"Too Smart for His Own Ed" is the 9th episode of Season 5 and the 111th episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, Ed wins the spelling bee after a slip of the tongue from Edd. This, in turn, makes Ed the new brainiac and leaves Edd completely sad and unwanted from his peers.
Plot[]
It's the Eighth Annual Spelling Bee at Peach Creek Jr. High and Edd is feeling very confident that he will, once again, win the competition. After all, his opponents consist of the silent Plank (who Jonny claimed has been training and will win), the nervous Rolf (who is being trained by Jimmy, but is having trouble spelling even a simple word like "watch"), and the simpleminded Ed (who is getting dictionary pages stuffed into his head through the ears by Eddy as a way of cramming). Before the spelling bee started, Kevin and Eddy decided to make a bet to see who would win, with Kevin betting on Edd while Eddy bet on Ed.
Edd has everything going smoothly during the Spelling Bee. Advantages such as Plank being eliminated for not speaking on his turn before time ran out (though Jonny says he got it right) and Rolf angrily quitting the Spelling Bee (which he refers to as a "monkey ritual of English words") due to his inability to spell seemed to make the contest a surefire win for him. He had the moment to claim victory in the final round against Ed, until he erred suddenly in front of the audience: he misspelled "gravy" by spelling it with the letter "i" at the end instead of "y". Upon realizing his mistake, Edd immediately attempted to correct himself, but this wasn't allowed. Ed takes the position of reciting the same word and spelled it correctly, claiming victory for the contest much to the dismay of Edd. With Ed winning, Kevin had to pay up Eddy and is mad at Edd for making him lose because he choked. Later, Jonny, angry at Nazz for Plank's elimination during the contest, tries to trap Nazz with a banana under a cardboard box. His plan failed and he proceeded to call her a "wood hater". Meanwhile, Edd can only watch in wide-eyed shock as his friend is awarded the prize. That night, he gazes morosely at his wall of Spelling Bee ribbons with one cold empty slot meant for the most recent ribbon.
After the events of the Spelling Bee, the Kids now turn to Ed for his intelligence for academic assistance instead of Edd. Seeing this gives Eddy an idea to start up a scam to help the needs of the kids, by making them pay to use Ed's services of course; thus "Egghead Ed" is born. Eddy even takes advantage of his friends by ripping them off too, using Egghead Ed to earn cash by charging a quarter per question. Edd hides because he thinks he couldn't spell "gravy." Edd knows how to spell "gravy," but that mistake doesn't make everything the same when seeing the scam unfold. Fortunately, he believes his mother's tuna salad would help him cheer up from his defeat.
Eventually, things start going downhill for the Egghead Ed-scam, as the kids receive failing grades on their homework assignments. Angrily, the kids confront Ed and Eddy about "Egghead Ed" being just plain stupid. They then chase Ed and Eddy back to the school, but Ed trips over, which makes Eddy trip over too. Before they can get back up to resume the chase, the Kids catch up and corner them. Edd watches the pounding behind the school doors, only able to watch as his friends are beaten senseless. They beat up Ed and Eddy while claiming refunds in the process. As a result of the Egghead Ed failure, order is restored, school's out for the day and Edd is back to being the smartest kid at Peach Creek Jr. High. As for Eddy, he runs off to try to reclaim his money back from the kids. Ed and Edd make up when Edd finally congratulates Ed for his victory at the spelling bee, and Ed takes Edd to his house for cookies with mayonnaise.
Nazz is then shown to have fallen into a hole dug by Jonny in an attempt to exact revenge against her. After assisting Nazz out of the hole, Jonny forgives her for what happened at the spelling bee. However, after she declines to hold hands with him, Jonny accuses her of hating "bald kids" too.
Trivia[]
- On Jimmy's homework, Ed wrote "Popeye the Sailer" as an (incorrect) answer. This is a reference to the famous cartoon character, Popeye the Sailor.
- Several staff references are made:
- Edd's book, Spelling Bee Preparation for Advanced Spellers, is written by B. Jim. This references "Big" Jim Miller, series storyboard director.
- Jimmy's book, Algebra for Wee Ones, is written by Daniel Sioui, series producer.
- A notice board has a flyer reading Volunteer Year Book Club Ask Nurse Prowse. This references Ceile Prowse, series design coordinator.
- On the same board, a flyer for the Storytelling Competition says it is run by Mr. Toomey. This references Cory Toomey, series character & prop designer.
- Edd has ribbons from the previous seven spelling bees, plus one blank space. This suggests that the school has eight grades, or that the competition is open to all grades from other schools.
- When Ed helps Jimmy with an algebra problem, Ed states "2P or not 2P, that is the question." This is a reference to a famous phrase from William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet: "To be, or not to be, that is the question."
- Likewise, Eddy calls Edd "Hamlet" during Edd's lament of not being the one people could rely on anymore.
- Each spelling bee contestant was given words that thematically relate to them in some way:
- Edd's word "cerebral" references his intelligence.
- Plank's word "deciduous" references hardwood trees.
- Rolf's word "colonial" references his colonial heritage.
- Ed's word "ectoplasm" references his knowledge of horror movies. Likewise, the word "gravy" references one of his obsessions.
- This was the last Ed, Edd n Eddy episode (along with "Cool Hand Ed") to premiere as a part of the "Fridays" block on Cartoon Network before it went defunct in February of 2007.
Video[]
"Where's the cash?!?" – Eddy Please consider downloading this episode of the show in high definition from iTunes in order to support the creators' hard work. |
See also[]
Season 5 |
"Mission Ed-Possible" • "Every Which Way But Ed" • "Boom Boom Out Goes the Ed" • "Cleanliness Is Next to Edness" • "Out with the Old, In with the Ed" • "I Am Curious Ed" • "No Speak Da Ed" • "Cool Hand Ed" • "Too Smart for His Own Ed" • "Who's Minding the Ed?" • "Pick an Ed" • "Truth or Ed" • "This Won't Hurt an Ed" • "Tinker Ed" • "The Good, The Bad and The Ed" • "Tight End Ed" • "'Tween a Rock and an Ed Place" • "All Eds Are Off" • "Smile for the Ed" • "Run Ed Run" • "A Town Called Ed" • "A Fistful of Ed" |
Seasons: Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • Season 6 • Specials |
See also: Episode Guide |