Line #43 Recap/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandyS1E1


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f75b547b_269b_41d3_8c04_bff07162f59b.jpeg]]
2	'''"Meet The Reaper"'''
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4	'''Original Air Date''': June 9th, 2000
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6	On the tenth birthday of his hamster, Mr. Snuggles, Billy and his best friend Mandy are visited by the GrimReaper, who's come to take Mr. Snuggles to the afterlife. Mandy challenges the Reaper to a game in exchange for the hamster's life. Being the sporting type, the Reaper raises the stakes by promising to be their best friend forever if he loses.
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8	This pilot was the final production to bear Creator/HannaBarbera's name. A year after its release (and following the death of Bill Hanna), the studio would officially become Cartoon Network Studios.
9
10	!!"Meet The Reaper" contains examples of...
11	* BlackComedy: The episode wastes no time establishing just what kind of show this is going to be.
12	** First, there's Mandy using a SolarPoweredMagnifyingGlass to melt one of Billy's plastic soldiers.
13	--->'''Billy''': Awww, [[IHaveAFamily he had a wife and two kids]].\
14	''[produces a set of plastic wife and kids]''\
15	'''Mandy''': He's better off now.\
16	''[Mandy continues to melt the soldier until he's nothing but a smoldering wad of black mush]''
17	** Later, when Grim appears as a swirling vortex of evil, Mandy's first instinct is to stick her finger into it and ''taste it.''
18	* BodyHorror: When Billy and Mandy first arrive in Limbo, they don't appear in one piece, rather their skeletons land first, then their organs, then their skin and hair.
19	* BrownNote: Mr. Snuggles goes rabid and starts biting people when someone says "kiss kiss" to him.
20	* CasualDangerDialogue: Just before Grim enters the scene, he appears as a glowing vortex in Billy's room, which the two of them seem more puzzled by than frightened.
21	-->'''Billy''': What's ''that''?\
22	''[Mandy approaches the beam of light, takes a dollop of it on her finger and tastes it like it's ice cream]''\
23	'''Mandy''': It seems to be a swirling vortex of pure evil coming out of your floor.\
24	''[takes another taste of it]''
25	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Billy, though still the dumber of the two, is slightly more coherent and soft-spoken than the loud, energetic doofus he would later become. Similarly, Mandy is a somewhat friendlier DeadpanSnarker, if not just a normal kid with a dark sense of humor, than a downright abusive EnfantTerrible (tellingly, the episode ends on her ''smiling'', something which later causes the universe to implode). This being his first time meeting the two, Grim is less the beleaguered wreck he would later be and is more AffablyEvil.
26	* ChekhovsSkill: Mr. Snuggles' "kiss kiss" trick. Billy shows it to Mandy at the start of the episode, with her commenting how it is more of a bite than a kiss. Later, when Grim is about to win the game of limbo, Mandy announces "kiss kiss" and triggers Mr. Snuggles into attacking Grim and causing him to lose.
27	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Billy spends most of the episode mistaking Grim for Santa Claus and failing to pick up that he isn't.
28	* DidntThinkThisThrough: When making the bet with Billy and Mandy, Grim says that if they won, he would be their best friend forever. He didn't think they would actually win.
29	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Mandy literally has a tea party with Grim before they make the bet.
30	* DontFearTheReaper: Subverted. Grim ''wants'' Billy and Mandy to be afraid, but Billy is too stupid to know who he is and Mandy is too smart to fear him. Grim also says he’s just doing his job coming for the hamster, but he’s shown to savor the terror that it has at the sight of him.
31	* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference:
32	** Though not a huge difference, Billy and Mandy lack the disproportionately-sized heads they'd later be drawn with (Billy's head is more circular than its more famous egg shape) while Grim is drawn with slightly more realistic anatomy.
33	** The crew had also clearly not yet shaken the influence of their previous show, ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' (up to and including the involvement of its creator, Creator/DavidFeiss, who drew some of the layouts), as evidenced by Mr. Snuggle's appearance when he goes rabid.
34	** Mandy wears socks, and her skin was much more tan than in the series. According to Maxwell Atoms, this was due to the official Hanna-Barbera color palette only having two tones of Caucasian, neither of which were pale enough for her.
35	* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
36	** The episode opens with a scene of Billy playing excitedly with toy soldiers in his front yard until Mandy shows up and intrudes by using a SolarPoweredMagnifyingGlass to melt one of them. Billy is momentarily sad, but shrugs it off because he's happy to see Mandy. Right away, this tells us everything we need to know about both characters and their relationship to one another.
37	** Grim spends most of the episode being a sinister force of evil, but devolves into a whining ninny as soon as he loses, becoming the HarmlessVillain he truly is.
38	* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The episode starts off innocently enough with Billy playing with his little green men. Then comes Mandy melting one of them to the ground.
39	* FailedAttemptAtScaring: Even when Grim tries spooking Billy and Mandy, the former is too dumb and the later too cynical to act accordingly.
40	--> '''Grim:''' Look, aren't you two scared? Boo blah! ''[{{Beat}}]'' Oh come on. I'm a walking skeleton! Isn't that scary?!
41	* ForegoneConclusion: If you've seen any episode of the series, you know that Grim is going to lose.
42	* {{Irony}}: Despite being the first to notice that he's probably going to die of old age soon, Mandy is the one to challenge Grim for Mr. Snuggles' life.
43	* LivingMacGuffin: Mr. Snuggles. His remaining alive is what makes him a {{MacGuffin}} in the first place, yet he's only ever seen again once in the series proper.
