[S1E8] Hell Is Real BEST
Back to the party and Kat suddenly realizes that Justin is not there. Justin, Marcus and Alana show up and a fight breaks out; Marcus and Justin are swinging and throwing random strangers around to try to stop the party. Kat sees the chaos and she looks horrified; Alana takes Kat into the bathroom and suddenly realizes that mental state Kat is in and tries to calm her down.
[S1E8] Hell Is Real
With the scythe out of their hands and a mysterious demon on the loose, the sisters do something completely out of character thus far and call upon the Elders for back-up. However, Maggie and Macy have real-world business to attend to, leaving Mel, Harry, and resident Elder liaison Charity to get to the bottom of this scythe-theft business.
While the men are in the woods, the Cheyenne steal their horses. Cullen suggests returning to Hell on Wheels, but Griggs insists on marching toward the Indian village anyway. Cullen tells Elam that if the villagers don't escape before Griggs arrives, there will likely be bloodshed and the two of them may have to battle the Union soldiers. Cullen realizes that Joseph is misdirecting the group to buy time so the Cheyenne villagers can escape. Joseph admits it's true but vows that once his family is safe he'll track down Pawnee Killer. After hearing an Indian call, two soldiers begin firing, but Cullen warns them to stop. Griggs's party comes upon a recently evacuated Indian encampment. Griggs accuses Joseph of plotting with his brother. A young brave appears, and Griggs shoots him dead. As Cullen, Elam, and Joseph aim weapons at Griggs, an arrow pierces his shoulder, and a large Cheyenne war party, led by Pawnee Killer (Gerald Auger), begins to attack.
The episode starts with a "Twas the Night Before Christmas"-style narration, explaining that everyone is in the holiday spirit with the exception of Charlie, who is playing a game rather than decorating and just wants to knock off work early. The boss enters the room and asks the men to cut down a tree, which Charlie becomes frustrated about. As the group wanders into the forest, Charlie remarks how he just wants the job over and done with. Pim asks what's wrong, but Charlie explains he thinks it's reasonable that he doesn't want to work on Christmas Eve, to which Pim says that his sour mood weighs everyone else down (although Alan and Glep don't really seem to care.) Pim points out how Charlie always seems to try and solve the problems they face with little to no effort, regardless of the consequences, using encounter with Desmond as evidence. Charlie says he could also bring up problems Pim has, but fails to do so as Alan points to a tree to cut down. He offers the task to Pim, but before he can accept, Charlie grabs the axe and starts chopping the tree in frustration, sarcastically saying he's helping out for once. As he's snidely asking the others if they're in a bad mood, the tree crashes on Charlie and causes his head to explode gruesomely, much to the stunned silence of the other three.
A sequence of rapid images segues the scene to Charlie waking up in Hell, where a demon that claims to be Charlie's new master introduces him to his new living space, including Jeremy - his only form of entertainment. Charlie threatens to punch Jeremy if he does his schtick again, before the fire-y background peels off, revealing it was just a sheet of paper. The demon reveals that The Devil is feeling depressed, due to his poor management, Hell has literally frozen over. Charlie remarks how he can help, but the demon threatens to stab him with his pitchfork. Charlie then points out that the pitchfork is just cardboard, to which the demon breaks down and asks him to leave anyway. He then runs into his grandmother, who was sent to hell after yelling "damn" when she saw her husband getting his brains blown out by a burglar in 1958. Remarking how that shouldn't have been enough for her to go to Hell, Charlie asks his grandmother where he can find The Devil, to which she points to the giant hole which leads to the 9th circle. Before he leaves, she offers him a half-eaten sucker, to which Charlie refuses.
Meanwhile, Charlie's funeral is being held, with Pim, Alan, Glep, The Boss, Dave (owner of Daveland), a somehow-now-revived Century Egg, as well as the girlfriends of Glep and Charlie in attendance. The Boss goes to speak, delivering slam poetry in Charlie's honor. However, as the coffin is being lowered, Charlie slams back on Earth in a yellow puddle, before coalescing into his normal - albeit nude - form. The Boss remarks that it's a Christmas miracle, and Pim asks how it's even possible, to which Charlie refuses to elaborate due to how traumatizing the experience was. Pim hugs him and apologizes for having the argument, which makes him uncomfortable due to how he's currently naked. The episode ends with the narrator explaining how the story was how Charlie was able to get his groove back, revealing the narrator to be an elderly Glep who was reading the story of the episode to his grandson. The grandson wonders whether or not the story was real, to which Glep remarks that all of it was true; Hell is real and Christianity was right all along. He apologizes to a disappointed grandson, before wishing the audience a Merry Christmas.
In Memoriam Gag: Lieutenant Damien Xavier Cowap (1969-2025)note In case you're reading this page after 2025, this episode aired in 2022.Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back contains examples of... Animation Bump: Jeremy goes from only having 2 frames of animation, except for his tongue, to a smooth and fluid animation when Charlie punches him in the solar plexus after he "entertains" him again.
Big Damn Heroes: God pops out of nowhere at the end of the episode to rescue Charlie from Satan the moment He deems that the critter's learned his lesson.
