Shrimp's Odyssey
Original air date: 1/10/2022 (produced in 2021)
Charlie and Pim are sent out to help the titular client of the episode, a geeky anthropomorphic Shrimp who is down in the dumps due to his girlfriend, Shrimpina, breaking up with him, and he requests that they help him get back together with his lover, with Charlie taking himself to improve Shrimp so that Shrimpina will want him back, while Pim goes to find Shrimpina at 153 Meep Boulevard, only to find out that Shrimpina is in fact, a beautiful human woman. There's also Smormu, whose decision on whether he becomes an honorary fifth Smiling Friend has been left up to a national vote.
In Memoriam Gag: Smormu James Carter (1986-2022)
Shrimps Odyssey contains examples of...
- 555: Viewers are encouraged to "vote" for Smormu to be the fifth Smiling Friend by texting to a 555 number.
- Accidental Hero: Pim tries to help Shrimp get back together with Shrimpina by going to the address Shrimp gave him and after deciding that he should help Shrimp, he takes the woman to Shrimp. However, the woman's name was actually Jennifer and Pim got the addresses mixed up due to Shrimp's poor vision but they decide to make it work and they are a good match, which allows Shrimp to move on.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- When Shrimp asks Jennifer if she likes Mouse Quest, Jennifer asks if he's serious stating that he's a 4'6'' shrimp with poor eyesight and a receding hairline seemingly setting up that Jennifer is going to insult him ... before she states that Shrimp is everything she's ever wanted and the two begin making out.
- Even though the narrator proclaims that Smormu is here to stay and will not be leaving the cast any time soon, it's revealed that he somehow died or got murdered after the episode in the standard post credits "In loving memory of." gag.
- Bittersweet Ending: More sweet than bitter but, it turns out that "Shrimpina" wasn't actually the human woman that Pim met, but instead a completely different person named Jennifer, due to Pim's poor vision making him confuse 158 Meep Boulevard for 153 Meep Boulevard, and Charlie's efforts to improve Shrimp turn out to be all for nothing, meaning that Shrimp never manages to get back together with Shrimpina. However, he does manage to find a new lover in Jennifer, allowing him to move on from the heartbreak that came from breaking up with Shrimpina. Also Smormu's dead.
- Brick Joke: Pim's poor eyesight is brought up in the first scene when he mistakes a bowl of worms for a bowl of peanuts with Charlie noting that Pim has avoided seeing the optometrists for the last seven months. At the end, after Pim's eyesight leads to him mistaking Jennifer for Shrimpina and accidentally setting her up with Shrimp Charlie tells Pim that he really needs to get his eyes checked and Pim agrees to see the optometrist the next day.
- Character Death:
- The only one in season 1 to be a Funny Background Event and not integral to the plot. In a neighboring apartment to Shrimp's, a random, unnamed character is shown getting their head bashed in.
- Smormu technically dies at some point between the final scene and the "In Memoriam" gag card, although we don't see it onscreen.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Pim could have avoided his half of the plot entirely if he had just asked "Shrimpina's" real name.
- Did Not Get the Girl: While he initially falls for Shrimpina despite trying to hook her back together with Shrimp and plans to have her for himself, Pim cannot allow himself to live a lie and reunites the two together. It turns out that the girl was really Jennifer and Pim just got her confused with someone else, but she still falls for Shrimp, putting Pim in an unfortunate position anyway.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Despite supposedly becoming the fifth Smiling Friend and the narrator claiming he is here to stay, Smormu is abruptly revealed to have died in the post-credits memorial.
- Failed a Spot Check: As Charlie points out, Pim should have realized that Jennifer wasn't Shrimpina by the name.Charlie: Her name was Shrimpina. She'd be a shrimp.
- Foreshadowing: The faint outline of an 8 can be seen around the 3 on the cafe's storefront.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Despite developing a crush on Jennifer, Pim decides that he should put his job first and let her meet Shrimp.
- Push Polling: At the end of the episode, a poll is held to see if the new Smiling Friend, Smormu, will be a permanent addition to the cast. Voting means texting a phrase to a phone number—those who wanted Smormu in can just type in his name, but those who don't need to put in "NO I REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T WANT SMORMU." While the requirement for voting against him getting in the show is far more complex than voting for him, the votes for and against him were apparently equal, but the votes from the "electoral college" cemented his debut for real. He's in the show for a brief moment, then is dead by the time the credits are finished.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Shrimp ends up hurting himself when trying to lift weights due to Charlie not having him do any warm up exercise, and shooing off an older gym member who tries to give him genuinely useful advice. It doesn't help that Shrimp has poor physical fitness due to his sedentary lifestyle.
- Take That!: Half-assed introductions to the main cast just to try and appeal to children are made fun of in the form of Smormu, the fifth Smiling Friend. He also has a off-screen death that was presumably quite violent, given that the post credits "In loving memory of." gag shows his bruised corpse with his eyes and mouth wide open on a morgue table.
- His presence is also a dig at the 2016 United States Presidential election, winning the popular vote, but not the electoral vote, and wearing an "I'm With Her" shirt.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When Charlie and Pim arrive in the apartment complex where Shrimp lives, there is somebody getting murdered by having their face stomped in repeatedly in the room across from Shrimp's, and aside from Pim staring at it, not much attention is drawn to it.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Smormu is announced at the beginning of the episode, but does not appear until before the credits, after which he appears in the 'In Memoriam' screen.
