Grim Review #2: "Skeletons in the Water Closet"

Howdy folks! Turtle here with another edition of Grim Reviews. This time with the second short of the Grim & Evil era: “Skeletons in the Water Closet”.

Image courtesy of the Grim Adventures Wiki

Our story begins with Billy's mom cleaning the house and waking up Billy and his dad. When she approaches Billy's bed, Grim appears from under the covers, scaring her. She frantically goes to her husband, thinking Billy had turned into a skeleton. The parents go to their child, only for Billy to be perfectly fine. The dad, Harold, is annoyed with his wife, Gladys. Harold asks Gladys if she forgot to take her medicine, and they walk away.

Grim, also annoyed with what just happened, goes to take a shower. Gladys readies some towels for Billy, who she thinks is in the shower, only to find Grim behind the curtain. Gladys has another episode and warns Harold about the naked skeleton in the bathroom.

“Naked skeletons? Well, I'd better get the flail.”

Why does this family own a flail?

Harold goes to confront Grim only to find Billy on the toilet. Harold urges Gladys to relax, and insists the skeleton is a stress-induced hallucination. Mandy arrives to play with Billy, and they, along with Grim, decide to play hide-and-seek.

While Grim is looking for the kids, Mr Snuggles laughs at him.

I suppose Mr. Snuggles is immortal now.

Gladys's paranoia starts to get to her, and she find a tall figure behind the living room curtain. She is poised to attack it, but finds that it's just Billy standing on Mandy's shoulders. Gladys is relieved to find her son unharmed, only to be spooked by Grim seconds later. A brief time skip later, and Gladys is in a car with Billy's aunt, Sis. Harold is having her sent away due to her erratic behavior. The segment ends with Gladys seeing Grim and freaking out.

Like with most of the early episodes, there isn't much to the plot, really. The episode is mostly Billy's mom going crazy. While the freakouts are entertaining, they are also a bit disturbing. The zany visual representation, along with Jennifer Hale's vocal performance, illustrates manic episodes that are both fun and unnerving. I'd like to point out that Grim was totally in the right for being grumpy upon waking up. The clock sitting aside Harold just seconds before indicates that the time is 5:24. Most people don't enjoy getting up at 5:24 A.M. Also, I question why there's a flail in their household. Then again, Billy and Mandy is kind of a crazy show, so doing something exaggerated like this as a joke makes a lot of sense.

Most of the jokes center around Gladys's mental state. Sure, there's the flail thing, and that's amusing, but it's mostly Gladys freaking out for seven minutes. I already expressed my thoughts concerning that: entertaining, yet slightly disturbing.

While it introduces Billy's family alright, there isn't much to the story or the humor. Gladys is paranoid about Grim. That's it. Nothing else of note.

“Skeletons in the Water Closet” receives a Meh rating.