"Seeing Red" is the first half of the 10th episode in the first season of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
Plot[]
SPOILER: Plot details follow.
The last school bell rings, and all the children run out to go home. As Mac is leaving, he passes by his older brother Terrence, who tells him to run, so he can chase Mac down and beat him up. Mac makes it to the Foster's front yard where Terrence catches him; thankfully, Bloo is there to save Mac by popping in and out of Terrence's clothes, leading Terrence to accidentally hit himself repeatedly instead. Terrence tries to punch and kick Bloo, but in the process, he gets knocked out unconscious, after which Mac and Bloo leave to get pizza.
A conversation between Mac and Bloo swirls up in Terrence's head while he's out: Mac tells Bloo it's a good thing that there's only one of Terrence and two of them, and Bloo agrees. Mac then tries to tell Bloo that they would be in trouble if there were two of Terrence, but Bloo can't hear him over Terrence's loud snoring. Bloo gets fed and pops his head out of the thought bubble and asks a sleeping Terrence if he's getting any of it, but Terrence continues sleeping as he mutters "Two of me." and "One of...".
Bloo says that that Terrence has a stick in his sleep as he has in real life, then he and Mac leave him on the ground again. And when he wakes up, he wants pizza. He promptly imagines a Pizza friend and eats it alive. Then, from the Mac and Bloo chat in his mind, he gets the idea to create his own imaginary friend to help him beat up Bloo. At first, it's too hard for Terrence, so he gives up. Then he starts thinking again without trying too hard, and Red (originally named Green) is born. Red is a short, hulking, red block with stubby arms and a face like Terrence’s (minus the ears and freckles, and plus a black bushy unibrow).
Terrence tells Red to smash Bloo, but Red goes over to some flowers, picks one, and says "Bloo smash pretty." Terrence angrily swipes the flower from Red, tells him it's not Bloo, throws it to the ground, and starts jumping on it. He tells Red that's what smashing means and leads him to the house. Terrence points to the little blue one ordering pizza with Mac, who is Bloo, and sends Red to go after Bloo so he can bully Mac while Bloo's too distracted to save him again.
Red enters Foster's and everyone welcomes him. Mac introduces Red to himself and Bloo. Red goes over to Bloo with the intent of doing bodily harm to him, but Bloo realizes his meaning. Frankie tells Red that she'll give him a grand tour, but Bloo offers to give Red the tour of the grounds. Meanwhile, outside the house, Mac is raking leaves into a pile, until Coco runs by and crashes into them. As Mac gets frustrated about it, Terrence grabs the rake, throws it, and starts bullying his little brother while Bloo gives Red a tour of Foster's.
Their first stop is the giant beehive, where Red tries to smash Bloo like Terrence told him, but after Bloo gets his hand covered in honey from the hive and kindly feeds it to Red, he begins to like it. Bloo instructs Red to go in and dance by jumping up and down really fast to get more honey. This, of course, angers the bees and they all sting Red. Bloo tells Red it's because they don't like the dancing, then they let the tour continue. Meanwhile, Terrence bullies Mac by holding him down to the ground and spitting in his face.
Red still wants to smash Bloo, but Bloo takes him to the giant fish tank and shows him how to feed the fish. Bloo tells Red that he has to take some fish food and feed it to the fish. After Red gives it a try, Bloo tells him to keep doing it while he waits on the back of the diving board where it's safe. A giant purple sea serpent swallows Red whole, but then spits him out. Meanwhile, Terrence bullies Mac by holding him up with his underwear, giving him a wedgie.
The last stop is the unicorn stables, where Bloo tells Red that the unicorns like to be told how pretty and girly they are. Red, once again, takes Bloo's advice. However, the unicorns get shocked by the names he calls them: girly, fuzzy rainbow mane, fluffy clouds on butt, lovely and pretty; an angry male unicorn attacks Red from behind so hard that he flies up in the air and falls into a field of flowers.
Red is now upset about the fact that everyone keeps hurting him; first the bees, then the fish, and then the horse. He then sees the flowers he crushed and thinks he's hurt them. Bloo comes over and sees Red crying. Bloo tells Red that he knew about the plan all along but feels sorry for the guy, so he picks some new flowers for Red. Red becomes so appreciative and friends with Bloo.
Terrence gets furious when he sees Red making friends with Bloo instead of smashing him, so he takes the flowers and smashes them. He then tells Red that he's weak, worthless and lame. Red gets angry and says that he isn't mean like Terrence, picks Terrence up, and throws him away, making Terrence undergo the same three punishments Red went through: getting eaten and spitten by Cyrus, getting kicked in the air by a unicorn, and getting chased and stung by a swarm of imaginary bees; Bloo yells out "Relax, it'll only hurt for a week!", and Red gives Mac and Bloo a big hug. The episode ends with Bloo weakly saying that love hurts.
Running gags[]
- A character saying, "This will only hurt for a..." either a second or a week.
- Terrence taking a flower from Red and smashing it while saying, "Kill, destroy, maim, wreck, crush!"
- Terrence accidentally beating himself up while trying to beat up Bloo.
- Mac trying to tell Bloo what would happen if there were two of Terrence, and Bloo not hearing him over Terrence's snoring.
Spoilers end here.
APM Music Identification[]
- Foster's Scenery (d) - Title Card
- Lonely Violin (a) - "Why everyone hurt Red?"
- Lonely Violin (b) - "Red kill flowers."
Trivia[]
- This is one of only six 11-minute episodes of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, with the other five being "Phone Home", "Where There's a Wilt, There's a Way", "Everyone Knows It's Bendy", "Sight for Sore Eyes", and "Bloo's Brothers".
- This episode and "Phone Home" premiered on Cartoon Network's 12th anniversary.
- Wilt and Eduardo don't speak in this episode.
- Madame Foster doesn't appear in this episode.
Cultural references[]
- When Red is complimenting the unicorns, he mentions one of the unicorns having a rainbow mane and a picture of clouds on its flank. This is likely a reference to the My Little Pony franchise, as the unicorn with the rainbow mane bears a strong resemblance to the Generation 3 incarnation of Rainbow Dash, and the clouds represent a "cutie mark".
Goofs[]
- When Terrence demonstrates "smashing" to Red, he crushes the flower into several small pieces, but in the very next shot, the small pieces are replaced with one larger, barely totaled piece.