Gettin' Twiggy With It (The Powerpuff Girls, 1998)

"Gettin' Twiggy With It"
PETA would be very furious when they once saw this episode.
Series: The Powerpuff Girls (1998) Part of Season: 3 Episode Number: 5a Air Date: September 22, 2000 Writer: Don Shank Director: John McIntyre Craig McCracken Previous episode: Bought and Scold Next episode: Cop Out

Gettin' Twiggy With It is an episode of The Powerpuff Girls from season three.

Summary

Mitch was chosen to take care of the kindergarten's pet hamster, Twiggy. But it will end up very badly...

Why It Should Be Taken Off The Air By PETA

1. To get the hamster out of the cage first, this episode is infamous for containing scenes of animal cruelty.
2. It's also a horrible Twiggy torture episode. More about it in WICGTWI#4.
3. Mitch Mitchelson, the school bully, is cruel and unlikable in this episode. He promised that he would take care of Twiggy at home, only to end up abusing her for his entertainment, which could get him into massive trouble for what he did to her by not only Ms. Kean, but PETA as well.
4. The animal abuse scenes are way too upsetting and difficult to watch as it also angers PETA in the process, as Mitch did these awful things to Twiggy such as:
   • Holding up a hamster treat at a level that's too high for her to get.
   • Offering her hamster food, only to stuff the whole can in her mouth.
   • Putting her in a remote-controlled car and driving her in a really fast speed, all the while she's screeching in terror.
     • He even tried to drive her off the stairs and would've done it too had the girls not stopped him.
   • Attempting to electrocute her with electric wires, but thank goodness the girls stopped him from doing that!
   • Taping her up on a firework rocket and then launching it, causing it to fly all over the room.
     • Not only that but it should be noted that firing fireworks indoors can set the house on fire.
   • And if all of this isn't bad enough when Twiggy lands in a toilet, Mitch flushes her down in it!
   • The worst part is that all of these could've killed her had the girls not stopped Mitch and had she not survived the flushing!
5. Plot holes:
   • First of all, why did Ms. Kean have to choose Mitch as Twiggy's caretaker despite the girls' warnings that he's mean to the hamster (as shown in the beginning)?
     • To be fair, Ms. Keane did regret making that choice at the end.
   • If Twiggy is a female hamster, then why did Blossom suddenly misgender her with a male pronoun when she's scolding Mitch for being mean to Twiggy?
   • Even when a mutated Twiggy's about to come out of the toilet, how come all the rumbling and noise didn't wake up Mitch's grandmother?
   • Hypocrisy: Mitch says that he has no pet, but we can see that he has a snake in his room.
6. This infamous look on Mitch's face when he's about to torment Twiggy.
7. Animation errors and goofs:
   • When Ms. Keane picks Mitch, one of the classmates (Elmer) disappears at one point.
   • When the girls stop outside Mitch's home and peer into the window to see what he is doing with Twiggy, Buttercup is on the left, Bubbles is in the middle and Blossom is on the right. When it cuts to the next scene, Buttercup and Bubbles have swapped positions, but when it goes back to them outside the window, they are in their original positions again.
8. To add insult to injury, the episode has a bad habit of playing rock music during the scenes where Twiggy gets tortured.
9. The mutant Twiggy (shown in the screencap above) looks ugly and way too terrifying for a kid's show.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The girls are likable as they keep an eye on Mitch, berating him for mistreating Twiggy.
   • The same can be said about Twiggy. Plus, her normal form is quite cute, as expected from a hamster.
   • A least Mitch is better in next episodes.
2. Great and satisfying ending: Mitch finally has his comeuppance as he's been chased by the mutant Twiggy as revenge for all the bad things he's done to her, and it is extremely satisfying and justfiable at the same time.
   • His next punishment is even better as he is shown running in a large hamster wheel with the mutant Twiggy chasing after him.
3. Two good morals:
   • Treat everybody with kindness, especially animals.
   • Be careful who you pick to take care of a pet.

Trivia

• MsMojo ranked this as the #4 darkest episode of The Powerpuff Girls series.
• This is one of the most hated episodes of the series due to the aforementioned animal cruelty scenes and how mean-spirited Mitch is.

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