A Fistful of Ed (Ed, Edd n Eddy)

Note:
Not to be confused with "A Fistful of Meg".

"A Fistful of Ed"
"What have I become? Are these indeed the hands of a lowly thug?"
Series: Ed, Edd n Eddy Part of Season: 5 Episode Number: 12 Air Date: April 20, 2007 Writer: Mícheal Hockney Danny Antonucci Scott "Diggs" Underwood Director: Danny Antonucci Previous episode: A Town Called Ed Next episode: The Eds are Coming (Chronologically) May I Have This Ed? (Season 6)

A Fistful of Ed is the 22nd episode in the fifth season of Ed, Edd n Eddy and the 124th episode of the Ed, Edd n Eddy series overall.

Synopsis

In this episode, Edd becomes the school tough guy after a scuffle with the infamous Lee Kanker. Edd must now try to prove to the other kids that he is not tough and mean.

Plot

Part One

The episode starts off with The Happy Cluckers Club at Peach Creek Jr. High, who are tending to their eggs, while Edd is checking each and every one of them for inspection. Suddenly, they are interrupted when the Kankers barge in, hungry and wishing to fry the eggs up and eat them. Frightened of the three evil Kanker Sisters, the children panic and scream. They quickly find places to hide in the classroom. As Edd tries to protect the eggs, even trying to get Lee interested in egg hatching by showing her a heavy book about bird hatchery, he accidentally drops it on her foot, causing it great pain and swelling. The Happy Clucker's Club witnesses this and is now greatly frightened of Edd.

Soon rumors start to spread throughout the school, then Rolf comes up to Edd to ask him if he could borrow a pencil from him. As Edd reaches in his locker to give him one, he suddenly, and seemingly for no apparent reason, hits Rolf on the head with his foot two times (fracturing his skull), and then pins him to a locker with pencils. Edd is shaking, and all of the kids are now screaming and running from the scene. Eddy, who just saw this, suddenly sees a way to profit from his newfound status.

At lunch time, everyone avoids Edd, though he wishes them no harm and doesn't understand why everyone, including Ed, is afraid of him. On the other hand, Eddy is now exploiting Edd's unfortunate status as a tough guy to have the kids do things for him, while Edd wants no part of it. Suddenly, Marie and Jonny start arguing over the last piece of pie, and Edd tries to convince them to compromise. But again, he somehow punches Jonny, sending him into Marie and through the wall before hitting a tree and falling to the ground. The rest are now terrified, but Edd tries to reason with them, and assure them that it was all an accident. Edd approaches Sarah, begging her to believe him, but Ed steps in and defends his sister. He tearfully says to Edd that they can no longer be friends. "My mom says I can't be chums with a fighting fisticuffs like you!" This breaks both of their hearts, and both he and Edd begin to sob. Edd decides to end the situation and grabs the chair that Ed was using to protect Sarah. Edd then seemingly gives Ed an extremely violent thrashing as Eddy and the kids look on in horror. Soon Ed digs a hole in the wall and escapes, while the other kids quickly leave through the door. Eddy praises Edd, but does say that maybe he was a little rough on Ed. Edd glares at him, and Eddy leaves so he can have Nazz give him a foot massage. Edd is left all alone and he questions himself if he really is a bully.

Part Two

A heartbroken Edd is all alone in Botany Class, tearfully tending to his plants, when he is alerted by a small crash. Who he first thought was Ed, he finds that Jimmy is in the room, and Jimmy starts to run away as fast as he can. Edd begins to sob again, reflecting on the fact that no one will ever believe him. Then the plant that Edd was tending opens up, and Jimmy identifies it as a pollinated cross between a rose and a Baby Blue Gym Sock, and claims that only the gentlest hands could do that, which made Jimmy believe Edd. He then decides to hear Edd's side of the story. Edd tells Jimmy of what really happened to those he hurt:

