EPISODE REVIEW
Show and Tell
Release date: 7/14/2003
"It's a pretty rock, with pretty speckles. Vendetta gave it to me!" "I threw it at you!"
Vendetta brings a special surprise to Show and Tell.

Plot Summary

The episode opens up with a scene of Vendetta in the process of making a fiend in her kitchen by mixing ingredients in a bowl. While placing the fiend into a box, she laughs evilly and assures Grudge that she thinks it will be "a very nice fiend"

We then cut to the next day, where we see that Mr Milk's class is having Show and Tell. Marion is standing in front of the chalkboard displaying her glass unicorn. When she's finished, Mr. Milk announces that it's Charlotte's turn. She brought in two things to show: her pet hamster, Buttons, and a rock she claims Vendetta "gave" to her (she threw it at her!) Right after this, the bell rings, signifying that it's time for recess.

The kids all go outside, and Vendetta decides to release the fiend, claiming it's her object for show and tell. Grudge opens the box, and a fiend resembling a monkey jumps out. It grabs Marion's glass unicorn as well as a bunch of bananas that Marvin was holding. The fiend then climbs onto the swingset, eats the unicorn, and throws the bananas off to the side. Vendetta sarcastically tells the other kids to "enjoy" recess and walks off along with Grudge as the fiend causes havoc.

As usual, Charlotte isn't afraid of the fiend, rather amused. She is also confused as to why the other kids refuse to run around and play during recess, oblivious to the fact that the playground is infested with dangerous fiends - one of them being the Giant Kitty, whom Charlotte is very happy to see. Ignoring Malachi's warnings, she walks up to the cat and holds out Buttons, wanting them to shake paws. To her dismay, Kitty tries to eat Buttons, who instantly jumps out of Charlotte's hand and runs away whlist screeching.

The Giant Kitty chases Buttons all over the playground, knocking over all the equipment in the process. Just then, Vendetta and Grudge return with ice cream cones only to be shocked by the sight of the carnage. Furious, Vendetta yells at Charlotte and demands she stay away from her fiends. Charlotte says okay and immediately starts angering Vendetta even more by asking dumb questions, such as what her favorite type of ice cream is. As the bell rings and Charlotte starts walking back to class, Vendetta grabs Grudge's ice cream and throws it at Charlotte.

Fiendish Findings

  • Malachi gets his first lines in this episode, revealing his tendency of speaking in Elizabethan English (I think?) He warns Charlotte to "tempt not yon hellcat" which she of course doesn't understand and does so anyway.
  • The Season 1 DVD contains a version of this episode with commentary from Marion. We learn a lot of things from her here: the glass unicorn's name was Nigel, and that she had a glass monkey that she buried in her yard after this episode took place due to it reminding her of the monkey fiend. She also reveals that she doesn't like hamsters (but wouldn't mind getting a glass one), is allergic to cats, and that Marvin's dad works in a factory that puts stickers on bananas.
  • Charlotte's little song about monkeys makes its debut in this episode. It returns later on in the TV series multiple times.
  • Speaking of the TV series, the plot of this episode was mushed together with that of "New Student" to create its pilot episode. It works out so well to the point that Wikipedia refers to the web versions as "Charlotte's First Day: Parts 1 and 2" (which I've never seen anywhere else, so I won't call them that)
  • Grudge is visibly offended when Charlotte claims that Buttons is her favorite hamster in the world. Poor guy...
  • This episode's hidden message read "The second episode of Making Fiends, a cartoon series by Amy Winfrey, the creator of Muffinfilms.com and Big Bunny. Monkeys don't wear shoes, monkeys don't lose their wallets, cause they don't have any! Charlotte gets a fiend" (Was that last bit meant for episode 4? Who knows)
  • The monkey fiend was voiced by Chris Fria.
Final Thoughts

I like this one a lot. Again, short and simple, but works very well for what it is. The part with the monkey always makes me laugh because of the voice performance (as well as Marvin's little "ow" after the banana hits him). Excellent cinema.

The scene where the Giant Kitty chases Buttons is also classic. Or it should be, at least. Vendetta's face at the end is priceless. Her taking food away from Grudge happens again in the TV series multiple times - says a lot about her personality. Another little thing is how it seems that Mr. Milk had to check in with the bird before allowing Charlotte to show two objects. (I saw a YouTube commenter point that out, actually) Also the way the Kitty looks down at Buttons is absolutely hilarious to me for some reason.

Not much else to say overall. Good episode.