Sometimes you come across perfect episodes of television. This is one of those times. The notorious West segment of Flapjack plus the one with the rat are two of Cartoon's finest hour (minutes) ever. The writing is so sharp, the dialogue, the dynamics, the soundtrack, all at the top of their game. Flapjack is "filler" for most of the time, but the West segment has a different energy going for it. It really encapsulates the mystery and charm of the show's settings like no other episode before.
How the West was Fun is even lighter on plot than usual, but feels less like "filler" at the same time, because it brings to the surface that eerie energy always hiding around the corners of Stormalong Harbor by creating this iconic imagery of The West as a forbidden land; this concept is not necessarily new, but the show managed to make it their own. The writing is so sharp and the atmosphere is immaculate, so I could spend more time talking about it, but what's the point? Much like The West showcased in the show, there's no need to talk much about this segment. It's all vibes, you just gotta feel it.
Plague Song:
"Ohhhhh! Tryin' to make friends, but people are jerks!
So I'm gunna' put some fleas on you!
And the fleas will have the plague and they'll make you cough a lot!
Then you'll be too sick to hurt my feelings anymore!
{incoherent mumbling}"
Working as a perfect opposite to the last segment, this perfectly titled masterpiece not only has a great song (see above), but it also has, in my opinion, the best script in the show so far. Every scene in this is a Grade A example of damn good cartoon TV. There's always something happening, the character dynamics are crisp as hell, and the plot is pure absurdity: Flapjack befriends a plague rat, who infects everyone in the harbor with the plague on purpose because they were rude to his friend. The first time the rodent threw fleas at a sailor and he just popped into a plague version of himself I was mesmerized. That was the moment that most caught me off guard in Season 1 (yet).
I can spend pages and pages talking about Episode 7, but I'll leave that to the big article I'll do for the full show after I rewatch all 3 seasons. For now I'll confidently claim these are peak cartoon TV.
