The friends are having a picnic in the forest. A butterfly turns up and starts fluttering about, delighting Yellow Guy, until Duck Guy suddenly kills it, referring to it as a "pesky bee." Yellow Guy is distressed by this, flees the picnic.
Later, Yellow Guys sits alone in a tree and cries, when he is found by Shrignold, a anthropomorphic butterfly (though Yellow Guy thinks he is "a little baby pigeon"). Shrignold gently asks Yellow Guy about him being sad, noting that there is "so much hatred in the world." Shrignold begins to sing about existential questions, and all the darkness and hatred in the world, but says that it doesn't have to be that way and that its possible to live in harmony. Shrignold places Yellow Guy on a flying cloud and says he wants to teach Yellow Guy about love, telling him that he appears to be lonely. He says will introduce him to some of his friends who know about love, and flies off with him.
Duck Guy and Red Guy watches Shrignold and Yellow Guy fly off, and Red Guy says that they should follow him, or else they will get left behind. Duck Guy dismisses the notion, saying that he is hungry and would rather eat all the chicken they brought along for their picnic first. Red Guy agrees that he would also rather like to eat chicken instead. Shrignold takes Yellow Guy Fluffy Cloud Heaven where his friends, who all instantly declare their love for him, live. Duck Guy and Red Guy, meanwhile, have finished eating all the chicken and consider that maybe they should go look for Yellow Guy.
Shrignold and his friends that love is about caring and showing affection. Yellow Guy, encouraged, starts declaring his love for everything. But Shrignold interrupts him, saying that true love is kept for one's "special one." After a brief anecdote featuring "Michael, the loneliest boy in town", Shrignold and his friends introduces Yellow Guy to Malcolm, the King of Love, and the leader of their cult whom they worship by feeding gravel. The plot takes a sinister turn when the cult explains that they offering Yellow Guy a chance to "start anew", but first must lose his memories and name. Shrignold insists that Yellow Guy must worship Malcolm too and wear a ring, so that "he will never be alone again."
Yellow Guy wakes up with a start in the tree where he was found by Shrignold, looking around in fear and confusion. Just then his friends find him, telling him that they are sorry they upset him and gives him "the last boiled egg," as an apology. The egg splits, revealing a disgusting, blood-covered caterpillar-like creature who calls Yellow Guy "father" and is promptly squashed by Duck Guy (who once again refers to it as a "pesky bee"), its guts spilling down the side of the egg. During the credits sequence, Malcolm is immolated in a bonfire, with happy electronic music. The episode premiered on 31 October 2014.
Tropes:
- All Just a Dream: Shrignold and the cult are revealed to just be Yellow Guy's nightmare.
- Art Shift: The Story of Michael is traditional animation, monochrome black on a sepia background.
- Blatant Lies: Michael never finds his "special one", despite the rest of the cult saying otherwise.
- Bookends: The episode begins and ends with Duck Guy swatting a bug.Duck Guy: Pesky bee!
- Breather Episode: While still disturbing, this episode is relatively low-key and not as mind screw-y as the other episodes.
- The Cameo: Sketchbook and Tony can be seen watching Yellow Guy right when Shrignold reveals his true intentions.
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode primarily focuses on Yellow Guy while Red and Duck Guy are off eating their chicken picnic.
- Distaff Counterpart: We briefly get to see a female Yellow Guy, which is his supposed "special one".
- Downer Ending: "The Story of Michael" ends with Michael being shunned from society due to his ugliness and lives the rest of his days inside a cave, alone.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Triumphantly subverted with Yellow Guy. At first, it seems like Red and Duck don't really care about Yellow Guy's feelings and they don't do anything to cheer him up. However, by the end, they seem to realize the error of their mistakes and cheer him up with a hard boiled egg. Red Guy even proclaims their love to each other.Red Guy: I guess it must be because we...LOVE you.
- Last Note Nightmare: While the song is generally upbeat, it ends on a sinister choir when Yellow Guy wakes up.
- Lost Aesop: Michael's story was supposed to prove to Yellow Guy that everyone has a "Special Someone". However, the Story clearly does not have that:This is the story of Michael, the ugliest boy in town
Ugly and weak, they called him a freak
So he lived on his own underground
He lived on his own underground (x2)
Shrignold: You see? Everyone has a special one.
(beat)
Rabbit Boy: Even Michael! - Love Freak: The whole cult is all about love. To the point of worshipping it and their god Malcolm, "the King of Love".
- Medium Blending: The trip to the clouds has mixture of puppetry and traditional animation.
- Mood Whiplash: The song goes from a lovey dovey tune about love into a brainwashing cult song about the king of love and why Yellow Guy should join their cult.
- Oh, Crap!: Even Yellow Guy, as much of a ditz he is, knows something's wrong when the song shifts from love to worshipping a giant stone head named Malcolm.
- Or Was It a Dream?: When Yellow Guy's friends bring him the last hard-boiled egg, it hatches into a bloody newborn caterpillar who weakly says "Father!" towards Yellow Guy.
- Reality Warper: Subverted. Unlike the other teachers, Shrignold doesn't seem to hold any reality altering powers.
- Religion of Evil: The Cult. In order to join, you must change your name, clean your brain, and forget about everything you ever knew.
- Talking Animal: Most of the cult is comprised of talking animals.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Shrignold and his friends ultimately have their best intentions to make Yellow Guy happy. Too bad said intentions involve indoctrinating him into their love cult.
- Wham Line: "..And we all worship our king!"
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Yellow Guy's hard boiled egg is accidentally crushed by Duck Guy in the end. Justified, as there was a maggot inside of it.
