The Bad Place (The Smurfs, 1981)

"The Bad Place (The Smurfs, 1981)"

Part of Season:	4
Episode Number:	44 (184th overall)
Air Date:	November 10, 1984
Writer:	Gerard Baldwin (story) Mark Seidenberg (teleplay)
Previous episode:	"Monster Smurfs"
Next episode:	"Smurfing for Ghosts"

The Bad Place is an episode of The Smurfs.

Summary

A family of muddy alien creatures visit the Smurf Village and need help from the Smurfs on repairing their ship.

First of all, the title is misleading. There's nothing bad about a strange moon ship from a place they came from. The name of this episode should've been changed to "Meet the Grimies".
The Grimies are pointless characters. We never get to learn of their backstory or see a view of their planet. Without it, what kind of culture do they have if we don't know where they are from?
- In fact, they destroyed nearly everything in the first half of the episode. They ruined Painter's artwork, spoiled Greedy's cooking and made a mess in Smurfette's bedroom.
Gargamel and Azrael don't appear in this episode. Neither do the other villains on the show.
This episode is one of the more tame episodes of the show. There are not enough dark elements to make the series stand out.
Like Baby Smurf, Baby Grimy's wailing can be more cringeworthy than cute to listen to.
While the episode did teach others how to avoid prejudice and respect other people's cultures, it doesn't excuse the fact that the Grimies are pointless characters.
- In fact, the lesson of going against prejudice and respect people for who they are was done before in the Season 2 episode, "All's Smurfy That Ends Smurfy".
The Grimies never return in future episodes, thus wasting potential.

The episode at least taught others how to avoid prejudice and respect other people's cultures.
The Grimies were helpful in making topsoil for Farmer's fields and mud for Handy's bricks. Vanity also gets mud in his face for a beauty product at the end of the episode.

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