• Lee: The book accidentally fell on her foot, likely because it slipped out of his hands.
• Rolf: Edd's foot rolled on a bottle of white-out that fell out of his locker and launched his foot at Rolf's head, then his tie got caught on a small coat hanger. He slipped again and hit Rolf a second time and because he was swinging back and forth because of the tie, his pencils were launched at Rolf.
• Marie and Jonny: Remembering that his mother packed his lunch with a slice of apple pie, Edd reached in to his bag to get it so that the two people involved in the confrontation could share, but he accidentally pricked the flesh on the underside of his fingernail with a fork prong. His hand recoiled in pain, hitting Jonny and launching him at Marie.
• Ed: Edd tried to pry the chair that Ed was holding so that he could talk with him, but Ed fell on him, which wrapped Edd's arms around Ed's back. Ed, fearing for his life, began to run in circles, tying himself up with Edd's arms, and as Ed ran and destroyed the cafeteria it appeared as though Edd was beating Ed up.

Edd says that he is a pacifist and would never EVER hurt anyone, but he is so ashamed that no one will believe him. After the series of unfortunate events is explained, Jimmy and Edd come up with a plan to remove the bully image from Edd, by having a mock fight in which Jimmy beats up Edd. They appoint the fight at 3 pm at The Pit. They appoint it in front of Kevin in order to make sure the news of them fighting spreads across the school.

A short scene then shows that a battered Ed has fallen into a depression and now has a new friend, which is an egg with Edd's face drawn on it and wearing a miniature version of Edd's hat named Double G (Egg), but Ed finds that his new friend is no substitute. He, along with Eddy, who is sitting on a throne carried by Rolf and Jonny, go to The Pit. Edd and Jimmy begin the fight, which is just more or less girly slapping. The rest of the kids see it as a brutal fight and encourage Jimmy. Eddy is all the while insulting, taunting, and pelting Jimmy with endless hot dogs, breaking his concentration. He even taunts Jimmy saying he's going to pop but that he already did like the time the Eds turned Jimmy into a Sumo wrestler. An angry Jimmy turns his attention to Eddy and tries to climb up to the dumpster on which Eddy is sitting upon to beat him up. Edd tries to break them up and starts to pull Jimmy by his pants in order to pry him off, but only manages to launch Jimmy in to Rolf. Eddy does not stop with the taunting, and soon Jimmy is suddenly so enraged that his face turns red and steam begins to erupt from his head. He charges at Edd, screaming, and starts viciously beating up Edd, to the point where he even bites of a part of his tongue off and does not remember what just happened after he finally settles down. The rest of the kids begin to celebrate, hailing Jimmy as a hero (not knowing that Jimmy is actually shocked and horrified at seeing what he has done out of anger) and Kevin decides to steal the black jacket Eddy has been wearing. Eddy is angry, while Edd is simply happy that this bully reputation is over, and he and Ed can renew their friendship. Just when things are happy, the Kankers show up and kiss Edd. Then, in a rare moment of bravery, a very angry Eddy yells at the Kankers to leave Edd alone; "BEAT IT!". The Kankers, somewhat scared, awkwardly leave. Edd starts to go on about how he is proud of Eddy until Eddy shoves a hot dog in his mouth to shut him up. Ed then expects Eddy to give one to him: Eddy proceeds to give Edd's hot dog to him, but Edd complains about how that was his hot dog. Annoyed, Eddy gives a new one to Edd and then one for himself. He then asks if they are all finally happy and the episode ends, with a relatively happy ending.

