🤨 no such thing as perfect? Have you not seen a 20lb wheel of cheese?? That my friend is perfection 🤤. I have 120 oz of Max Cleanse Laxatives Extra Strength,and 13 lbs of Jalapeno Cheddar cheese, gonna devour them both and see who wins out,for science purposes 👨🏿🔬.
I thought the fish was a cod because i thought they were eating baccala and baklava which if u dont know baccala is salted cod but idk i only know that bc sopranos but a picture popped up on google of a salted cod and it looked like that fish idk just spitballin
I think the dream is suppose to symbolize that the perfectionist teacher was always watching. In every image there is many eyes for things that only have two, or only two big ones for the spider instead of it’s small eight. With the words “right now”, adding agency to the message. You are being watched right now.
I'll take a third option, Shawn. I think one explanation for Di Lung showing up is that Courage hallucinated him too in that scene as someone to compare himself to. Di Lung is shown to be so overconfident and think so highly of himself that it makes sense to me that Courage would see him as the opposite of himself in this episode.
I think I have an idea for the weird dream. Usually the biblically accurate angel imagery is paired with the phrase, “Be not afraid” which matches Courage’s cowardly nature and facing how to not be afraid. Or the eyes thing might be the whole “all eyes on you” feeling when wanting to be perfect for the perception of others?
One of my favorite details looking back on this episode is the look and you'll blink moments with the Villain of this episode. The teacher is all in Courage's mind, a manifestation. Murial doesn't see her and only Courage can. Another detail is how She is one of the few villains we're not given a name in the only episode she appears in. Fandom decided to name her Perfectionist.
The dream with the paper drawings could simply symbolize future threats. We’ve seen throughout the series all of the different monsters, villains, freaks and weirdos that cross paths with Courage, Muriel and Eustace. At this point though, I think Courage has been through the ringer enough to know that the next one will always be not too far away. He’s got no clue who or what it could be (hence why all of those drawings seem so abstract) so he’s barely got any real way to prepare for any of it. Even if he ever did try to prepare for something, he’d just make himself look like a fool when it inevitably blindsides them all, hence the following dream with the pies. One of the oldest fears of mankind is the fear of the unknown. It’s why we’re afraid of the dark, or of death, or in this case the future: we don’t know what’s beyond it. That’s why that final picture in the dream is so much clearer than the rest, because before you even know it, the future is already here. Right now.
Based off your proposal, I wonder if perhaps it's the opposing recall of previous monsters as the first papers, then the "angel" with "right now" appearing as Courage's subconscious conclusion that the perfection teacher is simply another monster like before, just one whom he is dealing with "right now?"
Despite the moral not being as impactful or the progression not being as fun as other episodes, this still ranks among my favorites for one reason: John Dilworth KNEW at the beginning of the season that the series was not getting renewed. He WANTED the series to end with this episode, and if I remember correctly, it was because so much of the series had dealt with strange abstract horrors and situations and had so many other wild moral lessons children weren't usually parsed, but he did it all in the vein of entertainment. And something so many other series did was ground all these morals into children; things for them to worry about, considerations about their worth and how they are performing ON TOP of the judgement they got from their parents, school, friends, and so on. The tutor's appearance being that of an oldschool teacher with a ruler was no coincidence, it was a blatant allusion to a common authoritative figure children could immediately recognize and feel slightly unnerved by as it was someone they could all relate to along with the subject matter. Everyone has been talked down to by an authoritative figure and everyone has been lambasted for not doing something the right way. And John wanted the final message of the series to be a reminder to never concern yourself too much with what the world tells you is the "Right" or "Wrong" way to do things. It's not even just that you'll mess up sometimes, it's that you have to hold onto that inner child and creativity, to never let go of that side of yourself, which is why all of Courage's mistakes at the beginning of the episode and the picture he draws at the end are so... Childish. And that picture is especially important from a writing standpoint, because while the chicken coop got painted like a clown house and the windmill blades were replaced with a children's toy, the PICTURE was a follow-up and "final test" among various other stringent tests that teacher had put Courage through. Think about it, Courage had to carry books on his head, walk straight, was even psyched out into SLEEPING "perfectly"... And her final test is to write a number. Something so simple and trivial. Courage, more likely than not, could have made a normal 6, had it be perfectly fine and STILL been punished for not doing it the way the teacher wanted, but in an ultimate act of (innocent) defiance, he did it in the most creative, childish way possible and was PROUD of what he made, something that destroys his demon in the process who just can't handle the idea of him having approached the matter in any way other than how she had anticipated. And this might all sound redundant to some of you, but I'm not thinking of Courage the Cowardly Dog, the TV Show, when I say this. I'm thinking of Courage the Cowardly Dog, JOHN DILWORTH'S CREATIVE WORK OF PASSION, when I say this. Remember, John was an abstract artist and a sorta've low brow animator who got a chance to make Courage purely off of a goofy little pilot he made back in the day on the What a Cartoon show. John, by all accounts, was an extremely unorthodox animator and the exact kind of zany, experimental creative that you just don't see often nowadays. He was told at the beginning of this final season that he wouldn't be renewed again and he had seen where Cartoon Network was heading from there. The fact that he wanted his final message to simply be true to yourself is incredibly inspiring and wholesome for as simple as it sounds because HE HIMSELF is an living example of that very idea.
when you talked about courage being beaten down so badly by Eustis i felt that. when i was 12 my mother told me that if i put on a bikini that summer i would look like a BEACHED WHALE. that was close to 20 years ago and it still effects me to this day. She has since apologized for it and blames herself for that but it just shows how fair one comment can effect you forever.
This episode always bring a tear to my eyes, especially the quote the barracuda says. I love the episode before this one where we learn about Courage’s parents. That episode is also really heavy, but powerful by the end as well.
My guess is that the dream is meant to symbolize Courage facing a near constant barrage of imperfection, manifested as weird drawings flying by his face.
His fear of not being perfect kinda hit me suddenly- because “inner demons” can truly be that. Inner demons. They are relentless liars that trick you into thinking that they are you. Every negative thought that hits MUST be you. Overcoming them can be a horrid endeavor- but thoughts that are negative about yourself are often nothing but flimsy fear we somehow take as fact. After having a really bad time a month or so ago with anxiety- hearing that barracuda reminded me of the Voice of God. Don’t worry about the past. It’s gone. Don’t even worry about the future- as that’s it’s own time. Pray and just keep going. One step at a time. The storms pass and often you look back at what bothered you and you’re like- really? For anyone out there having a bad time- you’ll be ok, Sib. Keep going. You are strong and perfect in a way that is you. 💙🙏🏼🌌🙏🏼💙 God bless you all.
Your comment made me realize that the trippy floating pictures dream courage has could be a representation of his "inner demons". Each image appears somewhat demonic, and their obscure nature could correlate to certain negative feelings courage has.
Following the 'manifestation' idea, Di Lung almost certainly has something messed up going on with him, between his obsessive need to be better than everyone else and what we've seen of his aunt (well the evil one), so it'd make sense that he'd get caught up in the 'teacher's' nonsense too. As for the final dream you discussed, as others have said, I think the idea is all the figures in the pictures are imperfect/misshapen (a man with no head, a duck with too many legs, a pirate missing two legs/an arm and with too many eyes, etc.). Honestly the dream sequences were probably my favorite part of this episode because I've always been a sucker for shows experimenting with different animation styles to convey different feelings or create an 'otherworldly' atmosphere and drive home that whatever is going on isn't in the 'real world' as it were, or to just emphasize the strangeness of things.
