Big Brother Caillou (Caillou)

"Big Brother Caillou"
An episode so bad that Cartoonito (Cartoon Network's preschool block in the United States as opposed to the standalone channel in many other countries) actually managed to improve children's behavior by cutting its most notable scene out.
Series: Caillou Part of Season: 1 Episode Number: 12 Air Date: September 15, 1997 (Canada) 2000 (United States) Writer: Stephen Ashton Matthew Cope Patrick Granleese Rick Jones Christel Kleitch Marie-France Landry Thomas Lapierre Pascal Lavoie Joseph Mallozzi Caroline Maria Lynn Mason Ken Ross Thor Bishopric Todd Swift Anne-Marrie Perrotta Tean Schultz Director: Jean Pilotte Previous episode: Caillou Visits the Dentist Next episode: Caillou Goes Shopping (by release date) Caillou Makes Cookies (chronologically)

"Big Brother Caillou" is the twelfth episode from the first season of Caillou. While "Caillou Makes Cookies" was the first Caillou episode, "Big Brother Caillou" is the first chronologically, which is considered rather prequel. It was first aired on September 15, 1997, in Canada and then in 2000 in United States. It is known for being the worst episode in the entire series behind "Caillou Joins the Circus" due to the scene where Caillou pinches Rosie, which was cut out/censored in the Cartoonito airing of the episode. It also caused it to get banned.

Why It's a Big Bad Brother

1. The main and biggest problem with this episode is the infamous and shockingly disturbing scene in which Caillou pinches Rosie as a newborn for no apparent reason, causing the latter to scream a very realistic sounding cry, and hence causing the episode/scene to get banned/censored. And even worse, Boris still doesn't properly scold or punish Caillou for doing this.
   • The angry face Caillou makes when he pinches Rosie makes him look like a sociopath.
   • Speaking of which, pinching a baby, especially a newborn, can actually seriously harm them compared to older people as they can bleed or even bruise, while this isn't the case for older people. This is due to older people having thicker skin than young people such as infants and toddlers.
   • Furthermore, the book on which this episode is based is even more troubling as it portrays Caillou outright biting Rosie which is even worse than pinching a newborn baby since it would potentially kill the baby!
2. Caillou himself is at his lowest point in this episode as he acts mean towards Rosie despite her being a newborn, pinching her in the face, though in the book he bit her instead, all out of pure jealousy and aversion as he believed the baby was getting more attention than him, thus making him an obvious attention seeker and spoiled brat.
3. Boris, like always, still doesn't punish or even scold Caillou for his naughty behavior, thus making the latter yet again a Karma Houdini as always. The only thing he does is ask "Caillou, why did you do that to Rosie?" in a very calm and monotonous sounding voice, making Caillou get away with it.
4. The episode even uses gross-out humor in the scene where Caillou and Boris change Rosie's diaper. While diaper changing is a natural part of life, it's not really something that you would show in a cartoon aimed at young children.
5. When Boris asks Caillou why he pinched Rosie, the latter lies to him by saying that it's because Rosie doesn't play with him, which already sounds quite ridiculous in itself as she is clearly a newborn, in which Boris tells him this.
6. Poor and inconsistent writing. Despite Boris stating at the beginning of the episode that she'll be at the hospital today, the narrator says "a few days later".
   • Another error is that at the beginning of the episode, Caillou talks like a 2-year-old; after he pinches Rosie, he speaks in complete sentences.
7. The moral in this episode is the absolute worst as it essentially teaches children to always to be jealous of your newborn siblings as they might receive more attention and love than you.
8. Instead of Boris and Doris telling Caillou that they'll still love him no matter what even if other children are around, they just suck up his bratty, annoying, and overall naughty behavior.
9. While the pinch scene was thankfully cut out in the Cartoonito airing of the episode, it is poorly edited as you can hear the music cut; then after Caillou is moving the chair to where Rosie is lying, it just cuts to him smiling.

Brotherly Qualities

1. The scene where Caillou pinches Rosie, while gruesome, is thankfully cut out in the Cartoonito airing of the episode as they know that it is wrong.
   • It is actually an improvement over the book as in the latter, Caillou bit her in the ear instead.
2. Rosie is so far the only likable character in this episode. Her design as an infant is also pretty cute as well.
3. Good ending: Caillou redeems himself and finally learns to get along with Rosie.

Reception

"Big Brother Caillou" received an extremely negative reception among critics and audiences alike. It is known for being the worst Caillou episode ever made, causing it to get banned. It currently has a 2.3/10 on IMDb.

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