This episode actually came out when I was still on vacation, so an immediate review (unfortunately) could not be released. But here it is, airing at a slightly late time. Don't get me wrong, this ain't a rant against X. Hello, the yellow fellow is really mellow.
Pre-Credits Gag: Marker wants to play eat the dirt, rather than toss the dirt. I don't understand why he is still in this competition, but this random outburst might have been the reason (so I thought then) for the title. The first time that I saw “This Episode Is About Basketball”, I sort of freaked out. They would never actually do a mainstream sport on this show, right? For BFB standards, that would be too normal! But Lord was I wrong, as you'll find out in this episode. Coiny suddenly pops out of nowhere with a plate of dirt, a throwback to BFDI. What's with these characters eating weird shit anyway? First barf, now this?
After the credits, we get to the juicy part, starting with Cake at Stake. Just as Clock was used as an indicator for the CaS last episode, Dora is used now, ringing with him. I'm surprised, actually. Dora hasn't said anything in the past few episodes, so her ranking actually increased! Anyway, Donut acts extremely bored at this, because he's apparently like tired of his job. This is exactly why only robots are good at hosting object shows.
Don't hurt me, I taste delicious!
Everything goes normally at Cake at Stake (which actually takes eleven seconds, I counted), until Gelatin is seen floating from the sky because of—never mind, it's just Lightning—his curiousity. He bites to the asset inside of Fries that is so obviously not X, and to my surprise[1] a horrible sound emanated from the depths of Hell: X! Oh my, he's back. Lightning slowly raises the cannibalistic Gelatin and X is shown, crying. Maybe he's into that, I don't know!
X talks about his weird backstory that he was hiding from the multiplication scene a few episodes in the past—Remember that? Gruesome, gruesome!—and he's “been hiding ever since”. Donut happily lets X take care of the elimination, and he was like who the fuck are these people. For some reason, we also get one of those scenes where everyone talks at the same time but what they say makes sense to the situation: an A. R. I., if you will.
We consent through words the viewers won't understand!
X reads the votes backwards; Stapy is eliminated with the most votes and Foldy is the safest. Eraser believes this is all an April Fool's Prank, because weed can do that to your holy system. X makes everyone feel guilty about the elimination, but everyone is actually sympathetic for him about that. Wow! Feelings! Yay!
The BFDI Baller music comes on again as Donut announces the next contest, but X insists that he himself should say it, making Donut so happy. X gets all scared and—oh my poop, Book sounds different! She's been taking too many yoyleberries. Also, the scene where X just says nothing but “no-no-no-no-no” has to be made into a Sparta, just so I can hear how ridiculous it sounds.
X hesitates in saying the challenge, which turns out to be “basket—ball”. As in, the game! Unfortunately[2], as you might have assumed with the challenges on this show, this is not actual basketball. Rather, it is a game where the players must throw enough balls into the basket to be safe.
They should make this an Olympic sport. Or at least mandatory in high school gym class.
The contest starts, and like the raging butch that he is[3], Blocky throws Basketball and Tennis Ball into the baskets. Some quote about athletic prowess. Anyway, everyone proves to be terrible at throwing things, even Firey and Coiny, who throw balls at Cloudy's window and all of the recommended characters (including the Star of David—literally David, but his head is in the shape of a star).
Woody makes noises because he is too afraid to throw one ball. But that entire scene just made me realise how dysfunctional Team Beep were. The lot of them got problems! Then, Marker uses his throwing skills to throw a large group of balls at once... and does not stop from there. With the Free Foods, Gelatin begs that they should use Bomby to win at a challenge, angering the rest of the team which really doesn't make sense. Don't they want to win?
Snowball throws a ball towards the propeller, breaking the basket. This angers X seriously, but as we know, Snowball gets infinitely angrier, so X doesn't actually get angry towards him. My brain thinks it's because X is afraid to be judged by Snowball, but there is at least one heart who thinks X has a crush on him and doesn't want to hurt his feelings.
Finally, we get to see Death PACT's side of things, and they are not looking good. Because of continuity, Tree is still stuck inside of Bottle, yet Pen is unblissfully unaware that he is not able to throw things far. It's like one of those scenes in movies where if the guy explains what happens, it would be like two minutes. I know many of you readers are probably blaming Pen for this new sort of jerkassery, but really, blame the fact that he is a work-addled bloke who hasn't had time for the Danny Tanner heart-2-hearts that the Losers are doing.
Three teams immediately throw enough balls into their baskets, leaving Death PACT and Beep battling for whichever team will do the shittiest. Cloudy gives what is the shortest motivational speech ever to Woody, and ends it with the ever-so-cliché “I believe in you!” Welp, now we know that Woodyism is a thing.
The rift between Pen and Tree grows further when he realises that the team have got to do things by themselves. Duh! Sometimes I think the stereotypes are played with a little bit. Right now, he is being perceived as lazy and ignorant to the law and/or common sense, just like the other old immigrant group in America (and possibly Canada) with which he associates. Not that this detatches myself from the episode, but it's an interesting factoid.
I never thought I'd mistake a Jewish guy for that dictator from the 1930s.
Woody throws a ball, giving the victory to Death PACT because it's a ball—and we all know how far a goes in the world. Nickel, finding that they lost, tells X that he was hard to follow, which, I'm not going to lie, is 100% true, but that was savage! Although, even more savage was the feeling my ears got when X was explaining how the system of voting works.
Post-credits Scene: Donut tells X that he did a good job. That's kind of true, and it is definitely better than how 4 (may he be given guidance by whomever you believe in) would have conducted it.
Random Quote: “when YÓÚÚ multiPLIED them, i ran aWAAAAAY because IIII got SCAAAAARED. (breathing noise) i've been HIGH-ding EVER sintSSS. but you FOOOund mEEEEYEYEYEEE!”
Not firsts: The revival of someone who has half-hosted for at least an episode.
Notes[]
- ↑ To be fair, I was half-expecting this.
- ↑ Or fortunately, as I don't feel like writing in any existing characters as members of the Pencil 2.O basketball team.
- ↑ I don't even remember where I got that name from.
Line Analysis[]
Top 5 speaking contestants from BFB 9[]
- X (326 syllables)
- Donut (108 syllables)
- Stapy (77 syllables)
- Cloudy (64 syllables)
- Pen (52 syllables)
Top 10 speaking contestants in BFB, so far[]
- Donut
- Four
- Golf Ball
- X (9 ↑)
- Lollipop (1 ↓)
- Leafy (1 ↓)
- Liy (1 ↓)
- Pen (1 ↑)
- Match (2 ↓)
- Book (2 ↓)
X replaces Balloony (now #11) again in the top 10. The highest increases were Cloudy and X, both 9 ↑.
There are no more contestants with ranks continuously increasing and decreasing.
At the time of their eliminations...
- Pencil went from #8 to #33.
- Leafy went from #2 to #6.
- Bracelety went from #29 to #45.
- Liy went from #3 to #7.
- Roboty went from #49 to #53.
- Loser went from #27 to #31.
- 8-Ball went from #19 to #21.
- Stapy is now at #13.
Where will he be afterwards? Find out next episode review!