Grim Review #1: Meet the Reaper

Billy and Mandy is a show I remember watching quite a bit while it was on. The show was part of a Cartoon Network viewer event in 2000 called The Big Pick. Several pilots were showcased over the course of a few weeks and viewers voted for the short they wanted to become a series. Billy and Mandy won the vote. From 2001 to 2007, we were treated to the antics of the happy-go-lucky idiot Billy, the cynical and snarky Mandy, and the Grim Reaper who was forced into a friendship pact with the two after losing a game of limbo. It was originally called Grim and Evil in 2001 because it showcased another series by Maxwell Atoms called Evil Con Carne, but the shows were separated in 2003. I've seen most of the show, but the question is: How does it hold up? I've given myself the task of reviewing every last segment of the show's six seasons.

Without further ado, I'll start with the pilot “Meet the Reaper”.

Image from the Grim Adventures Wiki

Plot:

Our story begins with Billy playing with some of those green army men figures and some kind of monster action figure. Billy makes both sides become friends and embrace.

Wow. The new Independence Day seems way different than the original.

While the scene is playing out, Mandy walks in with a magnifying glass and melts the soldier, stating that it was all a ploy to melt the soldier's brain.Billy is distraught, but is quickly reminded that it is his hamster's tenth birthday.

According to age-converter.com, 3 human years is a century for hamsters, so this hamster is fucking ancient.

Billy shows Mandy a trick that the hamster, Mr. Snuggles, can do. Upon hearing “kiss kiss”, Mr. Snuggles becomes almost feral for a brief moment before biting Billy on the nose.

Mr. Snuggles is either deranged or very kinky.

A green vortex comes out of Billy's floor. Mandy sticks her finger in and tastes it.

I didn't think portals to other dimensions were edible.

The grim reaper appears shortly after to take Mr Snuggles, the kids not phased by him whatsoever.

Mandy refuses to hand over the hamster and proposes a wager: If Grim can defeat Billy and Mandy in a game, Grim can claim the hamster's soul. If Grim loses, he'll be their best friend forever. Grim decides to bring them to “Limbo” to compete in a limbo competition.

All we need now is an ancient Egyptian artifact and this'll become Yu-Gi-Oh!

Grim is about to win when Mandy says “Kiss kiss” prompting Mr. Snuggles to bite Grim, causing him to trip over the bar. Since Grim lost, he is forced to hang out with Billy and Mandy for all eternity.

It's a simple plot that sets up the premise for the series: two total opposite kids hanging out with Death incarnate. There are a few observations I'd like to note. According to my research, the average life span of a hamster is around 2.5 years, so Mr. Snuggles being 10 is kind of incredible, especially with how Billy is portrayed as a pet owner later on. Also, Mandy's motivation for wanting to help Mr. Snuggles stay out of Grim's clutches is not made clear. If I had to guess, it was a gambit to gain Grim's powers in some way, but that's only speculation.

There were some really neat jokes in this episode. The melted army guy having a family, Billy thinking Grim was Santa Claus was kind of funny, and there's a point during the limbo game where the bar is up high enough so that Mandy can just walk right under it.

Overall, this is a decent set-up to the series. You get a feel for all three main characters in a short amount of time, and the humor is there as well. There isn't much to go off of, but you can tell by the fact that the Grim Reaper is a main character and by some of the jokes (like the dead toy soldier having a family) that the overall tone of the show is going to be different from the norm: pretty cynical.

Episode 1a “Meet the Reaper” gets a Good rating.