User blog:AustinDR/Jeffy's Parents (Review)

OK, so I decided to give my thoughts on "Jeffy's Parents." I've been holding off on discussing it, mostly because I no longer have confidence in doing reviews, so I don't really feel like I am fully qualified to discuss it. Basically in this episode, a wealthy painter commits suicide, thus leaving a lot of money for his son who is coincidentally Jeffy. Almost on cue, Mario receives a phone call from a woman claiming to be Jeffy's biological mother. Overjoyed at the prospect of getting Jeffy out of his life, he calsl her, and she comes over to collect her son. However, she reveals herself as being extremely abusive towards Jeffy, more so than Bowser is with his son even. She openly beats Jeffy in front of Mario and Rosalina, she purposefully abandoned Jeffy by leaving him on Mario's doorstep, she emotionally abuses him, etc. Despite this, Mario lets her take Jeffy away, angering Rosalina so much so, that she leaves him. While Mario was happy to have Jeffy out of his life, he slowly began to realize that he missed Jeffy, or at the very least became used to his behavior. And, of course, Mario ends up officially adopting Jeffy, which is actually pretty sweet.

I'll give this episode one thing: it actually made me feel sorry for Jeffy. JEFFY. Someone who was arguably one of the most reviled of the SML cast, a worrisome brat to the highest order, and yet, I genuinely felt sorry for him. This episode actually explains some of Jeffy's behavior in previous episodes. Even "Jeffy's Bad Word," an episode I hate with a burning passion, actually makes more sense once you have the context from this latest video. In "Jeffy's Bad Word," Jeffy accuses Mario of raping him after he had received a spanking from him for saying the F-word. With the idea that his mother beat and tortured him, this actually explains why Jeffy automatically assumed the worst. Well, maybe, maybe not. I just chose to interpret it that way. As I have said already, Nancy is the worst excuse for a mother that I have ever seen. She makes Ragyo Kiryuin, Medusa Gorgon, and Lusamine all look like loving mothers. Nancy is an alcoholic prostitute who is the worst child abuser I've ever seen. Unlike other antagonists from the series who - while evil - either have mitigating factors or are funny, Nancy is played dead seriously. She is a chillingly realistic example of a child abuser who is directly responsible for Jeffys' bad behavior. That's not getting into the fact that she only came back for Jeffy simply because she wanted to have the money all for herself once he turns eighteen. Hopefully, she never returns.

This episode was also really emotional. Usually, I don't get wrapped up in these types of videos, but you could tell that they went all out to make the episode as tragic as possible. The music, the scenery...everything came together to create a perfect atmosphere. It's also great to see that Mario decides to adopt Jeffy, even though he didn't want to admit that his life would be boring without Jeffy. It shows a little bit of character development if I do say so myself. My only gripe with the episode is that it ends without showing how Mario got back together with Rosalina, but it was otherwise unimportant. As for whether or not I like Jeffy now in light of his backstory....yes and no. For one, I like that the backstory gives more depth to Jeffy to the point that I genuinely cringed when Nancy hit him, but at the same time he did so much that it makes it hard to slide it under the rug. So, I guess I'm 50/50 on Jeffy. Who knows, he may actually keep his word and act like a better child.

Overall, an episode that I fondly rewatch without hesitation.

Final score: 10 out of 10 stars