Follow TV Tropes

Following

Fridge / Ed, Edd n Eddy

Go To

Fridge subpages are Spoilers Off subpages, as per policy. You Have Been Warned.


Fridge Brilliance

  • In the episode "A Twist of Ed," Ed and Edd use reverse psychology to get the Kankers to leave them alone. It works, until Eddy's nervousness causes them to catch on to the Eds' tricks. A whole season later, in "A Fistful of Ed," Eddy finally did what he failed to do back then: fight back at the Kankers and get them to leave the Eds alone.
    • Also, after "Fistful," the Kankers use new non-forceful ways to impress the Eds.
    • Which implies that their reverse psychology plan and Eddy's standing up to them still worked, just to a lesser degree than what the Eds were hoping for. Also the Eds showed the Kankers what they are capable of if pushed too far.
  • When the Eds first meet the Kankers, they give them their dad's robes. Each robe has a different name on it. Why? Well, when you consider that, and the fact that they all look very different, and the fact that they're trailer trash... each one has a different father! They're half siblings!
    • Crosses over with Fridge Horror a bit, but that same encounter with the Kankers shows the girls initially doting on the Eds, being exploited, expressing irritation at being exploited, kicking the Eds out, and then demanding support raising their "children"note . When the Eds run away in terror, the Kankers remark that they run away "just like real men". It says a lot about their upbringing and and that their fathers ran off at some point.
  • Just a theory, but it would appear that Ed (yes, "dumb Ed") is actually a LOT smarter than he lets on. Think about it, he shows some of the signs; he often shows that he's capable of doing intelligent tasks such as winning a spelling bee, and he could be just acting dumb, just like how some intelligent kids act. Another sign of his possible intelligence is his hygiene and messy antics, which is often a sign of the eccentric genius, as they tend to prioritize other tasks besides time-consuming cleaning. And to further hammer in the nail, in "Hand Me Down Ed", the boomerang transforms kids possibly into their own subconscious images. In Ed's case? An educated kid that's working on a thesis paper, and is capable of spouting out a wide vocabulary, which impresses even Edd. It also helps that in the episode "Mission Ed-Possible,'' it is revealed that despite Ed's horrendous report card, he earned an A in History.
    • He also does a surprisingly good job of mimicking Eddy when they play truth or dare.
  • It seems a little odd that Ed is able to give such a detailed synopsis of "Robot Rebel Ranch" when the Eds (himself included) haven't seen the movie. Then again, he probably learned it all just from watching a trailer or reading a magazine article, since cheesy B Movies actually do have a tendency to reveal way too much about the plot in any kind of promotional material. Fans of RedLetterMedia, for example, can make a game of how many times the crew on Best of the Worst has learned nearly everything that happens in a film simply by reading the back of the movie's box.
    • Another possibility is that it's an adaptation of one of his comics. The title and plot sound exactly like something from Ed's collection.
  • Somewhere in the middle of the movie, Ed compares himself to Eddy's brother and claims the two to be "so alike," to which Eddy replies, "Yeah, right." At first, it seemed like Eddy was saying Ed just simply wasn't cool enough to be compared to his brother. But then we learn what his brother was really like, meaning Eddy was actually COMPLIMENTING Ed. Well, okay, this one's more like Fridge Heartwarming, but still.
  • The series was originally planned to end with the revelation (at the end of Season 4) that the entire show was the reminiscences of three old men. There was an early series of Season 1 promos presented in a "remember that time when" format—just as if an old man were recalling all the events.
  • Danny Antonucci's middle name is Edward. He named the main characters after himself.
  • The title lists the characters' names in order from tallest character to shortest character.
  • In "High-Heeled Ed", the boys try thinking about what girls (and Jimmy) would like, in order to scam them. Eddy comes up with, "Chicks dig pants!", to which Edd pokes fun at. However, by the end of the episode, what do the girls (and Jimmy) come to find awesome? Ed's golden pants!
  • While it may be common sense, the Kankers are a lot less stalkerish in the episodes that take place at Peach Creek Jr. High (other than "Out with the Old, in with the Ed"), because there are a lot more authority figures around than in the Cul-de-Sac/Trailer Park.
  • What allows Rolf to see the cupids in the Valentine's Day episode? Lemons.
