Show-Harvey Beaks
Episode Title-The Finger
Air Date-April 5th 2015
Season 1
Episode 2A
I know I promised Tokyo Ghoul would be the first review of the year but I've kinda been in a slump and needed something happy to cheer me up. So I watched this amazing episode. Yeah it's actually really good. I remember when Harvey Beaks was first announced. I was worried considering Nicks track record in the last few years. But this blew my expectations. It is a charming, funny show with surprisingly a lot of heart. I was even more shocked to find out the creator of this show also created Chowder. That Cartoon Network show from the late 2000s. This show is definitely a different style than Chowder. Everything from the characters to the comedy even. In fact I don't think I've seen a show quite like Harvey Beaks. It's amazing but let's talk about today's episode The Finger.
The episode starts with Foo with Harvey and Fee following behind. Harvey ask Fee why they're following Foo and she says that she thinks he has a secret girlfriend and that she wants to make fun of him. Of course it's obvious it's not a bullying kind of make fun of but a little tease.
Harvey says that instead of making fun of Foo he'll congratulate him.
Anyway speaking of the characters I really like them. Harvey is kind, generally doesn't like rough and tough stuff but is open minded and is willing to do that rough stuff, and that's why he and Fee and Foo work off each other so well.
He's also just generally a really likeable dude. You'll hopefully see what I mean later on.
As for Fee and Foo they are both really rough and tough type characters. However Foo is more absent minded and dumb. The thing is though unlike any of Nick's other idiots he's actually funny and entertaining.
You know Patrick and Cosmo use to be the face of stupid kids cartoon characters but they went through severe flanderazation. They're stupidity got obnoxious and became less charming and funny. Mostly cause of where the stupidity leads.
In Good Neighbors from Spongebob Patrick's (and Spongebob's) stupidity leads to Squidward getting punished for no good reason. And it's played out in a very obnoxious way.
I would recommend checking out my review for more details.
In Gone Flushin from the Fairly Odd Parents Cosmo's stupidity causes the team to get in danger.
In both these cases the stupidity is not funny or entertaining or charming. It's annoying. Foo though doesn't ever delve into the annoying realm though. And the jokes with his stupidity are quite funny. (Like the old Patrick and Cosmo) because of that I feel Foo is now the new face of stupid kid cartoon characters. Heck maybe even for cartoons in general, for all ages, as the two contenders from adult cartoons (Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin) have also been flanderized in the same way as Cosmo and Patrick over the years.
Foo though is actually funny.
Any way as for Fee, Foo's sister, she's still rough but much smarter. Surprisingly one little change like that can make her an entirely different character from Foo. But she's also has kind of a soft tender side when the moment calls for it. We'll get to that later on though. None of the main 3 characters are bland and all have unique likeable personalities to boot. Nice.
Back to the plot Harvey and Fee find Foo talking to someone they just don't know who. So they rush out with Fee saying they caught him and Harvey yelling congratulations which is pretty funny.
They find out though that he wasn't talking to a girl but a rock shaped like a finger.
Fee gets a funny line and Foo explains he was talking to it because he's weird. Fair enough. They decide to name it Ira Fingerman. Also we get a joke about Foo trying to pick his nose with the finger. In a bad show like Pig Goat Banana Cricket the joke would be that he's picking his nose. Which that alone is not funny. Just like how just saying the word butt isn't funny. Here however the joke is that this was a bad idea. And it's actually a pretty funny joke.
Shortly afterwards the gang leaves to do something else but Harvey gets the feeling Ira moved. He doesn't think much about it though. Later that night it's raining and Harvey leaves to check on Ira. Can I just point out how cute Harvey is in his raincoat.
I'm sorry but Harvey is just one of the cutest animated characters ever.
Is it just me or have cartoons gotten cuter.
I mean with Fluttershy and We Bare Bears. Everything in animation just seems to be getting cuter. I feel Harvey Beaks beats both Fluttershy (sorry flutters) and We Bare Bears in the cuteness department. Just look at him. I feel now I should bring up the animation. It's good, very good and unique as well. C.H. Greenblatt is a master at creating shows with unique animation. Just look at Chowder and this. There is nothing like the animation in these shows. Heck these two shows aren't even alike in terms of animation.
Harvey sees Ira and throws his raincoat over it. Unfortunately he doesn't have another. Harvey's just so generous isn't he.
So Ira moves around to cover Harvey from the rain. By the way this entire moment just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
It's just extremely heartwarming seeing Harvey doing this for Ira. And that moment when Ira moves to protect Harvey is also just heart warming as well. The music of course just adds so much to the scene. And it gives the entire thing an almost magical feeling. I'm not even joking when I say that. I mean it. I've never had a cartoon make me feel this way before. Sure I've seen many heartwarming moments just......not like this. It's certainly something special. Hard to describe.
