Original Air Date: July 26, 2002
It's Halloween and Billy, Grim, and Mandy go trick-or-treating. While Billy and Mandy are at a house, Grim mistakes a boy's mother for Atrocia, the host of the all-night Halloween Marathon on TV. The boy in question, Gregory, is mistaken to be Grim by Billy, and Grim is mistaken as Gregory by Gregory's mother. In the end, everything is back to normal.
"Grim or Gregory?" contains examples of…
- Actor Allusion: It's possible that Gregory, the boy who gets mixed up with Grim, was named after Grim's voice actor, Greg Eagles.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Gregory is finally unmasked, it still doesn't sink in to Billy that this kid isn't Grim.
- Expy: Grim's favorite Horror Host, Atrocia, is pretty much Elvira, Mistress of the Dark with red hair.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Grim, being the Grim Reaper, naturally doesn't dress up for Halloween. Unfortunately for him, the Grim Reaper can be a pretty common Halloween costume, which leads to the Mistaken Identity between him and Gregory.
- Halloween Costume Characterization: Billy's costume is a toilet paper mummy, reflecting his silly and simple nature. Mandy's is as she says, "a ruthless, high-priced, prosecuting attorney", with the addition of monster claws for "rending human flesh", which reflects her cold, ruthless personality.
- Halloween Episode: Which is funny considering this episode originally aired in late July.
- I Got a Rock: One of the things Billy gets from trick or treating is a rock, which he happily eats.
- Kick the Dog: Mandy claims all of Gregory's candy for herself, causing the poor boy to cry. When Billy calls her out on it, she says she doesn't care.
- Mistaken Identity: Three ways around. Grim initially mistakes Gregory's mother for Atrocia, Gregory's mother mistakes Grim for Gregory, and Billy mistakes Gregory for Grim.
- Only Sane Man: Mandy is the only person who knows that the kid she and Billy brought home is not Grim.
Original Air Date: July 26, 2002
Billy and Mandy are playing in the yard as a mysterious carnival shoots right up from the ground. The manager is the lonely Nergal, who founded this carnival in hope of finding friends. Unfortunately, the memory of his last visit lingers, and he receives a cold welcome. Billy takes pity on him and teaches him how to make friends without having to resort to unpleasantness. To do this, Billy teaches him the "The 5 'C's of Friendship"; Cleanliness, Consideration, Compliments, Conversation, and, uh, Sharing.
Nergal does well in "Cleanliness" by scraping all the mushrooms out of his armpits. The other goals are a bit more challenging. He insults a little girl by complimenting how awful she looks in a fun-house mirror, when in fact the mirror is out of order and the girl is awful in reality. His idea of conversation makes Pud'n vomit as all his topics revolve around horrible diseases he's had and offensive odors he has produced. In the end, while trying out Sharing, he wins a stuffed animal and offers half of it to a girl, scaring her away. All out of ideas, he asks Grim how he made friends with Billy and Mandy. Grim answers that he was forced, and this gives the demon an idea. Nergal uses his tentacles to zap people into nergalings and takes them all home. Finally, he breaks from rejoicing to induct the viewer into his newfound friendly legion.
"Something Stupid This Way Comes" contains examples of…
- The Bad Guy Wins: Nergal turns all of Endsville into his new "friends".
- Cruel Twist Ending: Billy, Mandy, Grim, all of Endsville, and the viewer are turned into Nergalings by Nergal.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After Nergal learns that Billy and Mandy forced Grim to be their friend, he concludes this means "all the best things in life must be taken by force" and decides to make everyone be his friends.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: "And you. You will be my closest, most bestest friend of all!"
- I Just Want to Have Friends: It's a Nergal-centric episode, so this was a given. He even says it almost word-for-word.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The episode's Cruel Twist Ending probably wouldn't have happened if Grim had either lied or just kept his mouth shut.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Billy attempts to help Nergal make friend through "The Five 'C's' of friendship" fall flat. This culminates in a desperate Nergal forcing everyone, including Billy, to be his friends by converting them into his mindless minions.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Most of the episode is pretty lighthearted, with Billy teaching Nergal how to make friends with varying results. Things take a complete 180 during the last minute with Nergal deciding he must literally make people become his friends by zapping anyone he sees, even beyond the screen, into his mindless, demonic minions.
- Wham Line: Said by Nergal that leads to the Cruel Twist Ending.Nergal: (after learning Billy and Mandy forced Grim to be their friend) Of course! All the good things in life must be taken by force. [gains a look of realization before squinting] Now I know what to do.
Billy: (obliviously) What?
Nergal: (while sprouting his tentacles) I MUST MAKE PEOPLE BE MY FRIENDS!