    • Added to randomly formed Crack Pairings, intricated coincidences for shipping material and we have more material to defend the hypothesis that episode is a Take That! at Shipping.
  • It was unintentional for sure, but if we treat "Ed" as an acronym, it could be expanded as Extreme Doormat.
    • Not to mention that there are variants.
  • The reason why Ed won the Slovak Jawbreaker in Ed or Tails despite losing his eggs at the starting line? Because he was the only one who didn't try to cheat.
    • To be even clearer and more brilliant, the goal of the race was to "get to the end of the track." It didn't necessarily say how, just that you had to. While Edd and Eddy were stupid enough to actually race, Ed just hopped over to the end, which was right next to the starting point. It makes you wonder what would happen if someone tried this in real life...
    • To go on even further, Rolf said that the "one objective [was] to balance these eggs within the ladle of valor!" It never said how long you had to balance them for (i.e. balancing them to the end of the track). Since Ed did balance them (for a few seconds before the race), there was nothing keeping him (or Edd and Eddy, for that matter) from instantly claiming the jawbreaker.
    • Plus, Rolf did say that the race is a "contest of shrewdness."
  • The episode "Don't Rain On My Ed" is also an acronym standing for DROME - a suffix that means run or running; those guys were running to get the jawbreakers.
  • "Once Upon an Ed" features Ed's unusual account where the Kankers have been mutated into giants due to eating radioactive mashed potatoes. Among their newfound abilities, Marie Kanker has chickens in her armpits that shoot beams that transform whatever they hit into toiletries (which are frightening to Ed). On one hand, it seems like a random and disgusting power that fits with Ed's overactive imagination and the Kankers' poor hygiene. But considering Ed loves chickens, it also demonstrates just how monstrous the Kankers are from his perspective, as they weaponize and corrupt something he loves.
  • In The Movie there's a particular The Wizard of Oz reference that compared Ed to the Scarecrow (looking for a brain), Edd to the Cowardly Lion (looking for courage), and Eddy to the Tin Man (looking for a heart). It seems like a one shot gag at first, but our trio ends up finding exactly what their WoO counterparts were looking for later at the climax. Check it: when he sees Eddy being beaten mercilessly, Double-D is the one brave enough to call Eddy's Brother out on it, and his courage is what first captures the neighborhood kid's sympathy. Then Ed, of all people, uses his brain to figure out how to use momentum to end up stopping the Big Bad for good. And most importantly, Eddy ends up having an emotional breakdown in front of everyone, and his heart is what finally makes the neighborhood kids fully accept the Eds as friends. If even one of them hadn't played their part, the Eds would have never earned their happy ending.
  • In the entire series, there are twelve human characters who appear and have a face in the show (Ed, Edd, Eddy, Rolf, Kevin, Nazz, Johnny, Sarah, Jimmy, and the three Kanker Sisters). In the movie, we are introduced to Eddy's brother. He's the thirteenth character.
    • The amount of human characters being twelve can also be attributed to 12 being the ages of the titular trio.
  • Early on in the series, there's this exchange between Eddy and Edd.
    Double D: Should we be worried about Johnny's predicament?
    Eddy: Nah. A little childhood trauma builds character.
  • Ed's eating habits may be a result of being born with pica, a mental condition that causes the victim to eat normally inedible objects. This would also explain his behavior, as children with pica tend to get lead poisoning from all the crap they eat or chew on, which leads to a slew of mental problems, including varying levels of mental retardation, childish behavior, and a monstrous temper under the right provocation.
  • In one episode, Edd states he hates mowing. It sounds like a throwaway line until you realize that for a Neat Freak like Edd, it is a very messy and filthy chore. It'd also be very physically demanding since his family still uses a push mower.
  • An article mentions that Ed's dad has tried to teach him to be a car mechanic. In "Ed, Ed and Away", Eddy implies that his father is a used car salesman. This could explain a number of things: Eddy likely inherited his "talent" for con artistry from his father (used car salesmen are typically depicted as silver-tongued con artists in media), and Ed's dad likely works at said dealership, which could explain how Ed and Eddy met each other.
  • In "Keeping up with the Eds," Eddy gets Ed to mow the lawn by commenting that Edd's push mower looks like "the thermo-destructo Wibble-whacker from Space Leech IV." Given Ed's love for low-budget movies, the Wibble-Whacker may have actually been a push mower.
