Clarence: Belson's Sleepover
Nothing is scarier than that
A
Continuing Cartoon Networks fright night, Clarence and the gang heads to Belsons house for a slumber party. Of course, nothing is simple when it comes to Belson. If one of them can survive all the pranks in the night they win his new video game system. Throw in some nice reference to some horror classics such as House on Haunted Hill and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the originals not the remakes! cannot stress that enough) and you got the making of a delightfully spirited halloween episode.
Rules are simple. Abide by Belsons every command. I said the rules were simple but not easy to complete, especially for these boys who all sort of loathe Belson with the exception of Clarence. It is a really fun episode so I will not give away too much. But I think the show is strongest when it has a abundance of characters in a certain location. For example, the dinner party episode was a great episode because each character is so memorable and work off each other so well that the plot does not become burden by all of them. This episode is no different, mischief night at Belsons takes me back to old 90's cartoons. Just boys being boys and sometimes you do need more than that. I will admit though seeing trash thrown on Belson never felt so satisfying.
Cool Things Noticed:
1. Favorite Scene of the Night: Jeff trying to bond with Belsons Mom. He seems to believe he is making progress.
2. That Charlie Brown boy lost early in the night and celebrated by eating his dinner while staring at a Lara Croft poster. I feel this would be the response from boys ranging from 8-25.
3. Belson toothpaste a boys balls?!?! This made me think he was sort of sadistic but going all leatherface at the end of the episode confirms his insanity.
Not-Charlie-Brown definitely had the right idea of how to make the most of the night. I also couldn't help but notice that Belson has a Resident Evil 4 poster on his wall (you can see it in your screencap). I believe some of my friends and I pulled that same shaving cream gag on a friend of mine as a kid. He made the poor choice of falling asleep while we were watching Terminator 2 and had to pay the price.
ReplyDeleteThis episode was a lot of fun, and seeing Jeff in a non-antagonistic role was a nice treat. I remember reading somewhere that this episode was meant to be Belson's debut, and it definitely codifies the "lonely rich kid" character they've built around him. Kind of odd to see him this blatantly antagonistic after the zoo episode though. That one gave him a lot of depth beyond his somewhat two-dimensional antagonism towards Clarence and co.