim proposes they overload Psy-Crow with more coffee, which the Dynamo calls a terrible plan. Then he suggests the same thing. They lure Psy-Crow to a Museum of Oversized Items and enact their plan. Which succeeds in turning Psy-Crow into Hyper-Hyper Psy-Crow, a being of pure energy. Really up against the wall, Jim uses aromatherapy to become Super-Mellow Jim, but when the two collide, they destroy the universe. Whoops. Fortunately, the Great Worm Spirit has survived, first in the form of an Energizer Bunny knockoff, and then in the form of Doug TenNapel, who is Jim's creator after all. The three use their combined memories of the universe to recreate it, almost exactly as it was, and Jim and Psy-Crow are returned to their lives before the mess began.

Jim opts to tell the Dynamo to shut his trap, while Psy-Crow is less successful convincing the Queen to drop the whole thing. So he prepares to set it all in motion again, only to be stopped by Jim, who objects to using a 'here we go again' ending on his show.

Quote of the Episode: Dynamo - 'You're telling me? I invented retreating! You young punk.'

Times Peter turns into a Monster: 1 (18 overall).

Cow? Yes, at Jim's insistence on not using other shows' cliche endings.

Other: Walter, Jim's cellmate in the first Evil Jim episode, is the barista at the coffee bar, "Grounds for a Lawsuit". Too bad his job at the International House of Haggis didn't work out.

Jim didn't seem bothered by the Dynamo claiming credit for everything until he claimed he invented worms (which came after Jim explained his battle cry of "Eat dirt!"). I was sick of the old man after he claimed to invent sewing.

The only thing different in the recreated universe is that Death of a Salesman is about Urkel, and for some reason I thought Jaleel White had died recently and was leery about mentioning that reference, but apparently not. Anyway, Urkel reference, because '90s show.

Psy-Crow knows the Great Worm Spirit because he claims it saved his life in 'Nam. Seemed completely serious about it, too. The Dynamo has a letter from President Truman thanking him for offering to end World War 2, but they had a bomb they wanted to try. That's in questionable taste.

The gag about the Energizer Bunny surviving the end of the universe got a laugh out of me. Psy-Crow was blaming Jim for destroying everything, Jim insists something must have survived, the rabbit marches past. Then Jim sneers that someone probably thought that was sooooo clever, which, yeah, I thought it was. Good job, joke writers for the show!

I expected a little more of the story spent trying to stop Psy-Crow, maybe some stuff in the vein of a Road Runner/Wil E. Coyote cartoon playing off Psy-Crow's speed and short attention span (the espresso turned him into Impulse, essentially). Could have used less of the Puce Dynamo, that didn't really go anywhere. It isn't as though Jim isn't normally hot to fight evil, anyway. And as Peter pointed out he wasn't pointing out, Jim's first plan to defeat Psy-Crow was the same as the Dynamo's, so the old man was kind of pointless.

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