In this short, a young and insecure man named Boyd (
Eliot Glazer) uses an experimental transformation cream from Vought to seduce his next door neighbor, Cherry (
Nasim Pedrad). When Cherry starts using the cream as well to become a
Cat Girl, the two become Vought's hottest power couple. But when their fame puts a strain on their relationship, it'll take more than face cream to fix things...
This short provides examples of:
- 15 Minutes of Fame: Boyd and Cherry skyrocket in popularity in short time over social media and become the brand ambassadors for Envision, but once their relationship starts to crack, they just as quickly lose popularity. By the end of it, they are back to their old, regular selves, living boring, regular lives... except it was All Just a Dream.
- Addled Addict: Boyd and Cherry both become addicted to Envision, using it more and more to stay their ideal selves. During their fall from grace, both of them also indulge in ecstasy and cocaine, though it doesn't seem to affect them nearly as much as the Envision-cream does.
- All Just a Dream: The majority of the episode was hallucinated by Boyd after putting on too much Envision, including his entire relationship with Cherry.
- Be Yourself: The main point of the story. Darkly Played for Laughs following The Reveal that the majority of the episode was Boyd's hallucination, meaning he straight-up died because he tried to be someone he wasn't.
- The Beautiful Elite: After using the face cream and going out in public, Boyd and Cherry quickly become the internet's hottest power couple, getting rich off Vought's sponsorships and becoming internet celebrities with all that such a thing entails.
- Becoming the Mask: As they grow more popular amongst social media audiences, Boyd and Cherry use Envision more and more, maintaining their more physically attractive facades and progressively driving themselves apart.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: The general reaction from people who don't think Cherry's feline features are attractive and instead consider it gross that Boyd is dating what is, in their eyes, basically a walking, talking cat.
- Cat Girl: Cherry becomes one after putting on the face cream.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Just before it looks like Boyd and Cherry are about to reconcile, it's revealed that their entire relationship was hallucinated by Boyd shortly before his death.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Since it was All Just a Dream, Boyd ends up dying within minutes after applying the cream, rather than having a crazy romantic relationship with Cherry.
- Dying Dream: The majority of the short turns out to be a hallucination experienced by Boyd shortly before his head explodes.
- Exact Words: Boyd is asked by the scientists to picture the life he wants to have — and the short is exactly that: his Dying Dream of a perfect life, including the ups and downs of a relationship with Cherry.
- Fanservice: Boyd and Cherry are both shown in the nude after having sex, with special emphasis placed on Cherry's bare back and breasts.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The contract Boyd is given to sign is full of humorous and completely nonsensical ailments that the experimental cream might cause. And to read the majority of the internet comments, you have to go frame-by-frame.
- Give Geeks a Chance: The Dying Dream sequence concludes with Cherry giving the real, lanky, and unappealing Boyd a chance.
- Internet Jerk: Boyd is eventually harassed by commenters over his relationship with Cherry by comparing it to bestiality.
- Jerkass: Implied with Cherry's ex-boyfriend. He doesn't appear on screen, rather, he is inside a car which he abruptly stops, kicks Cherry out, yells something at her, and then hurls her purse at her.
- Karma Houdini: The two Vought scientists who basically got Boyd killed by letting him try out a dangerous product that wasn't remotely ready for human subjects get off scot-free in the end, given he signed the contract with them.
- Operation: Jealousy: Implied. After Boyd has a one-night stand with a woman he met in a club, the next thing Cherry does is publicly kiss some random guy. When Boyd finds out, he's however pissed, rather than simply jealous.
- Rags to Riches: Boyd and Cherry get rich and famous very fast due to becoming the internet's new favorite power couple.
- Riches to Rags: When both of them become more and more depraved and violent in public, Vought decides to cut their losses and ends Boyd's and Cherry's sponsorships. A mix of the aforementioned outbursts and fans slowly catching on to the more disturbing implications of their relationship also costs them their fan base.
- Sexy Cat Person: Cherry becomes one whenever she puts on the face cream, enamoring crowds when she and Boyd go out in public. Deconstructed over time, however, when Boyd eventually becomes the butt of bestiality jokes on social media, proving that in Real Life, some (or perhaps all) of the sexual appeal is lost.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Boyd signs up to test an experimental cream, hoping to make himself more attractive to his neighbor. He has a torrid romance with her as social media influencers, before it turns out that was just a hallucination while the cream disfigures his face and kills him.
- Shout-Out: Boyd's "default" design when he's a hunk is that of Johnny Bravo.
- Social Media Is Bad: The transformative face cream is an obvious allegory for selfie filters like the kind used on Instagram and Snapchat, and the story overall emphasizes how the superficiality of looking beautiful for other people kills the love and genuinity of a relationship.
- Sudden Downer Ending: The short looks like its about to end with a heartwarming reconciliation between Boyd and Cherry only for the whole thing to turn out to be Boyd's hallucination. Then his head blows up.
- Waif-Fu: Cherry kicks some serious ass, despite being maybe half of Boyd's size.
- Your Head Asplode: To rub salt in the wound that his relationship with Cherry was just a hallucination triggered by putting on too much Envision, Boyd's head explodes.
