Yeah, I needed to make a review on an Angelica sooner or later. This one, where going to review Angelica Breaks a Leg, my favorite episode of the third season of Rugrats, and this was WAY before those Squidward Torture episodes came into fruition. It was written by the late Steve Viksten, the same guy who wrote "Monkey Business" on Hey Arnold! and as usual, it was directed by Jim Duffy.
The episode starts with Drew and Charlotte dropping off Angelica at Tommy's residence, with a reason this time. Drew and Charlotte decided to go power rafting with their cell phones. Drew says that it's great for networking. As Angelica's parents leave, Angelica wants to go to the zoo, but Stu and Didi are quite too busy just minding their own business. Even Grandpa Lou Pickles has been declared busy at the moment, but he does invite Angelica to watch his fishing programs. When she wants to play with Tommy, Tommy decides to just take a nap because he always takes a nap after watching Captain Blasto, much to Angelica's disappointment.
As Grandpa Lou falls asleep, Angelica beings channel surfing to find something good on while complaining about how everybody's too busy and tired doing what she wants to do. She comes across a soap opera that has a man's fiance in a cast, obviously with a broken leg. At first, Angelica complains about how the soap actor is doing everything the woman tells him to do, after a little thinking, she figured that would be a terrific opportunity to get attention. Meanwhile, Stu has trouble getting his Hippo Copter to work, when all of a sudden, he and Didi hear Angelica screaming "Ow!" falling down the stairs with a bowling ball hitting the vase of a plant and Angelica holding on for dear life on her left leg, telling Stu and Didi that she thinks she broke her leg. Without a break, they take Angelica tot he hospital.
Stu and Didi come across Hoagie Doozer, voiced by Scott Menville, he's obviously a take on Neil Patrick Harris' Doogie Howser, MD, and yes apparently Doozer, that phrase Fraggle Rock is a thing in the Rugrats universe. Meanwhile in the operating room, Bob, voiced by Jim Turner, takes pictures of Angelica, or in this case, X-ray pictures. A few minutes later, Dr. Doozer states that Angelica has sustained a massive fracture of the left fibula, and suggests that they put her in a leg cast. While Didi is unsure about this, Dr. Doozer may be young, but he knows a broken leg when he seeks one and he's a highly trained professional, that, and he also does have a decree. And the nurse brings him his chocolate milk.
That night, they put Angelica in the guest bedroom, and Stu rigged up a call buzzer for her just in case if she needs anything, and then says "What a trooper." Tommy, confused wonders if Angelica's leg is really broken, and Angelica tells him no, and she shows Tommy using the call buzzer into action, where Didi comes in and Angelica requests that Tommy leaves, it was past Tommy's bedtime anyway. By the way, that was the last we see of Tommy in this episode. Too bad. Anyways, Angelica devilishly says "This is gonna great."
Day 1: Angelica requests the easiest request she could think of from Didi. A cold drink, maybe it was grape juice? Next, she calls for Stu, and she requests she wants to watch TV, the problem is, there's only one TV in the house, I guess this was back when there would be enough money to buy multiple television sets. What follows is a montage of Angelica making request after request from Stu or Didi, mostly Stu, like fluffing pillows, opening and closing the window, asking for a tissue, hour in and hour out, they keep giving in to her ridiculous requests, exhausting the two quite greatly.
Day 2: Stu and Didi are exhausted and getting a bit agitated. Stu tries desperately to go upstairs and disconnect the buzzer, but Didi stops him because they need to follow Dr. Doozer's orders. Stu eventually gives in, Didi tried to call Charlotte, but she's too busy. It cuts to a brief scene where Charlotte and Drew are power rafting and they come across a rapid! The buzzer goes off and it was Didi's turn. Angelica requests Didi to make-up story about an angel simply known as Angelica. For some reason, the skipped Day 3, I don't know why the heck they did that. They don't even show the time code for the following scene.
That night, Stu gets ready for bed, when all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, Angelica requests chocolate pudding, at 3:00 in the morning! AT 3:00 IN THE MORNING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Stu refuses at first because I think he was starting to suspect that Angelica's leg isn't broken at all, ultimately, he does give in, and he buys pudding mix from a late night grocery store, since they've run out of the already made stuff. Then it cuts to the infamous chocolate pudding scene which has become a meme. Didi asks why Stu is making pudding at 4:00 in the morning, and the reason is because he's lost control of his life. I wonder if it was his deadpan response that caused this to become a meme. We then cut to Angelica watching late night cop shows when Stu brings her her chocolate pudding, until Angelica declares she's not hungry anymore. Stu gets so fed up and so exhausted that he does his over-he-top scream!
Day 4: Stu tries desperately to drink his coffee, but he says to himself, "If I hear that buzzer one more time, I'm about to crack!" Then the phone rings, making Stu jump! Didi reassures that it's just the telephone. Didi answers it, it was Dr. Doozer, calling that they had a mix-up with the x-rays, they've just discovered Angelica's leg isn't broken at all, and that they can bring her down to remove the cast, and says she's sorry for the mistake. He also apologizes to Antonio Peaches, who was the one with the broken leg, you see, I knew it was a mistake all along, I just didn't want to spoil it for everybody. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and Drew came back to town so early, and there's a good reason, Charlotte had a run-in with a kayak, meaning broken leg.'
See, that's irony for you. Charlotte calls desperately for Drew and Angelica for some help while still talking to Jonathan on the phone. While Angelica would rather do something fun, Drew tells her as punishment for faking a broken leg, they are having her see what it's like, and anything Charlotte wants she gets. Drew then asks Angelica if she has any chocolate pudding, and the episode ends. I can only assume Angelica might've fainted from all the pressure.
Final thoughts: This episode was really funny. The characters reacted accordingly, Angelica never feels out of character, and it was satisfying to see her get comeuppance for her sour attitude, that and I felt pretty bad for Stu in this episode after going through all that torture. At least he can rest fine now.
By the way, there was an episode of the Garfield Show that parodied this in "King Nermal" except not in a good way.
I not only recommend this episode, but I would also like to dedicate this review to the late Jack Riley who voiced Stu Pickles.
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