Web Weirdos

"Web Weirdos" is the third episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episode was written and storyboarded by Ako Castuera and Jesse Moynihan, from a story by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and Pendleton Ward. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on April 16, 2012. The episode guest stars both Bobcat Goldthwait and Susie Essman.

The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Finn must help a grumpy spider couple, whose names are Barb and Ed, reconcile before he and Jake are eaten.

The episode was based on the idea of empathy for your romantic partner, according to Moynihan. Together with other episodes of Cartoon Network programming, the episodes helped make the network the number one television destination for boys aged 2–11, 6-11, and 9-14 on Monday nights. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics, with Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club and Mike Lechevaillier of Slate magazine praising the episode for its themes. On the other hand, Moynihan himself has expressed some disdain for the episode, reasoning that it did not turn out the way he intended.

Plot

While walking in the woods, Jake begins performing acrobatic moves. Finn attempts to follow, and eventually the two get trapped in a massive spider web. The owners of the web, two large spiders named Ed (voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait) and Barb (voiced by Susie Essman) return, bickering amongst themselves. The argument turns towards Barb's difficulty spinning webs, and she runs away. While Ed wraps Jake in a cocoon, Finn tries to offer relationship advice to Ed; Finn tells the spider to get a gift for his wife, and Ed runs off into the woods to find something.

With the spiders distracted, Finn and Jake try to escape from the web, but to no avail. Ed later returns with a flaming sword, which he presents to Barb. However, she gets angry, arguing that he picked the gift because he liked, not because she would like it. Angered, Ed cuts the web, releasing Finn and Jake; he claims that Barb is dependent on him for food, as she cannot spin her own webs due to some unknown dysfunction. Barb attacks Ed, noting that she will have to eat him instead. Finn tries to help, but is pinned to a wall by Barb, who suddenly beings to moan as if in pain. Just then, an enormous egg sack emerges from her epigyne. The sack bursts, giving birth to thousands of tiny spiders, who proceed to bury Finn and Jake.

Production

The episode guest stars Bobcat Goldthwait (left) and Susie Essman (right) as Ed and Barb.

"Web Weirdos" was written and storyboarded by Ako Castuera and Jesse Moynihan, from a story developed by series creator Pendleton Ward, Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and Dick Grunert.^[2] According to Ward, the original outline for the episode was "super-sitcomy" and "standard". Castuera and Moynihan, however, were able to transform it into something different.^[3] Much of the material in the episode was inspired by experiences Moynihan had had at couples therapy with a former girlfriend. He noted that the episode, thus, was based on the idea that you have to have empathy for your partner.^[4]

The episode begins with Finn and Jake partaking in parkour. Castuera noted in the DVD commentary for the episode that this scene set the stage for her and Moynihan's storyboarding partnership; she enjoyed physical comedy, whereas he liked focusing on emotion.^[5] There was a minor controversy with the studio in regards to the sound of Barb's silk-spinner. Originally, it was planned for there to be a "gooier, fartier [sic] sound", but this was later cut and replaced with a more tame sound effect.^[3]

The episode guest stars Bobcat Goldthwait and Susie Essman as Ed and Barb, respectively.^[6][7] The spiders were designed by Castuera and Moynihan to purposely look different than any other type of cartoon spider.^[4] Castuera later said that their designs reminded her of "stuff I find at thrift stores".^[5] Two of the bugs that are trapped on the spider web with Finn and Jake are voiced by series storyboard artist Cole Sanchez and voice actor Tom Kenny.^[8][9]

Reception

"Web Weirdos" first aired on Cartoon Network on April 16, 2012. Together with other episodes of Cartoon Network programming, the episodes helped make the network the number one television destination for boys aged 2–11, 6-11, and 9-14 on Monday nights, according to Nielsen ratings.^[10] The episode first saw physical release as part of the complete fourth season DVD in October 2014.^[11]

Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club awarded the episode an "A–", arguing that the episode's premise—telling the story of a deteriorating marriage through two unhappy spiders—is one of the main reasons that the show has achieved such massively successful cross-over appeal. Sava complimented the casting of Essman and Goldthwait, noting that the two "make a great pair, capturing the stakes of the couple’s fight without sacrificing the comedy of the situation."^[6]

Mike Lechevaillier of Slate magazine, in a review of the fourth season, argued that the episode "present[s] determinedly adult interrelations through the eyes of the inexperienced Finn".^[12] Lechevaillier compared and contrasted the episode with the following episode "Dream of Love", noting that both deal with relationships in different ways, "yet do so with such originality, humbleness, and poise that any viewer, from age six to 60, can find something to identify with."^[12]

Moynihan later expressed dissatisfaction with the resulting episode; he felt that, while he took creative risks with the episode, his efforts fell flat. In an online interview, he explained, "I think Ako's parts are funny, but everything I wrote in the episode played out in a way that I didn't expect. It's the one episode I've worked on that I really feel didn't do anything I intended."^[13]

References