  • The Eds are often treated like The Dividual and punished equally, even when only one or two are to blame for an error. According to Antonucci, the Eds are Author Avatars of different aspects of his personality. The Eds represent one single person and thus are treated as such.
    • It should be noted that Ed and Double D usually go along with Eddy's plans (at least somewhat) willingly despite knowing full well the potential consequences, so they aren't 100% innocent.
  • It makes sense why Rolf, normally among the toughest and calmest characters on the show, is usually the first to start panicking and shouting stuff like, "It wants Rolf!" and "The beast circles with hunger! We must appease it with a sacrifice!" whenever there appears to be a supernatural threat—he's from the Old Country; he genuinely believes monsters are real. The other characters don't think of stuff like ghosts, werewolves, and vampires as much more than set pieces for cheesy movies; Rolf probably spent his childhood having nightmares about such things, because he had no one to tell him they aren't real. This adds another dimension to the episode "Rambling Ed" in particular, which starts off with the Eds faking a séance, only for Sarah to ruin the show. Later in the episode, Jonny has evidently forgiven them enough to agree to take Ed's place so he wouldn't have to do Ed's chores, whereas Rolf was quick to mention the scam upon encountering them again. From Jonny's perspective, he merely saw a poorly-executed show, and so was willing to accept a refund as his only compensation. Rolf, on the other hand, was possibly forced to relive painful childhood memories, all because the Eds wanted to spend his money on candy, and so it makes sense he'd still be a little upset about it.
    • No only that, but in "Cry Ed", Rolf was the first one to support Ed's story that a "giant Swedish meatball" attacked Eddy, because he claims to have seen the entity stalking Wilfred. That little incident probably encouraged Rolf to believe that all folktale of monsters are true!
  • The Ho Yay page for Ed, Edd n Eddy is uncomfortably big for a show about children who are, at most, 12 years old (only the Kankers and Eddy's brother are implied to be any older). But it's justified, seeing as how kids are more innocent than grown ups, and tend not to know better when it comes to orientation or the way they interact with others.
  • There were plenty of complaints about Edd's transition into a slight bit of an Insufferable Genius in the newer seasons. This makes a bit of sense when you think about it though, since the older seasons take place during the summer break with only shenanigans to occupy him and his friends. Now that they're in school in the new seasons, he's both in his prime and the perfect place to express those smarts of his.
    • Another reason for Edd's later Insufferable Genius characterization is that his parents were around the house slightly more and were more approving of his more relaxed, childlike personality, but as seasons progressed, not only did his parents get a lot stricter, but they were at home less and less, and so Edd is simply acting the way he does not just because he wants to be more like his parents to fill the void they left, but also because he wanted his parents to accept him more in hopes that they'll spend more time with him.
  • Note also that Edd's more self righteous know-it-all personality also coincides with Eddy's nastier more unscrupulous one that seldom listened to him. Much like Eddy doubled down on his abrasiveness as the show went on, Edd doubled down on his defensive streak and yelling back his points at Eddy. This comes to a head in The Movie where their Flanderization starts to undo after they finally vent it all out at each other.
  • During "A Fistful of Ed" when Double D has the kids cornered after his accidental rampage, Double D tries to get Sarah of all people in the crowd to believe that he's harmless. This could be an excuse to have Ed appear and show his mistrust of Double D, but there can be some brilliance in that he's trying to get to Sarah as she's usually one of the first kids to see right through the Eds shenanigans and the one to debunk them, most of the time. Maybe Double D knows this and thought that she could vouch for his harmlessness.
    • Also, it's been established that Sarah has a Precocious Crush on Double D. He probably figured that she'd be the best bet in trying to get someone to listen to him because of that.
  • During "3 Squares and an Ed", Eddy and Double-D attempt to sneak Ed out of his room, only to discover that Ed's parents have removed the stairs. Ed's room is in the basement, which is underground. His parents have literally grounded him.
  • Ed has a reason to dislike soap beyond him being a fan of filth: given that many suspect he has Pica and eats anything he can get his hands on. It is thus likely he has in the past eaten soap, which tastes disgusting. Ed likely thus associates soap with foul taste.
