Frybo (episode)

"We didn’t tell him to do that, did we tell him to do that?!"

"Frybo" is the 5th episode of the first season of Steven Universe and the 5th episode overall.

Synopsis
Steven helps Peedee with his grueling job by using a magical gem shard that can bring clothing to life.

Plot
Steven is searching for his pants when Pearl comes in, searching for a Gem Shard. She warns Steven that the shard holds dangerous power and can possess clothing garments, turning them into violent living entities. Steven is distracted by his missing pants and hears little of her explanation. She tells him to be on the lookout for the Gem Shard and heads out to search the town. After Pearl leaves, Steven finds his pants walking on their own, exclaiming "That's unusual!" and chases his pants throughout the house. Eventually Steven catches his pants after tackling them, and finds one of the gem shard Pearl is looking for inside. Steven then goes out to find Pearl and give her the gem shard.

While looking for Pearl, Steven is startled by Peedee Fryman wearing a "Frybo" character mascot costume being attacked by seagulls mistaking him as fries. After chasing away the seagulls, Peedee's dad, Mr. Fryman, comes out of his shop and tells Peedee that he's doing a mediocre job at being part of the Fryman business. After his dad goes back inside the shop, Peedee tells Steven he just wants to help his dad without wearing the costume, and Steven gets an idea: to wear the costume himself. However, this idea backfires when the seagulls come back and attack Steven while he is wearing the costume, also mistaking him for fries.

Steven eventually takes the costume off, which is damaged. Steven comes up with an idea to use a gem shard to make Frybo come to life. This plan succeeds; Frybo is repaired and listens to Steven's every command. When Steven tells Frybo to do a little dance, Frybo grows legs made out of fries and dances. Mr. Fryman then comes out, and tells Frybo (not knowing Peedee is not inside the costume) that he is doing a good job.

Once Mr. Fryman returns to the store, Peedee claims that he is free, and tells Frybo that he got the job and to shake on it. Frybo takes this literally and physically shakes Peedee when he is supposed to shake his hand. After letting go of Peedee, Peedee tells Frybo to make people eat fries, and plans to go be kids with Steven as they run off to Funland. As Steven and Peedee ride Jelly Jiggler and Tsunami respectively, Peedee becomes depressed and realizes riding the seahorse is not as satisfying as it use to be. Later the two hear screaming from the Fry Shop and run to see what's going on. They discover that Frybo took Peedee's earlier command literally and was now using his fry tentacles to force feed people fries. Mr. Fryman believing that it is still Peedee, inside the costume, tries to reason with him and apologizes for being tough on him. Frybo responds by trying to force feed Mr. Fryman his own fries then throwing him out the window on top of the boys. Eventually Pearl arrives and asks Steven if he put the shard into the costume. Pearl summons her spear and throws it into Frybo's eye resulting in an eruption of ketchup and mustard which splatter onto Pearl's face. Blinded, Pearl drops the remaining gem shards.

While Peedee rushes to his father, Frybo emerges from the fry shop with Pearl's weapon protruding from its eye. Peedee stands between Frybo and his father, and tries to defend him by swinging a broken wooden plank at Frybo. In the process, he reveals his true feelings about always hating Frybo just as his dad regains consciousness. Frybo then disarms Peedee, who falls back into his father's arms as Mr. Fryman tries to shield him from the approaching Frybo. Steven's pants are seen leaping onto Frybo and kicking him. Steven has taken all of his clothes off and used each of the shards to bring them to life. Steven commands his clothes to attack Frybo as he tries to remove Frybo's shard but fails.

Steven exclaims he "did not want to do this, but you (Frybo) leave me with no choice". His underwear then flies off and attacks Frybo along with the rest of his clothing. Together, they are finally able to overwhelm and end Frybo's reign of terror. Steven then plunges his arm into Frybo's cheese-filled mouth and rips out the gem shard causing the costume to revert to normal. The scene transfers to the beach, where the Fryman mascot is given a Viking funeral (the costume is sent out into the ocean on a flaming fishing boat). Peedee asks if his dad wants to get another costume but his dad replies he does not need Frybo because he has Peedee. Steven, still naked, heroically states that their mission is complete, then Pearl chides him to put his clothes back on.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Pearl
 * Mr. Fryman
 * Peedee Fryman (debut)
 * Frybo (debut/antagonist)

Cameos

 * Buck Dewey (debut)
 * Sour Cream (debut)
 * Kiki Pizza (debut)
 * Jenny Pizza (debut)
 * Ronaldo Fryman (debut)
 * Lars


 * Mr. Smiley

Objects

 * Gem Shards (first appearance)
 * Jelly Jiggler (first appearance)
 * Tsunami (first appearance)
 * Cheeseburger Backpack
 * Ronaldo's Phone (first appearance)
 * Frybo suit (debut/antagonist)

Locations

 * Beach City
 * Crystal Temple
 * Beach House
 * Beach Citywalk Fries
 * Funland Arcade

Songs

 * None

Instrumental Songs

 * "That's Unusual!"
 * "Peedee's Blues"

Trivia

 * In some storyboards, this episode is rated TV-PG-S instead of the usual TV-PG.

Cultural References

 * The way Steven brought his clothes to life to defeat Frybo, is similar to how the Magi in Adventure Time brought a few objects to life to defeat a possessed Gumball Guardian.
 * Frybo being laid to rest by being placed in a boat and burned while sent out to sea is a reference to Norse burial customs.
 * The way Steven had a fry hanging out of his mouth while standing with his 'army' is a nod to Douglas MacArthur, a famed American general who often held a corncob pipe in a similar fashion.
 * The jellyfish ride Steven is riding is named Jelly Jiggler, a reference to the English name of Tokoro Tennosuke from the manga and anime series Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.

Continuity

 * Steven's Cheeseburger Backpack makes its second appearance since the episode "Cheeseburger Backpack".

Errors

 * Peedee's name is misspelled as "Petey" in closed captioning.
 * At the beginning, Frybo's eyes look in the upper left direction, but when Steven wears the costume and takes it off while the birds attack him, the eyes are looking to the upper right. This changes several times throughout the episode. After Pearl hit its eye with her spear, its eyes were shown closed the moment its head comes out of the door.
 * After Mr. Fryman is thrown at Peedee, Pearl appears in front of the table. In the next scene, she is behind the table.
 * At 5:59, the ending of the handle of the Funland Ride was colored the same as Steven's skin, making it look like Steven has 6 fingers.
 * For a few brief frames, Frybo's eyes are closed when the spear is lodged in his right eye. A second later, his eyes are back to normal.
 * When Steven gets the shard from Frybo, it appears long and sharp but it's actually just a small shard.
 * The number of Steven's garments that were brought to life share the same number as the shards (8), when there should only be 7 active garments since one of the shards was inside Frybo.
 * The door from Steven's house opens to the left instead of to the right, when it originally opened to the right.

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