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evenstevensranked · 7 years ago

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#16: Season 3, Episode 2 - “Where In The World Is Pookie Stevens?”

The Stevens family hold a yard sale and Ren’s beloved stuffed animal Mr. Pookie is accidentally sold! Oh no! This episode brings on some tooth-rotting fluff towards the end and I’m a total sucker for it.

This one opens with Louis outside of a pawn shop drooling over a drumset. He closes his eyes and dreams of jamming when some random nerdy kid appears out of nowhere and joins in playing the accordion:

Louis: “Whooaaaa! Hey! Beat it, kid. This is my fantasy!” -- Even Stevens is so random sometimes that it’s actually pure genius. This is some internet generation 2k18 humor honestly. I can’t even explain it.

Louis desperately wants those drums and immediately goes to Steve and asks for them. This always gives me flashbacks to when Louis asked Steve for the Sludgie machine. Thankfully, the writers are great and take the extra step to confirm that this is in fact supposed to be a parallel! Steve takes Louis down to the basement and walks him through a bunch of things he bought in the past and never uses anymore. One of those things happens to be the Churro machine! Ahh. Nice touch. It’s so satisfying. Every episode is a stand-alone, but little things like this tie it all together and subtly shows that there’s an overarching narrative here. I do have to say, though... This is only the second episode of S3 and Louis The Aspiring Musician is already being shoved down our throats full force. I’ve talked about this before in greater detail. I don’t mind it at all, really. It’s just a clear aspirational change for the character. Anyway. Louis isn’t the only one with a bunch of crap in the basement. Steve and Eileen have their fair share of junk, as well. That’s when Louis gets the idea to hold a yard sale! Steve makes a deal that if Louis runs the whole yard sale himself and makes enough money -- then he can get the drumset. Fair enough. Louis already kinda fails right away with the promotional aspect though:

WHERE’S THE ADDRESS?! YA NITWIT!!!!!!

It cuts to the subplot next, which once again, isn’t really a subplot at all! This seriously is a theme now! I took a look at the rest of the list and it’s pretty much a constant from here on out. I didn’t notice it until recently. It wasn’t something I thought of while compiling the list, but as I’m writing these reviews it makes total sense to me that the episodes I’ve decided to rank higher tell one solid story. They just work better, imo. Idk, I just thought that was kinda interesting, haha.

Ren has a study date lined up with some popular guy Scott Brooks -- Played by Sean Farris who was recently in the TV movie An Uncommon Grace. I only know this because my mom was watching the movie a few weeks ago and I knewww I recognized him from somewhere! I never forget a face. I was so pleasantly surprised to see it was Even Stevens, of all things, that I knew him from. Apparently, Ren likes this guy and Ruby is there to sit in on the date and get the dirt on Scott’s relationship status with Sandy Smithers -- a name that would better suit a freaking cartoon character. Ruby tells Ren that she needs to make her bedroom more “boy friendly” and starts with ~the lighting.~ She takes a thin silk scarf and drapes it over one of Ren’s lamps. Ohhhhh my GOD. Y’all, I remember this sooo clearly, okay? Ruby inspired me to do the same as a kid. I put a silky scarf over a lamp in my room and it mELTED THE SCARF, BURNED A HOLE IN IT, AND WAS VERY CLOSE TO SETTING ON FIRE. Terrible advice, Ruby. Terrible.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

Ruby’s other brilliant advice is to hide Ren’s beloved stuffed animal Mr. Pookie. I love Pookie. Ren has had him since all the way back in Season 1, which is another really nice thing they’ve stuck to. Ren reluctantly agrees and puts Pookie in her closet, but he unfortunately falls into her laundry basket! This becomes a problem when Steve comes in to take Ren’s laundry, ends up tripping in the hallway, and Pookie goes flying into Ren’s yard sale box downstairs. Yikes.

It’s almost like Pookie was meant to be sold. This is like an elaborate “Final Destination” death sequence.