I like the feeling though. I wanna see more shows that make me feel it.
So Harvey finds out Ira really is alive.
He begins to feel bad for her as she has to remain stuck in the ground.
So Harvey meets with his friends in the library to see if they can get more info about giant fingers.
He tells Fee and Foo that they have to keep this a secret. He then looks for a book after he finds one his mom comes over. She apparently works at that library. She tells Harvey the book he picked up was one about pregnancy. To be honest if I saw my male child looking at a book about pregnancy I'd have some questions. She says she'll put the book up for Harvey though.
Did I mention how funny this episode was.
Anyway soon after that the gang meets up and decides that they will dig Ira up.
We then get a gag with them high fiveing each other. It's a long gag done correctly.
I really hate overly long gags but this one was good.
It only takes a few seconds before the characters begin getting tired of high fiveing. That's funny. And it also doesn't last so long that it gets annoying. The timing is just correct. It last as long as it needs to.
So Harvey Fee and Foo go over to see Ira. However some people are already there. Apparently after Harvey told Foo to keep it a secret he did the exact opposite and told everyone claiming he did it so it would be every one's secret.
After Harvey CLEARLY said that it was a secret and to keep it between them.
OK, so he has his annoying moments but they're very rare.
In fact out of the episodes I've seen this is really his most annoying moment. But even then it's not that obnoxious. It's not like modern Peter Griffin or Patrick annoying. (Maybe that's because he rarely has moments like this. Unlike the other two who have moments like this all the time. So I'm more annoyed with them when they do something dumb AGAIN, as opposed to Foo who only does something annoyingly dumb occasionally.)
I think it makes it a tad more annoying that we get to see how all the kids treat Ira.
Considering we now know Ira is liveing and all this was caused by Foo it's pretty annoying.
Harvey is obviously not pleased and tells everyone to stop and that Ira is actually living. He then gets everyone to help.
We cut to a rabbit named Dade (I learned my lesson with the whole Sadie incident. I'm gonna start looking up the characters whos names I don't remember.)
So anyway Dade has a bit of an obsession with Harvey. If there is an episode explaining why I haven't seen it yet. But while it's not the funniest thing they do get a few good jokes in with it.
For example Dade only agrees to help dig Ira up after he has a fantasy where digging up Ira causes a black hole of sorts to appear (cartoons can be weird) and it sucks in Fee and Foo (who, since they are Harvey's best friends, he is naturally jealous of them. That and Dade has a thing against 'rebels' like Fee and Foo) It's about to suck Dade in to but Harvey catches him.
Harvey tells Dade that he hates Fee and Foo and that he's always really liked Dade.
It's a funny little fantasy. At first it makes you go WTH but when you see it's a fantasy it's really funny.
So the group begins to dig Ira up.
They go at it for a long while and eventually get tired. Harvey tells everyone not to give up and that they have to keep going.
But everyone is tired and spirits are starting to get low. It seems the world hates them as a big wind storm comes and leaves Ira completely covered in dirt. All they're hard work ruined.
Now spirits are completely destroyed. Harvey tries to give a pep talk to everyone but it doesn't seem to work. Foo then comes in and says he crashed into a rock shaped as a butt.
Of course everyone has to check it out (to be honest I think I would to.)
Harvey stays though. Fee comes to see if he's gonna come with them. Harvey says no and that he's gonna stay with Ira.
Like I said before even though Fee can be rough she still has a soft spot.
Fee returns sometime later with Harvey's mom to the sight of Harvey using his hands trying to dig Ira up.
Harvey's mom comes to talk to Harvey. We then get a really emotional moment.
Harvey's mom says that this is where Ira belongs. She says dealing with something you don't quite understand can be frustrating and that even though it may not be something they would want, they are ultimately not Ira. Maybe this is where she belongs.
Something's are just big for us to handle.
This moral is frankly spectacular.
It's a lesson that should be taught. Sometimes there's nothing you can do.
I know it's kind of a downer but it's true.
Something's you just can't change no matter how hard you try.
Like I said its kind of a downer moral if you think of it.
Like Harvey's Mom said some things are just to big for us to handle and dealing with that can be frustrating.
It's something we gotta learn though.
It's a moral that's for both adults and kids.
And they teach it in a really great, entertaining, emotional way.
It does good job of getting the moral across without talking down to the audience which is something I respect.
But they do a excellent job getting the message across and treating it with the seriousness is deserves. And they don't ever hammer the message in.
It's a downer message but that isn't bad.
It's a moral that needs to be learned at some point.
That's not saying you shouldn't try to overcome obstacles and that you should just be content with the way things are, but something's you just can't change. Like the way the world works. It's a lesson we all have to learn eventually. We can't deal with everything and some things are just to big to handle.
