Recap / HTF - Shard at Work

"The glass is always half full!"

Airdate: May 4, 2003

"Shard at Work" is the fourteenth episode of the second (internet) season of Happy Tree Friends.

Handy is trying to change his light bulb despite having no hands. Frustrated at the fact, he tries to grab it with his teeth, but he ends up kicking away his ladder in the process of unscrewing the light bulb, sending his box of spare light bulbs crashing down to the floor. The beaver is still holding on to the light bulb until it cracks, causing its shards to cut his mouth and sending him back down to the floor where his backside lands right on the shards of broken light bulbs. Thankfully, the first-aid kit is close by, but unfortunately, his first step impales his foot right on a glass shard, causing him to hop backwards in pain until he bumps into a table. The fishbowl on it gets launched into the air and falls onto Handy's head, adding another problem. He begins to desperately try to remove it, breaking his cupboard in the process. He bumps into a wall, and with that he finally gets the idea of breaking the fishbowl by headbutting the wall several times. Despite various objects falling onto his head and shattering, the fishbowl remains intact. That is, until Handy finally suffocates and a feather gently lands on the fishbowl, shattering it. His pet fish remains fine, though, now swimming in a pool of blood in his mouth.

"Shard at Work" contains examples of:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: "Fun Fish Fact" from the BlurB!.
• Agony of the Feet: At one point, Handy ends up stepping on a glass shard that points upwards.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: Handy's tool belt and the cuts on his mouth.
• Anvil on Head: Alluded to in the BlurB! as various objects on a shelf fall on Handy as he bangs his head against the wall under it.
  Luckily Handy had moved his Anvil and Safe collection from that shelf the day before.
• Artistic License – Physics:
  • Considering Handy's weight, the light bulb (or socket and part of the ceiling) should have fallen down sooner.
  • No water from the fishbowl gets spilled/leaked out even when it gets launched upside-down.
• Blood from the Mouth: After getting cuts from the light bulb shards.
• Blood Is Squicker in Water: Handy's fishbowl water turns red soon after it gets stuck on his head thanks to his mouth injury.
• Caption Humor: One of the episodes with a BlurB! version.
• Don't Explain the Joke: Courtesy of the BlurB!.
  Never noticed the glove on the ladder
  The glove is funny because it's a Handy episode.
  For the humor impaired: Let me point out, he has no hands!
• Hope Spot: The first-aid kit. In the process of reaching it, Handy ends up stepping on a glass shard that makes his situation worse. Not that he can actually use the first-aid kit anyway... well, unless it happens Behind the Black.
• Hurt Foot Hop: Handy ends up hopping backwards after impaling his foot on a glass shard.
• Irony: A glove can be seen on the ladder, despite... you know. Lampshaded by the BlurB!.
• The Last Straw: Handy desperately smashes the fish bowl he has stuck on his head against a wall in order to break it, with various items falling off the shelf above him and smashing into it as well. Unfortunately, he fails and drowns from the water inside it. Cue a single feather falling on the fishbowl, breaking it.
• Lightbulb Joke: One of the BlurB! captions.
  How many beavers does it take to change a lightbulb?
  One... as long as he has hands! HAHAHAHAHAA!
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Handy attempts this. It works for a bit until the light bulb breaks.
• Plummet Perspective: As Handy is holding onto the lightbulb with his teeth, there's a top-down shot of his box of lightbulbs falling to the floor and shattering.
• Pun: The BlurB!, regarding Handy's first injury:
  talk about a glass jaw! HAHAHAHA
• Pun-Based Title: "Hard at work"
• Recycled Soundtrack: The jingle at the end of the episode is reused from "Snow What? That's What!".
• Sincerity Mode: One of the BlurB! captions explains that Warren Graff (Handy's voice actor) nearly destroyed the sound recording equipment when he was recording for the "headbutting Handy" scene.
• They Killed Kenny Again: Handy dies.
• The Tooth Hurts: Some of the light bulb shards end up stuck in Handy's teeth.
• Trauma Conga Line: Handy suffers from horrific glass-related injuries for most of the episode. Made worse by the fishbowl stuck on his head.
• Unexplained Recovery: Probably because the animators forgot, Handy's injured foot becomes fine again once he starts stumbling around after getting the fishbowl stuck on his head.
• Updated Re-release: One of the early episodes to be part of the "Classics Remastered" releases, which rerelease early HTF episodes in HD.
• Use Your Head: Handy tries to break the fishbowl on his head by repeatedly slamming his head into the wall. It does not work.
• invokedWhat Could Have Been: Played for Laughs. According to the BlurB!, Handy's pet fish was supposed to have lines, but they were cut because his accent was too thick. That apparently also includes his own take on the Lightbulb Joke, which was not only ruined by his accent, but also his poor timing.
• Your Size May Vary: The fishbowl appears to be too small to fit on Handy's head. It ends up being drawn bigger just so it fits.