  • Many fans tend to complain about some traits that Sarah and Jimmy have that are considered annoying. The thing is, Sarah and Jimmy are the youngest kids in the neighborhood, and younger children usually have traits that older people consider grating (crying, tattling, being mischievous, being manipulative towards older children and adults, meddling, etc). So the duo coming off as annoying to the fans due to them having those traits make sense, given their ages. It also makes sense that Sarah gets away with her bratty behavior, due to a few choice parents allowing younger children to get away with things (whether they are aware of their personalities or not).
    • This can also be why Kevin, who possesses many of these same qualities but in a darker way, gets considerably less flack, as older people will not find any fault in themselves should they do any of these things (meddling in their kids' plans, being manipulative towards children, threatening children if they don't do what they want, etc), and since Kevin is one of the older kids of the cul-de-sac, his negative qualities are mostly talked about when it comes to specific episodes and not his overall personality.
  • Even though all three of the Eds are Heterosexual Life-Partners and True Companions, many times it's shown and implied that Ed and Double D are closer to each other than either of them is with Eddy. Neither of them has a brother (while Eddy does have one, he's a bastard), so that alone make them more so gravitate towards another. Plus several episodes show how protective they are of one another: "Key to My Ed", when all three of them are trying to evade the Kankers, while Eddy squeezes underneath the fence, Ed lifts up the fence for Edd (who thanks him as he runs underneath), "To Sir, With Ed" has the two of them hanging out at Edd's house without Eddy and Ed at one point clings to his leg (to his chagrin), "Don't Rain on my Ed" when Eddy sacrifices Double D to a chicken stampede to get the jawbreakers, Ed later meets up with him with the latter safely tucked into his jacket and which prompts him to thank Ed for being a true friend (and call Eddy out for the opposite) and "Brother, Can You Spare an Ed?" where Edd saves Ed from one of Sarah's beatings. Other minor examples inure "Fa La La La Ed" when after Edd is exposed for helping with Eddy's scam and breaks down in humiliation, Ed consoles him and tells him "It's okay; Santa forgives" and in "O Ed Eleven", when giving a monetary bribe to the Kankers to let them escape, he only has enough to let himself and Ed escape (even as he bemoans over not having enough, Ed then tells him that he did the right thing) and in "Momma's Little Ed" after Double D is duped into doing fake chores and leaves in disgust due to not trusting either his parents or his friends, Ed actually cries over this and urges Eddy to bring him to his home in the meantime.
  • Why are Sarah and Jimmy better scammers than Eddy? This is because the duo's scams focus more on customer satisfaction, rather than swindling the kids out of their money. Eddy's scams are less successful than the duo's because he allows his greed to get the better of him, and his scams usually come off as fraudulent. In a few episodes, such as the infamous "Your Ed Here", Eddy's scams are successful due to them looking just as interesting as Sarah and Jimmy's while focusing on customer satisfaction.
    • The above also gets an additional layer when you also consider that scams for Eddy can also be considered something he does for his own ego as well. It's been noted several times that he could have easily succeeded if he knew when to cut his losses, or focused less on trying to swindle people. So why does he do it anyways? Because his scams are also as much motivated by a subconscious desire on his part to get one over the people who torment him every day, proving to them just how stupid they are in order to satiate his fragile ego. It also makes sense then that he'd also have so much difficulty maintaining any sort of care or concern for their safety when things go wrong, or deny any responsibility: In his mind, why would he want to do so, when they've done nothing good for him? To him, there's no point in trying to be genuine and do a profitable enterprise for people who hate him, when he can just weasel his way into getting respect and fleece the masses in the process. Paradoxically, this also more or less ensured he would never succeed in the long term, since this mindset would only make him even more despised.
  • Why does Eddy hate Jimmy and constantly pick on him? It’s because Jimmy reminds Eddy of how the latter used to be like with his brother. To Eddy, Jimmy is a constant reminder of why Eddy has low self-esteem in the first place. In Eddy’s point of view, Jimmy comes off as weak, wimpy, a sissy, a crybaby, and a doormat. In the movie, Eddy is shown to possess these qualities himself when he is shown getting beaten by his brother.
    • This is a contributing factor as to why Eddy took Jimmy under his wing in "Ed in a Halfshell." He also had no problem with Jimmy surpassing him in scamming and being a Manipulative Bastard. Even after getting beaten to a pulp by Sarah, all Eddy can do is gush about how proud he is of Jimmy.
