Teletoon air date: 1/19/2003 (produced in 2002)
MTV air date: 8/2016
Written by: Murray Miller & Judah Miller
A littering trend starts up at Clone High, thanks to resident cool guy, "regular character" and best friend to JFK Ponce de Leon (Luke Perry) and soon the entire campus is covered with trash. Following a break-up fight with JFK, Ponce gets trapped in and killed by the very litter he encouraged getting blown back into his face. The school mourns the loss of their good friend, with JFK taking it the hardest, putting a strain on Abe and Cleo's relationship when she keeps ditching Abe to comfort her ex boyfriend. Meanwhile, Gandhi goes to prison when his new orange warm ups get him mistaken for an escaped convict.
Tropes present in this episode
- Actor Allusion: Ponce is played by Luke Perry, who made a name for himself on Beverly Hills, 90210, one of the very shows Clone High is a parody of.
- There's also his janitor foster father played by Neil Flynn who also played a janitor on that other Bill Lawrence show.
- Break the Haughty: JFK does not take Ponce's death well. At all.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Ponce's death follows the show's typical over the top Bloody Hilarious nature. He was bound by a discarded soda can holder, sliced up by foil wrappers caught in a breeze, impaled in the neck by a juice box, suffocated by a plastic bag and then drowned in his own blood after banging his head on a glass jar.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Played around with a lot. On the one hand, JFK's denial, frustrations, and sorrow over Ponce's death (to the point he climbs into Ponce's coffin then starts screaming "I WAS IN A COFFIN WITH A DEAD GUY!!!!") are done completely over the top to the point of being Cringe Comedy, but is intercut with Joan and the other clones all looking genuinely horrified and sympathetic towards his behavior. On the other hand, you have Scudworth bluntly asking Ponce's dad to stop his eulogy to clean up a mess, citing Ponce will be still be dead when he gets back.
- Helpful Hallucination: JFK has a grief induced one of Ponce de Leon, which he's incapable of recognizing as such, concluding Ponce came back as a genie. The hallucination itself exasperatedly says it's frustrating he's not getting it.
- Insane Troll Logic: Gandhi seems to believe that cool people are incapable of doing uncool things, as shown by this exchange with Joan:Joan: Littering's not cool, Gandhi!
Gandhi: If littering's not cool, then why does Ponce do it? Jeez, you're lame. - Irony: Juan Ponce de León, the explorer rumored to have searched for the Fountain of Youth, is re-imagined as a live fast, die hard James Dean-type who lives each day as if it was his last. He even passively mentions to JFK that "there's no fountain of youth."
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Litter will kill you. Literally.
- Jerkass Realization: The normally nice Abe does not give JFK any sympathy at first, assuming that he's faking being sad so Cleo can provide him a different form of comfort. He eventually realizes that JFK does need emotional support and helps him out.
- Karmic Death: Ponce is an extremely nice and popular character, but also a careless litterer whose example encouraged everyone else to litter. He dies from convoluted circumstances where litter kills him.
- Kick the Dog: The janitor loses his foster son in a horrible litter accident and then his job when the clones start cleaning up the school.
- Lame Comeback: Ponce and JFK have a falling out, culminating in Ponce ending their friendship by crumpling a photo of them together. JFK responds with crumpling a plastic bag they were eating candy from.
- Moment Killer: Much to Abe's chagrin, Cleo actually being a friend to JFK in his time of need ruins their makeout time.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Cleo is normally rather vapid and self centered, but she spends a lot of time trying to give JFK comfort and emotional support after he loses Ponce. While Abe clearly thinks JFK wants to get into Cleo's pants, Cleo herself is only ever shown trying to help JFK and JFK never tries to take advantage.
- Parting-Words Regret: The last words Ponce said to JFK were "I hate you", ironically from a fight started by the former trying to profess his platonic love for the latter.
- Prison Rape: Subverted. Gandhi is terrified that he's going to get raped in the prison shower, but the convicts just want to give him a friendly welcome. One of them even asks "What did you think we were gonna do?? Make love to you?". Disturbingly, the prisoner standing behind Ghandi doesn't laugh along with the others after the fact, as if he was actually considering it.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Implied. After Ponce's death, JFK is briefly shown in a church, shouting "you took him!"
- Remember the New Guy?: Ponce, who has literally never been in the show prior, is introduced here as the most popular kid in school and JFK's best friend. Julius Caesar even remarks that Ponce is a "regular character" (as in a jokester).
- Spoof Aesop: The clones clean up their school in honor of their fallen friend who died from litter, but it ends up so clean that they have to fire their janitor, who also happened to be Ponce's foster father. In the end, the moral is "Maybe littering is good... in moderation."
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Parodied so hard that it's almost played straight.
