"Makes Zen To Me" is the third episode of sixth season and the 117th episode overall.
It premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on April 23, 2004.
Synopsis[]
After beating up Fuzzy Lumpkins recklessly even when he surrendered, Buttercup is accused of being too harsh and violent by the doctors and her sisters. She flies to the mountains to find inner peace and meets a monk who helps her gain it. After Mojo Jojo comes to have a battle with the monk and defeats him, Buttercup finishes him with a single blow and returns to her sisters.
Plot[]
Buttercup is fighting Fuzzy Lumpkins with excessive collateral damage, even going as far as to pummel him senseless even after he calls for surrender. When Buttercup is done, she says that she's hungry and flies off to a local Chinese restaurant to meet Professor Utonium for dinner, leaving Bubbles and Blossom concerned at the sight of her excessive brutality. At the restaurant, everyone is enjoying rice bowls. Buttercup tries to eat hers with chopsticks like everyone else, but when it proves difficult, she discards them and barbarically downs the rice altogether. Blossom takes this as another sighting of "Ms. Overdo-it" when a waiter comes by with fortune cookies. Blossom and Bubbles break theirs open to see their fortunes while Buttercup smashes hers on the table and downs the crumbs:
- Bubbles' fortune says, "You bring sunshine to those who surround you."
- Blossom's fortune says, "Your quality is that of a leader. Others are sure to follow you."
- Buttercup's fortune says, "Be not violent or angry---peace lies within."
Blossom and Bubbles embrace the reality of their fortunes while Buttercup discards hers, denouncing it as stupid. However, Blossom and Bubbles says that her fortune has a point, with Bubbles citing that Buttercup has been taking her fighting a little too far lately. Blossom tells Buttercup that there was no need to mercilessly beat the stuffing out of Fuzzy, and she and Bubbles feel sorry for Fuzzy. Buttercup doesn't get why her sisters are sticking up for a villain like Fuzzy, as she feels that he deserved the beating.
Blossom points out that Fuzzy gave up the fight, it was over, but Buttercup continued to beat him up anyway. Blossom explains that Buttercup just doesn't know when to stop and that she always has to overdo her fighting. No sooner have the Girls (mostly Blossom and Buttercup) walked out of the restaurant while arguing, Buttercup is confronted by the doctors and the nurse tending to an injured Fuzzy Lumpkins, displaying the result of her heinous actions. An angry doctor tells Buttercup that there's nothing heroic about her because now, Fuzzy can't eat, talk or think right. Horrified and overwhelmed, Buttercup flies off, once again, leaving Blossom and Bubbles behind.
All alone, high in the mountains on a whole other hemisphere, Buttercup tries to rationalize her actions as her sworn duty as a superhero, only for her to succumb to the guilt and realize that her sisters and the doctors were right about her being way too aggressive and violent. She has to change her ways if she ever hopes to find inner peace but doesn't know where to start. Just then, a monk emerges from the fog, telling her that acknowledging the problem is where she must begin. He offers to guide Buttercup on her journey to find her inner peace, citing the exact words from her fortune cookie. To that end, he returns to her the fortune she discarded, though how it came to be in his possession is a mystery. Walking away, he explains that mastering oneself is a greater victory than the thousands to be made in battle and tells her that she needs guidance and wisdom. He disappears, leaving Buttercup alone. But no sooner than he does, the fog lifts, revealing his abode; a humongous snowy mountain-top temple. She takes off for the temple, seeking more of the Monk's advice.
Inside one of the Temple's chambers, Buttercup presents herself to the Monk, impatiently looking to begin her journey of inner peace. When she acknowledges her patience, the Monk presents her with a series of tests designed specifically to help her develop, build up, and strengthen the one thing she lacks - Self Control. The tests are seemingly menial tasks, such as meditating, sand painting, zen gardening, bonsai hedge trimming, eating rice bowls with chopsticks, and lightning candles, all with the minimal use of her powers. She takes them seriously and follows the Monk's instructions to the letter and pretty soon, she finds her balance.
While they are meditating, the Monk senses a familiar presence: Mojo Jojo. Having once trained under the Monk but since rejecting his guidance in favor of continuing his training on his own, he seeks to defeat the Monk and take his rightful place as the Master. The only thing stopping him is the sudden realization that Buttercup is in the same room as him and she hasn't pummeled him senseless. The Monk explains that she is his best student because she has calmed herself, the one thing Mojo could not. He tells him that he knows from personal experience Buttercup is the most brutal and headstrong of all the Powerpuff Girls, but she simply meditates through all of his attempts to prove it. Sick of wasting time, a fist fight between him and the Monk ensues, but Mojo is unable to land a single blow. That is, until he distracts him by saying "Your shoe's untied!" and beats him with a single punch. Buttercup, sensing her teacher in distress, snaps out of her meditative trance and comes to his aid. She asks him what to do and he tells her "The water rushing down the mountainside washes away impurities and replenishes the land. You must be like water, Grasshopper." Buttercup is hopelessly confused until he simply tells her to "Kick his butt!" Buttercup returns to her headstrong heroic self and sucker punches Mojo, sending him out of the tower and tumbling down the mountain. After the fight, she returns to zen mode and her master explains that a warrior strikes a decisive blow, then stops, and to only strike out of necessity, not out of thrill or ego. Since this is exactly how she handled Mojo, she has come a long way since her first throwdown with Fuzzy. He tells her he is proud of her and to never forget the importance of temperance if being a crimefighter is her purpose. He says it's time for her to rejoin her sisters, and she gives him a fond farewell, as well as a kiss on his cheek. She takes off, leaving the master to say "She's a good kid".
The narrator ends the episode with the closing line "The Day is Saved!", but not before acknowledging the new and improved Buttercup, asking "Who says a Grasshopper can't be a Buttkicker!?"
Characters[]
- The Powerpuff Girls (Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup)
- Monk
- Mojo Jojo
- Fuzzy Lumpkins
- Him (Pictured)
- Doctor Martin
- Resturant owner
- Professor Utonium
- Narrator
- Doctor
Trivia/Goofs[]
- Moral: Self Control
- Villains deserve justice, which sometimes involves punishment, but deliberately causing them debilitating pain makes you no better than them.
- There is a fine line between righteous fury and aggressive brutality. Finding it is difficult, but still a necessary challenge worth completing.
- Aggressiveness is essential for any crimefighter, but only when tempered with compassion, humility, and knowing when to quit will true balance be achieved. Failure to recognize such a moral makes you more dangerous than the very thing you’ve sworn to fight against.
- In other words: Don't be violent and angry. True happiness lies within you.
- Blossom and Bubbles only make a brief appearance in the 2002-2005 animated episode outro at the end of this episode.
- This episode is one of the few to show Buttercup's softer side.
- This is the last episode to star Buttercup as the focus character.
- This is one of two episodes in which the narrator doesn't manage to finish his trademark opening line. The other is "Hot Air Buffoon".
- When Buttercup was shown trying to light the candles, her dress changes colors for a split-second.
- When Blossom is explaining to Buttercup she pummeled him senseless even after he had surrendered, her arms are behind her hair.