The Curse of Shirley (Courage the Cowardly Dog)
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| "The Curse of Shirley" | ||||||||||||||
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 It's ironic to hear Eustace believing that it is a curse, but when there is one...
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The Curse of Shirley is the third episode of season 2 and the 30th episode overall (if counting the Pilot episode) of Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Plot
As Eustace is getting ready for his birthday, he slams the door on Shirley, only to curse him by creating a stormy cloud that would make him unhappy and once he cannot see without his glasses, he becomes even more terrifying.
Why It's A Stormy Curse
- For starters, Eustace is (if not) at his absolute worst in this episode, as he believes that there is no such thing as a curse only to find out that there is a stormy cloud on his head; thus making him look bad and trollish.
- This is also a Eustace torture episode due to him becoming a terrorist without his glasses.
- This episode has lots of mean-spirited moments, especially during the curse and Eustace without the glasses:
- After Courage blows a balloon in the opening scene, Eustace uses a needle to pop a balloon, believing that there is no party.
- An infamous scene where Eustace slams the door at Shirley, thus messing up the tea, pie, and bag of coins, as well as losing Courage's golden tooth; therefore, she gets mad at Eustace and puts a stormy cloud on his head.
- Eustace blocks the two old people in the movie theater, with an old man kicking out the farmer after using an umbrella.
- While the old lady asks the farmer to walk across the street, he yells at the old lady that she has legs and she has to walk herself, poor old lady.
- He even throws an envelope to Floyd's fiancee despite Floyd asking for help from his fiancee to miss his wedding as a squid or an octopus-like monster grabs him.
- Coincidentally, these three imply that Eustace does not take criticism due to the curse.
- He even grabs Courage with a blanket because he believed that there is a red monster with pink hair just to make him warmer.
- He uses his plank from the farmhouse roof and shouts "You want a piece of me!" (2x) just to terrorize the snake monster (in reality it is the pipe from the furnace).
- He even scares Ma Bagge and Dr. Vindaloo on Eustace's birthday (which is also infamous) and beats down Muriel (believing that she is a monster) while she asks him to stand on the metal basin; this makes Courage freak out because of this.
- At the end of the episode, after his curse is lifted while Courage pretends to become young Eustace, the farmer swoops his hat from Courage and creates a curse... AGAIN!
- Eustace's hallucinations are disturbing to watch, especially the pipe and Muriel Bagge.
- Him wearing mushrooms during the second half of this episode is disgusting to watch.
- Bad Moral: When there is a birthday party, there is a reason to scare everyone, but in reality, there is no reason to scare everyone since you have to celebrate as well.
- Bad Ending: After Eustace's curse is lifted, Eustace angrily swoops his hat from Courage and starts his curse again, causing him to strike on his head, and says "Eh!". This also implies that he does not take criticism, again like in the previous scenes.
- Overall, this episode does not feel like a legit Courage the Cowardly Dog episode, since that show focuses on supernatural elements containing monsters, here it only shows that Eustace antagonizes the main characters for the sake of getting cursed. However, it is nowhere near as bad as Hothead, another episode featuring Eustace as the main antagonist but still.
Redeeming Qualities
- Shirley, Courage, and Muriel are likable characters in this episode.
- The scene where Courage and Muriel build a birthday party are the only decent scene.
- The scene where Courage transforms into Young Eustace and tells present Eustace to wear his hat, thus lifting the curse, is a very heartwarming scene.
- Even if the ending is bad, Eustace getting struck by lightning can get a decent comeuppance.
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