Recap / The Fairly OddParents S4E16 "Emotion Commotion!"

Original air date: 5/18/2004 (produced in 2003)

Episode number: 48b

Timmy is on the high-diving board, afraid to dive off, when Francis scares him off. He lands in the pool and loses his trunks, rendering him naked, and all of the other kids laugh at him. Back at home, between having been scared to dive and embarrassed at being naked in public, Timmy decided that he wants his emotions gone and wishes them away.

Tomorrow at school, his lack of emotions end up making him popular when he is completely unfazed by Crocker's attempts to humiliate him in class and Francis' threats to give him wedgies and swirlies. Trixie even decides to make Timmy her new boyfriend, but when she asks him how he feels about it, he, having no emotions, doesn't care. This infuriates Trixie, who decides to start dating his friend Chester out of spite, making Chester break out in hives, since he is allergic to girls.

Timmy, upon realizing that being the coolest kid in school is meaningless with no emotions to celebrate it, asks Wanda to give him his emotions back. She tells him not to do anything dangerous or stupid while she's gone, but his lack of emotions (including fear) gets him invited to do death-defying stunts at the Dimmadome. Right after that, he is recruited by government agents to capture a diabolical villainous spy named Dr. Vulcan, who is so competent that he already figured out they contacted him and abducted Chester and Trixie, taking them to his volcanic island.

Timmy fearlessly storms Dr. Vulcan's island and prepares to make a dive into an alligator-and-piranha-infested pool that will save Chester and Trixie, but Cosmo and Wanda show up and return Timmy's emotions too soon. Despite Timmy's fear, he performs the dive anyway, saving the day but hospitalizing himself. Trixie dumps Chester for Dr. Vulcan, much to Vulcan's displeasure, since girls scare him. Timmy takes a piranha that was still biting on his ear and sends it after Cosmo as revenge for returning his emotions too soon.

This episode contains examples of:

• Absurd Phobia: Dr. Vulcan is a ruthlessly competent supervillain considered by The Men in Black to be the scariest, most diabolical spy of all time. He's also terrified of girls. When Trixie falls in love with him, the Spinning Paper covering their relationship shows Trixie kissing him with a horrified look on his face and a quote from Vulcan saying "Girls scare me!", which is the exact same thing Chester said in the previous Spinning Paper.
• An Aesop: It's best to show your emotions rather than suppress them.
• Allergic to Love: Girls' affection makes Chester actually break out in hives, which causes problems for him when Trixie forces him to date her. She doesn't seem to take note of this, or at least she doesn't care, since she's only dating him to spite Timmy.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Timmy's emotions, when wished out of him, are portrayed as Waddling Head-like creatures whose personalities match the emotions they represent. One scene has Cosmo struggling to babysit them; Anger keeps beating up Happiness, Fear keeps crawling under the bed, Envy and Jealousy are arguing over who loves Love more, and Bravery keeps climbing on the roof and jumping off.
• Broken Aesop: Wanda claims that the moral of the story is that "it's better to live with your emotions than without them". However, Timmy was actually doing very well without his emotions. People (and animals, like the sharks) were either too amazed by, or too afraid of, a Timmy who didn't show any emotions. And because he was more rational and logical, and showed no fear, he could pull off death-defying stunts, with none of the negative consequences you'd expect from such a scenario. In fact, things only started to go wrong after Cosmo gave him back his emotions, in the middle of rescuing his friends no less, something that Timmy called attention to and didn't forgive him over.
• Butt-Monkey: Chester, who gets his hives triggered by Trixie smothering him with affection to spite Timmy and is captured by Dr. Vulcan and nearly lowered into a Lava Pit.
• Censor Box: When Crocker shows the video of Timmy's naked incident in class, a black censor bar is used to block out his midsection.
• Didn't Think This Through: When Timmy dives into Dr. Vulcan's pool of gators and piranhas after having his emotions returned to him, Wanda realizes he could have just wished Chester and Trixie free. Cosmo then realizes he forgot to return Timmy's common sense. Common sense is an emotion, apparently.
  Timmy's Common Sense: Whatever you do don't jump!
• Dissimile: The government agent compares Timmy's dangerous dive on Dr. Vulcan's island to a dive at his local pool, but with jagged rocks, alligators, piranhas, a whirlpool, a tornado... and one really angry tourist.
• Dull Surprise: Timmy speaks this way when his emotions are removed.
• Dragged by the Collar: Trixie drags Chester around by the arm while she's dating him.
• Emotion Suppression: The premise of the episode. Timmy becomes sick of emotions, so wishes to not have them.
• Forceful Kiss: Trixie forcibly kisses Chester at the Dimmadome, making his hives worse.
  Chester: Aah! Your kiss! It... BURRRRNS!
• The Freelance Shame Squad: All the kids at the pool point and laugh at Timmy when he ends up naked.
• Girls Have Cooties:
  • Chester doesn't just fear girls, he's allergic to them. Not that Trixie cares, he's Timmy's friend and she wants to make him jealous.
  • Dr. Vulcan apparently never grew out of this, despite being a feared villainous spy. No word on if he gets hives though.
• Hand-or-Object Underwear: When Timmy dives in the pool, some of the kids hold up numeric cards to grade his performance. When he realizes he's lost his trunks, he uses one of the cards to cover himself.
• Hologram: Crocker uses a hologram of himself to give Timmy his first "virtual F".
• Hypocritical Humor: When Timmy sits next to Trixie on the bus, she tells him she's ignoring him. She expects him to respond.
  Trixie: I'm ignoring you. [Beat] I said I'm ignoring you. [beat] STOP IGNORING ME IGNORING YOU!
• I Have Your Wife: In the middle of Timmy's briefing with the government agent, he reveals that the evil Dr. Vulcan has already noticed their briefing, captured his friend (and the girl who was dating him for revenge) in a net, and taken them to his Volcano Lair as hostage bait for Timmy. He's just that efficient.
• Idiot Houdini: Subverted with Cosmo. Timmy allows Cosmo to be mauled by a piranha as payback for not waiting to return his emotions and forgetting to return his common sense in the process, which left him hospitalized.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The episode can't decide if the villain's name is "Dr. Vulcan" or "Dr. Vulkan".
• Just Eat Gilligan: Conversed; Timmy, lacking his emotions at the time, states that the reason why they didn't have the characters build a boat in Gilligan's Island is because if they did, it would end the series.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • As only Timmy's lack emotions not only make both Mr. Crocker and Francis' attempts to make him feel bad at school fail, it also freaks them out so much they end up hurting themselves, which very much deserved on Francis' part since was the responsible for Timmy's humiliation at the pool the day before.
  • Considering Cosmo was responsible for Timmy being hospitalized at the end of episode, as the former didn't wait until the latter was finished with his spy mission to return his emotions and forgot to return his common sense, which made Timmy actually do a jump into a pool with piranhas and alligators, Timmy allowing Cosmo to mauled by piranhas that was on his ear, and ignoring his cries for help is very much deserved.
• A Match Made in Stockholm: Trixie decides to date the evil supervillain Dr. Vulcan after he abducted her and almost dunked her in a Lava Pit. Much like with Chester, it's completely one-sided.
• The Men in Black: Men in black recruit Timmy to catch a dangerous villainous spy due to his lack of fear.
• Naked People Are Funny: Timmy embarrass himself being seen without his swimsuit in front of everyone.
  Cosmo: (naked) What's wrong with being naked in public?
• Not So Above It All: Wanda joins Cosmo in laughing at the fact that Timmy was naked in public after he wishes his emotions away. It's not like they're going to make him angry, he has no emotions anymore.
• Offended by an Enemy's Indifference: Crocker, Francis, Veronica, and Trixie don't take Timmy's lack of response to their insults and threats very well.
• Operation: Jealousy: Trixie dates Chester hoping to make Timmy jealous because he won't reciprocate her feelings (due to having no emotions). Chester doesn't get a say in this.
• Piranha Problem: Dr. Vulcan has a pool full of vicious piranhas. When Timmy is in the hospital at the end of the episode, he sends one that had attached itself to his ear after Cosmo to get back at him for returning his emotions before he finished his spy mission.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Timmy having no emotions makes him popular, but having no emotions also means he can't enjoy his newfound popularity (or Trixie wanting to date him).
• Running Gag: Chester and Trixie being referred to as Timmy's "friend and the girl who's dating him for revenge".
  • "Are you nuts? That [X] will kill me/us! Good luck, though!"
• Shout-Out: Timmy references Gilligan's Island at one point, mentioning how if they got off the island, they would have to end the show.
• Slippery Swimsuit: Timmy loses his swim trunks after diving in the pool, much to his humiliation.
• Spies In a Van: The government agents drive up to Timmy in a van labeled "PLAIN WHITE VAN".
• Spinning Paper: Happens twice in a row at the end. The first one reports on Timmy saving Chester and Trixie, with a quote from Chester saying "Girls scare me!" The second one reports on Trixie dumping Chester to date Dr. Vulcan, with Vulcan giving the exact same quote.
• Stating the Simple Solution: After Timmy dives into the lagoon to save Trixie and Chester, Wanda notes to Cosmo Timmy could've wished the two were free. Cosmo then notes that was because he forgot to return Timmy's common sense.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: As stated in the newspapers, when Trixie made both Chester and Dr. Vulcan her boyfriend, they say girls scare them.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: Happens when Cosmo returns Timmy's emotions right in the middle of his daring rescue.
  Timmy: I'm scared to dive, I feel guilty that I got my friend and the girl who's dating him for revenge in trouble, and I'm super mad at somebody for not waiting to give me back my emotions!
  Cosmo: Yay, it worked! I'm so emotional!
• Threatening Shark: Dr. Vulcan keeps sharks near his island to attack intruders. However, when they go after Timmy, they are freaked out by his complete lack of fear and flee.
• Tranquil Fury: At the end of the episode, while Timmy is still recovering in bed after being mauled by piranhas on his spy mission, he acts calm and says he’s not still mad at Cosmo for his returning his emotions during the mission, he allows Cosmo to be mauled by one of the piranhas that was on his ear and doesn’t do a thing to help him.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Timmy's lack of emotions actually makes Trixie want to make him her new boyfriend, but because he has no emotions, he doesn't care.
• Volcano Lair: Dr. Vulcan's Supervillain Lair is on a volcanic island. The volcano even has an evil face on it.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: At school during Mr. Crocker and Francis’ attempts to humiliate and scare Timmy, the latter remains unaffected due to not having emotions, which scares Francis and Crocker so much they hurt themselves instead.