The drawings falling from the sky dream is the one that unnerved me the most watching this episode. I didn't feel the same with the blue monster and just thought of it as "eh". But the ones with the drawings falling from the sky? That still sends shivers throughout my body. The unnerving looking drawings on old paper which don't make much sense, the sudden quiet and soft sound of wind that slowly gets louder as the last page with a birdman thing hitting the camera and the sudden pause of the animation before cutting away. That just hits something in me. I've had dreams like this where something at a glance looks soo off and weird that I end up waking myself up from being freaked out. And I feel that's just the case.
Same here, I had forgotten about the other dreams and thought there was only the trumpet one. This video reminded me that there are others. One of which is _that_ nightmare. There’s something else in that nightmare, alongside what you said, that deeply, deeply disturbs me. When I saw it here at the start, I was surprisingly spooked, but when I went back to look again, I actually felt a chill going up my spine (yes, up). And then the part where he covered it… Maybe it’s the realistic sky? The turnip thing at the end? The realistic eyes? Perhaps it’s the combination of the surreal drawings against a realistic sky? But I feel like the fear comes from something deeper, something I’m not comfortable trying dig up. Like a secret that should stay forgotten, or something that should remain buried.
This episode is why the series doesn’t really need a revival. It’s the perfect show. I’d love to see a prequel focusing on Eustace and Muriel’s relationship before meeting Courage though. How they got together is the show’s biggest mystery.
The trippy dream reminds me of the one episode where courage used ink blots to help Murial and Ustic process their feelings as a married couple and Courage is the therapist. Some of those images came out in those ink blotsThe amount of eyes could also mean paranoia. Love your discussion of this amazing episode.
I always considered that Di Lung's appearance was part of Courage's hallucinations. Di Lung is an extreme egomaniac who would consider himself, "perfect," despite his many *many* flaws. In the episode, "Courage vs Mecha-Courage," he creates a robot dog to take Courage's place in the Bagge family just because Courage couldn't meet his insane standards of what a good dog should be; so naturally, Courage would associate him with the equally demanding Perfectionist Teacher.
For some reason I was more creeped out by the lady, not the trumpet creature. Somehow my child brain found the blue thing more mesmerizing/fascinating than scary. Edit: I think the strangeness of the "drawings" dream is the point in itself. That Courage's mind is full of random, weird, nonsensical things, so the teacher probably would say that he can't even dream "perfectly".
The way that I see it, people are like precious gems. We have our imperfections that make each of us unique and far more valuable than if we were perfect. Perfection is mundane, boring. Embrace your imperfections as they make you who you are!
The "you're not perfect" moment never really creeped me out. It was weird and jarring, but I thought it was cool. Best explanation I could have is that when this episode aired I was first getting really into the band Tool, and this feels on par with some of the weird stuff in their music videos and album art. Sorta on par with weird imagery i was seeing a lot as a developing metal head This episode and its sister episode are some of my least favorites to watch. Not because they're bad but because they just are absolutely devastating for Courage who is legit my single favorite cartoon character ever. Remeberance of Courage's Past is heart-wrenching and unlike this one, it didnt have as satisfying an ending or honestly one of the most beautiful bits of dialogue ever written for a kids cartoon. This episode does. Now that I'm in my adult years, fast approaching 30 years old, I appteciate this episode and the Hunchback of Nowhere on greater levels because it managed to tell a story with a strong message while still feeling another episode of courage. I love that they can do more than just be creepy kinda creepy. It showed the value of being kind and being yourself even when one is afraid. Even when the world is scary. This show felt like a representation of my own fears and anxieties, but episodes like this showed what it's like to exorcise those demons, and while fear is a part of it, that doesn't stop you from overcoming it This was a weird ramble but this show and this episode really strike quite the cord with me
I can understand courage. Negativity is way harder to ignore than most think especially if you have no care for what someone says. It's a great episode the more you understand how your mind works
Absolutely. And it's what I've been preaching to people for years now. I actually think the TV show 'The Wonder Years' is similar to Courage the cowardly dog in how Kevin Arnold (played by Fred Savage) must learn to face fear in certain ways - but with not as much drama, suspense, or freight.
@@EmbraceTheStruggle24 yeah I've been experiencing that. I'm one who doesn't care for buzzwords as I find them to be cheat and wrong when trying to explain a character or person Life the negative always hits harder and stays longer. A crowd of 100 nice people and one bad one you will remember the bad more than good. I think even mha covered this a lot of chapters ago with how negativity works same with Bojack and long ago courage
@@ivanbluecool yep definitely. It is so accurate on a lot of levels but I'm always of the mindset of 'maintaining an even keel' too - not getting 'too high' or 'too low'.
@@EmbraceTheStruggle24 yeah the stress can be hard. Some good stress is needed to be focused like in school or when bettering yourself but negative stuff is always a energy dropper.
Perfect, a new video to watch while I chill out. I'm glad youve had a good time on here and it's nice to see a RUclipsr who puts in a lot of effort into their videos.
It’s so funny to me that this show never once made me feel scared, and it was one of my absolute favorites as a very small child. I’ve always been easily frightened but I just loved this show.
I have always loved the you're not perfect nightmare. Because it's always felt to me, that that was the part of Courages mind that accepts who he is. That knows he is not perfect and that is ok. The soft tone, the asymmetry of the design, the almost saddened, empathetic stare before it looks away in what feels like shame. Whatever that creature is, it is not perfect and it can tell that Courage isn't either. But it doesn't feel like it was supposed to come off as a bad thing. Like it was criticizing him, it felt more like it was just putting it bluntly to try to get him to understand. And Courage being scared of it does make sense to me. One, he's just easily frightened. But two, he's still more like a kid than a dog, and after Eustace's insults and critiques and subsequently imagining this teacher who is trying to beat prefection into him. He would be scared to accept that when it was addressed it in that way. I mean. Imagine you're in his position, you're worried about being imperfect and then a stranger comes up to you and just goes "You're not perfect." You'd be upset by that too. That's why he was more open to the words of the fish, that I believe he also imagined, because the fish was able to put it in a kinder way, a way he'd really understand after that nightmare failed. Edit: I wrote this before I got to the dream analysis part of the video. And while I can see those points with the You're Not Perfect nightmare. I think I was coming at it through the lens of an empath. I never noticed that it looked like Eustace's instrument though.
My god... I completely forgot about the other nightmares, I thought it was only one, the first to appear, but your explanation makes a lot of sense. I think that the weird nightmare with the drawings may be just a cryptic nightmare, when you just dream stuff that appears to make sense but it doesn't. It may also be related to the usual threats Courage face, it may be a representation of what he thinks is yet to come and that if he's not perfect he may fail to protect his family, because the drawings are kind of monsters and honestly, I can totally see them as the villains for their own episode. Also, its really nice to hear the barracuda near the end with a smooth and relaxing voice, because I'm from Mexico and grew up with the latin spanish dub where the barracuda has an Argentina accent for some reason, he even adds "I swear to you by Dieguito Maradona" hahaha, it's not that I don't like it, its just so random haha. Nice video!
I think for the dream scenario you mentioned might’ve been Courage seeing himself as a monster for “messing up,” hence all those creepy drawings. The drawing with the angel with “Right Now” could be the perfectionism kicking in and essentially saying “you need to fix yourself if you want to be ideal.” Angels are generally seen as pure, so that probably would be ideal. This makes the most sense to me as someone who struggles with perfectionism myself. You often do see yourself as a terrible monster capable of messing something up no matter what you do. And, as a result, you feel the constant need to correct yourself. That’s just my theory though
I wasn't frightened of the "You're not Perfect" creature in this episode when i first saw it as a kid. And i'm pretty such i saw it when i was 7 when it first aired.