    • This also helps explain why Jimmy later became an arguably worse person than Eddy: He went through a very similar realization, except Eddy had good-natured friends to keep him somewhat grounded, while Jimmy only had someone who believes they have every right to just take whatever they want.
  • It may seem uncharacteristically naïve of Double D to believe that the Ed's sticky notes in "Momma's Little Ed" were genuinely from his parents. However, it could be seen as a reflection of how strong that his commitment towards obeying his parents orders is; his obedience is so great that he barely even gives a second thought about how plausible that it could have been that his parents wrote them.
  • The plan to destroy Ed's violin in "Pain in the Ed" seems like one big Gambit Roulette, relying first on several physical Batman Gambits with Rolf and Johnny both going in a certain direction, and then a Rube Goldberg Machine to finish it off. Why? Since Edd constructed it with the end goal of sparing the violin, any miscalculation will instantly result in nothing happening to the violin. Note that he doesn't give Wilfred the magnet until after the bowling ball is launched, presumably as the last line of defense.
  • In "Too Smart for his Own Ed," each participant in the spelling bee is given a word that relates to them somehow. Edd gets the word "cerebral" because he's smart. Plank gets the word "deciduous," as in deciduous tree. Rolf gets the word "colonial" because he's from The Old Country. Ed gets the word "ectoplasm" because he loves monster movies. The only exception is "gravy," which doesn't relate much to Edd, but there was no way Ed was going to get it wrong.
  • It might seem unbelievable that Ed would get an A at history, but keep in mind, Ed has a very vast knowledge on horror movies and comics. History is basically the story of humanity, so Ed is able to memorize historical facts because he is able to memories stories. It might also help that history does contain a lot of dark events that resemble horror stories.
  • Maybe the reason why Rolf refers to himself at the third person is because this is tradition in his country.
  • In All Eds are Off, of all the kids, Eddy has the easiest time keeping his quirk in check during the bet, only nearly slipping up two times and quickly catching himself before he does. He only ends up losing because he thought he had already won. It'd be easy to say it's because of Rule of Drama, but given what we know of Eddy from the movie, that he deliberately copied his brother's mannerism because he thought it would make the other kids respect him, it actually makes perfect sense that Eddy has the easiest time shaking off his quirk, since it's already just an act and likely isn't how he normally is when not around the kids. Also, Eddy isn't as emotionally attached to his quirk like the rest. Ed loves gravy, Edd likes fancy words and feels pride in his intelligence, Rolf loves meat, Kevin hates the Eds deeply and Johnny loves Plank as his best friend. While shouting is a defining trait for Eddy, it doesn't give him much pleasure, if at all.
  • In "Flea-Bitten Ed" Ed got purple blotches due to his rabbit allergy. I used to think it was added to instigate worry to the audience, but here's the thing: Ed has yellowish skin and purple freckles, so him getting purple blotches shouldn't be that surprising.
  • "Ed, Edd 'n Eddy's Boo Haw Haw" ends with the kids beating up Eddy and Double D for Ed's violent antics. However, they never bother to target Ed himself. They probably didn't want to risk it considering he just spent the night attacking them! As for why they blamed Eddy and Edd, they likely assumed it was a similar case to "The Day The Ed Stood Still", where Ed went on a rampage thanks to Edd and Eddy indulging his monster fantacies; the kids assumed that Ed had been encouraged by his friends who apparently didn't learn their lesson last time.
  • In "X Marks the Ed" it might seem that Ed wanting his head shrunken just like Eddy's might've been out of pure stupidity, but keep in mind, Ed is a huge horror fan and even tried to start a curse in one episode. Maybe the reason he wanted a small head is because he wanted to experience some Body Horror.
  • In "Button Yer Ed" Rolf stated he can understand Eddy's ringing of the bell like a language, but actually he didn't, at least not when it came to most guesses. It might seem like Rolf has no clue about communication with bell ringing, but here's the thing: Rolf comes from a different country. Maybe he did learn a bell ringing language there. The Eds never heard of a bell ringing language before, so Eddy couldn't have known about it. What happened is that Eddy rung the bell without following the rules of said language and the result was that he communicated random things in a language he didn't know.
  • When the new school year begins, the Eds are split up for homeroom, with Double D stating that this can be corrected with slips signed by their parents. In all probability, the Eds' respective parents (Ed's and Double D's in particular, as Eddy is likely known as a troublemaker among the adults) specifically requested that the Eds be put into separate homerooms from each other in attempt to get the three away from each other.
