With a friend like him, who needs enemies?
Crypt Keeper: (dressed in scuba gear and wielding a harpoon gun; in a French accent) Oh, hello boils and ghouls. It's me, your favorite creep from the deep, Shock Cousteau. You're just in time. I'm about to dive into tonight's tale. Care to join me? (in his normal voice) Good, then strap on a couple of scare tanks and prepare yourselves for a cold, wet hack-sploration of my favorite kind of marine life: croakers. (chuckles, he fires his harpoon, which hits someone offscreen and makes them scream in agony) Oops. It concerns a couple of boo-som buddies who're about to put their relationship to rest. I call it: Operation Friendship.
Nelson DeMears is a socially awkward computer programmer whose ideas are shamelessly stolen by his colleague Jack, which he uses to further his own career path. Jack continuously convinces Nelson that this is a good arrangement, as he'll repay the favor when he gets promoted. Heading back to his apartment, Nelson is greeted by Eddie, his crass, cocky, and comedic imaginary friend. Nelson initially created Eddie when he was a boy, and did so as the result of growing up as a child prodigy who was always bullied and never had any friends. It's for this reason that Eddie exemplifies everything that Nelson could never hope to be, acting as an adventurous and outgoing alter-ego to him. At the same time, Eddie fulfills his intended purpose as an imaginary friend well enough, always knowing how to comfort Nelson and advising him to be assertive, stand up for himself, and take control of his life. A ripple between Nelson and Eddie soon develops when the attractive Jane moves into the apartment across the hall. Nelson likes her, and Eddie encourages him to set up a relationship with her, but while tagging along on a date with Nelson, Eddie learns that Jane is a psychologist. Knowing that he'll inevitably forced out of Nelson's mind if the relationship continues, Eddie tries to get Nelson to break it off with Jane. When he refuses, Eddie starts getting violent to persuade his creator to dump her.
"Operation Friendship" Includes Examples of:
- Anti-Villain: Eddie was initially onboard with Nelson and Jane hooking up, but that was before he found out that she was a psychologist, one of the only kinds of people effectively able to "kill" him. He even reminds Nelson that the last time he told someone about him (in the second grade), they were almost split up. He essentially starts fighting back against Nelson because he doesn't want to lose him, or be forced out of Nelson's mind.
- Asians Eat Pets: Eddie brings up the stereotype to get Nelson to break it off with Jane, advising him to tell her that the local pound makes daily deliveries to the restaurant they're in.
- Asian Speekee Engrish: Eddie talks in a stereotypical Chinese accent when he appears during Nelson and Jane's date.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Eddie effectively kills Nelson and takes over his body, and therefore his life. Though at the very least, Nelson's new life is an improvement over his old one.
- Bittersweet Ending: Nelson is killed by Eddie, who takes over his body. Despite this, Eddie turns Nelson's life around completely, achieving the position of Vice President, keeping his relationship with Jane, and getting revenge on Jack for his empty promises.
- Bookends: The episode begins and ends with Nelson at work, talking to Jack. The difference in the ending is that Eddie has taken over Nelson's life, turning the tables on Jack.
- Broken Record: Each of the people who Eddie summons from the depths of Nelson's memories repeat the insults they used to call him over and over.
- The Bully: "Demon" McKenna was Nelson's childhood bully, and Eddie brings him out of Nelson's mind as a method of persuasion.
- Butt-Monkey: Nothing goes right for Nelson. Not even his so-called friends ever gave him any respect. When he's taken out of the picture by Eddie, the latter takes over his mind and quickly turns his life around.
- Chubby Chaser: Nelson has a telescope set up in his window so Eddie can usually spy on the fat lady in the building next door. Eddie's comments when he does so indicates that it's for shits and giggles... if not for pleasuring his crotch.
- Contrived Coincidence: Eddie chides Nelson for not asking Jane out when he had the chance. Immediately after this, Jane comes back and asks Nelson to go out to dinner with her, since she hates eating alone. Eddie is all too happy to give a Big "YES!" to force Nelson into agreeing.
- Death of Personality: Nelson is thrown out the window to his death by Eddie. As shown in the ending, this allowed for Eddie to take over Nelson's life and get it back on track.
- Denser and Wackier: This is the third episode out of four in this season so far to go this route. It's not as hefty as the previous ones, as most of the wackiness comes from Eddie.
