Does anyone remember Ed, Edd n Eddy, Cartoon Network's longest-running and most successful program? Out of all of the cartoon shows, this is one of my favourites and even to this day I still enjoy it, with good nostalgic memories and so forth. Its funny and creative with a trio of boys living in a countryside cul-de-sac doing various schemes to the local kids of the neighborhood to make money for jawbreakers and all sharing the same name.
But like most good, funny shows, this show can have some foul ups and dethroning moments. While Sorry Wrong Ed, Your Ed Here, and Smile for the Ed are now considered to be the worst of the series and get more hate which I agree that they're bad, my most hated and all time least-favorite episode of the show is this one. What can make those guys regret anything they have ever done? Well they did, in a terrible episode that is worthy of TV Tropes’ So Bad It’sHorrible page, because everyone on this site loves to hate on stuff. Hide your children and friends right now, because we are about to enter…
“The Ed, Edd, and Eddy Zone”
(Also known as If It Smells Like an Ed)
I hated it with a burning passion and heck I even snapped while watching or even thinking about it! Why is that? Here's the main reason.
It’s Friendship Day in the town of Peach Creek and all the kids of the cul-de-sac were loved (mostly when Nazz and Kevin arrives) and built a giant, red papermache heart. Together they happily sing "Friends Are There to Help You" along with the singing birds flying around them, as well as the blooming flowers and woodland animals wondering around. Then when Ed, Edd, and Eddy comes by (with Edd admiring the celebration), the neighborhood kids became all upset and very unhappy about it and for some unexplained reasons, all the birds, animals, and everything nice and cute were all gone and left. After Eddy gives Jimmy a wedgie which causes everyone (except Sarah) to laugh at him and made Jimmy break into tears, Sarah threatens Ed to tell his mother, which causes Ed to panic and frighteningly walks away dragging his friends (very harsh and misleading to blame the wedgy on Ed Sarah!).
After driving the Eds away, Sarah and the others notices that her paintbrush is missing and harshly blames Ed "for stealing it" and grabs and drags Ed. Then Jonny 2X4 see's that Plank's mouth has been erased and breaks down into tears. Nazz see's a rag with Plank's wiped mouth on it in Edd's pocket and she and the other kids confront and blames Edd "for" wiping off Plank's mouth. As Edd unsuccessfully tries to defend himself, proving his innocence, the other kids shockingly discover a hockey stick puncturing the model heart and Kevin notices that Eddy's name is written on it. Despite Edd trying to defend his friends and himself and claiming that they would never do such foul stuff like this, nobody cares, agrees, and stood up to the Eds as Sarah and Nazz screams at them for all of this and (despite that it was only Eddy that did it) for blaming all the crimes on Kevin (who gives them an evil smile during it) before they and the other kids angrily leaves the emotionally hurt and heartbroken Eds to wallow over their misery (I really despised that part and talk about cruel irony folks). As the Eds became left alone in the cul-de-sac, Eddy and Edd begins to suspect who framed them and made a list of suspects. Then Ed finds their only clue, a painted bootprint which they believe to be left by the culprit that did the crimes that the trio were unfairly accused for and (despite Edd's warnings, "They'll never agree to this type of verification, Eddy! Branded we are, exiled and disgraced! Forevermore!") the Eds begins to search for the culprit to clear they're names as they go around the neighborhood, matching everyone's foot with the print without success as none of them have the perfect match.
But their struggle to clear their names and proved their innocence is futile as when Kevin, Nazz, Sarah, and Jimmy walks by and see's the Eds with Jonny tied-up and coated with jujubes that they'd found before, the Eds are once again yelled and blamed "for" doing this to Jonny and for "lying." Despite Edd trying to protest their innocence, the Eds became the cul-de-sac's most wanted as Kevin and Sarah (Who are the worst of the kids in this terrible episode) became blood-boiled and furious of all this and threatens the trio to beat the crap out of them as punishment, resulting in a chase across the lane (WHAT A STUPID, DUMB IDEA KEVIN AND SARAH). But the Eds managed to hide in a bush, dodging the angry kids, and see's a trail of jujubes that leads them to an old dark shed. After being to scared to go in the shed, the Eds are forced to flee and hide in it as when the neighborhood kids were right on their tail. While hiding in the dark shed from the Kids, the Eds come across the Kanker Sisters (at first disguised as Rolf) and the Eds try to escape only to almost run smack into the Kids. With no way out, the frightened Eds must make a choice of being sexually harassed and in a miserable relationship with the Kankers or being beaten and hurt by the angry kids ("We're caught in the vortex of impending doom! Trapped like animals fresh for the slaughter" You know the Eds should've just make a quick escape plan by digging a hole or find something in the shed to build to escape instead of making a decision of facing either the two evils).
Presumably, the Eds reluctantly choose to get hurt by the kids who beat them up with their fists, mallets, sticks, and nets they brought (OUCH!) and they taped them on a fenced wall and the scene cuts to the kids throwing fruit at them while teasing and laughing at them. As everyone runs out of fruit and leaves, satisfied, the fruit-pelted and wearied out Eds see's Jimmy carrying a bag of jujubes and a painted boot in his pocket and found their real culprit: JIMMY!
