Episode 412: Temporary Blindness

Cast:
Brendon Small/Perry/Dwayne/Ping Pong- Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis/Coach Jon McGuirk/Walter - H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins/Tooku - Melissa Bardin Galsky
Paula Small - Janine Ditullo
Josie Small - Loren Bouchard

Synopsis: McGuirk's laser eye surgery leads to him temporarily losing his sight, which of course McGuirk sees as a financial opportunity. Meanwhile, a new family tree project forces Brendon, Jason and Melissa to deal with...their families.

History:
· This episode is notable to the hardcore fan in that it finally explains the origins of Brendon's sister Josie.

Lawn Gnomes:
· Bed shot

Brendon’s Filmography:
· "Timmy" - A lonely boy who loses his senses turns into a celebrity but can't handle the pressure...or something like that.

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· It seems losing your senses is the connection here. Timmy loses all of his senses while McGuirk loses his sight.

Song Lyrics: [Thanks to Bethany for corrections]

· Timmy Segment 1 [Tabs]
Timmy was a boy and Timmy was his name
His parents were never around to watch him play
And he lived a life of perpetual boredom
Timmy!
Timmy-Timmy-Timmy-Timmy! Timmy!
Sitting on the ground on a rainy day
Swallowed(?) with boredom Timmy's brain stepped away
And he lost his vision, peripherally
And developed a lisp
And stopped smelling things

His senses were dimmed
His senses were gone...kind of
How can we save, this little boy?
How can we save, this little boy?
Timmy...

· Timmy Segment 2 [Tabs]
Timmy...
Everyone knows of you
You're a big celebrity
Everybody look for
Doctor Stu help Timmy
No one knew what to do
He tried Doctor Robot!
I am a robotic doctor my friend
And I'd like a taste of your fame
If I make you a robot like me which you practically are
Then they'll put my picture on the very front page
Timmy ran away
Timmy ran away
Timmy ran away
Timmy ran away
Run away Timmy until you can't run anymore!

· Timmy Segment 3 [Tabs]
Forever...we have the freedom...oh Timmy
Over boredom...the children...have the power...forever...oh Timmy
Forever...we have the freedom...oh Timmy
Over boredom...the children...have the (fades out)

Random Observations & Facts:
· Outside the eye doctor's office:
Loco Moco's Funland
Father O'Malleys Adult Book Store
Dr. Speedy's Lasik Center
· A pamphlet in the office reads: "Are you sad? Take One"
· McGuirk brings Black Hole Brew and Red Eye Whiskey to the doctor's office.
· The eye doctor's other job: Car salesman.
· McGuirk's blindness causes him to drop the phone.
· McGuirk has left beer all around Brendon's room.
· Brendon's family tree marks Linda as "Blondie".
· McGuirk's celebrity impersonations:
Jimmy Stewart
John Wayne
John F. Kennedy
Johnny Carson (who isn't dead, and who McGuirk mistakes for Ed Sullivan)
Zeus
Jimmy Cagney
King Arthur
· The Josie adoption thing is most likely due to speculation on the internet. Ever since the earliest days of the show, internet fans were curious as to Josie's age combined with the time between Paula and Andrew's divorce and her race. This episode (being the second last) probably purposefully put that in to appease the overanalysing hardcore fans, such as myself.
· Melissa's family tree:
Mother: Cinderella
Father: Jesse Ventura
Brothers: Happy, Sleepy, Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, Lumpy, Stu
Uncle: Hulk Hogan
· Jesse Ventura was said to be the first independent governor of Minnesota--but he wasn't independent--he was elected on the Reform Party ticket. (thanks to brianshapiro via the Adultswim.com forums)
· The same guy who gave McGuirk laser eye surgery in Temporary Blindness is sitting
next to McGuirk in traffic school in Those Bitches Tried to Cheat Me. (Thanks for Cody S. for this)

Movie & Other References:
· "Timmy" is a direct spoof of The Who's "Tommy".