Both Sides Have a Point: Charlie and Pim argue about their respective attitudes on the job and neither side is exactly wrong. Pim shouldn't have to force people to be happy and come with him on his quest to help others, he's not entitled to Charlie's personal happiness. Charlie made it clear to Pim that he just wanted to go home on Christmas Eve, not work overtime by looking for a Christmas tree at the last minute for his boss.
While the timing of the argument isn't great, Charlie should be more motivated to do his job and shouldn't be so cynical when he's doing it. As Pim points out, Charlie appears completely disinterested in helping others and Pim has to push him to do his job and Pim has to pick up the slack by being perky.
Brick Joke: Let the record show that, if nothing else, Charlie is a man of his word. He threatens to punch Jeremy if the latter "entertains" the former again. Sure enough, near the end of Charlie's journey, Jeremy pops up out of nowhere to "entertain" Charlie, causing Charlie to punch Jeremy right in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the latter.Charlie: Dude, I warned ya! I said I was gonna do that if you did that again! Jeremy returns the favor by punching Charlie in the face while he's being tortured by Satan's minions.
The Cameo: Gilbert Gottfried voices God in this episode. It should be noted that His depiction in this show has Him being portrayed as a shredded to the gills giant wearing a golden toga and a face that glows so brightly it literally obscures His entire head with Gilbert making no effort to make his distinctive voice fit.
Can't Take Criticism: When Charlie gives Satan some advice on why he might be in a rut, Satan immediately takes offence, believing he's being talked down to.
Crossthrough: On April 1st, 2022, a special version of the episode featuring characters from Pibby edited into the episode was aired as part of an April Fools' Day joke by [adult swim].
Deal with the Devil: Charlie makes a deal with Satan that if he can get the Prince of Darkness out of his depression, then Satan will send him back to Earth. Satan initially seems willing to uphold at least until Charlie starts pointing out his flaws, which he takes badly.
The Dog Bites Back: Jeremy returns once more near the end to deck Charlie in the face as payback for getting decked in the solar plexus earlier.
Easy Road to Hell: Charlie's Grandma apparently got sent to hell for cursing and saying "damn" when she saw her husband get shot by a burglar. In 1958. Charlie also winds up getting sent to Hell for his cynical and lazy nature.
Funny Background Event: One of the sights in Charlie's trip to Satan's living space are a pair of giant demons having a snowball fight with sinners instead of snow.
Funny Foreigner: Downplayed. The delivery guy is clearly Indian, complete with a thick accent, but aside from the fact that he literally managed to somehow reach Hell of all places to deliver food for Satan himself and treating it like it's just another job, as well as some of his interactions with Satan, there isn't that much comedy to him.
Gross-Up Close-Up: The Imp who introduces Charlie to hell gets a lovely close-up when he welcomes him to hell.
Incredibly Lame Fun: Jeremy, Charlie's only form of hellish entertainment. He "entertains" Charlie by rapidly throwing his hands at him while making high-pitched babbling noises, which realistically just annoys Charlie.
The Last of These Is Not Like the Others: Just before Charlie reaches Satan's dwelling space, he walks across a frozen lake with the souls of the damned embedded into it, who all utter various threats at him, except for the very last one, who simply politely apologizes to him due to being unable to think of anything to say, which Charlie is to quick to assure him that there's no need to be sorry.
Made of Plasticine: Charlie dies by way of a relatively small pine tree falling on him, which causes his entire body to practically explode into a pile of gore.
Mythology Gag: The Indian delivery guy is basically the same character as the Indian cashier from Rick and Morty: Bushworld Adventures which was directed by Michael Cusack.
Never Trust a Title: Charlie comes back to life by the end of the episode.
Oh, and X Dies: The title gives Charlie's demise away upfront. He does come back though.
Rule of Three: The imp that introduces Charlie to hell shows him his new "Hell Mattress", his "Hell Toilet", and Jeremy, his only form of hellish entertainment. Jeremy himself also makes three whole appearances through out the episode, with the 1st being his introduction, the 2nd being his surprise appearance to "entertain" Charlie out of nowhere, and his 3rd, and final one having him appear to punch Charlie as payback for punching him in the solar plexus earlier.
Seven Deadly Sins: Satan himself embodies most of these, fittingly enough. Pride: Satan gets incredibly offended when Charlie tries to offer him sincere criticism on his character, even though he asked for it, accusing him of talking down to him.
Wrath: He flies into a state of fury just because Charlie offers him advice that he didn't take, and he also refuses to hold up his deal with Charlie just because he got him mad in the first place.
Lust: Satan has become addicted to multiple vices, such as gaming, junk food, vaping, and, if the box of tissues in the trash pile surrounding him is any indication, masturbation.
Gluttony: His aformentioned junk food addiction.
Sloth: He's introduced sitting in a gaming chair, and talks to Charlie about how his problem is that he's lost all motivation in ruling Hell, and that he's pretty much given up at doing so, and is very lazy in general, given that he doesn't even bother cleaning up the trash pile around him.
Shout-Out: One of the demons that Charlie encounters in Hell is the spitting image of a Cacodemon.
The hell mattress bears a striking resemblance to the Colonials from All Tomorrows.
Stealth Pun: Gilbert Gottfried as God, given that the "Gott" in his surname literally means God.
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