- "Keep your promises!"
Airdate: October 20, 2001
"Happy Trails" is the twenty-seventh episode of the first (internet) season of Happy Tree Friends. It was going to be the final episode of the show had Mondo not asked for more episodes.
A school bus carrying a group of friends is traveling along. All is well until Petunia, who drank too much cherry juice, suddenly needs to go. She begins to ask Lumpy, only for him to chastise her for bothering him. The bus hits a small rock, causing one of the windows to close down on Cuddles, slicing him in half. It also causes Mime to choke on a peanut. He fails to wake up the napping Sniffles, who is wearing headphones. He asks Lumpy for help instead, but Lumpy chastises him too, leaving him to die. Petunia, frantic, suddenly points to the front, showing that the bus is heading towards a winding path with no guardrails. This scares both Petunia and Lumpy, the latter jumping into the former's arms, while Petunia herself ends up wetting herself. The bus hits another bump (The Cursed Idol), causing Petunia to lose balance and get impaled on the bus's gear lever, which Lumpy tries to control but fails. The bus then ends up driving off a cliff. "To be continued..."
Followed by "Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark".
"Happy Trails" provides examples of:
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Lumpy's antlers.
- Bolivian Army Ending: Subverted by accident. To reiterate, this was originally going to be the final episode of the show. The creators were surprised when they were asked to make more episodes, so they did just that. In fact, the very next episode immediately resolves the cliffhanger.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Petunia urinates herself while she and Lumpy brace for impact.
- The Cameo: The Cursed Idol serves as the second bump on the road that leads the friends to their demise.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with the bus driving off the cliff.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Mime starts choking on a peanut, Lumpy scolds him for making too much noise, not noticing that he's choking.
- Cruel and Unusual Death:
- Cuddles gets sliced in half by the bus's window.
- Petunia gets impaled on the bus's gear lever.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The friends are singing the show's theme at the beginning of the episode.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This episode has Mime's first death and it shows. His demise in this particular episode is slower compared to his future deaths, is rather mundane, and vocal noises can even be heard as he suffocates on the peanut.
- Faceless Masses: Non-main characters shown in the background are rendered as this, though in some shots certain main characters end up as these too.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: A ton.
- Petunia drinking several juice boxes.
- Cuddles sticking his body out of the window.
- Mime eating peanuts.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Cuddles's death.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Petunia's death.
- Meaningful Name: "Happy trails" is an expression of goodwill to someone who is leaving. Would be fitting if this was the actual final episode of the show.
- Multi-Part Episode: Forms the first part of a single storyline with the Sequel Episode "Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark".
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Lumpy is a bus driver in this episode.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Petunia distracting Lumpy from the road is what ultimately starts the chain reaction of chaos at the bus.
- Potty Dance: Petunia does one after tapping Lumpy's shoulder to show him (and the audience) that she needs to go to the bathroom after drinking too much juice. He just scolds her for bothering him and sends her back to her seat.
- Potty Emergency: Petunia has to use the bathroom for most of the episode.
- Running Gag: Even when he is screaming in terror, Handy retains his grumpy eyes.
- Security Cling: Lumpy jumps into the much smaller Petunia's arms and the two hug each other in fear when they see that the school bus they're in is about to go over a cliff.
- Series Fauxnale: This episode was originally going to be the final episode of the series, but once Mondo Media requested additional episodes, it became the first part of a season-bridging two-parter that was concluded nearly a year later. The show went on to have four additional internet seasons and a TV series.
- Special Edition Title: After the show's title card is shown, the theme song is changed into a more intense music track as the logo gets crushed by rocks carved in the shape of the "SEASON FINALE" text, with a falling leaf being blown towards the episode's title card.
- Spell My Name With An S: One of the writers, Paul Allan, is credited in this episode as Paul Allen.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Cuddles, Petunia, Mime, Mole, and Toothy die. The fates of the others would have been left unknown had Mondo not requested more HTF episodes.
- Through a Face Full of Fur: Mime starts turning blue when he chokes on a peanut, even though he has both fur and face paint on top of that.
- Toilet Humor: The only time in the show to show urine.
