Airdate: November 9, 2008
Written by: Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick, Aaron Augenblick, Chris Burns, M. Wartella
Revisions by: John Lee
After another capture of Jacknife, Jailbot accidentally brings a young cancer patient to Superjail with him- one that the Warden instantly orders to be killed, as she's reminding him of his mid-life crisis and approaching birthday.
While the inmates and Alice start taking a liking to the little girl, the Warden's rage-fueled "Inner Child" has other plans to make sure he'll get all the attention. Unbeknownst to everyone, the child's time is gradually ticking away.
"Mr. Grumpy-Pants" contains examples of:
- All There in the Script: The horribly burnt inmate's name was given as "Ash" in the script, although his name was never actually spoken within the episode. His name manages to make it out of the script by season 2.
- Blood from the Mouth: One of the signs of the little girl's impending death, which the inmates and Alice remain oblivious to.
- Body Horror: The Warden goes through this twice, first from birthing the "Inner Child" and then from said entity climbing back into him from wherever it was birthed, causing his body to twist and contort grotesquely- up until he vomits the Inner Child back up.
- Comically Missing the Point: Darkly so, in this case. The inmates assume that the little girl's name really IS "Cancer" (which they pronounce "San-ser") and that the date stamped on her bracelet is her birthday. And Alice simply believes that Cancer coughing blood is equivalent to her getting a period, while one slow inmate believes it's cherry juice.
- Continuity Nod: Cancer's memorial picture has her wearing the outfit she wore in "Bunny Love", with the exception of her headband being replaced with the butterfly hairclip.
- Downer Ending: Cancer ultimately passes away of her disease, although being crushed by the huge pile of gift boxes probably hastened her demise.
- Foregone Conclusion: The fate of this little girl.
- Fountain of Youth: Jared buys the "Ancient Chinese Mystery Butter" for the Warden, but it gets put on his cake and winds up eaten by Alice and the inmates, who get temporarily de-aged to being excessively violent toddlers.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Jailbot carries Cancer past a Superjail version of Mt. Rushmore, with his, Alice, Jared, and the Warden's faces carved into it.
- If you look closely in Ash's cell, you can see the burnt-up body of an unfortunate cellmate.
- The two gay inmates are briefly depicted at Cancer's party in the first establishing shot, both wearing party hats and conversing with another inmate.
- Incurable Cough of Death: The sign of Cancer's organ failure, which the inmates and Alice all remain oblivious to.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Subverted in this episode, especially with the de-aged inmates. note
- Mister Seahorse: The Warden literally just gives birth to the Inner Child, complete with an umbilical cord, leaving him weakened and in a pool of blood.
- Organ Autonomy: Cancer's organs are depicted screaming and terrified as the cancer cells (depicted in turn as purple parasites, similar to the Warden's free radicals) attack and kill them.
- Stock Footage: The inmates who appear in the background during the first part of Ash's birthday song include the same three models duplicated multiple times.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Inner Child's final fate remains unknown. He's last seen attempting to stab Cancer with a bunch of forks, only to hit an unlucky de-aged inmate instead (who causes the gift boxes to tumble over).
