Goofball John Magee

[Nathander]

Originally Posted by Voxxyn

I see you're looking at this in terms of public embarassment. To me, the 'embarassment' aspect in IHFUMEUP(Frankie being unmasked from her Goof-Goof disguise) was just a poisoned extra topping to the realization that Frankie was forced to miss something she really wanted to see so she could instead clean an entire gigantic mansion "top to bottom", despite all the extra work and cleaning she did on what was supposed to be her day off thanks to a lazy jerk, and in face of the fact that she's already a very underappreciated and sympathetic person.

I never tried to downplay this. However, you're ignoring the fact that this has only happened to Frankie once. From what we can tell, Bloo has done this to Mac since his fourth birthday. Considering that Mac's torture has been on going, while Frankie's has only been once, I still see Mac's as worse due to the fact that he has to look to this about once every year; Frankie got sideswiped by it and didn't expect what happened to her, but that will only happen once IN HER WHOLE LIFE.

Also, if we want to look at this situation from a psychological view, Mac also got the worst of it. He's only a child; a mature child, but the events that happen to him in his life will prepare him for what happens to him in the future. From what's happening, it would appear that he's going to be prepared to hate his birthday, as well as develop a strong paranoia and distrust of his friends and an attempt to hide shame, as he's seen that by showing shame he gets taken advantage of. Frankie, on the other hand, is a full-grown adult and better prepared for crap like what happened to her by Goofball handed to her. While I'm in no way saying what happened to her was deserved, it's unlikely that what happened to her will affect her negatively in the long run. What happened to Mac, however, probably will as its one of the things shaping his growing/developing psyche.

And it was NOT just Goofball who made Frankie suffer. Bloo caused the chemistry set flood at the beginning, assisted Goofball with eating all the food, and essentially became his partner-in-crime. Goofball also had human friends over who made a huge mess. Mr. Herriman kept ordering Frankie to clean up all the messes caused by Goofball/Bloo, and was the one who made the decision which led to her missing the concert. And none of the other friends - not even WILT - felt any guilt about going to the concert without her(even though she worked very hard for the tickets and it was probably her decision to take the gang with her), nor did they even bring her anything from the event(a t-shirt, autograph, etc) as consolation.

Alright, yes, she does still have to deal with Herriman and Bloo. However, she's been dealing with Herriman and Bloo since the beginning of the series, and basically knows how to take care of them. The main problem was Goofball. Bloo has caused havoc time and time again, the only difference in this episode being the fact that he basically ended up assisting Goofball, who worked as the ringleader. While I think Bloo would have caused some form of mischief, as he does every day, I doubt it would have been as bad as it was without Goofball.

As for Herriman.....I'm torn on that. I didn't want to see Frankie miss her concert, but Herriman, at the same time, was merely doing what he felt was his duty, which was to ensure the correct running of the house. While Herriman is bossy and occasionally apathetic and cool to the plight of the other characters in the house, he is so for a reason, that being his devotion to his creator and to his job. I have a hard time finding him guilty of anything more than actually performing his assigned duty.

This I know I'm going to get flamed for, so let me stress this: I ADORE the character of Frankie. However, while it is unfair that she didn't get to go to her concert because of Bloo and Goofball, she didn't get to do so because she needed to do her job. While it was due to a misunderstanding and Herriman's own stubborness, she is still responsible for getting everything cleaned up regardless. She didn't deserve it, by any means; but if you're actually getting paid to do a job, you are the one expected to do it, no matter what. I've had situations at my job similar to Frankie's (her job, not the Goofball situation), and there have been many times where I've had to stay a hour or so late because some idiot had made a big mess right after I was finished with my regular hours. Saying "Oh, somone else could've done it/Bloo and/or Goofball should've cleaned it up since it's their mess" doesn't apply here because cleaning up messes is what Frankie's paid for. Again, I adore Frankie, and she did do her job correctly, but there's times where life spits in our eye. This is what happened to Frankie.

Even Madame Foster added insult to injury with how she was completely absent in this episode, and thus did nothing about the unfair suffering inflicted on her FLESH-AND-BLOOD GRANDDAUGHTER... and then got away unscathed with commiting some incredibly callous acts just two episodes later.

I find that to be out of line. Like Cassinni said, you have no way of knowing what Madam Foster could've been doing during this time, let alone that she knew what was going on. You're pointing figures and making false/unfounded accusations.

Mac definitely won't have it easy trying to trust his friends after the birthday scheme, or being able to enjoy birthdays in the near future. But Frankie, following her ordeal with Goofball, is still left as being a very underappreciated and 'taken advantage of' maid, who still has an oppressive rabbit as her boss, still has a wild blob of an IF to clean up after and put up with, and has a grandmother with the luxury of getting away with literally everything the TV-Y7 rating will allow.

Again, she's a full grown adult dealing with the problems she commonly has to deal with in order to do her job. However, we do know she has friends that she probably sees, or talks to, fairly often outside the house. Her missing this event is a one-time thing; as far as we can see, it doesn't happen on a very often basis. Mac, however, has no friends that we can tell other then the people he sees at the home (I include Goo in this, considering he only sees Goo at the home), and has know had this sanctuary shattered because of Bloo. Frankie didn't deserve what happened to her, and neither did Mac; the main difference is that Frankie is a full-grown woman capable of dealing with the stresses and problems of the world; Mac is not, and is clearly not capable of doing such yet.

In an admitedly weird and bizzare way, I deeply sympathize with Mac's ordeal. Mac was betrayed by the people supposed to be his best friends with a birthday plot to embarass him. I, as a Frankie fan, felt betrayed by people I greatly admire with an episode that was very painful and cruel. Just like it'll be very hard for Mac to fully forgive his friends for that humiliating experience, it's become very hard for me to fully forgive the show's writers and staff for making this episode and allowing it to air in the first place. I'm greatly hoping Season 5 will have a Frankie episode that will heal the wounds of this episode("Setting A President" was not enough) and celebrates her character instead of burying her, but there's still part of me that fears they'll end up creating another hurtful monstrosity of an episode(though I see IOHSFY is already considered as such by some).

You're making two very, very different divisions. In Mac's case, it's about a fictional character being unable to fully forgive fictional characters. In the case you apply to yourself, you, a real person, are refusing to forgive real people for merely attempting to do their job. Now, I have no problem with you being angered by and at the episode; I myself feel the same way towards IOHSFY. I do, however, have a problem with you aiming this anger towards the people who were merely attempting to make a quality program. They made a mistake making this episode, yes; however, as entertainers, I don't think their purpose was to malicious attack Frankie and her fans (I also don't think IOHSFY was an attack on Mac and his fans, to clear that up); they were merely attempting to entertain and in this case made a bad choice in how to. Nor do I think they need to apologize, really; every show will occasionally have a problematic episode, and that's what Goofball's episode was. I see no reason to be personally angered by the creators and writers of the show/episode.