44	* LoveHurts: Mr. Snuggles' "kiss kiss," as Mandy points out, is less a kiss and more like a vicious bite.
45	* MovingTheGoalposts: Grim sets the limbo bar impossibly low, mere inches from the ground in an effort to beat Billy and Mandy. Unfortunately, he didn't count on Mandy siccing Mr. Snuggles on him so he'd trip over the bar.
46	* {{Pilot}}: Created as part of Creator/CartoonNetwork's "Big Pick" shorts.
47	* PurgatoryAndLimbo: Where Billy, Mandy and Grim's game takes place, as the game they play is The Limbo.
48	* PsychoticSmirk: Mandy gives one to the audience at the end after Grim says he loathes her. [[note]]It’s a very common misconception that Grim said ''love'' instead.[[/note]]
49	* ShoutOut:
50	** The plot is loosely inspired by ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'', notably the concept of challenging Death to a game in exchange for a soul.
51	** Among Billy's toys is a Sock Monkey.
52	* SoreLoser: As soon as Grim loses, he goes from being calm and sinister to a whining ManChild.
53	* TemptingFate: Grim promises to be Billy and Mandy's best friend forever if he loses the game. Of course, he didn't bet on actually losing.
54	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Neither Billy nor Mandy are particularly scared, let alone put off, by the fact that the ''Grim Reaper'', a sentient skeleton, is in Billy's room. Grim even {{lampshade\|Hanging}}s this.
55	-->'''Grim:''' Look, aren't you two scared? Uh, BOO! BLAH! ''[{{Beat}} as Billy and Mandy don't even so much as blink]'' ...Oh, come on! I’m a walking skeleton! Isn't that scary?
56	* VillainousBreakdown: Grim doesn't take losing well.
57	-->'''Mandy:''' You lose.\
58	'''Grim:''' But... but... this isn't fair!\
59	'''Mandy:''' A deal is a deal. We keep Mr. Snuggles.\
60	'''Billy:''' ''[grins happily]'' Yeah! And now you're our best friend ''FOREVER!''\
61	'''Grim:''' ''[starts trembling]'' [[LittleNo No]]... [[ThisCannotBe this is impossible!]] I am the Grim Reaper! MASTER OF THE FORCES OF LIFE AND DEATH!\
62	'''Mandy:''' Not anymore.
63	----
64	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020c2ea_edeb_4926_a6da_1315dfc6e78e.jpeg]]
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66	'''"Skeletons In The Water Closet"'''
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68	'''Original Air Date''': August 24th, 2001
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70	Billy's mother is in a panic when she sees Grim in her son's room, but a series of {{contrived coincidence}}s makes it look like she's just insane.
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72	!!"Skeletons In The Water Closet" contains examples of...
73	* TheBadGuyWins: Grim hasn't fully lost his previous, evil nature yet (since it's only been a few days at best since he was forced to become Billy and Mandy's best friend), and thus he gives an EvilLaugh as he waves goodbye to Gladys, savoring her terror at the idea the Grim Reaper is going to kill her son sooner or later.
74	* CassandraTruth: We, the audience, know that Grim is real and that Billy's Mom isn't crazy, but because Billy's Dad keeps [[MissedHimByThatMuch missing him by that much]], it just sounds as if she's seeing things that aren't there.
75	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: This is easily the most competent and mature Harold is in the entire series, as opposed to the {{manchild}} who's equally as stupid as his son. He's genuinely concerned when Gladys tells him something bad might have happened to Billy and gets frustrated when it looks like she's lying.
76	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Gladys freaks out upon seeing Grim a third time, Grim bemoans that at least he has clothes on.
77	* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: Harold, Gladys and especially Aunt Sis all have different designs in this episode than the ones they'd have in future ones.
78	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: This is the first time any human besides Billy or Mandy sees Grim and Billy's mom reacts to Grim's first appearance with appropriate fear. Later episodes establish that everyone including her views Grim as an UnusuallyUninterestingSight once they realize he's a HarmlessVillain.
79	* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: Harold referring to his sister as "sis" sounds like a nickname at first. Then Billy calls her Aunt Sis, revealing that that her given name is Sis.
80	* MissedHimByThatMuch: Harold doesn't believe his wife that there's an animated skeleton in the house because every time she runs to tell him, Grim goes somewhere else and Billy takes his place.
81	* MamaBear: The only reason Gladys persists in trying to prove Grim's existence is her fear that Billy might be in danger.
82	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Or in this case, naked skeletons. Billy's mom walks in on Grim in the shower, to both of their horror. Grim is even momentarily drawn with [[BonesDoNotBelongThere butt cheeks on the back of his pelvis]] for comic effect. Don't ask how a skeleton can be naked, or even why he'd need a shower, [[RuleOfFunny it's just funny]].
83	* NoodleImplements: When Gladys runs to Harold crying about the naked skeleton in the shower, Howard excuses himself and says "I'd better get the flail." In the next scene, he busts into the bathroom wielding one.
84	* PutOnABus: Billy's Mom goes away to live with Aunt Sis but comes back in the same season. (Which, for strange scheduling reasons, was 11 months later.)
85	* SpitTake: Grim does one when he realizes he has to be "it" for Hide and Seek.
86	* SuddenlyShouting: When Mandy asks Billy what they're going to do today, Billy chants "HIDE AND SEEK! HIDE AND SEEK!" while banging his fists on the kitchen table.

Context Recap / TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandyS1E1