Louis takes the box outside to set up for the sale and Eileen has an inkling of suspicion: “Ooo! Ren is selling Mr. Pookie?!” she asks, but Louis says “He was in her box, right? Guess everyone’s getting in the spirit!” And that’s it! They don’t question it any further! IT PISSES ME OFF!! Obviously, Eileen knows that Mr. Pookie means a LOT to Ren. This whole situation could’ve been totally avoided if Eileen took one extra minute to double check with Ren! I know I would’ve!

Something that bothers me is that Donnie has a whole little shop of his sports gear set up, and THEY SPELLED “DONNIE” WRONG.

I’ll never understand how or why this sort of thing happens on shows all the time. Also, gotta love a few of those Hawaiian shirts for sale in the back/left! Louis truly is a cartoon character when it comes to his costuming.

The one major thing I noticed about the episode while writing this review is that there are three montages! It honestly never stood out to me until now. I’m suddenly not sure how to feel, haha. Oh, well.

The first of the montages is basically one of the yard sale itself. Everything is going on while Ren and Ruby are in the house for their study date. It pretty much cuts back and forth from the quiet awkwardness and small talk of the study sesh to wacky things happening at the yard sale. This includes an important bit where Beans pays 75 cents for a rooster plate that Louis believes isn’t worth anything.

Beans: “Final offer -- 75 cents!”

Louis: “Fine. You beat me down. Just take the plate! [mutters to himself and smirks] Sucker...”

The yard sale is a total success! People even bought the cheap fold up tables they used to display everything!! HAHA.

Well, everybody cleaned up except for Donnie. That is, until creepy Coach Tugnut shows up and buys all of Donnie’s sports memorabilia for a grand total of $42.37. (He later returns everything and lets Donnie know “Some day when you’re old, you’re gonna wanna look back on your triumphant career and wallow in nostalgia. Hold on to your mementos. Soon... they’ll be all you have left.” Super depressing, but super accurate.)

Louis is rolling in the money when Steve asks “LOUIS! WHERE ARE YOUR PANTS?!” And Louis says “I sold them for 6 bucks.” -- This was used on either a lot of old promos back in the day or just one promo that aired constantly, lol. If you watched Disney Channel in the Early 2000s, you have absolutely seen and heard this bit.

This leads to Louis having another daydream of rocking out on the drums in front of an actual audience this time.

Has anyone ever paid money to see a drummer drum with no backing musicians whatsoever? Oh, and I’m only including a gif of this because as you know -- I had a thing for drummers when I was 11, therefore, this did nothing but amplify my already crippling crush on Louis Stevens.

Louis is woken from his little reverie by Ren yelling at him asking if he’s seen Mr. Pookie. This is when Eileen breaks the news to her that Pookie has been sold. She tells her in the worst most confusing way ever: “Remember your parakeet FiFi? Do you remember when she flew out that window and we said to you ‘Don’t worry, maybe someday she’ll fly back home?!’ ......This is nothing like that. Mr. Pookie’s been sold. He’s never coming back.” WHAT THE HELL, EILEEN?!?!

Ren tries to be mature about the situation and pulls the whole “stuffed animals are childish anyway” excuse in an attempt to get over Pookie. So far, so good -- until Ruby calls her that night with “Not so good news. Scott’s back with Sandy! Apparently she IM’d him like a hundred times until he agreed to get back together.” -- I just had to include the full quote because that AIM reference is too wonderful. Ruby tells Ren to cuddle up to Mr. Pookie and ~get through~ the heartbreak.

Ren dramatically gazing at Mr. Pookie’s empty throne with sadness...

This transitions into the second montage which is a pretty funny highlight reel of Ren and Pookie’s relationship set to a melodramatic song about always being friends, haha. We see them having a picnic together, going water skiing, and wiping each other's tears after reading a book called “So You Lost Your Parakeet?” It’s kinda of amazing.

THAT POOKIE HAND THO

Ren’s 100% done with the pity party and barges into Louis’ room insisting for him to think really hard about who he sold Pookie to. Louis says that mom and dad will just buy her a new one but she explains that they don’t make Mr. Pookie’s anymore. This always breaks my heart a little bit, not even gonna lie right now. Their argument sends Steve and Eileen running into Louis’ room as well and they promise Ren that they’ll all do everything in their power to bring Mr. Pookie back.

