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Nightmare Fuel / Recess

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Hooooolligaaaansss!

For the theatrical movie released in 2001, see here.


  • T.J.'s Sanity Slippage in the episode "The Box". The entire episode in question is about Miss Finster creating a new punishment for the kids, the box, which is just a square drawn on the playground tarmac. T.J. laughs it off at first, but when he's sent to the box, it slowly begins to break him. And what does she do when she realizes that he's being tortured? Keeps him in there for two additional minutes to the ten he was supposed to be in there for. The creepy Background Music playing as he goes through his Madness Mantra doesn't help, either.
    • T.J.'s brief Heroic BSoD is similarly disturbing. He's been so broken by Miss Finster's torture that he's reduced to her babbling, helpless servant, endlessly chanting that he is a "good boy" who will do whatever she wants.
  • The Halloween episode:
    • One segment has Cornchip Girl turn into a werewolf, almost killing Mr. Kelso and trying to turn the rest of the school as well. At the end of the segment, the tainted cornchips that caused the transformation end up in the hands of the kindergarteners!
      Butch: And you thought they were cranky without naptime before!
    • All the kids' bikes becoming sentient and attacking them a la Maximum Overdrive; with the kids and the teachers seemingly escaping on a bus, only for it to have no driver.
    • The Night of the Living Finsters segment, especially the Or Was It a Dream? stinger at the end, due to how it clashes with how all the other evidence is missing. There's also how the Finster Zombies are defeated: the use of the cafeteria's Tomato Surprise, which melts their rotting flesh off. They're all seen screaming in pain as their bodies dissolve.
  • The beating Gus gets when he stands up to Gelman in "Gus's Last Stand" is so bad Gus is only shown after it's over. What are shown, however, are the utterly shocked and horrified expressions of every single kid on the playground as it happens. It's what prompts the rest of the students to back up the Gang when they try to protect Gus.
  • Slicer. Just... Slicer from the episode "Prickly is Leaving" is by far one of the most terrifying villains to appear in the series. Characters like Prickly and Finster are only villains when on the clock and actually show concern for the kids at times. However, Slicer has none of their redeeming qualities. He's a guy that wants things done his way and couldn't care less if anyone likes his methods or not. T.J. is normally not afraid of any adults, but Slicer is a rare case where T.J. is terrified of someone, even much more than he is with either Prickly or Finster. You know you're that evil when Finster of all people had to stand up for T.J. after Slicer unjustly punishes the boy for expressing everyone's feelings for Prickly.
  • Another rather dark character is Mayor Fitzhugh. Most episodes mainly portray him as an unhelpful asshole but the episode "The Biggest Trouble Ever" is where he really shows his evil side. T.J. and the gang accidentally broke the statue of Thaddeus T. Third III. Even though they genuinely felt bad for it and apologized, Fitzhugh didn't care and opted to send them to six different schools as punishment! He was more than willing to split up six friends and put them into different environments just because something that really wasn't all of their fault (the men who were putting up the statue didn't bolt it down properly). Even Prickly and Finster found this way too extreme with the former trying to defend them and the latter hoping that T.J. had a plan to get them out of it. And worst, Fitzhugh appointed himself the judge so he can ensure they receive that punishment; even threatening to have Prickly work at the local city zoo if he doesn't cease his protest against it. Thank goodness Thaddeus T. Third V came in and put Fitzhugh in his place or things would've been real bad for the gang.
  • In "The Game", everyone starts to act like zombies as they become addicted to Ajimbo until only T.J. is left and by the end, even he starts to cave until the kindergarteners break the spell over them.
  • Even though she isn't a bad person deep down, Ms. Finster has some pretty jarring Slasher Smiles and Evil Laughs.
  • Agent Stone from "The Spy Who Came In From the Playground". He's more of a dick than actually evil, since he works for the school superintendent, but what makes him this trope is that he's an adult who can almost effortlessly masquerade as a child. Despite being middle-aged, he can pass for a child due to his short height and ability to make himself sound younger, as long as he shaves daily, wears sunglasses to hide the wrinkles around his eyes, and conceals his receding hairline. While Stone only uses this to spy on potential troublemakers, there are far more sinister implications for these skills.
  • In "The Library Kid," the titular character has never been on the playground for recess, and after being exposed to it, she's immediately hooked and becomes increasingly wild and destructive. Watching a small girl repeatedly put herself into situations that could kill her, including dancing on top of the monkey bars and wildly swinging on a flagpole, is incredibly disturbing. It counts In-Universe as well, as the Recess Gang realizes that she's gone "recess crazy" and try to save her. Later, even Miss Finster is terrified and panics at the sight of the Library Kid trapped on the flagpole; Muriel starts screaming for help and rushes to call emergency services. Seeing the normally-unflappable Miss Finster look genuinely scared is enough to rattle anyone.

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