Harvey asks Ira if what is mom said is true and if it's OK to leave her be. Ira rubs his head which I guess means yes.
So we cut into the sometime near future where Harvey Fee and Foo go and see Ira.
Harvey brought some things for her to feel.
Including man kinds greatest achievement in terms of entertainment......
Bubble-wrap.
How kind.
So the episode ends with the kids playing around Ira.
It's such a nice happy ending. One that really brings a smile to my face.
So yeah this episode was AMAZING.
It was funny, emotional and to top it off had great characters and was very entertaining. The music also fits this episode perfectly and just makes the moments all the more impactful.
The moral was really great as well. One that everyone needs to learn and one that will apply to you for the rest of your life.
Even if there are some things you can't change you can still make the best of the situation you're in. Like how Harvey started giving Ira things to feel.
It's one amazing episode and I highly recommended you check it out.
Best Part-The Ending with the moral
Worst Part-Foo letting the secret out.
Overall Score-9.5/10
Man what a great way to start off 2016
Glad you enjoyed my recommendation.
Oh well Kevin if I am to be honest with you I've already seen this episode before you recommended the show but your recommendation made me watch the other episodes and I realized how truly amazing this show is.
But there still is something that ticks me off.
What is that?
This show just showcases how screwed up Nick's prioritise are. I mean I barely see this show get shown on the channel. I barely see any ads for it. It came on after the Kids Choice Awards but after that it was pushed under the rug.
Now the only cartoons that really get any major showcasing on Nick is Spongebob and the Alvin and the Chipmunks reboot it currently has.
But even when they gave cartoons more attention Harvey still got screwed over. Heck even the creator has said he dislikes Nick's treatment of the show.
The only quality cartoon they have (besides re runs of the good Spongebob episodes and some episodes of the chipmunk reboot. And I haven't seen the current TMNT incarnation so I can't say for sure how it is) is getting swept under the rug.
Really?
Breadwinners, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, and Sanjay and Craig all deserve more attention?
Maybe ratings on those shows are better.
But Nick didn't even give Harvey Beaks a chance. (Heck it came out before Pig Goat Banana Cricket which got way more attention then Harvey ever did)
Now though all Nick is really showcasing is lame live action shows.
They aren't bad they're just all dull and bland.
Maybe it's because Nick saw their cartoons weren't doing so hot.
They got OK ratings but people hated them.
Now they only show them like once a week.
To be honest why can't there be a mix of live action and animation like there use to be.
I mean all your shows suck now anyway so it doesn't matter.
But Kevin seriously. Thank you. I was always kinda irritated with you because you kept popping on to my blog without me knowing. I think though I can begin to see you as a friend. Your definitely trust worthy.
Well, glad to hear it but I feel I should be honest with you. I shouldn't even be in contact with you.
Uh.....what do you mean.
I think it's time I tell you my origin story. I'm a guardian angel.
Hamana?
Came a little out of left field I know but thats why I hadn't quite told you my origins. I knew that would probably be your reaction. You see all people have a guardian angel given to them at birth. I'm yours. The thing is your not supposed to know we're here. We're supposed to send you messages through your subconscious.
However when I was still alive I was a critic just like you, only for movies not cartoons. When you started this blog I knew I was gonna have some fun. I thought I'd get in contact with you. But I couldn't. It was against the rules.
That didn't stop you though.
No it didn't. I thought I'd get into cartoons first before I came into contact with you. As the blog was the only way I figured I could get into contact with you without any of the other angels knowing so I figured I might as well get into the shows featured on this blog. And that's my story.
Wow, I honestly don't know what to say. This is just kinda sudden.
I don't know how to respond.
Well I think we should stop talking as much. I've been intrusive and I apologize for that. But being on here is still really risky. I'm sure we'll still be in contact but not as much.
Well thank you Kevin. You were a good friend and I look forward to seeing you a lot more in the future.
Yeah, I don't think you're fans well. I think I bothered the readers of this blog. My first few times coming here were kinda awkward.
With that I'm gone. Goodbye.
Good bye.
Well that was the last we'll see of him for awhile. He certainly was an interesting character. Nice to know though that someone's got my back.
With that thank you guys for reading.
Peace.
Next Animated Critic-The Sum of His Parts (Teen Titans)
Next Quick Thoughts-Stevenbomb 4
Next Toon-O-Ween-Tokyo Ghoul
Other Future Reviews
Gorilla (Teen Titans Go)
Driven to Tears (Spongebob)
On The Run (Steven Universe)
Boast Busters or Call of the Cutie (My Little Pony)
And if I ever do another review on Harvey Beaks it'll be about The Negatives of Being Positively Attracted. This episodes sister episode.
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