  • The way the Eds run are reflections of their personalities. Eddy runs with arms out like he’s trying to grab something, showing his aggressive and greedy nature. Double D has his arms up near his chest, a more defensive position showing his timid nature. Ed runs with his entire upper body at a slant, showing his simplistic nature as he can’t see where he’s going. This also means that he’s looking up at the sky, appropriate for someone who always has his head in the clouds.
  • It's apparent that Eddy's parents don't give him an allowance, which is why he resorts to scams just to get so much as a quarter in his pockets. Just another example of his family's treatment shaping him into who he is today.
    • And why don't Ed and Edd get allowances? Well, we've seen in "Brother, Can You Spare an Ed?" that Sarah gets paid while Ed doesn't, presumably because she's Mom and Dad's favorite. As for Double D, perhaps his parents are so strict that they want to see him work for his money (which he actually does, to be fair). That, and it's not like they're ever home to give him money anyway.
    • In Ed's case, considering how dumb he is, it is very likely that his parents don't trust him with money for this reason. It could be this and Parental Favoritism at the same time though.
  • Sarah's constant vendetta against Eddy even when he does nothing to provoke her does make sense when you realize that one of Eddy's past scams damaged her best friend Jimmy's teeth and caused him to need dental treatment. Sarah is essentially just doing Pay Evil unto Evil on Eddy as retribution for what he did to Jimmy.
  • In "Ed...Pass It On", Eddy laments that the kids used to respect him because he was with his brother (though as Double D notes, that's less respect and more fear of his brother). It can be implied there that the other kids hate Eddy especially because they saw him as their bully's understudy who leeched off of his power over them, with Eddy's bragging doing little to debunk such. It adds extra weight to The Reveal in the The Movie, where they discover that being related to Eddy's brother is anything but a benefit.
  • The reason the kids are okay with beating up the Edds, but are horrified when Eddy's brother starts beating him up? The former do it when they're wronged, while the latter did it just because he could. The kids are fine with getting payback, but they draw the line at outright sadism, especially such a blatant show of it.
  • Eddy and Kevin's Jerk with a Heart of Jerk moments such as "Your Ed Here" and "Jingle Jingle Jangle" take on a new perspective knowing they were seemingly the favourite punching bags of Eddy's Brother, who's defining characteristic is being Faux Affably Evil. He acts agreeable and nice at first only to pull the rug under his victims afterwards. In Big Picture Show he torments Eddy increasingly while constantly dangling the agreement that he might help him if he puts up with it. In "Ed...Pass It On", Eddy and Kevin's immediate reaction to seemingly being confronted by him is to grovel and bargain with him. This only plays into the idea that they are turning into their tormentor. They are relishing a taste of his own power.

Fridge Horror

  • In Season 3's "Momma's Little Ed", one of Eddy and Ed mock notes requested Edd to put lint in his belly button. That seemed like a simple gross assignment at first, one fitting for their minds. But in Season 5's "I am a Curious Ed", Eddy reveals he believes babies come from belly button lint. So what was he trying to do to Edd?
    • Considering the fact that "I Am Curious Ed" aired two seasons after "Momma's Little Ed", it was probably just a coincidence. Still, makes ya think, doesn't it?
  • In "Little Ed Blue", Ed cows Sarah into fearful submission with nothing more than a yell. The fact that she backs away without even trying to fight gives a more in-depth explanation for why she (and likely their parents, or at least their mother) bullies him so severely beyond petty sadism and/or a Hair-Trigger Temper: it's to break him utterly, to prevent him from ever figuring out that he doesn't have to let them push him around and could force them to stop if he chose to. Sarah is afraid of her brother, so she makes him miserable to crush his spirit. In addition, head injuries can lead to brain damage. This could also explain why Sarah focuses on going for the face whenever she hits Ed: to keep him dumb and gullible, as well as submissive. In short, everything Sarah does to Ed is geared toward making sure he never develops the backbone he needs to put her in her place.