It's like you know when I'm in need of a brain break! I wish I had proper words to express how appreciative I am of you making these videos. It's a mix of nostalgic confirmation, and just a generally lovely feeling to share my favorite time of my life with others. Thank you.❤ My only idea for the one dream is some form of tarot? You definitely should do more videos that just make you happy and forget about everyone else. Because so far we love what you love and enjoy!
I thinks it’s also possible that the teacher is some sort of being that only shows up to people who feel that pressure of being imperfect. Almost like being haunted by her until the deed is complete.
I don't have much introspection on the weird flying picture dream, but my interpretation is that it was so abstract because it's supposed to represent how someone else demanding perfection can be utterly senseless to the victim because when we don't literally share a mind with someone else, their demands of us are nothing more than abstract concepts. Like, maybe the pictures were supposed to feel confusing and without connection because an abuser often lacks logic in their abuse, but there's a handful of common threads which leaves the victim desperately seeking connections to try and make sense of what's happening to them. Or, like trying to comprehend something simply incomprehensible.
I think the dream is about the future. Fearing the future. The pages of characters seem like concept art of characters that could have been done if they had a next season.
Thank you so much for posting this one, Shawn. It never fails to make me cry the entire way through. Being constantly told or made to feel that you aren't enough hits so close to home, and the scene with the barracuda is spectacular and PERFECT as one of the high points of the episode. I subscribed to you a few months back, the first video I ever watched being the first dark side of Hey Arnold! Thank you so very much for helping me to relive my childhood, and I greatly love your commentary, perspective, and realism. Your voice is also quite soothing. Please keep up with the awesome videos, but please take care of yourself. Much love you and your family. 🥰
Here's another theory about the dream for the pile, I believe it may be alluding to the fear of transformation or change, possibly the fear of being unable to.
I loved the development of Eustace and Muriel, where Eustace couldn't play his bugle because it was broken and he couldn't fix it so he decided to make his band of cracked horns and Muriel with her baklava bubbles, they weren't perfect too, but they were happy with their imperfections and knew how to turn the situation around :) (sorry for my bad english)
I feel the paper dream is like the ink blot test and each has a potential monster that can be coming for him he is just thinking and they are coming “right now” and him sleeping is stopping him from saving them
The perfect episode fucked me up as I didn’t remember the rest of his dream but just that whisper of “You’re not perfect” has always stuck with me. I know nothing and no one is perfect but hearing that from your family and then your favorite tv show just hits different. Like I just have to bring up Courage and instantly it’s freaky Fred and you’re not perfect. Even as adults lol
The weird dream is a lot to decode and I wont pretend I have a good grasp on what it's conveying, but I'll give it a shot. Excuse the uneducated guess Butterfly: butterflies typically symbolize change or rebirth. Perhaps representing Courage's desire to change from his imperfect self. Eyes: eyes are usually symbolic of wisdom or serve as gateways into the soul. There's weird, vagueness to this dream but perhaps this is telling us that courage is having subconscious introspection-he's looking into his soul, and that would make sense as the dream that falls right in the middle, especially being so vague. He wants to change but needs to figure out how. It also seems like the first two dreams quickly tell us that courage has these fundamental issues while the 2 dreams that follow show what he fears the most as a result of his issues. I also see the eyes and think again of his anxiety. The feeling that everyone is watching you and the pressure that comes with that. Courage's attempts at meaningful introspection are overwhelmed by anxiety Spider?/Bug: this spider appears to have 6 legs so I'll look at both spiders and non-specific insects. Spiders are your typical creepy crawlies which is on brand for the show, but spiders symbolize creativity and personal growth. Courage demonstrates his creativity a lot. He is resourceful and that's not limited to this episode. Courage is creative in his problem solving, is very imaginative, and because he is unable to communicate with his family in a traditional sense, warning them of threats is something he does by literally shape-shifting. It's something he is proficient in but also a necessity at times. His creativity, like his number 6, would also notably be how he overcomes his imperfection-personal growth. If its an insect, it can represent how small Courage feels in comparison to the issues around him. Although meek, insects are hard working. Courage is frequently much smaller than his villains in more ways than one, but finds a way to overcome. Mermaid: Shawn thought this was an angel or something, and i could see that, but it seems like there are fins and such. The humanoid face, long hair, and fins just kept registering as mermaid for me (my mom thought an insect of some sort). Anywho, a mermaid can symbolize freedom and individuality which would make sense as Courage hopes to be free of his imperfections and he eventually learns to accept himself. I also want to note that I went with mermaid because the "you're not perfect" dream made me think of creepy ocean depths, with the weird dissonant muffles to the words feeling like words spoken through the water. The blue color emphasizes that further. It would also make sense that Courage hears what he needs to from another sea creature, the fish near the end of the episode "Right Now": this seems to say that the change, his liberation, starts now. This dream was his cognitive catalyst I don't know anything but I tried. If you read this, thank you. If I'm off based, please let me know. Would also enjoy hearing anyone else's thoughts, septically if they can make more of the other artworks in the middle dream
The spider one reminds me of Odilon Redon’s “The Crying Spider,” which also has an incorrect number of legs and a human-like face. Although spiders are often seen as gross/ugly/creepy, he wanted to challenge the viewer to think, "what if these things are capable of feeling the way humans do?" I'm sure there's way to shoehorn that into the interpretation somehow lol.
@NeckTie92 can't say I was very familiar with Redon or "The Crying Spider" before, but I do see some similarities. After doing a little research (and now falling down a rabbit hole that has me checking out a bunch of his work, specifically his Noirs), it kinda fits in and makes an homage possible. That being said, yeah, totally could be shoehorned! At the very least it made me make another connection: Spider with too few legs, 6 specifically shows imperfection, but on the other side of that coin, Courage beat his demons with that imperfection in the form of an abstract number 6. Subverting expectations, as Redon's art kinda did. It's a stretch for sure but fun to think about haha
The only thing I can say about the flying pictures dream is., uhh… Well, all the pictures are something with eyes as a focus(sorta?) so maybe it’s like the fear of being watched or judged when he fails at something? Maybe?
I never watched courage as a kid just didn’t interest me but at one point in my adult years I saw my still favorite episode the curse of Shirley because it always makes me cry because even someone like Eustace can be kind
I actually think that the "right now" dream is a representation of how you feel that you MUST do something right now or otherwise it wont hold any meaning or its meaning would be less meaningful. And this is part of perfection -- sometimes you stall things because your mind tells you that its not the right time or that you are not prepared enough.
Keep going, bro, your channel is amazing! I cant even conceive how much nostalgia I have watching your review of my oldest memories ever, its priceless and its 100% because of the way you do it ❤️ nice to see these cartoons were worldwide happy (and scary) memories 🇧🇷
I know it's a cartoon but it really really hurts seeing this sweet sad terrified dog suffering like that, i couldn't bear to see it often, this dog lives so much injustice it just brakes your heart, thank God he could eat dinner in peace at the last scene, such a protective character deserved to be happy.
My theory for the dream with all the drawings is that they may be representing how creative Courage is and foreshadowing how he eventually defeats the teacher by making a 6 in his own creative way. The drawings may look disturbing but they're certainly creative and at the time Courage would be fearing anything unconventional and "imperfect", so maybe that dream was meant to show he's begun to hate his own creativity and see it as something terrifying.
I feel like the one weird dream just kinda represents how weird dreams sometimes feel. I realized that when I start struggling with my mental health, my dreams get really weird, gruesome, but also random. Something like a "change of art style" I've experienced multiple times. Maybe it does not really always correspond to a particular art style, but those often don't look like real life. Also big amount of eyes often carry a symbolism of being watched or/and judged. Which would be quite fitting for this episode.