He tells the Eds that he framed them, because Eddy gave Jimmy a wedgy which causes everyone to laugh and humiliate on him, thus swearing revenge on the Eds. As a result, Jimmy frames the Eds by ruining his own friendship day while everyone's oblivious, then plays tricks on them by using fake clues such as the bootprint and jujubes as well as having Rolf as the patsy to keep the Eds off his trail and preserving his innocence, baiting and trapping Jonny with an acorn as a lure to get the Eds in even more trouble, and reluctantly even gets help and alliance with the Kankers for his final revenge. Together with all of this, they succeeded, with Jimmy laughing maniacally. Then the episode ends with the Eds screaming in terror as they're section of the lane fence is ripped off and dragged away with them by the Kanker sisters to get in a romantic nightmare after Jimmy bribes them a reward for their help (via finger snap) and to add insult to injury, the Eds, after suffering the cul-de-sac's cruelty, are once again bullied and tortured (no wonder I don't ship the Eds with the Kankers for various reasons).
In scenarios similar to this episode, the wrongfully accused gets a chance to clear their names, but this does not happen at all to the Eds and the episode comes off as mean-spirited (more so than the others) as a result. If that wasn't bad enough, the story was forced, rushed, and horribly contrived and there were a lot of unexplained plot holes like:
- Even though it was only Eddy that gave him the wedgy and that everyone in the cul-de-sac, except Sarah, laughed at him, Jimmy got revenge on Ed, Edd, and Eddy and have them suffer being maimed and embarrassed in the hands of the neighborhood kids and a romantic nightmare by the Kanker sisters.
- The Eds have lived in such a tough, cruel world where everyone, even the flora and fauna of Peach Creek for unexplained reasons, hates them.
- Jimmy seems to be very well and fast on framing the Eds and got them busted and ridiculed and was unscathed, even when nobody else wonders what he was doing and where he is and there were various anomalies. He should've been caught. Heck, even the painted boot that he carries in his pocket should've stained him and was really too overly large to fit in his pocket. Everyone should've noticed about that! So why?
- The Eds have lived in such a miserable, tough, cruel world where everyone in the neighborhood (especially Kevin and Sarah), even those that I like (such as Nazz and Jonny 2x4), is manipulative, cruel, dumb, obnoxious, harsh, sadistic, and downright mean to them without any sympathy to their guilt, even when there's no proof or evidence of their guilt, when they barely see or know, and even when they have seen the proof and evidence of their innocence. Heck, even when Ed is too innocent to steal, even when Edd doesn't lie, and even when Eddy doesn't do hockey and sports. Heck even the hockey stick with his name on it, not his hand writing, and even when they never see them with and eat f***ing jujubes.
- Jonny should've told the other kids what really happened instead of blaming the Eds and bully them (he even, ironically, chased the Eds with the others while tied up and blindfolded), because first off, while being blindfolded, tied-up, and covered in jujubes, his ears are clearly exposed, meaning that he should've heard the Eds and noticed their innocence. Second, during the flashback scene where Jimmy tells the Eds why and how he framed them, Jimmy lures Jonny with an acorn, captures him through a wagon while being distracted, and then the scene cuts to Jimmy gluing jujubes to an already tied up Jonny, so its unknown how Jimmy tied Jonny up and blindfolded him without any notice of him in the first place.
- Plank is the only witness, because despite having his mouth erased by Jimmy, he still has eyes and see's thing and should've told Jonny what really happened and Jonny should've understand him, thus clearing the Eds names. But nope, he stupidly sides with everyone to turn against the Eds and make them miserable.
It would've been best if this episode gets edited, or even have an alternate ending of having the Eds getting their names cleared, not suffer the cul-de-sac's cruelty, not getting taken and smooched by the Kankers, and foil Jimmy's plan and ends with Nazz hugging the Eds while tearfully apologizing to them for blaming and turning against them and kisses Edd. That would've been a great ending! But Nope! We instead get this godforsaken episode with a shitty ending that's unfair and it’s nothing but a blatant slap in the face to people who like, love, sympathize, and fans of the Eds. I can't believe that show creator, Danny Antonucci considers this as one of his favorite episodes and I'm SHOCKED and DISAPPOINTED! I don't get why? This episode is f***ing DEAD TO ME! Its no wonder why this episode was the reason why a lot of people HATE Jimmy. And boy, for that whole reason, do I wish the episode was pulled off the air. Can somebody please bring a hungry, ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex in this lousy, frustrating episode? That will make it a lot better than it was.
If It Smells Like an Ed. Definitely 11 minutes of your repulsive lives wasted on crushing and destroying former more enjoyable characters just for the sake of being lost on me as to what the writers were thinking when they wrote it. Is there anything good on Cartoon Network? Yes. A WHOLE LOT.