End Credits: Timmy Part 3

Reviews:
King of PaQ: An interesting episode McGuirk goes in for eye laser surgery ("Doc, I smell flesh burning" "I told you not to move" "I smell eye burning" "That's normal") and the kids get assigned a family tree project. McGuirk ends up staying with the Smalls ("He's not ours" "Well don't you have someone who owes you a favor" "C'mon mom lets bring him home") and hijinks ensues as McGuirk eventually removes the bandages to reveal... he's blind! (Funny scene as McGuirk calls his doctor demanding his eyesight, but his doctor is busy at his other work.. as apparently a hot dog vendor!) Anyway McGuirk mentions to Brendon not to drink the chocolate milk because it's bad and at school later that day, it's announced the chocolate milk has gone bad! The kids think McGuirk is a blind prophet. Soon enough Brendon finds out that McGuirk is not blind ("You're reading a magazine" "What? I like magazines") and not a prophet ("The lunch lady told me to put the milk away and I forgot to") but cuts a deal with McGuirk as McGuirk has a huge saence to appear at. After struggling somewhat to find someone in the crowd who has a dead relative ("What? No one? That's statistically impossible.") he wins them over as he calls dead celebrities into his body (Johnny Carson, etc), before blowing his cover. On the family tree, Jason can't do it because his parents are in some foreign city so he does it on his ferret's family tree, Melissa (who was freaking out about the project) ends up doing it interesting, as her mother is Cinderella, her dad is Jesse the Body Ventura and her uncle is Hulk Hogan, and finally Brendon ends up doing his actual family however him and Paula left out many who they felt just weren't good parts to brag about. Can't forget that through the episode bits and pieces of a movie called "timmy" is shown (jason in costume) apparently a parody of the movie "tommy" .Also we find out that Josie Small is adopted... A pretty funny episode, very entertaining. I give it a B+.

MovieGuy: So, in conclusion, she's ADOPTED! Finally, all the questions to where Josie comes from are answered. That I wanted.

The episode was hilarious. Of the 2 of 3 final episodes, this is up there with Definite Possible Murder. McGuirk was hilarious (as always). His blindness was funny. His channeling of dead celebrities (oddly enough Johnny Carson (who's not dead)) was great, "do not drink the chocolate milk".

I wish we could have seen more of the family tree stuff. Josie's question was answered, but what about Jason?!?!*? Altough, the ferret family tree was funny.

Timmy! That was weird. I mean weird. I like weird, so...

My positives were Eye Surgurey Video, Family Tree, ADOPTED!, Blindness, Timmy
My negatives were what about Jason's family?!?!?
Grade: A

Fone Bone: This was a great episode. I always thought Josie was so cute. I love babies with glasses that are always smiling. I love how Paula adopted her. In fact I think I'm in love with Paula period.

McGuirk was funny with his phony psychic plot. It reminded me of the cold readings Stan did in the South Park that ripped apart John Edward. I loved how he told Brenden that he negotiated down and Brenden didn't really seem to care.

I've never seen Tommy so the parody was lost on me but the animation was really cool. (So was the animation in the eyeball film strip.)

Melissa was as adorable as usual. Jason's imaginary ferret was funny as well.

Walter and Perry are getting married! Yaaaay!!!! (Must be in Massachusetts.)

Score for this episode: *****.

KTF: I was laughing hysterically at the first half. The second half almost ruined it- McGuirk's plot fell apart when it became predictable and not very funny. The Timmy movie was funny (I've never seen Tommy, so I can't say how closely it parodied) even if I didn't know just what was going on. There were a lot of subtle jokes that worked well- Did anyone else catch Paula saying "Brendon, go start the car."? Overall good, but McGuirk's plot was a major thorn in this episode's side.
Delthayre: With "Temporary Blindess", Home Movies wanders into a belated but hilarious spoof of John Edwards and psychics in general, and I give points for no attempts at Miss Cleo jokes. The movie was a little hard to follow, but had great humor and an appealing Kubric (or perhaps Altman... anyone seen Brewster McCloud?) feel to it. The family tree side story was an effective back-up and I found it funny overall.

I think it's just short of legendary greatness, but it's excellent nonetheless. **** out of *****

GMB: Now this is more like it.

The McGuirk stuff worked real well ("I hate Mr. Stingy too! I'd like to kill the son of a *****!") and the "Tommy" parody was, not surprisngly better than the movie it parodied and far easier to follow. It kind of fell apart at the end, but Jason's ferret monologue managed to keep me laughing to the degree I didn't mind too much.

And here I was afraid they'd lost it: A

The Landstander: The last non-finale episode, and it's good.

The McGuirk plot started off strongly but I think it was taken a bit too far for its own comedic potential. McGuirk's initial drugged up surgery was pretty funny, but by the time it became celebrity impersonations it felt a bit long.

Despite completely throwing any kind of believability out the window, I enjoyed "Timmy". It's not suprising to hear it was a new animator kind of showing off, but hey, he did a good job with it.

Leading into the next episode, I enjoyed the family tree plotline, though they could've done a bit more with it. Jason's complete lack of family life was darkly amusing, as was Melissa's issues. It's suprising that Brendon had the least trouble with the assignment. Also, a good throwback to the fans in telling where Josie comes from; there would be no reason to mention that if people hadn't been speculating since the show started.

A good episode that leads nicely into the finale. Recommended