Courage was just an amazing show I loved the fact it pushed the boundaries and scared kids it taught me a lot about fear and how to deal with being scared 10/10 show
I read those drawings in the dream to be the various monsters and creatures that come after him and his family. The pages fall toward him, coming one after another just like the monsters do. “Right now” i’m unsure about but could be referring to how all we have is the now, and he shouldn’t be so concerned with all the failures and mean words of the past when he can be happy in his present.
As Buddha once said, "It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. And the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or demons. Heaven or Hell" (P.S. on the Cartoon Network websites description of this episode, it said that Eustace hires a professional dog trainer to make Courage perfect only for the trainer to be a Victorian schoolteacher. I wouldn't be surprised if he did hire her but only by mistake because he got the phone numbers mixed up.)
I think the vase breakage dream is also linked to what happened courage that day...when he was breaking the walnuts and the walnut remained intact and the table broke... It's wisely kept there I think
I feel like the pictures part just represents Imperfection itself through self reflection. And through out every one he has been imperfect in his own eyes all the way up the moment he’s at “Right Now”.
My theory was always just that the "drawings" dream was maybe composed of illustrations that John Dilworth or another member of the crew made in their spare time, and the staff wanted an excuse to showcase them. Not the most exciting theory, but it's the best explanation I can think of.
I think the Teacher is more like a manafested entity that only those with those problems of self esteem and confidence and I think Courage killed his own Teacher and defeated his manifestation of perfection
Thei one with all the pictures flying by it’s almost like a Roche test, but it’s slow enough that you can see the pictures unless you slow it down so he would be seeing it and he would want he be seeing all these creatures and want to protect his family which which would terrify anyone “in therapy”
3:35 I love how Eustace is dumping on Courage, completely ignoring the HUGE fact that he, Courage...IS A DOG! Yet he painted the chicken coup in a colorful palette, managed to jack up a truck and albeit he used a pin-wheel toy to fix a windmill, he still understood what was needed, he just had the sizes wrong. 😆 what dog is able to do all that?
The teacher is most likely a Governess, a woman who was hired by noble/wealthy or royal families to come and tutor and train their children in the home. Some were known to be strict teachers that expected much from their pupils. It is a largely dated job title now, but it was a prestigious position in the past.
Unfortunately I had a teacher similar to the one in this episode when I was a kid. I was (and still am) a people pleaser and perfectionist. The specific teacher, who was my special education teacher always yelled at me and called me lazy. She made me feel worthless
I think those pictures are representing the monsters courage often sees and the on with the angel is courages fear of the worst that could come from them
I saw this episode when it first aired, I haven't seen the show since because I live under a rock and don't keep up with anything, I had no idea this was the series finale. I also had no recollection of any of the dreams, or the random appearance of Dai Lung. What I can say I do remember, however, is the left-field appearance of that barracuda in the bathtub, Eustass' bugle, the ending of the episode, and that I just assumed Eustass hired the teacher to instruct Courage on perfection. It never even crossed my mind that she might be a manifestation or a hallucination or whatever, I just thought she was hired to "improve" Courage
5:02 These moments when Courage meets the "villain" for the first time in each episode and he screams are so genuinely hilarious and good that are one of the main reasons this show is so good. The VA nailing it with those screams
I was 13 years old when I first watched this episode. This blue thing sure is creepy, but he didn't give me nightmares or imagining him in the bathroom darkness like Heffalumps and Woozles or Violet turning into a giant blueberry. However, one of his dreams that freaked me out was the Wizard of Oz, especially the creepy cackling of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Perhaps that guy on iafel tower is also in his mind because he's the best who would bring him down considering what the really one did the mecha courage episode
I just realized, _all_ of the nightmares (except the Wizard of Oz one) are terrifying. Especially the photo one. Like, yeah, the, uh, thing was fairly scary, but the photos disturb me to my core.
Obviously it's the favorite episode of CELL in Dragon Ball Z because of the title 😅😂 (and there's even a secret reference to Cell in embryo form growing up in the lab of Dr.Gero with the "frightening monster" at 15:10)
NGL as someone who's kinda on the autistic side and kinda slow and been brought down by a few in my early life the ending of of Perfect actually brought a tear in my eye when I first saw it. And I'm a person who I admit don't cry that often! 🥲
I have this really dark theory to share with you all but I believe blue clay creature that says your not perfect with the squiggly hairline floating in the blue void is either Eustace's & Muriel's stillborn kid or aborted child because the creature really looks fetal in its design.
I think the picture dreams might have been a representation that everybody sees everything differently. In someone else's story, you could be the villain or asshole, in someone else's, you could be a savior or good person! All of the pictures kind of reminded me of ink splotch tests, and the fear of not everybody seeing you the same way as you believe you should be.
There's no such thing as perfect. Your beautiful just as you are, Courage. With all your imperfection, you can do anything.
Nothing is perfect, just like your spelling. 🤭
By the way what's the next video for next week?
My beautiful just what?
Thank you, bathtub barracuda
🤨 no such thing as perfect? Have you not seen a 20lb wheel of cheese?? That my friend is perfection 🤤.
I have 120 oz of Max Cleanse Laxatives Extra Strength,and 13 lbs of Jalapeno Cheddar cheese, gonna devour them both and see who wins out,for science purposes
👨🏿🔬.
The Bathtub Barracuda is my favorite moment of the episode.
It's so heartwarming, spooky, and insanely weird, just like the series as a whole.
I always believed that the Bathtub Barracuda was Courage's inner voice that was called into action
I thought the fish was a cod because i thought they were eating baccala and baklava which if u dont know baccala is salted cod but idk i only know that bc sopranos but a picture popped up on google of a salted cod and it looked like that fish idk just spitballin
I think the dream is suppose to symbolize that the perfectionist teacher was always watching. In every image there is many eyes for things that only have two, or only two big ones for the spider instead of it’s small eight.
With the words “right now”, adding agency to the message. You are being watched right now.
This lines up nicely with the stage dream, seems an expression of feeling under scrutiny. Honestly though the whole episode just feels like a bad trip
I'll take a third option, Shawn.
I think one explanation for Di Lung showing up is that Courage hallucinated him too in that scene as someone to compare himself to.
Di Lung is shown to be so overconfident and think so highly of himself that it makes sense to me that Courage would see him as the opposite of himself in this episode.
I was thinking the same thing, tbh!!
I agree!
Yeah this seemed so obvious I was wondering why Shawn didn’t come to that conclusion too! 😂
I think I have an idea for the weird dream. Usually the biblically accurate angel imagery is paired with the phrase, “Be not afraid” which matches Courage’s cowardly nature and facing how to not be afraid. Or the eyes thing might be the whole “all eyes on you” feeling when wanting to be perfect for the perception of others?
This one I like.
I like to also think that this dream represents that his thoughts are everywhere because he’s trying so hard to be perfect and it’s driving him crazy.
One of my favorite details looking back on this episode is the look and you'll blink moments with the Villain of this episode. The teacher is all in Courage's mind, a manifestation. Murial doesn't see her and only Courage can. Another detail is how She is one of the few villains we're not given a name in the only episode she appears in. Fandom decided to name her Perfectionist.
The dream with the paper drawings could simply symbolize future threats.
We’ve seen throughout the series all of the different monsters, villains, freaks and weirdos that cross paths with Courage, Muriel and Eustace. At this point though, I think Courage has been through the ringer enough to know that the next one will always be not too far away. He’s got no clue who or what it could be (hence why all of those drawings seem so abstract) so he’s barely got any real way to prepare for any of it. Even if he ever did try to prepare for something, he’d just make himself look like a fool when it inevitably blindsides them all, hence the following dream with the pies.
