The Other Cousin
| "The Other Cousin" |
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"The Other Cousin" is the fifth episode of the Drawn Together series.
Storyline
Template:Spoiler Clara's mentally retarded cousin Bleh arrives, much to the consternation of the houseguests and Clara's annoyance. She always wears a football helmet, drools, can't look anyone in the eye, and speaks almost exclusively in blurbs derived from critical reviews of the film I Am Sam. The houseguests' attitudes change quickly, though; as Captain Hero and Spanky sit in the hot tub preparing to throw eggs at Bleh, she takes off her helmet to reveal long, cascading locks of red hair, and then takes off her clothes to reveal a perfectly sculpted body and enormous breasts. After Bleh and Clara leave, Spanky and Captain Hero enter into a bet over whether the latter can de-virginize Bleh. Hero scoffs that the challenge is too easy, but the next night on their date, he realizes he has developed real feelings for her. He decides to forget the bet and respect her chastity, but when Bleh sneaks into his room that night, he figures that since Bleh is initiating it, he wouldn't be taking advantage, so he sleeps with her. The next morning, Clara discovers what happened, and becomes infuriated. Captain Hero tells her that he actually loves Bleh, but just as Clara's anger dissipates, Spanky ruins everything by showing up to congratulate Hero on winning the bet. Clara forbids Captain Hero to see Bleh anymore, but Hero decides his feelings are too strong to let go, so he chases Bleh down just as she boards a bus back home and says goodbye to her. Once Bleh boards the bus, we discover that she had a bet with one of her friends in the mental institute to have sex with a television celebrity.
Meanwhile, Toot, Xandir, and Wooldoor become addicted to licking Ling-Ling when they discover that he secretes a powerful hallucinogen when disappointed. They finally abuse him to the point that Ling-Ling goes quasi-catatonic. In order to alleviate Ling-Ling's condition, Toot, Xandir, and Wooldoor invite his father to the house to cheer him up; but when the latter arrives, he expresses his disappointment about his son being in a reality TV show - and guess what happens!
Musical Number: "Girly Girly", sung by an unseen chorus as a theme to Captain Hero and Bleh's courtship. The song is a parody of "There She Goes" by The La's, with a possible nod also to the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun". Also, Captain Hero sings a version of "Wind Beneath My Wings" to Bleh on their date.
Trivia
- All of Bleh's I Am Sam quotes are real, taken from actual reviews of the movie by the critics and publications mentioned. Interestingly, she always uses the word "raves" when quoting the critic, even though some of the reviews she quotes are extremely negative (like the one from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone).
- This is the first episode where Ling-Ling utters more than two words of English, quoting his father saying, "No Ticky/No Washy", "ticky" being Engrish for "ticket".
- One of Wooldoor's relatives is named Promqueen Dumpsterbaby, a reference to Melissa Drexler, who gave birth during her prom and threw the baby away in the trash, and Amy Grossberg, who gave birth at a Comfort Inn and then threw the baby away in a dumpster.
- Bleh slowly undresses and takes the top off her bikini to the melody of The Cars' "Moving In Stereo". This is a parody of Phoebe Cates's famous pool scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
- In one scene, as Captain Hero and Bleh eat a funnel cake together, Hero ends up accidentally eating Bleh's drool. This is a parody of the spaghetti-eating scene from Disney's Lady and the Tramp.
- The scene where Toot, Xandir, and Wooldoor get high from Ling-Ling's hallucinogenic sweat by passing him around in a circle parodies pot smoking scenes from numerous TV shows and movies, including numerous episodes of That 70's Show where the gang gets high in the Foremans' basement.
- In the scene where Ling-Ling's hallucinogenic sweat wears off, Homer Simpson can be seen passed out in the background, scratching himself.
- In the DVD release, there is an extended version of the episode that fills in a few plot holes:
- Clara shoots Hero with a poison dart, promising that she'll give him the antidote when he brings Bleh home safely; however, in the aired version, the plot thread is left dangling with no explanation. In the DVD version, she gives him the antidote.
- In the episode aired on TV, two Wooldoors suddenly appear to lick Ling Ling's father. In the extended version, there is a scene moments before where we see Wooldoor split himself in two to give himself a hug.
- We see that the people on the bus are actually retarded versions of the cast (with the exception of Ling-Ling, who is not represented), with Bleh being the retarded Clara. The aired version replaced the retarded versions of the cast with generic retarded people, but a brief shot of the retarded Toot was accidentally left in, causing a bizarre discrepancy where it appears Toot is going shopping with Bleh during the closing montage.
- In the episode aired on TV, when Bleh enters Captain Hero's bedroom with the lights off, she is obviously giving him fellatio. The DVD version includes subtitles with the words, "slurp, slurp, drool, drool". This is a reference to a Joe Millionaire episode where Sarah Kozer, the runner-up on the show, takes Evan Marriott behind the bushes ands performs oral sex on him.
- Ling-Ling says his prayers to L. Ron Hubbard had come true. This implies Ling-Ling is a Scientologist.
- Ling-Ling's proclamation of being able to reach "Level Shma" upon defeating the disguised "monster" is a likely reference to the Shema Yisrael, a highly important prayer in Judaism.
- Clara says that she once had the chance to kill Foxxy, but she didn't. There is then a brief Family Guy-style segue into a scene of Foxxy dangling from a precipice over a river of lava while Clara demands, "Give me the ring!" This is, of course, a reference to the conclusion of Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King.
- While having his hallucinations in the room, Wooldoor sees a baby crawl across the ceiling and turn his head 180 degrees. This is a parody of a heroin withdrawal scene in the film Trainspotting. In this episode, the baby on the ceiling is Bamm-Bamm Rubble from The Flintstones.
- In the scene right before Wooldoor becomes the Professor, both Xandir and Toot have very visible penile erections while licking Ling-Ling. Most likely it's just a visual gag, but it could be taken to mean that Toot is supposed to be a hermaphrodite.
- Captain Hero's date with Bleh ends with them flying back to the house. This is a reference to the first Superman movie, where Superman takes Lois flying with him.
- The title is a reference to the film The Other Sister, in which a mentally retarded young woman tries to integrate into society after spending years in the institute where her family placed her due to their inability to cope with a handicapped child. In the film, the main character eventually marries a mentally retarded college student.
- This episode is a parody of an episode of The Facts of Life called "Cousin Geri" where Blair was ashamed of her handicapped cousin. The name Bleh is a reference to Geri's speech impediment, which made her pronunciation of Blair sound like Bleh.
- Bleh has six toes on her right foot. It's not certain whether this is a mistake or whether it's a visual joke on the part of the animators (the character may have been made polydactyl on purpose in order to further emphasize her abnormality). Through the entire episode, she is also animated with her middle finger extended as if she were accidentally flipping everyone off, but this joke is more clearly intentional.
- In the scene where Captain Hero and Bleh run to enter the Monster Rollercoaster, we can see a signpost reading "You must be this special to enter". The image on the sign is that of Chris Burke, an actor with Down Syndrome who gained fame playing Charles "Corky" Thatcher in the TV series Life Goes On.