"Whoopsie" - A Clip From "Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space"

I have a really big fondness Bee and Puppycat ever since its creator, Natasha Allegri, (who I was already fond of with her work for Adventure Time) released the pilot episode all the way back in 2013. The show was delightfully weird and strange, but balanced with realism in a way where the characters felt believable in this quirky yet similar to our own world. You got temp agencies, a constant looking for employment to make ends meet, an obsession over a TV star, and family dynamics. Then combine that with a computer whose mouth is also a portal to other worlds, these weirdo hands that come out of the ground from a black puddle, a child landlord trying to hide his mom's tear orbs, and to top it all off a vocaloid-voiced round creature that both is and is not a puppy or a cat.

There's a lot I really do like about it, stuff that I would love to talk about in-depth but I'll save it for some other time. But there's just one scene in particular that I've been thinking about lately. One that just pops up in my head from time to time. Perhaps it's just because it's too real to me and my own experiences. Surely that's not it, right? Haha, yeah. Totally...

Anyways, here's the context. The scene starts with Crispin Wizard in bed after a long days work and a long night purposely ruining his "surprise" birthday party planned by his siblings by walking into the house with the lights off and swinging a metal bat around, destroying his birthday cake then stomping off to his room. As he reflects on his past, Bee and Puppycat teleport to his room from a temp job from a world where Bee wants to invite Crispin to see since it involves clowns. Crispin, already in a state of vulnerability, is then approached closer by Bee, faces getting closer until Bee stops to wipe and lick off birthday-flavored cake from his cheek. Crispin, flustered, tries to play it off cool and ultimately deflects Bee's question on who's birthday it is. He then accepts Bee's original invite as a date, and when Bee leaves he fixes his hair and lays in bed, and what follows is the clip above.

The scene starts off with him going through his photos, and inputting a password presumably for both privacy and to make sure that he wants to access those photos. The password aligns with his love of clowns, but also could act as a safeguard to make sure him unbottling those memories won't cause any mental side effects or anguish. Then that transition into the past with Bee's "are you sure?" - revealing that Bee and Crispin used to live together. Maybe they were once lovers? Or just really good roommates. But the facts remain the same, and once again Bee gets a little too close for Crispin's comfort only to break the awkwardness by revealing his broken "art" from behind his ear.

"Can you at least pretend to be sad?" replies Crispin, to which Bee explains that she is sad and confused, but rather than showing it externally, she shows it literally on the inside as these three little dudes. Crispin, however, shows that frustration externally as a guttural yell - making it seem that perhaps this was the reason he left. As much as they were happy together at one point, Cripsin couldn't understand Bee when things became less than happy.

Bee calms him down with a quick move to tickle the roof of his "mouth-insides". She gives him the reasoning, and we transition with Bee's last word: "...everyone, except me". After the flashback, Crispin makes his final confirmation to go back into the past when he was happy living with Bee, remembering all these moments by shuffling through these photos until he drops his phone into his face (a common occurrence for me, at least).

I think what I really love about this scene is how it shows so much in just 1:20 minutes - sadness, frustration, guilt, and the feeling of just wanting to go back to a time, a place of comfort. This episode earlier shows Crispin's childhood, how he ran away to join the circus and why he hates celebrating his birthday. And this episode also shows how Bee means a lot of Crispin. But it also shows how Bee doesn't reciprocate the same feelings for Crispin, and shows just how different Bee is from a "normal" person. For example, Bee doesn't mind getting physically close to Crispin, nor does she get the true meaning of Crispin calling their outing a "date". Crispin however noticeably recoils and gets flustered when she gets close. Perhaps Crispin always wanted more from Bee, but Bee does things her own special way. And with Crispin being the way he is, a bit self-centered and obsessed with his creations/hobbies, he never had time to think or truly relate to or understand Bee.

There's so much more to this scene I love, from the storyboarding, the colors, the music, the voice acting, and just the overall reservedness of it all. It's not ending in a big fight or big drama, it's just two adults in the aftermath of a hard choice they had to make. The music adds to the calming yet sad scene, and I just love the use of the white glow throughout the scene creating a bit of a dreamy quality to the flashback. Crispin and Bee have some really great voice actors (which is also true for the rest of the cast) as they perfectly deliver the purposely-awkward dialogue in a way that's so unique yet so real to their characters.

Again, this scene is really impactful to me even if it is just a minute and some change long. It speaks to my own experiences - a break-up, a friendship after all the time we spent together, and me trying to lock away memories but still keep them in case I ever want to revisit them. "Whoopsie" is maybe the correct password as if one were to open a can of worms known as memories.

"Bee and Puppycat" will always have a special place in my heart, and I will never stop recommending it to people who love watching cartoons that go beyond the genre norms for children but still strike that balance. It's such a unique show with a lot to analyze and a lot to think about. I will def write more about it some other time, but I just wanted to show off this scene and what it means to me.

And as the ficwriter in me, as much as I like Deckard and Bee together, I would love to know how Crispin even got along with Bee in the first place. Perhaps this would be a good time to flex my fanfic plotting muscle.