Clarence : Too Gross for Comfort
A
Where cooties reign as the most grotesque thing of all
It is not very often that the audience is introduced to new female characters in Clarence. But everytime the show does the episodes usually in my opinion, are some of best of the series. Stories like "Pretty Great Day with a Girl" and "Slumber Party" are great as they showcase the boys interactions with the opposite gender. The girls in Clarence can be just as fun as the boys and are as gross as this episodes points out. It would of have been so easy to make them paper thin but this show as really fleshed out some nice stories and characters with the girls. "Too gross for Comfort continues this in the most disgusting way possible.
The neighborhood boys like to hang out in the man cave treehouse in their freetime. It comes complete with illegal lobster racing! When Clarence invites Chelsea to join the fun, the boys sees this conduct breach of the unspoken rule: No Girls Allowed. However, Chelsea proves that she handle anything that the boys can dish out much to Sumos dismay. By the end everyone realizes the most digusting thing of all is the inevitable incoming of puberty.
This episode once again displays the great humor that Clarence engulfs. Jeffs compulsiveness and paranoia for germs works so well in this story as Jeffs perspective of what is gross greatly contrasts to all the other childerns. Who did not think his story was hilarious. Clarence trying to mediate peace but also trying to join in the crudeness is also great fun. Everytime he tries to invoke nausea it just fails miserably because of his good natureness . He tends to forget how gross he naturally is, in the end he happily lies in a dirty pool of lobsters. I would like to see more girls featured in Clarence. I believe it is great to preach that childhood mischiefness can belong to both sexes, just watch out for raging hormones.
Cool Things Noticed:
1. "Sumo you tell one! Your whole life is gross!"
2. "I'm not sure where to start. How about at the start"
3. Last Clarence quote. I am sorry he just had a lot of good ones. "I will live in your garage!" No joke I say the same thing when my friends bring up marriage.
4. That part where Clarence puts his hand on Jeff and he subtly takes it off or when Clarence blows on his whistle. It is the minor details that really make me laugh the most at this show.
Clarence is a show that seems to delight in upending gender norms. I'm glad to see Chelsea join Amy and Kimby as female side characters with great focus episodes. Now if we could get one about that duck girl in Clarence's class, my life would be complete.
ReplyDeleteMy story of grotesque childhood mutilation is actually one of my first memories. When I was 3, I tripped while climbing the stairs to a slide on the playground. These were real metal stairs made searing hot by the noon day sun, so it was enough to split my head wide open. I recall seeing myself in the mirror and it looked like I'd been hit with a machete. One of my friends also got his finger cut nearly clean in two while ice skating, and like Chelsea I also took a tumble off a trampoline. I landed on the concrete driveway, but I walked away from it with only some decent sized scrapes.
Sumo's really come into his own as a character. "Dream Boat" is the episode that really sold me on him, but even before then he's exhibited a lot more depth than just a screeching, off-the-walls best friend. You could pick up enough subtle cues from him in this episode that the twist comes as a natural progression instead of just jokey swerve.
Miscellaneous observations:
* I caught a rerun of this episode and I think they removed the part where Chelsea shows that her two front teeth are missing.
* Chelsea gained a lot of points with me by correctly recognizing a Star Wars Original Trilogy reference. Especially since I encountered a 20-something guy who'd never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark while Halloween shopping.
* The animation in Clarence's second story was nuts. Love those little moments where this show decides to go surreal.
This episode was hilarious! I really love it when Clarence adds girls into the episode because it makes the episode even funnier! I couldn't help but to notice Sumo was staring at Chelsea and smiling multiple times through out the entire episode 😂 I hope they include more episodes with the opposite gender.
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