"Just Desserts" is the 20th episode of season 2, and the 44th episode overall.
It was produced in 1999 but premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on April 28, 2000 as part of Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.
Synopsis[]
In this sequel to "Supper Villain", the Smiths unite to destroy the Powerpuff Girls after Harold Smith returns from jail and Marianne Smith seeks revenge for her dinner party being ruined. While they succeed in destroying the Girls' living space, they ultimately fail to upset them, and the entire family is beaten up in retaliation.
Plot[]
Continuing on the episode "Supper Villain", the story replays the events leading to the present: Harold Smith, an ordinary man, is living a dull life until he sees a hostage situation involving the Powerpuff Girls, the Mayor and Mojo Jojo, which inspires him to become a villain. Soon after, the rest of his family invite the Professor and the Powerpuff Girls to dinner at their house. During the dinner, Harold's hidden ambitions come to light when he holds the Professor hostage, catching the attention of the police who arrest him amidst a food fight. Meanwhile, Harold's wife, Marianne, harbors ill feelings toward the girls for ruining her dinner party.
A week has passed since those events. After having dealt with life as an inmate in the Townsville Correctional Facility exercising, stamping license plates, and eating slop in the lunchroom, Harold is finally released back to the general public. When he arrives home, Marianne is furious at Harold for the way he embarrassed her and himself before the girls and the Professor, but then she goes on to declare that she and Harold will destroy them together. Though he is thrilled at the thought, he thinks about their children, Bud and Julie, only for them to join in for their personal grudges against the girls (Julie having her jacks lost by the Girls, and Bud simply hating everything).
It is then that Harold declares that they will destroy the Powerpuff Girls as a supervillain family. Though Harold is still quite the outlier for lack of time to prepare, the Smiths are ready to dispatch of the girls, especially with new supervillain costumes and a complete, weaponizing overhaul of the family van as Marianne shows to Harold in their garage. Their first act involves destroying the Utonium home while they are out grocery shopping. After the Utonium family come home and survey the damage in their home, Marianne is sure that her plan is working.
Marianne returns to the Utonium home, knocks on the door, and offers cookies to the family, who is seen together in sorrow. Marianne asks what happened, and the Girls answer that someone broke their house. Marianne acts sorry for the incident. However, despite breaking their morale, the act of vandalism brings out the better in the Girls and the Professor, citing that they are indestructible for as long as they have each other. Infuriated by the family's unity, Marianne drops the cookies and rushes outside. She directs the family to a more blatant attack, using the family van to ram and possibly blast them on target.
After some time being chased and having the house destroyed further, the girls and the Professor approach a dead end. Having enough over the Smiths' reckless act, the girls destroy the van with a single blow. They confront the Smiths and ask them for an explanation. Marianne confesses that not only did the Girls ruin her dinner party, but they also drove Harold insane and got him sent to jail for a time. The Girls dismiss what Marianne said in her family's defense as a despicably pathetic reason. Then, they proceed to defeat the Smiths single-handedly and have them sent to jail. The episode ends as the unfit family's fitting end is highlighted by the Narrator.
Characters[]
- The Powerpuff Girls (Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup)
- Professor Utonium
- Harold Smith
- Marianne Smith
- Bud Smith
- Julie Smith
Trivia[]
- Moral: Overreactions - and especially "revenge" - are not the answer to other peoples' actions, even those you believe were done with bad intentions.
- This episode premiered in some countries before the United States.[1]
- This episode premiered in Australia on December 3, 1999.
- This episode premiered in Canada on December 18, 1999.
- This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2000.
- The Smiths are the only minor villains to appear in more than one episode (apart from the Giant Fishballoon and several cameos of other minor villains).
- This is the second and final appearance of the Smiths.
- The episode title is based on an idiom, "get one's just deserts", which means to be punished or rewarded, based on what the recipient deserves. This may refer to the Smiths (particularly Marianne) taking vengeance against the girls for ruining their dinner party, hence the name "dessert".
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States on April 28, 2000, it was actually produced in 1999 according to the credits.
- This episode was finished in June of 1999.[2]