Warning: This blog contains MAJOR spoilers to the final episodes of “Regular Show” from Cartoon Network. The show ended in 2017 but I avoided the spoilers for 5 years so if you’re avoiding them too, leave this page.
You’ve been warned.
I’ve done it. I’ve watched every episode of “Regular Show“. The question is, what the fuck do I do now?
If you’ve been around for a minute then you know I have been binging the old Cartoon Network show, “Regular Show” created by JG Quintel. I remembered watching “Regular Show” a bit as an older youth but I never sat down and watched it start to finish. Now after 8 seasons, all 261 episodes, I can fairly say that I love this damn show so much.
I might say fuck it and restart the whole thing right now. I’ve always loved shows that didn’t get too serious but weren’t always super silly. “Regular Show” is that perfect medium. It wasn’t so serious like “BoJack Horseman” and it wasn’t always juvenile jokes like “Uncle Grandpa“. The jokes were one of the best parts in my opinion. You don’t need sophisticated high level humor. Throw in a Rigby has one butt cheek joke here and there and I’m giggling for days. I also liked how the show still had heart wrenching, serious moments. Like the Mordecai and Margert plot lines or Rigby dealing with his dad or the entire last season where Pops struggles to become himself. It was right in that sweet spot and I loved every minute of it.
The final episode to me was *chef’s kiss*. It threw me for so many loops. Like I said, I tried so hard to avoid spoilers and I am so happy I did. One thing I personally loved is JG’s callbacks to his previous work that inspired “Regular Show”. I just wrote a blog last month talking about how in love with JG’s old work I am and it ended up being part of this final episode. Pops runs through the original animation he was in called “The Naïve Man From Lolliland”. You already know when the name Lolliland came up in the show I gasped loudly. Then later on, there is a minuscule second where Mordecai, on the brink of what he thought was death, says he wants to be brought back as a dolphin. Well in “2 In The AM PM”, JG (who is also the voice of Mordecai) voices a character that gets high on acid and eventually turns into what we know as Mordecai then he turns into a dolphin as well.
You can see what I’m talking about in this video here.
The entire final battle just breaks the fourth wall completely and I was floored by it. Pops gets pushed around by Post-It notes, the title screen letters are floating around, Mordecai and Rigby are in the drawings and storyboards. It was such a perfect way to show how their reality was breaking down. How it displays that, at it’s base, this is still just a show. I also liked the, for lack of a better word, symbolism around the “universe restarting” played out. Like how Pops and Anti-Pops have been fighting for a millennium because whenever you restart the show, it’s like restarting the universe. Like the show never truly ends.
Nevertheless, we did get an ending for the beloved characters. Rigby and Eileen ended up together, Muscle Man is a dad, Mordecai ended up becoming an artist and finding love. I adored all of that. They all get together 25 years later (the gang is roughly 54 by then) and the show comes to a close.
I’m always sad to see a show I love and resonate so deeply come to an end but I am happy with how it went down. I had no idea how this one ended but I am happy with the way it did. Even though this show is for kids and it has galactic dilemmas, it still resonated deep with me.
I think every 20-something-odd person goes through that weird time in their life where they have no idea what’s next but everything feels like the most important thing in the world because of that. Like you don’t plan for “down the line” because there is “down the line” in your mind. At least, that is how my brain operates. “Regular Show” captured that feeling really well. Like with Mordecai, for example. Mordecai was in love with Margaret, he failed art school, and didn’t really know where to go from there. Every time things hit the fan with Margaret (or CJ for that matter) or he had to think about his future past the Park, he freaked out because that was his world. Because when you’re about that age, you only really have today. But he ends up figuring it out. He becomes an artist, he finds love out in the world. I think it just gives ya hope.
Overall, kick ass show. I am a big fan of JG’s work so I’m definitely going to watch “Close Enough” now but chances are I am going to be rewacthing “Regular Show” at some point this year. It was too damn good of a show to watch just once. On that note, I really don’t know how to end this. I still have a lot to ponder about the show but one thing I can say for certain is this really really really makes me want to make my own cartoon now.
Find more at ham-sports.com
Visit our shop here
Tweet me @shortman_hams
Tweet us @ham_sports
Featured Image: Amazon
Ham Sports 