One of the oldest fears of mankind is the fear of the unknown. It’s why we’re afraid of the dark, or of death, or in this case the future: we don’t know what’s beyond it.
That’s why that final picture in the dream is so much clearer than the rest, because before you even know it, the future is already here.
Right now.
Wow, that was deep
Based off your proposal, I wonder if perhaps it's the opposing recall of previous monsters as the first papers, then the "angel" with "right now" appearing as Courage's subconscious conclusion that the perfection teacher is simply another monster like before, just one whom he is dealing with "right now?"
Despite the moral not being as impactful or the progression not being as fun as other episodes, this still ranks among my favorites for one reason:
John Dilworth KNEW at the beginning of the season that the series was not getting renewed. He WANTED the series to end with this episode, and if I remember correctly, it was because so much of the series had dealt with strange abstract horrors and situations and had so many other wild moral lessons children weren't usually parsed, but he did it all in the vein of entertainment. And something so many other series did was ground all these morals into children; things for them to worry about, considerations about their worth and how they are performing ON TOP of the judgement they got from their parents, school, friends, and so on. The tutor's appearance being that of an oldschool teacher with a ruler was no coincidence, it was a blatant allusion to a common authoritative figure children could immediately recognize and feel slightly unnerved by as it was someone they could all relate to along with the subject matter. Everyone has been talked down to by an authoritative figure and everyone has been lambasted for not doing something the right way.
And John wanted the final message of the series to be a reminder to never concern yourself too much with what the world tells you is the "Right" or "Wrong" way to do things.
It's not even just that you'll mess up sometimes, it's that you have to hold onto that inner child and creativity, to never let go of that side of yourself, which is why all of Courage's mistakes at the beginning of the episode and the picture he draws at the end are so... Childish. And that picture is especially important from a writing standpoint, because while the chicken coop got painted like a clown house and the windmill blades were replaced with a children's toy, the PICTURE was a follow-up and "final test" among various other stringent tests that teacher had put Courage through. Think about it, Courage had to carry books on his head, walk straight, was even psyched out into SLEEPING "perfectly"... And her final test is to write a number. Something so simple and trivial. Courage, more likely than not, could have made a normal 6, had it be perfectly fine and STILL been punished for not doing it the way the teacher wanted, but in an ultimate act of (innocent) defiance, he did it in the most creative, childish way possible and was PROUD of what he made, something that destroys his demon in the process who just can't handle the idea of him having approached the matter in any way other than how she had anticipated.
And this might all sound redundant to some of you, but I'm not thinking of Courage the Cowardly Dog, the TV Show, when I say this.
I'm thinking of Courage the Cowardly Dog, JOHN DILWORTH'S CREATIVE WORK OF PASSION, when I say this.
Remember, John was an abstract artist and a sorta've low brow animator who got a chance to make Courage purely off of a goofy little pilot he made back in the day on the What a Cartoon show.
John, by all accounts, was an extremely unorthodox animator and the exact kind of zany, experimental creative that you just don't see often nowadays.
He was told at the beginning of this final season that he wouldn't be renewed again and he had seen where Cartoon Network was heading from there.
The fact that he wanted his final message to simply be true to yourself is incredibly inspiring and wholesome for as simple as it sounds because HE HIMSELF is an living example of that very idea.
This made me tear up. I see it and that makes this episode extra special!
when you talked about courage being beaten down so badly by Eustis i felt that. when i was 12 my mother told me that if i put on a bikini that summer i would look like a BEACHED WHALE. that was close to 20 years ago and it still effects me to this day. She has since apologized for it and blames herself for that but it just shows how fair one comment can effect you forever.
This episode always bring a tear to my eyes, especially the quote the barracuda says. I love the episode before this one where we learn about Courage’s parents. That episode is also really heavy, but powerful by the end as well.
Definitely. Same here 😢😅
@777Rowen this Episode just breaks my heart and and it made me Cry in the Ending
Me too, it helped me get through depression years ago & finding it now at a good time.
My guess is that the dream is meant to symbolize Courage facing a near constant barrage of imperfection, manifested as weird drawings flying by his face.
His fear of not being perfect kinda hit me suddenly- because “inner demons” can truly be that. Inner demons.
They are relentless liars that trick you into thinking that they are you. Every negative thought that hits MUST be you.
Overcoming them can be a horrid endeavor- but thoughts that are negative about yourself are often nothing but flimsy fear we somehow take as fact.
After having a really bad time a month or so ago with anxiety- hearing that barracuda reminded me of the Voice of God. Don’t worry about the past. It’s gone. Don’t even worry about the future- as that’s it’s own time. Pray and just keep going.
One step at a time.
The storms pass and often you look back at what bothered you and you’re like- really?
For anyone out there having a bad time- you’ll be ok, Sib. Keep going.
You are strong and perfect in a way that is you. 💙🙏🏼🌌🙏🏼💙 God bless you all.
Thank you 😢😩😔
And bless you
Your comment made me realize that the trippy floating pictures dream courage has could be a representation of his "inner demons". Each image appears somewhat demonic, and their obscure nature could correlate to certain negative feelings courage has.
My inner demons are my friends, they’re not evil. It’s the angels who are the relentless liars.
Following the 'manifestation' idea, Di Lung almost certainly has something messed up going on with him, between his obsessive need to be better than everyone else and what we've seen of his aunt (well the evil one), so it'd make sense that he'd get caught up in the 'teacher's' nonsense too.
As for the final dream you discussed, as others have said, I think the idea is all the figures in the pictures are imperfect/misshapen (a man with no head, a duck with too many legs, a pirate missing two legs/an arm and with too many eyes, etc.). Honestly the dream sequences were probably my favorite part of this episode because I've always been a sucker for shows experimenting with different animation styles to convey different feelings or create an 'otherworldly' atmosphere and drive home that whatever is going on isn't in the 'real world' as it were, or to just emphasize the strangeness of things.
The drawings falling from the sky dream is the one that unnerved me the most watching this episode. I didn't feel the same with the blue monster and just thought of it as "eh". But the ones with the drawings falling from the sky? That still sends shivers throughout my body. The unnerving looking drawings on old paper which don't make much sense, the sudden quiet and soft sound of wind that slowly gets louder as the last page with a birdman thing hitting the camera and the sudden pause of the animation before cutting away. That just hits something in me. I've had dreams like this where something at a glance looks soo off and weird that I end up waking myself up from being freaked out. And I feel that's just the case.
It gives the impression of something very ancient and unknowable, doesn't it?
Same here, I had forgotten about the other dreams and thought there was only the trumpet one.
This video reminded me that there are others. One of which is _that_ nightmare. There’s something else in that nightmare, alongside what you said, that deeply, deeply disturbs me.
When I saw it here at the start, I was surprisingly spooked, but when I went back to look again, I actually felt a chill going up my spine (yes, up). And then the part where he covered it…
Maybe it’s the realistic sky? The turnip thing at the end? The realistic eyes? Perhaps it’s the combination of the surreal drawings against a realistic sky?
But I feel like the fear comes from something deeper, something I’m not comfortable trying dig up. Like a secret that should stay forgotten, or something that should remain buried.
This episode is why the series doesn’t really need a revival. It’s the perfect show. I’d love to see a prequel focusing on Eustace and Muriel’s relationship before meeting Courage though. How they got together is the show’s biggest mystery.
another lesson from this episode
is to just be happy with who you are
The trippy dream reminds me of the one episode where courage used ink blots to help Murial and Ustic process their feelings as a married couple and Courage is the therapist. Some of those images came out in those ink blotsThe amount of eyes could also mean paranoia. Love your discussion of this amazing episode.
so you reckon it has something to do with Courage's Paranoia.