- The Dog Bites Back: Once Eddie takes control of Nelson's body and is promoted to Vice-President, he treats Jack like shit, just as he had treated him in the beginning of the episode.
- Double Entendre: Eddie spits out many an entendre when Jane enters the picture.
- Empty Promise: Jack has had a history of making empty promises to Nelson that he'll reward him when he becomes Vice President in exchange for letting him steal the credit for his ideas.
- Establishing Character Moment: Eddie's has him greeting Nelson, coming home from work, with a jovially sarcastic "Daddy's home!", establishing himself as quite the comedian.
- Extreme Doormat: Nelson has very rarely ever stood up for himself, always letting other people harass him, beat him, walk all over him, and steal his ideas.
- Fat Bastard: "Demon", Nelson's childhood bully.
- Friendless Background: Nelson never had any genuine friends in his life, always being hassled by bullies, the nuns at his Catholic school, and his coworkers for several years. Eddie is essentially the only true companion he's ever had. Jane tells him during their date that she was basically the same as him growing up.
- Freudian Excuse: Nelson's reasoning for creating Eddie, since he was a child prodigy who had basically no friends and a horrible childhood.
- Give Geeks a Chance: Nelson looks typically geeky, but Jane falls in love with him for his gentle personality instead of his physical appearance.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: Eddie demonstrates that he's escaping Nelson's control after the latter goes to dinner with Jane, not appearing when Nelson wills him to do so and ultimately taking over his entire life in the ending.
- Hates Being Alone: Jane invites Nelson to the Chinese restaurant with her because she hates eating by herself, since it makes people feel more miserable than just being alone. The episode even cuts to a miserable diner sitting by himself at another table to prove her point.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Nelson's childhood was utterly miserable, as he had no friends, got beaten by bullies all the time, and was constantly ridiculed by the strict nuns at his school, whenever he would tell anyone about his imaginary friend.
- Homage: This episode can be seen as one to old sitcoms that focused on a pair of guys as different as night and day, such as The Odd Couple (1970) and Perfect Strangers.
- Imaginary Enemy: Despite Eddie being created for a genuinely decent reason, as stated below, he quickly turns on his creator when he refuses to dump Jane.
- Imaginary Friend: Eddie, who was created by Nelson 30 years ago to help him cope with his miserable childhood.
- Inexplicable Language Fluency: Nelson reveals that he's fluent in Chinese when he and Jane are in the Chinese restaurant. He admits to her that he taught himself the language since his company is affiliated with a powerful Chinese client.
- In Name Only: This episode nothing to do with the comic story of the same name, which was about a doctor performing a 75% lobotomy on his friend, allowing him to keep the intellectual part of his friend's brain and leaving the rest to be married to his friend's fiancé, who he suspects doesn't really love him. The episode focuses on a nerdy pushover whose cocky imaginary friend advises him to be more outgoing, then tries to break up his newfound romance when the girl he begins dating happens to be a psychologist.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Nelson was a child prodigy when he was in grade school, and being a genius led all the other kids to shun him or pick on him, which is how Eddie ultimately came to be.
- Invisible to Normals: Since Eddie happens to be Nelson's imaginary friend, Nelson is the only person who can see him, hear him, and interact with him. Everyone else usually thinks Nelson's talking to thin air and ridicule him for doing so. There's even a scene where Jane has no idea that Eddie's giving her a shoulder massage in the restaurant, which Jane later tells Nelson she felt.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eddie is indeed crass and over-the-top, but Nelson created him specifically so he could have someone to open up to. He does this part of his job well, comforting his creator, sharing his woes and grievances about work, and advising him to take charge of his own life. He ditches the heart of gold when Nelson refuses to break up with Jane, a psychologist who could potentially get rid of him.
- Kiss of Death: Eddie plants one on Nelson's cheek before he throws him out the window.
- Large Ham: Eddie is outrageously comedic and goofy, serving as the funny guy to Nelson's straight man.
- Lighter and Softer: This episode has no blood or guts whatsoever and very little horror themes, instead painting itself as a goofy sitcom where a hapless nerd gets advice from his comedic and daring imaginary friend. The entirety of the episode's score is similarly light-hearted to accentuate the genre shift.
- Loser Protagonist: Nelson has spent his life as a bully magnet with no friends, which is why he created Eddie. When Eddie takes over his body, he gives Nelson's reputation a complete 180.
