Recap / Sanders Sides S 2 E 3 Dealing With A Break Up

Logan has just stormed out of Patton's room. Patton at first intends to keep on looking at the memories of the past stored in his room, but Thomas quickly says that that's only distracting him of what he doesn't want to think about. Roman then heightens up and tells Roman that he should jump into action and call his ex-boyfriend. When he answers the call, Virgil yells to hang up, and then they get on a rant about what to do next. In the end Thomas smashes his phone on the ground when his ex calls again, and then he goes mad about himself for not being able of moving on for so long, and he finally starts confronting his memories about his lost relationship and the memories of them together, both the good memories and the bad memories.

Release date: October 25, 2017

WARNING: Untagged spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.

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Tropes

• Break the Cutie: Patton continues on his sad and dramatic development, which is finally established in this piece of dialogue with Thomas:
  Thomas: You know, you don't have to do that, Patton.
  Patton: [smiling] What?
  Thomas: Hiding what you're feeling with jokes. It's okay if you're sad sometimes.
  Patton: I'm never sad! I'm your happy-papi Patton! Just a fun-loving father figure figment!
  Thomas: Falsehood.
  [Patton and the other Sides look at Thomas in shock, recognizing Logan's catchword]
  Patton: [trying to smile again] You've said it yourself, I'm at the core of a lot of your happy feelings!
  Thomas: You are at the core of a lot of my feelings, happy or otherwise.
  [Patton finally gives up, drops his fake smile and starts showing his true face of sadness]
• Callback: In order to recover from his panic attack, Virgil repeats the same 4-7-8-second breathing pattern he did to help Thomas get out of his room in Accepting Anxiety Part 2.
• Canon Discontinuity: When Virgil rises up returning from Patton's room, he feels dizzy and lightheaded and remarks he never rose up like that, asking the others how they could do it every episode. This contradicts what we could see in I'm in a Disney Show, where he did rise up and felt nothing at all.
• Costume Evolution: Patton completes his costume evolution, phasing his classic gray cardigan and replacing it for a cat hoodie that Logan gives him as a present.
• Cuteness Overload: When Roman conjures some cute little puppies, all the rest of the Sides get too overwhelmed by the cuteness and break out of character.
  Patton: [squealing] Puppies!
  Thomas: [furiously] What!?
  Patton: [more squealing] You can conjure puppies!?
  Roman: [with more puppies in his arms] Sssh, don't tell anyone.
  Patton: [squealing louder] Aaaaaaaaawww!
  Logan: Well this is too precious to process...
  Virgil: I can't... literally think about anything cynical or bitter to remark...
• Five Stages of Grief: Along the two parts of the episode, Thomas and all of the Sides show, in one point or another, the five stages of grief:
  • Denial: Patton denies he's sad and tries to hide it with all the resources his room provides.
  • Anger: Briefly shown in part one when Patton yells at Logan to stop, and more clearly when Logan gets offended and storms out of Patton's room.
  • Bargaining: Roman shows several examples in part one, bringing up many crazy ideas about how it is still possible to bring Thomas' boyfriend back.
  • Fear: Virgil has a panic attack and drags Thomas to another panic attack.^note Some interpretations of the five stages of grief include fear instead of depression.
  • Depression: Heavily shown by Thomas throughout both parts of the episode, with him even mourning and loudly crying in some moments.
  • Acceptance: It comes when Thomas and the Sides decide they're ready to get out of Patton's room.
• Happy Place: Patton's room is this, and everyone entering it experiments "a jolt of happiness".
• Lost Love Montage: Played at the end, where Thomas literally wanders down Memory Lane and sees some of the good and not so good moments he lived with his now ex-boyfriend.
• Previously on…: Roman starts the episode with a Flashback of the most important moments of the previous episode.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Patton's reaction (complete with dissonant expression) when Thomas phones his ex-boyfriend and then hangs up.
• Sad Clown: Patton, along the episode, tries to mask his sad feelings with constant jokes, until Thomas tells him he doesn't have to do that and it's okay to be sad sometimes.
• Take That!: Thomas and Roman both have some passing critiques of Guys and Dolls, in spite of Thomas's nostalgia.
• Wham Episode: It is established that Patton encompasses also Thomas' sad feelings.