  • As funny as the visual of Ed's parents taking the stairs away while he is grounded is in "Three Squares and an Ed," it also brings some not-so-funny implications. At one point in the episode, Eddy and Double D manage to sneak Ed outside, only for Ed to freak out and immediately retreat back to his room through the window, revealing that it was open the whole time. This, along with the apparent message Ed's parents are sending by taking the stairs away, shows just how broken Ed has been by his own family. "That's disturbing" indeed.
  • In the episode where Eddy lies about his brother visiting the cul-de-sac, most of the kids comment on how cool Eddy's brother is, except Rolf, who cowers in fear. This is because Rolf, the oldest of the cul-de-sac kids, is old enough to remember what Eddy's brother is really like.
    • And what exactly did he do to "the Son of a Shepherd's" chickens?
      • And could it possibly be connected to Eddy's hatred of birds?
    • Kevin becomes extremely nervous when Eddy claims that his brother is coming, and at one point asks "Are the rumors about your brother true?" It's probably best that we don't know what these rumors are, especially if they're enough to make Kevin freak out.
    • Also near the end, when his brother apparently shows up (really Sarah and Jimmy in disguise), Eddy cowers in fear and looks like he's about to wet himself. Gee, I wonder why?
  • Once it's shown how Eddy's brother really treated him, Eddy's comments about his bro being "a wiz" at things like bricklaying and setting up booby traps become quite unsettling.
  • Eddy's brother lives and works at a carnival, where there is no shortage of anonymous children. How many children were abused by him??
    • He also may have worked at a gag factory and comic book store, all places that mainly kids would go to.
  • The fact that every character (except for Kevin and Nazz) seems to have problems at home and/or poor parental guidance.
    • Ed, in particular, has it hard. His nightmare in "Rock-a-Bye Ed" shows what he normally has to deal with at home, and it's not a pretty picture. Any time Ed tries to stand up to Sarah (in this case, stopping her from breaking his paddleball), she immediately goes to their mom and puts on an innocent act, and despite Ed's pleas to be believed, his mom takes Sarah's side; something that's strongly hinted to happen regularly. Once you get past the mom having Jonny's face, Ed's dream shows that he is terrified of his own mother, along with having a Bratty Half-Pint for a sister and a dad who's completely apathetic at best. The fact that Ed is a Gentle Giant only makes it even sadder.
    • Double doesn't seem to have it much better. His parents communicate with him via sticky notes, and those essentially just tell him what tasks he has to do each day (to the point that an entire room can be covered in them). These chores can be anything from mowing the lawn to repairing the curtains, and according to Double D, he spends an average of two hours a day doing them. Aside from the notes, his parents seem to have no other form of contact with him and the closest thing to affection is a little heart drawing on his mom's notes. He is not even allowed in their room, with several sticky notes on the door telling him not to enter. This seems to imply that Double D is seen as little more than a source of free labor for his parents with a little emotional manipulation added in.
  • Food for thought: We know Ed is obsessed with chickens as seen many times, even having a "Chicks Galore" magazine in "Little Ed Blue", as well as captive avian creatures under his bed (the seagulls in "Ready, Set, Ed"), and last but not least, a pile of headless "roasted poultry" hidden in his chair. If you put the things together, we remember the pattern of a Serial Killer / Stalker with a Crush who fantasizes over weird fetishes (the magazine), kidnaps victims and locks them in his room (seagulls) and keeps their corpses hidden at his place, or basement (the roasted chickens).
  • The other kids' treatment of the Eds has a darker light from "See No Ed". It is implied they have been slowly and gradually embittered by the Eds' harassment for years. Kevin is bordering on losing his sanity from paranoia of the Eds' scams, while Jimmy remorsefully admits he constantly wishes they'd go away just out of desperation that they leave him alone. By the time of The Movie, this scarring has gone on to the point the kids are obsessively hell bent on brutalising the Eds. Imagine this feuding going on into their teens or even adulthood. Given how much He Who Fights Monsters had already set into Kevin especially, one has to wonder how long it would be before he or another became intent on murdering the Eds if they hadn't cleaned up their act.
  • In The Movie, we've seen that Eddy's selfish personality is all due to years of mistreatment by his brother, and that his scams were attempts to gain friendship and recognition. Not tragic enough? Imagine if they never found out the truth. What would happen to Eddy if his life of failure, neglect and disappointment just kept going...?
  • Does Eddy's Brother have a Freudian Excuse for his behaviour?
