Animaniacs Season 2, Episode 2 recap: Please Submit/The Flawed Couple/Everyday Safety

Episode 202 of Hulu’s Animaniacs is another tech-oriented episode, with the Warners having to literally dodge online pop-ups everywhere they go. The Warners put it in a paper shredder, but that doesn’t defeat it.

Dot Warner (Tress MacNeille) attacks it, runs it over, and they bury it, but it returns from the grave. Then internet spam infects (or hacks) Wakko Warner (Jess Harnell).

As they grapple with the menace, Dot delivers one of the episode’s best (albeit convoluted) lines: “The power of two-factor authentication compels you!” Though they manage to free Wakko, the spam continues to flow and attack them, but it ultimately overpowers them all.

Wakko gets shredded, Dot is run over, and Yakko (Rob Paulsen) gets buried alive. They do reveal they didn’t actually die, and that the whole thing is a PSA to proclaim their own website as safer than all the others.

As an interesting side note: In some ways, this episode is similar to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode “Interfection,” where a character named www.yzzerdd.com” (Todd Hanson) messes with the Aqua Teens by constantly attacking them with popups.

Animaniacs: The Flawed Couple (Pinky and the Brain)

The next segment of this Animaniacs episode begins with Warner CEO Nora Rita Norita (Stephanie Escajeda) showing us the original Pinky and the Brain pilot episodes. We are introduced to the Pinky and the Brain Show, a 1950s I Love Lucy-style sitcom.

Pinky (Paulsen) is not exactly an ideal sitcom wife, serving up “potatoes all rotten.” It prompts Brain (Maurice LaMarche), the sitcom husband, to shout: “One of these days, I’m gonna transfer the kinetic energy of my fist into a force vector applied directly to your oral aperture!”

For some reason, Pinky responds: “I’ve never been to Connecticut, sounds cozy!” After that pilot episode ends in a kitchen fire, the next parody is of The Brady Bunch, which becomes “The Brainy Bunch.”

However, before that story can even get off the ground, Brain instantly dismisses the show’s premise. We then get a brief parody of Cheers called “Narfs,” and a Fresh Prince parody called “Fresh Pinky of Burbank,” wherein Brain has the book smarts and Pinky has the street smarts.

However, Brain reveals he has been creating clones to play them in the show. The clones break down in bizarre and semi-disturbing ways (much like the shows themselves).

Everyday Safety

The final Animaniacs sketch is the hardest one to break down or summarize, as it involves many visual jokes relating to a giant, exploding syrup factory on a very tall hill. The Warners advise loyal viewers to always pack a “giant, exploding syrup factory emergency bag.”

This kit contains an inflatable raft, which you should throw into the giant syrup wave as it threatens to engulf your city or town. Of course, you are also supposed to carve up a metric ton of ice for an igloo beforehand (why wouldn’t you think of that?!).

As you dwell within the igloo, remember to use ants instead of a napkin, as the ants will eat the syrup (though be careful of how you handle them). As you are trapped in the igloo, be sure to have a radio…but also bring along a bat to thwack the radio into pieces if it provides boring NPR-style programming.

As you can tell, this good-to-know information was very difficult to successfully describe without getting all of the visuals. But you can definitely rewatch the episode yourself to get all of the intricate details memorized.

That is just in case you too need to survive a giant, exploding syrup factory.

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