"'Life Sucks' explores the difference between Ren and Stimpy's outlook on life. They each look at the world and see the same evidence yet judge it in opposite ways. Stimpy is an optimist and Ren is a pessimist. In Life Sucks, Ren realizes it's his duty to cure Stimpy of his naivety and he takes him on a journey through biology, religion, history and evolution in an attempt to make him wake up and smell the coffee."
Life Sucks is an unfinished episode of Ren and Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon.
The episode begins with Stimpy happily watering his garden when Ren comes and tells him that life sucks, and proceeds to spend the rest of the episode explaining why.
Tropes:
- Art-Style Dissonance: The book about the Children's Crusade that Ren reads to Stimpy; it's a tale of a colony of Christian crusaders (made entirely of children) that is drawn in an art style that homages the work of artist Mary Blair
. In spite of its cute art style, its a very bleak story; many of them die horribly in a winter storm during their long journey, and when they reach the promised land, they end up attacked en masse by the inhabitants of the land and are graphically killed via stabbing or decapitation on-screen. The children that did survive ended up growing up and inducted into harems note and slavery for the rest of their lives! - Break the Cutie: Ren uses cold logic and dark stories to crush Stimpy's optimism about life and turn him into an unwilling nihilist.
- Brutal Honesty: Ren pulls no punches in telling Stimpy the harsh truths of life.
- Black Comedy Burst: This is the darkest episode in the series in terms of story. While there's not quite as much vulgar humor present as previous episodes, it more than compensates with its nihilistic message and humor.
- Deadpan Snarker: In a state of despair, Stimpy consults Cat Jesus (a humanlike cat nailed to a cross) and gets a sardonic response;Stimpy: “Dear Cat Jesus, I don’t understand. I thought all the life you created was happy and wonderful, but underneath it all, there’s nothing but pain and suffering!”Cat Jesus: “Well, at least I don’t feel any of it!”
- Downer Ending:
- Ren succeeds in breaking Stimpy's optimistic spirit and sends him spiraling into a state of denial as he watches TV to get his mind off of life. That said, Stimpy does get back at Ren by telling him what his favorite cartoon is, and the word slices Ren's nipple in two.
- The In-Universe story, The children's Crusade, ends with most of the children dying horribly, and the survivors enslaved.
- Life Isn't Fair: Ren tells this to Stimpy and a hell of a lot more, too.
- Shout-Out:
- The Children's Crusade storybook that Ren reads to Stimpy has its illustrations drawn in the style of artist Mary Blair.
- Stimpy watches The Andy Griffith Show in the ending.
- The Children's Crusade storybook that Ren reads to Stimpy has its illustrations drawn in the style of artist Mary Blair
- Straw Nihilist: Ren is revealed to be this in the episode, and he goes to great length to explain to Stimpy why he is and why he should be a nihilist.
- Title Drop: Ren drops the title words to Stimpy after he tries showing Ren how beautiful life is.
- Weapons-Grade Vocabulary: At one point, Ren literally cuts down Stimpy (shredding a piece of optimism out of him with each word) with words like "famine" and "genocide". Stimpy ends up doing this in turn to Ren in the ending by telling him what his favorite cartoon is, with the word slicing one of Ren's nipples in half.