@@racheljackson4428 Yes, at least that's my interpretation anyway.
Yeah, that could likely be. Edit: it being possibly paranoia.
I actually just watched this episode the other night, still hits hard considering my mental health issues.
I've watched it at least 5 times in the last 3 years...lol
Lol
I love the way this show used 3D animation.
I always considered that Di Lung's appearance was part of Courage's hallucinations. Di Lung is an extreme egomaniac who would consider himself, "perfect," despite his many *many* flaws.
In the episode, "Courage vs Mecha-Courage," he creates a robot dog to take Courage's place in the Bagge family just because Courage couldn't meet his insane standards of what a good dog should be; so naturally, Courage would associate him with the equally demanding Perfectionist Teacher.
For some reason I was more creeped out by the lady, not the trumpet creature. Somehow my child brain found the blue thing more mesmerizing/fascinating than scary.
Edit: I think the strangeness of the "drawings" dream is the point in itself. That Courage's mind is full of random, weird, nonsensical things, so the teacher probably would say that he can't even dream "perfectly".
I hate that blue thing. It creeps me out in ways I can't put into words. •-•"
Your answer of the drawings symbolizes this quote
"The closer you look, the less you see."
i literally had a fear of it for years,and today it seemed fine.@@chippy2023
this episode always makes me cry!! it’s so heartwarming :,)
LoL yep for sure. I have the whole CTCD series on DVD 📀 so I can watch the episode(s) just about any time I want, lol
@@EmbraceTheStruggle24 oh wow that’s so cool! i should add that to my dvd collection haha
The way that I see it, people are like precious gems. We have our imperfections that make each of us unique and far more valuable than if we were perfect. Perfection is mundane, boring. Embrace your imperfections as they make you who you are!
The "you're not perfect" moment never really creeped me out. It was weird and jarring, but I thought it was cool. Best explanation I could have is that when this episode aired I was first getting really into the band Tool, and this feels on par with some of the weird stuff in their music videos and album art. Sorta on par with weird imagery i was seeing a lot as a developing metal head
This episode and its sister episode are some of my least favorites to watch. Not because they're bad but because they just are absolutely devastating for Courage who is legit my single favorite cartoon character ever. Remeberance of Courage's Past is heart-wrenching and unlike this one, it didnt have as satisfying an ending or honestly one of the most beautiful bits of dialogue ever written for a kids cartoon. This episode does. Now that I'm in my adult years, fast approaching 30 years old, I appteciate this episode and the Hunchback of Nowhere on greater levels because it managed to tell a story with a strong message while still feeling another episode of courage. I love that they can do more than just be creepy kinda creepy. It showed the value of being kind and being yourself even when one is afraid. Even when the world is scary. This show felt like a representation of my own fears and anxieties, but episodes like this showed what it's like to exorcise those demons, and while fear is a part of it, that doesn't stop you from overcoming it
This was a weird ramble but this show and this episode really strike quite the cord with me
I can understand courage. Negativity is way harder to ignore than most think especially if you have no care for what someone says. It's a great episode the more you understand how your mind works
Absolutely. And it's what I've been preaching to people for years now. I actually think the TV show 'The Wonder Years' is similar to Courage the cowardly dog in how Kevin Arnold (played by Fred Savage) must learn to face fear in certain ways - but with not as much drama, suspense, or freight.
@@EmbraceTheStruggle24 yeah I've been experiencing that. I'm one who doesn't care for buzzwords as I find them to be cheat and wrong when trying to explain a character or person
Life the negative always hits harder and stays longer. A crowd of 100 nice people and one bad one you will remember the bad more than good. I think even mha covered this a lot of chapters ago with how negativity works same with Bojack and long ago courage
@@ivanbluecool yep definitely. It is so accurate on a lot of levels but I'm always of the mindset of 'maintaining an even keel' too - not getting 'too high' or 'too low'.
@@EmbraceTheStruggle24 yeah the stress can be hard. Some good stress is needed to be focused like in school or when bettering yourself but negative stuff is always a energy dropper.
Perfect, a new video to watch while I chill out. I'm glad youve had a good time on here and it's nice to see a RUclipsr who puts in a lot of effort into their videos.
This timed perfectly with me getting a break at work. I've been here 3 months and it's my first ever break. Fucking kismet, my homie. 🎉
Surprisingly, I've never saw this episode as a kid, but I would imagine that it would have terrified the shit out of me.
Or- you did and you’re a master of repression.
It’s so funny to me that this show never once made me feel scared, and it was one of my absolute favorites as a very small child. I’ve always been easily frightened but I just loved this show.
I have always loved the you're not perfect nightmare. Because it's always felt to me, that that was the part of Courages mind that accepts who he is. That knows he is not perfect and that is ok. The soft tone, the asymmetry of the design, the almost saddened, empathetic stare before it looks away in what feels like shame. Whatever that creature is, it is not perfect and it can tell that Courage isn't either. But it doesn't feel like it was supposed to come off as a bad thing. Like it was criticizing him, it felt more like it was just putting it bluntly to try to get him to understand. And Courage being scared of it does make sense to me. One, he's just easily frightened. But two, he's still more like a kid than a dog, and after Eustace's insults and critiques and subsequently imagining this teacher who is trying to beat prefection into him. He would be scared to accept that when it was addressed it in that way. I mean. Imagine you're in his position, you're worried about being imperfect and then a stranger comes up to you and just goes "You're not perfect." You'd be upset by that too. That's why he was more open to the words of the fish, that I believe he also imagined, because the fish was able to put it in a kinder way, a way he'd really understand after that nightmare failed.
Edit: I wrote this before I got to the dream analysis part of the video. And while I can see those points with the You're Not Perfect nightmare. I think I was coming at it through the lens of an empath. I never noticed that it looked like Eustace's instrument though.
My god... I completely forgot about the other nightmares, I thought it was only one, the first to appear, but your explanation makes a lot of sense. I think that the weird nightmare with the drawings may be just a cryptic nightmare, when you just dream stuff that appears to make sense but it doesn't. It may also be related to the usual threats Courage face, it may be a representation of what he thinks is yet to come and that if he's not perfect he may fail to protect his family, because the drawings are kind of monsters and honestly, I can totally see them as the villains for their own episode. Also, its really nice to hear the barracuda near the end with a smooth and relaxing voice, because I'm from Mexico and grew up with the latin spanish dub where the barracuda has an Argentina accent for some reason, he even adds "I swear to you by Dieguito Maradona" hahaha, it's not that I don't like it, its just so random haha. Nice video!
This show was perfect
I think for the dream scenario you mentioned might’ve been Courage seeing himself as a monster for “messing up,” hence all those creepy drawings. The drawing with the angel with “Right Now” could be the perfectionism kicking in and essentially saying “you need to fix yourself if you want to be ideal.” Angels are generally seen as pure, so that probably would be ideal. This makes the most sense to me as someone who struggles with perfectionism myself. You often do see yourself as a terrible monster capable of messing something up no matter what you do. And, as a result, you feel the constant need to correct yourself. That’s just my theory though
This is without a doubt my favorite episode. Though so ironic that it’s the last one of the series.
My favorite is either the 'return the slab' or the episodes with the extraterrestrials (like the robot whose personality is dictator like).
@@EmbraceTheStruggle24 Yeah with the robot sounding like Christopher Walken.
I wasn't frightened of the "You're not Perfect" creature in this episode when i first saw it as a kid.