- Nice Girl: Jane, who doesn't appear to have a mean bone in her body. She gradually grows to love Nelson for who he is, and telling him that he's allowed to think of himself as special. She doesn't even seem to mind when it looks like Nelson's talking to himself, or his unease when Eddie tries to ruin their date. Even when Nelson's mind is taken over by Eddie, she still loves him, and is proud of his apparent change in attitude and newfound success.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Eddie shows that he has reality-manipulating powers to convince Nelson to dump Jane, hinting that he's escaping Nelson's control. He fully takes over Nelson's life in the end, which he turns completely around.
- Jane even tells Nelson that she felt like someone was touching her at the restaurant, which was when Eddie gave her a massage.
- Nun Too Holy: Sister Mary "Whats-her-name" from Nelson's old school. We learn when Eddie conjures her up that she hated him for being a genius, as well as having an imaginary friend.
- Odd Couple: Nelson and Eddie function as one of these, since Nelson is a socially awkward nerd and Eddie is a hammy and outgoing jokester.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Since he only exists in Nelson's mind, Eddie can disappear and reappear at will, and largely does so to screw with Nelson.
- Oh, Crap!: Eddie yelps "Say WHAT?!" and bumps his head on the table in response to Jane revealing that she's a psychologist.
- Only Friend: Eddie is Nelson's only friend, and the duo remind each other of that fact several times.
- The Peeping Tom: Eddie, and Nelson if he's to be believed, often use a telescope to spy on the fat blonde lady in the building next to theirs.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: While he isn't an outright villain at this point, Eddie appears in the Chinese restaurant speaking in a stereotypical accent, and later quips that the dog pound makes daily deliveries to the place.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Eddie spends all his screen time acting like a fusion of Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphy. Despite this, he quickly begins to drop the comedian schtick when his and Nelson's relationship becomes strained.
- Reality Warper: Eddie gains reality warping abilities while he's stuck in Nelson's mind, able to summon people from Nelson's past, who repeat the harsh insults they gave him many years ago.
- Recycled Premise: Along with all the sitcom references, this episode basically has the exact same storyline as My Brother's Keeper, as they both focus on a nice-but-timid guy who tries to get a lovely young woman to fall in love with him, only for an obnoxious counterpart that has a strong connection to him trying to ruin it for them. Hell, the obnoxious guys in both episodes even have the same name!
- Rule of Three: The three primary tormentors Nelson had throughout his life were Sister Mary, "Demon", and Jack. Eddie summons all three of them from Nelson's mind to torment him into dumping or killing Jane, and he even warns that they're the tip of the iceberg.
- Sadist Teacher: "Sister Mary Whats-her-name", the nun from Nelson's school who rebukes him for being a genius.
- Shout-Out: Eddie pretends to be the Robot when he's fooling around with Nelson's microwave.
- Signature Laugh: Eddie lets out a wheezing chuckle when he finds something humorous. Nelson later laughs the same way at the end, revealing that Eddie's taken over his mind.
- Smug Snake: Nelson's coworker Jack, who shamelessly takes all the credit for his ideas. Once Eddie's in permanent control of Nelson's life, he takes the guy down a peg or two.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: The meek and nerdy Nelson is the straight man, and the loud and obnoxious Eddie is the wise guy.
- Techno Wizard: Nelson is a whiz with computers, working as a programmer for a major corporation. He continues indulging in computers off the clock, as Jane's craving for Schezwan Chinese food has Nelson show off software that can pinpoint all the different restaurants in a given area.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Eddie has been Nelson's only true friend for 30 years and always seeks to help him when he has a problem, even though the former spends all his time ribbing on Nelson for his pathetic life.
- Vorpal Pillow: Once he catches him and Jane in bed, Eddie tries to force Nelson to pull one of these on Jane to get her out of their lives.
- World of Jerkass: Nelson lives in one of these, and has been ever since he was born. He's run afoul of bullies, sadistic teachers, and jackass coworkers in the episode alone. And that's before his own imaginary friend kills him.
Crypt Keeper: (dressed as a fisherman and holding a fishing rod) Poor Nelson. One minute he's in charge, the next, he's aghast in his own home. (snickers) As for me kiddies, I'm afraid I've given up my water wings for dry land. My producers insist I get a little R and horror. (feels a tug on his line) Uh-oh! Looks like I've got something! (he reels in the line to reveal a pair of severed eyes on the hook) I just love eyes fishing! (cackles)