Bad Fistful Qualities

1. Much like the previous episodes, such as "My Fair Ed" and "Cleanliness Is Next to Edness", this episode is very much a mean-spirited, if not torture or otherwise miserable scenario, towards Double D (Edd).
2. The first half of the episode tries too hard to make Double D, who's the smartest but weakest of the three Eds, look like he was a downright tough guy, only for everyone to fear him and even costs him his friendship with Ed. It was obvious to the viewer that Double D meant no harm to anyone.
3. The slapstick is very graphic, even if it's not as bad as "The Good, The Bad, and The Ed", but still very painful nevertheless:
   • Double D accidentally dropped the book on Lee Kanker's foot, causing it great pain and swelling. If that isn’t unwatchable enough, she even sucks on her entire foot to relieve the pain, which is disgusting to look at.
   • Double D accidentally rolls over a bottle of white-out he dropped and ends up hitting Rolf in the head with his foot twice, fracturing Rolf's skull, and then pins him to a locker with pencils.
   • Double D accidentally pricked the flesh on the underside of his fingernail with the teeth of a fork. His hand recoiled in pain, hitting Jonny and launching him at Marie, injuring the latter two in the process.
   • Double D tried to pry the chair that Ed was holding so that he could talk with him, but Ed reacts out of sheer emotion and falls on him, which wrapped Double D's arms around Ed's back. Ed, fearing for his life, began to run in circles, tying himself up with Double D's arms, and as Ed ran and destroyed the cafeteria, it appeared as though Double D was beating Ed up.
4. Ed and Eddy are flanderized beyond likability until the end of the episode:
   • Ed is such an emotional crybaby, even more so than in previous episodes of this season, that he refuses to listen to reason. The infamous moment is when he tells Double D that they can no longer be friends which causes both him and Double D to break down heavily is seriously one of the most mean-spirited moments in the show. His emotional outburst here, including the part where he wrecks the cafeteria, just comes off as exaggerating and annoying rather than sympathetic and humorous.
   • Eddy just greedily exploits Double D's unfortunate status as a tough guy to have the kids do things for him, while Double D wants no part of it.
5. Although Jimmy and Double D come up with a plan to remove the bully image from the latter by having a mock fight at the Pit in which Jimmy beats up Edd was decent, however, it was ultimately cut short when Eddy starts taunting and harassing Jimmy by throwing numerous hot dogs at him, thus interrupting the mock fight.
6. Likewise on that note leading up to Eddy's shenanigans, the beginning of Jimmy and Double D's mock fight was rather lazily and pathetically done, due to them just raising their fists while both are unwilling to throw the first punch and it goes on for at most 10 seconds or so. It especially does not help at all with the fact that Jimmy and Double D are two of the series' weakest characters.
7. Making matters worse, after Double D unintentionally and accidentally hurts Jimmy when the former attempted to restrain the latter from going after Eddy, Jimmy suddenly snaps out of rage and gives Double D the worst beating in the entire series, even going as far as to rip off a part of his tongue, thus officially ruining the original intended purpose of the mock fight. The other cul-de-sac kids then hail Jimmy as a hero and carry him off. It served no purpose other than to shove in the fact that Double D has to be tortured even after all he's been through in the episode.
8. It was an awful way to end the show's fifth season overall.

Good Fistful Qualities

1. It is arguably one of Double D's best roles in the series.
2. The ending, after the mock fight, isn't so bad. At least Ed comes to his senses and reconciles with Double D, while Eddy defends Double D from the Kanker sisters by maliciously telling them that "he's had enough already" and to take a hike, forcing the Kanker sisters to visibly leave in fear(making this one of the VERY few incidents were the Ed's beat the Kanker sisters). The episode ends with the Eds happily eating hot dogs together.
3. Jimmy at least tried to help Double D during the second half of the episode. He also was visibly shocked and horrified at seeing what he has done out of anger to Double D by the end of their mock fight, while the other cul-de-sac kids just remained oblivious.
4. At least Rolf and the Kanker sisters get karma handed to them here for what they did to the Eds in previous episodes, especially since the Eds did nothing wrong to them in those episodes in question.
5. There are still a few funny moments from Ed and Eddy.
6. We could at least say that the way Ed came to Sarah's defense despite Double D meaning no harm was heartwarming, despite all Sarah has put Ed through in the series overall.

Trivia

• The title's a reference to A Fistful of Dollars and A Fistful of Pain.

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