And i'm pretty such i saw it when i was 7 when it first aired.
I think that Di Lung is also a manifestation of Courage's imagination at this point of the episode.
There are several episodes where Eustace interacts with him. He might be just a manifestation in this episode.
@@Hyper_Drud Yes, I meant just in this episode. I'm pretty sure there's an episode where Lung pulls the bones out of Muriel.
@@DrTimes99 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dog I believe it was called.
It's like you know when I'm in need of a brain break! I wish I had proper words to express how appreciative I am of you making these videos. It's a mix of nostalgic confirmation, and just a generally lovely feeling to share my favorite time of my life with others. Thank you.❤
My only idea for the one dream is some form of tarot?
You definitely should do more videos that just make you happy and forget about everyone else. Because so far we love what you love and enjoy!
I thinks it’s also possible that the teacher is some sort of being that only shows up to people who feel that pressure of being imperfect. Almost like being haunted by her until the deed is complete.
I don't have much introspection on the weird flying picture dream, but my interpretation is that it was so abstract because it's supposed to represent how someone else demanding perfection can be utterly senseless to the victim because when we don't literally share a mind with someone else, their demands of us are nothing more than abstract concepts. Like, maybe the pictures were supposed to feel confusing and without connection because an abuser often lacks logic in their abuse, but there's a handful of common threads which leaves the victim desperately seeking connections to try and make sense of what's happening to them. Or, like trying to comprehend something simply incomprehensible.
I think the dream is about the future. Fearing the future. The pages of characters seem like concept art of characters that could have been done if they had a next season.
Thank you so much for posting this one, Shawn. It never fails to make me cry the entire way through. Being constantly told or made to feel that you aren't enough hits so close to home, and the scene with the barracuda is spectacular and PERFECT as one of the high points of the episode. I subscribed to you a few months back, the first video I ever watched being the first dark side of Hey Arnold! Thank you so very much for helping me to relive my childhood, and I greatly love your commentary, perspective, and realism. Your voice is also quite soothing.
Please keep up with the awesome videos, but please take care of yourself. Much love you and your family. 🥰
Here's another theory about the dream for the pile, I believe it may be alluding to the fear of transformation or change, possibly the fear of being unable to.
I loved the development of Eustace and Muriel, where Eustace couldn't play his bugle because it was broken and he couldn't fix it so he decided to make his band of cracked horns and Muriel with her baklava bubbles, they weren't perfect too, but they were happy with their imperfections and knew how to turn the situation around :) (sorry for my bad english)
Perfect and remembrance of courage past hit so close to home for me it's like they knew what I was going through as a kid.
i think all those eyes in the pictures nightmare symbolise scrutiny, and the last picture symbolises courage under all the expectations/pressure
I feel the paper dream is like the ink blot test and each has a potential monster that can be coming for him he is just thinking and they are coming “right now” and him sleeping is stopping him from saving them
That's a good point! That actually makes a lot of sense lol.
@@DuskTillShawn thank u I’m surprised my comment was scene
The perfect episode fucked me up as I didn’t remember the rest of his dream but just that whisper of “You’re not perfect” has always stuck with me. I know nothing and no one is perfect but hearing that from your family and then your favorite tv show just hits different.
Like I just have to bring up Courage and instantly it’s freaky Fred and you’re not perfect.
Even as adults lol
The weird dream is a lot to decode and I wont pretend I have a good grasp on what it's conveying, but I'll give it a shot. Excuse the uneducated guess
Butterfly: butterflies typically symbolize change or rebirth. Perhaps representing Courage's desire to change from his imperfect self.
Eyes: eyes are usually symbolic of wisdom or serve as gateways into the soul. There's weird, vagueness to this dream but perhaps this is telling us that courage is having subconscious introspection-he's looking into his soul, and that would make sense as the dream that falls right in the middle, especially being so vague. He wants to change but needs to figure out how. It also seems like the first two dreams quickly tell us that courage has these fundamental issues while the 2 dreams that follow show what he fears the most as a result of his issues. I also see the eyes and think again of his anxiety. The feeling that everyone is watching you and the pressure that comes with that. Courage's attempts at meaningful introspection are overwhelmed by anxiety
Spider?/Bug: this spider appears to have 6 legs so I'll look at both spiders and non-specific insects. Spiders are your typical creepy crawlies which is on brand for the show, but spiders symbolize creativity and personal growth. Courage demonstrates his creativity a lot. He is resourceful and that's not limited to this episode. Courage is creative in his problem solving, is very imaginative, and because he is unable to communicate with his family in a traditional sense, warning them of threats is something he does by literally shape-shifting. It's something he is proficient in but also a necessity at times. His creativity, like his number 6, would also notably be how he overcomes his imperfection-personal growth. If its an insect, it can represent how small Courage feels in comparison to the issues around him. Although meek, insects are hard working. Courage is frequently much smaller than his villains in more ways than one, but finds a way to overcome.
Mermaid: Shawn thought this was an angel or something, and i could see that, but it seems like there are fins and such. The humanoid face, long hair, and fins just kept registering as mermaid for me (my mom thought an insect of some sort). Anywho, a mermaid can symbolize freedom and individuality which would make sense as Courage hopes to be free of his imperfections and he eventually learns to accept himself. I also want to note that I went with mermaid because the "you're not perfect" dream made me think of creepy ocean depths, with the weird dissonant muffles to the words feeling like words spoken through the water. The blue color emphasizes that further. It would also make sense that Courage hears what he needs to from another sea creature, the fish near the end of the episode
"Right Now": this seems to say that the change, his liberation, starts now. This dream was his cognitive catalyst
I don't know anything but I tried. If you read this, thank you. If I'm off based, please let me know. Would also enjoy hearing anyone else's thoughts, septically if they can make more of the other artworks in the middle dream
The spider one reminds me of Odilon Redon’s “The Crying Spider,” which also has an incorrect number of legs and a human-like face. Although spiders are often seen as gross/ugly/creepy, he wanted to challenge the viewer to think, "what if these things are capable of feeling the way humans do?" I'm sure there's way to shoehorn that into the interpretation somehow lol.
@NeckTie92 can't say I was very familiar with Redon or "The Crying Spider" before, but I do see some similarities. After doing a little research (and now falling down a rabbit hole that has me checking out a bunch of his work, specifically his Noirs), it kinda fits in and makes an homage possible.
That being said, yeah, totally could be shoehorned! At the very least it made me make another connection: Spider with too few legs, 6 specifically shows imperfection, but on the other side of that coin, Courage beat his demons with that imperfection in the form of an abstract number 6. Subverting expectations, as Redon's art kinda did. It's a stretch for sure but fun to think about haha
@@KamikazeDreamer It’s a stretch for sure lol. I don’t genuinely think it was a direct homepage, it just reminded me of that picture.
@NeckTie92 hahaha well it was fun to consider. Got me to check out some random artwork too so that was fun. Thanks by the way
The only thing I can say about the flying pictures dream is., uhh…
Well, all the pictures are something with eyes as a focus(sorta?) so maybe it’s like the fear of being watched or judged when he fails at something? Maybe?
I never watched courage as a kid just didn’t interest me but at one point in my adult years I saw my still favorite episode the curse of Shirley because it always makes me cry because even someone like Eustace can be kind
I actually think that the "right now" dream is a representation of how you feel that you MUST do something right now or otherwise it wont hold any meaning or its meaning would be less meaningful. And this is part of perfection -- sometimes you stall things because your mind tells you that its not the right time or that you are not prepared enough.
Ah this one.
Everyone was supposedly traumatized by this one, and I personally didn't see why when watching it while i was younger.