This segues into the third and final montage of the family searching far and wide for Pookie. Like... genuinely. They search the globe over.

After searching and searching to no avail, Louis excitedly grabs Ren to show her a commercial on TV for a brand new “Hip-Hop Mr. Pookie” doll. He thinks he’s a genius and solved the problem easy peasy, but Ren says “Louis, you just don’t get it.” -- I know some people might think Ren is being really overdramatic about an inanimate object, but sometimes the sentimental value is LEGIT. I’ll never forget when my favorite stuffed doll went missing and ended up in a hotel’s washing machine and my grandfather went to hell and back to retrieve it.

And now, we’ve made it to the glorious conclusion. Louis goes to the pawn shop to buy his dream drums with the $200 he made from the yard sale. But crazily enough, he notices that Ren’s Mr. Pookie doll (missing eye and all) is being unloaded as a new product there! I guess the person who bought it at the yard sale immediately turned around and sold it to the pawn shop? Louis asks them to throw the doll in with the drums for 2 bucks. But, the shop owner informs him that it costs exactly $200 (of course) since it’s an original Mr. Pookie. Louis has a clear internal struggle over what to do.

It fades to the Stevens’ house that night and Ren screaming with joy when she gets into bed and finds Mr. Pookie under the covers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m crying. Louis overhears from his room and smiles to himself all proud and goes to sleep knowing he did the right thing. WHAT A SELFLESS ANGEL!!!!!

The next morning, Ren stops Louis on his way out the door and tells him she saw the tag from the pawn shop and knows he’s the one who found Pookie. He tries to play it cool and says “Yeah. Well, he was looking a little homesick, alright?” (Awwwwwwww!!) Louis sort of rants when he explains that he didn’t want to tell her it was him because she gets all “mushy and jumpy and huggy” over stuff. Ren shuts him up by handing him a pair of drumsticks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He’s so confused until he follows Ren into the living room and sees that the whole family chipped in to get him the drums after all!!!!! EVERYONE WINS HERE!!!

Louis is now the one who gets hilariously mushy and jumpy and huggy! “YOU GOT ME THE DRUMS!!! YOU GOT ME THE DRUMS!!!” he squeals as he hugs and repeatedly thanks them. Oh my god. It’s so sweet.

The final minute bit is Louis watching TV and channel surfing when he lands on a program that Beans is on! Beans brought the rooster plate onto some artifact show and the lady tells him that it dates back to the 18th century and is worth $8,500 lol.

“Who’s the sucker now, Louis?”

And that’s it! This is probably my personal favorite Ren plot. I’ve said before that Ren reminds me so much of my mom when she was younger, and not only look-wise. My mom still sleeps with her favorite stuffed animal to this day, so this episode has always felt close to our hearts for whatever reason. I also ADORE how this episode ends up becoming an amazing and endearing moment for Louis -- my favorite character. The whole premise of the show is that Louis and Ren are always at odds, so to see Louis do something so kind for her is so refreshing and warms my freaking heart every time. Idk, I just have a really soft spot for this one.

A fun fact for ya is that Nick Spano (Donnie) got to keep Mr. Pookie!! I’m not sure why Christy didn’t take Pookie after the show wrapped tbh... but, either way -- Nick’s got ‘em and did a cute little “Flat Stanley”-esque sort of thing “#wherespookie” with it on Instagram.

My personal favorite has gotta be this video of Pookie “DJ-ing.” You can actually see a little exchange I had with him about it in the comments, lol.

I’m trying to come up with a Redbubble design for every episode, (I’m focusing on the rest of the countdown now and then I’ll go back and make designs for the ones I’ve already covered...) So here’s this week’s design: A "Have You Seen Me?” Mr. Pookie shirt just like the ones The Stevens family wore in this episode. Yeeee!

Thanks for reading! And don’t forget that there’s a Disqus comment section below for a reason, y’all! TALK TO MEH plz.

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