  • When Eddy's Brother hears his younger sibling at the door, the first thing he asks is "Mom and Dad know you're here?" and "Anyone know you're here?" Why did he ask if anyone knew that Eddy was in the park? Perhaps he wanted to make sure that the coast was clear so that he could seize the opportunity to give his little brother a merciless beating in private.
  • In "O-Ed Eleven", Eddy's reactions to Ed messing with his brother's stuff is most likely fear of what would happen if his brother found out — especially noticeable in his expression when the trophy falls off the shelf.
  • Given that Adults Are Useless in this show, is Eddy's Brother's behavior really unique in The Movie, or is it just an example to the adults cast's true colors in this series?
  • All of Eddy's boasts about how awesome his big brother was becomes Harsher in Hindsight when you realize he's been lying the whole time.
    • Going to him for help truly was Eddy's last resort since he already knew it wouldn't work. Essentially, Eddy was deliberately scamming himself into believing there was hope, or deep down truly believing his brother might help.
  • All these times Eddy has been in the receiving end of violence and humiliation from Lee Kanker, Kevin, and Sarah... how would he know that whenever this happens it brings back "wonderful memories" of his Brother?
    • In a specific instance, there's Jib's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Eddy in "Who Let the Ed In?". As Jib is flinging Eddy around, Eddy begins to shout "Uncle!" to try and get him to stop. Come the movie, and we learn that thanks to his brother, Eddy is all-too-familiar with that particular "game."
    • On the same note, Lee constantly mentions her mother especially when it involves men. Being the implied oldest of the three she's probably seen things, disturbing things involving her mother and men and it shows.
  • The movie heavily implies that Plank has been alive and sentient this whole time. In "Little Ed Blue", Ed tried to snap Plank in half in a fit of rage before Jonny stopped him. This means that Ed, knowingly or not, nearly killed a sentient being.
    • Similarly, Eddy accidentally decapitating Plank's parents while showing them around the Cul-De-Sac. Were they sentient too? Did Eddy really accidentally kill Plank's parents? Is that why Plank seems to be particularly vindictive against the Eds?
  • If instead you go with the theory that Plank is not alive, that means everything "Plank" says and does are really coming from Jonny. While Jonny is usually blissful and upbeat, Plank tends to be crafty, suspicious, and downright nasty to other people. That means Jonny is using Plank to channel his negative emotions and may be how he really feels about everything and everyone deep down. Considering that he's the one at the bottom of the social pecking order when the Ed's aren't around, Plank might be a coping mechanism he developed due to bullying and loneliness.
  • The possible reasons for all three Eds' Flanderizations:
    • Considering how often his sister beats him up, Ed's decreased intelligence over the course of the series can be seen as him suffering from severe head trauma because of said beatings. Who's to say his mother isn't physically abusive as well?
    • Double D becomes more and more of a Drama Queen and a Neat Freak in the later seasons as opposed to his more relaxed Season 1 personality; is he growing increasingly stressed out by his parents never being around and becomes more uptight so they'll finally respect him? There's a reason why he goes from causing trouble with the other two Eds to spazzing out at the smallest sign of Eddy's wrongdoing, and eventually decides to leave him in the movie when his pranks go too far.
    • We already know that Eddy has a huge Freudian Excuse, but consider how laid-back, generous (at least to his friends) and jovial he was when the series started out, and how he almost immediately becomes a greedy, temperamental jerkass in the middle of the second season. Remember when Eddy revealed that he thought acting like his brother would make people like him? That's what he sets out to do in the second season after his numerous failures in the first season; notice how he becomes louder after the first season and less prone to being deadpan. All the failures he's experienced by that point prompted him to put on his Jerkass Façade, which gets worse and worse as time goes on and directly ties into his Determinator aspect.
  • The series ends with Jonny becoming the new punching bag of the Cul-de-Sac. He could end up going down a very dark path.
  • Even discounting the kids' cruel treatment of the Eds, if episodes like "If It Smells Like an Ed" and "Cleanliness is Next to Edness" are to be believed, Peach Creek is essentially a G-rated version of the Grand Theft Auto universe: full of idiots, jerks, bullies, morons, cruel kids and useless and apathetic adults. What are the Eds' lives going to be like when there are actual stakes? How much damage could a pedophile do to young kids with how stupid and apathetic the adults are? Would Peach Creek survive events like COVID-19?

Top