Maybe the writers are implying that all eyes are on him and that the people in his life are just going to always look down on him in his mind
Keep going, bro, your channel is amazing! I cant even conceive how much nostalgia I have watching your review of my oldest memories ever, its priceless and its 100% because of the way you do it ❤️ nice to see these cartoons were worldwide happy (and scary) memories 🇧🇷
I know it's a cartoon but it really really hurts seeing this sweet sad terrified dog suffering like that, i couldn't bear to see it often, this dog lives so much injustice it just brakes your heart, thank God he could eat dinner in peace at the last scene, such a protective character deserved to be happy.
This episode was a strong one to end the series on. It felt random at first, but it was nice to see a peaceful ending for the family for once!
Great video man this is one of my favorites episodes of the show and the nightmares in this episode scary me as a kid
My theory for the dream with all the drawings is that they may be representing how creative Courage is and foreshadowing how he eventually defeats the teacher by making a 6 in his own creative way. The drawings may look disturbing but they're certainly creative and at the time Courage would be fearing anything unconventional and "imperfect", so maybe that dream was meant to show he's begun to hate his own creativity and see it as something terrifying.
I feel like the one weird dream just kinda represents how weird dreams sometimes feel. I realized that when I start struggling with my mental health, my dreams get really weird, gruesome, but also random. Something like a "change of art style" I've experienced multiple times. Maybe it does not really always correspond to a particular art style, but those often don't look like real life.
Also big amount of eyes often carry a symbolism of being watched or/and judged. Which would be quite fitting for this episode.
Courage was just an amazing show I loved the fact it pushed the boundaries and scared kids it taught me a lot about fear and how to deal with being scared 10/10 show
the schoolteacher reminds me of Ms. Havisham from Dicken's Great Expectations
One of my favorite episodes from the show
The barracuda makes me cry every damn time. I love the bathtub barracuda.
Me and my partners son love watching these videos 😎
Sorry for the multiple messages. But the “Turkey in Albuquerque” part gets me every time.
I read those drawings in the dream to be the various monsters and creatures that come after him and his family.
The pages fall toward him, coming one after another just like the monsters do.
“Right now” i’m unsure about but could be referring to how all we have is the now, and he shouldn’t be so concerned with all the failures and mean words of the past when he can be happy in his present.
I love this show so much but, I've never fully watched this episode before, but it was a very interesting one
As Buddha once said, "It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. And the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or demons. Heaven or Hell"
(P.S. on the Cartoon Network websites description of this episode, it said that Eustace hires a professional dog trainer to make Courage perfect only for the trainer to be a Victorian schoolteacher. I wouldn't be surprised if he did hire her but only by mistake because he got the phone numbers mixed up.)
I think the vase breakage dream is also linked to what happened courage that day...when he was breaking the walnuts and the walnut remained intact and the table broke... It's wisely kept there I think
I feel like the pictures part just represents Imperfection itself through self reflection. And through out every one he has been imperfect in his own eyes all the way up the moment he’s at “Right Now”.
My theory was always just that the "drawings" dream was maybe composed of illustrations that John Dilworth or another member of the crew made in their spare time, and the staff wanted an excuse to showcase them. Not the most exciting theory, but it's the best explanation I can think of.
I think the Teacher is more like a manafested entity that only those with those problems of self esteem and confidence and I think Courage killed his own Teacher and defeated his manifestation of perfection
There is most of the human race nowadays that need to pay attention and learn this lesson.
Thei one with all the pictures flying by it’s almost like a Roche test, but it’s slow enough that you can see the pictures unless you slow it down so he would be seeing it and he would want he be seeing all these creatures and want to protect his family which which would terrify anyone “in therapy”
3:35 I love how Eustace is dumping on Courage, completely ignoring the HUGE fact that he, Courage...IS A DOG! Yet he painted the chicken coup in a colorful palette, managed to jack up a truck and albeit he used a pin-wheel toy to fix a windmill, he still understood what was needed, he just had the sizes wrong. 😆 what dog is able to do all that?
You are awesome 😎
My favorite episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, with The Great Fusilli.
The teacher is most likely a Governess, a woman who was hired by noble/wealthy or royal families to come and tutor and train their children in the home. Some were known to be strict teachers that expected much from their pupils.
It is a largely dated job title now, but it was a prestigious position in the past.
The pictures to me seems to represent “monsters” in general, the last one reminds me of Mothman. The style seems to be ancient drawings of them.
Oh this episode….man what did our parents let us watch in the 90s/2000s 😂😂😂
Unfortunately I had a teacher similar to the one in this episode when I was a kid. I was (and still am) a people pleaser and perfectionist. The specific teacher, who was my special education teacher always yelled at me and called me lazy. She made me feel worthless
I think those pictures are representing the monsters courage often sees and the on with the angel is courages fear of the worst that could come from them
They definitely played fallout hah. Blue guy always reminded me of Master from the game
I saw this episode when it first aired, I haven't seen the show since because I live under a rock and don't keep up with anything, I had no idea this was the series finale. I also had no recollection of any of the dreams, or the random appearance of Dai Lung. What I can say I do remember, however, is the left-field appearance of that barracuda in the bathtub, Eustass' bugle, the ending of the episode, and that I just assumed Eustass hired the teacher to instruct Courage on perfection. It never even crossed my mind that she might be a manifestation or a hallucination or whatever, I just thought she was hired to "improve" Courage
Maybe the dream with all the paper images means courage feels like an angel that's failing and falling
5:02 These moments when Courage meets the "villain" for the first time in each episode and he screams are so genuinely hilarious and good that are one of the main reasons this show is so good. The VA nailing it with those screams
I was 13 years old when I first watched this episode. This blue thing sure is creepy, but he didn't give me nightmares or imagining him in the bathroom darkness like Heffalumps and Woozles or Violet turning into a giant blueberry. However, one of his dreams that freaked me out was the Wizard of Oz, especially the creepy cackling of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Just dropped in to saw love your videos, my dude!, keep healthy and stay strong❤
Perfect is probably a subject matter we rarely see tackled on other shows, but I could be wrong.
I hate the word perfect. You cannot be what doesn’t exist.
Perhaps that guy on iafel tower is also in his mind because he's the best who would bring him down considering what the really one did the mecha courage episode
I just realized, _all_ of the nightmares (except the Wizard of Oz one) are terrifying. Especially the photo one. Like, yeah, the, uh, thing was fairly scary, but the photos disturb me to my core.
Yeah the dream parts are scary, but if you think about, it’s a hidden message. Things that explain once but never explain twice.
This episode definitely creeped me out when I was younger, but I really liked the message
Obviously it's the favorite episode of CELL in Dragon Ball Z because of the title 😅😂 (and there's even a secret reference to Cell in embryo form growing up in the lab of Dr.Gero with the "frightening monster" at 15:10)
Haven’t been on RUclips in a while but I’m so glad to be back watching this channel :)
NGL as someone who's kinda on the autistic side and kinda slow and been brought down by a few in my early life the ending of of Perfect actually brought a tear in my eye when I first saw it. And I'm a person who I admit don't cry that often! 🥲
The blue underwater creature is something that had haunted my mind since I’ve seen it on my parents TV
I have this really dark theory to share with you all but I believe blue clay creature that says your not perfect with the squiggly hairline floating in the blue void is either Eustace's & Muriel's stillborn kid or aborted child because the creature really looks fetal in its design.
I think the picture dreams might have been a representation that everybody sees everything differently. In someone else's story, you could be the villain or asshole, in someone else's, you could be a savior or good person! All of the pictures kind of reminded me of ink splotch tests, and the fear of not everybody seeing you the same way as you believe you should be.