Written by J. David Stem & David N. Weiss
Synopsis:
Kevin takes over for his friend George at the local corner store while George takes time out to study. Unfortunately Kevin finds himself distracted by a pornographic magazine and goes into the bathroom to ‘enjoy’ it. Meanwhile, in his haste he didn’t realize there were still two people in the store, punk kids from his school. They take the opportunity to loot the store but find Kevin ‘enjoying’ the pornography in the bathroom. In a panic, Kevin attempts to burn the evidence but accidentally sets fire to the entire store, with him trapped in the bathroom.
When Kevin comes to, he finds Andy very concerned and relieved he’s alright, but also finds the police have arrested the two punks who robbed the store. More surprising to Kevin is they are being charged with attempted murder and could get sentenced to 25 years to life. Nobody is on their side, while Kevin is constantly praised. This causes the guilt to gnaw at him until he confides in Andy, who gets angry at Kevin for his unwillingness to confess the truth only because he is ashamed to admit he was looking at pornography.
Meanwhile, Andy sees a growing trend of people, including his roommate Jim, wearing vinyl hot pants from Japan that are in bright colours and have cute animal faces on the back. He hates the fad, but soon finds himself being ridiculed for his inability to keep up with current trends.
On the day of the trial, Kevin is on the stand, and reluctantly brings himself to lie that the two punks did do as they were accused. As he is about to step down, the statue of justice turns into the woman he was ogling in the pornographic magazine. She ‘convinces’ him (I won’t spoil how) to confess the truth, and his admission causes everyone to laugh at him.
Andy then steps up (now wearing the hotpants) and gives a speech about how Kevin should not be ashamed to look at smut, because he convinces everyone to admit, that they do too. As they leave the courtroom, Andy, now wearing the hot pants he hated, finds it is no longer ‘cool’ to wear the pants, since the fad has now caught on with everybody.
Review:
It’s good to see some more depth to the characters. Even though Andy and Kevin fight, a lot, both physically and verbally, they deep down do care for each other. After all, they’re brothers.
The subplot with the hot pants (or ‘kurai pantsu’, as they’re called in their original country of Japan) is pretty funny too. It satirizes the fickle nature of fads, and about the whole idea of ‘mainstream’ and ‘sellout.’
I don’t want to give too much away but it’s just very funny how this whole scenario spirals out of control, with everybody supporting Kevin and absolutely nobody standing up for the two punks. Kevin’s left with quite a dilemma, and a sense of guilt that’s gnawing away at his resolve to keep the truth hidden. It’s quite interesting to watch as everything turns in his favour. And of course, the nameless ‘smut’ lady who acts as his conscience, is quite funny and almost poetic, because despite all the good that’s happening, he’s still got that nugget of truth he has to face. The way Kevin’s fantasy woman ‘convinces’ him to confess is both hilarious and a bit disturbing. You’ll have to watch the episode to see what it is. And Andy’s speech at the end is very funny, and while it may be true (not that I’m revealing anything about my personal life), I wouldn’t rely on it to get out of a jam!
4 out of 5
Capsule:
With loads and loads of contributions by tacosalad97124
Some information taken from TV Tome
Production Code: 3950-03
Original Airdate: October 8, 1999 (The WB)
Written by: J. David Stem & David N. Weiss
Directed by: Tricia Garcia
Guest stars:
Dave Thomas as Mr. Czelanski
Synopsis:
Kevin takes over for his friend George at the local corner store while George takes time out to study. Unfortunately Kevin finds himself distracted by a pornographic magazine and goes into the bathroom to ‘enjoy’ it. Meanwhile, in his haste he didn’t realize there were still two people in the store, punk kids from his school. They take the opportunity to loot the store but find Kevin ‘enjoying’ the pornography in the bathroom. In a panic, Kevin attempts to burn the evidence but accidentally sets fire to the entire store, with him trapped in the bathroom.
When Kevin comes to, he finds Andy very concerned and relieved he’s alright, but also finds the police have arrested the two punks who robbed the store. More surprising to Kevin is they are being charged with attempted murder and could get sentenced to 25 years to life. Nobody is on their side, while Kevin is constantly praised. This causes the guilt to gnaw at him until he confides in Andy, who gets angry at Kevin for his unwillingness to confess the truth only because he is ashamed to admit he was looking at pornography.
Meanwhile, Andy sees a growing trend of people, including his roommate Jim, wearing vinyl hot pants from Japan that are in bright colours and have cute animal faces on the back. He hates the fad, but soon finds himself being ridiculed for his inability to keep up with current trends.
On the day of the trial, Kevin is on the stand, and reluctantly brings himself to lie that the two punks did do as they were accused. As he is about to step down, the statue of justice turns into the woman he was ogling in the pornographic magazine. She ‘convinces’ him (I won’t spoil how) to confess the truth, and his admission causes everyone to laugh at him.
Andy then steps up (now wearing the hotpants) and gives a speech about how Kevin should not be ashamed to look at smut, because he convinces everyone to admit, that they do too. As they leave the courtroom, Andy, now wearing the hot pants he hated, finds it is no longer ‘cool’ to wear the pants, since the fad has now caught on with everybody.
Notes
-The animals on the spicy pants is likely a parody of Hello Kitty.
- In the early scene in the Mission Hill Market where Wally tries to buy condoms from Kevin, the animation cels were stacked in the wrong order. The cel of Kevin’s head was inadvertently stacked atop the cel of his shirt, so his neck partly
covers the shirt instead of disappearing behind it. This makes it appear Kevin is briefly wearing a collarless shirt with a low neckline, and then suddenly reverts to his traditional button-down shirt during the shot!
- Again in the Mission Hill Market, the ‘Nice Freak’ (who asks for low-fat salad dressing) initially turns away from the counter with his purchase he has two barbell piercings on his face, one above each eye. (You’d practically have to freeze frame this shot.) When he reaches the door, he clearly has just one barbell piercing above his left eye.
-In Andy’s Room, while Kevin confesses to Andy about his masturbation incident, the window shade in the background is initially lowered in all the background shots. Part way through the scene the shade abruptly moves to a raised position. While this is obviously necessary for the scene’s punch line (Kevin later waves through the window) why wasn’t the shade raised all along?
-At the Glass Eye, Sasha mocks Andy because he is wearing blue jeans instead of hot pants (or karai pantsu). In a close shot the barista emerges from behind the counter to mock Andy’s jeans, but in the following shot (showing Sasha, the barista, and Sasha’s girlfriend) the barista is still behind the counter. Yet the next shot puts the barista in front of the counter again.
-In the courtroom, Andy boos at Kevin’s first testimony in the court, but the Judge orders the audience to refrain from heckling the witness. Andy says “Sorry!” and he is plainly wearing blue jeans as he returns to his seat. (Well, plainly if you freeze-frame it.) But it’s later revealed that Andy is, in fact, wearing hot pants not blue jeans.
-Mr. Cresto’s identity is confirmed as the Guidance Counselor in the dialogue of this episode.