International air dates: 10/26/2003 (UK), 3/18/2004 (YTV, Canada) note
Production code: PPG-511
In this musical episode in the style of rock operas Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy, the girls are overwhelmed with the crime in Townsville. An evil gnome (Jess Harnell) grants them the wish of peace in exchange for their powers and ends up inducting the people of Townsville into a cult.
See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey provides examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Girls wish that there would be no more evil in Townsville. The Gnome then appears and grants them this wish, only to end up enslaving Townsville in the process.
- BSoD Song: The "Rain, Rain, Go Away" song, sung by the girls after they get outmatched by the villains and realize how hard it is to fight them, wishing for peace.
- Cult: The Citizens of Townsville form one to worship the gnome after he rids the city of all evil.
- Darkest Hour: When the girls lose their fight against the villains, and realize they are outmatched while the city is for a great part in ruins.
- Deal with the Devil: The Girls deal with the gnome in order to get rid of all the evil in Townsville.
- Depower: The Gnome does this to the girls as part of their deal, but it is reversed when The Gnome didn't uphold his end of the deal. The Gnome himself also has the same thing happen to him as well once he broke his half of the bargain. (Partially after he broke his deal, thus weakening his own powers, while The Powerpuff Girls get all of theirs back, and fully after he zapped the Girls themselves using what remaining power he had left.)
- Disney Villain Death: The Gnome's final fate, though it's less likely that the fall killed him but rather the magic on himself that also took his rose lair with him in the explosion.
- Empathic Environment: During the girls Darkest Hour, it starts raining.
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: It's probably wise not to see the scene where the girls fight the villains near the beginning and the scene of the Gnome's Disney Villain Death if you have epilepsy.
- Face Death with Dignity: The Gnome decides to resign himself to his incoming fate during his Disney Villain Death, having a Heel Realization in return.
- Heel Realization: When the Gnome realizes that by making the population of Townsville into his cult, he himself became a villain.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Bubbles points out that one of the benefits of the Gnome's deal is that the girls can be normal little girls. This convinces Blossom and Buttercup to accept the deal.
- Liberty Over Prosperity: The Gnome frees Townsville of all evil and lets the city prosper, but in doing so turns all citizens into his followers and takes away their freedom of choice. In the end, the girls prefer for things to go back to how they were, with villains but also with freedom.
- Loophole Abuse: The girls regain their powers when they realize that the Gnome himself is evil, and thus technically didn’t uphold his end of the bargain.
- Never Say "Die": It's not outright said, but it's clear that the Gnome's magic destroys all the villains in Townsville.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The gnome was originally supposed to be an Ink-Suit Actor of Jack Black, but by the time the episode went into production, Black was in too high demand to book for the show, so the character became a JB look-alike with Jess Harnell doing a spot-on impression of the real deal.
- No Ontological Inertia: The Gnome's defeat undoes the destruction of the villains.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Ace, when he sees the Gnome erase all the other villains, and tries to flee the scene.
- The Gnome when the girls confront him about how he has become a villain himself. This is strengthened when the Gnome realizes that not only he cannot take the Girls' powers away again, but then all of his remaining power was also taken away afterwards, thus cementing his defeat.
- Orbital Shot: The girls get one, chanting "Wanna get some?!" just prior to fighting the villains.
- Run the Gauntlet: The Girls have to fight all members of their Rogues Gallery (minus the Rowdyruff Boys) at the start of the episode.
- Shout-Out: The episode title is derived from a prominent lyric in the outro to The Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It", tying in with the episode's status as a Rock Opera pastiche.
- Sung-Through Musical: The whole episode is 1 big musical. There is rarely any signs of normal talking throughout, aside for the occasional shouts, and the Gnome's Final Speech.
- Took a Level in Badass: The Amoeba Boys and especially the Gangreen Gang are a lot more physical here compared to other episodes, and deliver quite a beating to the Powerpuff Girls. Ace even lands the first punch for the villains.
- Villain Team-Up: The largest one ever seen in the series, with Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins, Him, Princess Morbucks, Sedusa, the Gangreen Gang and the Amoeba Boys all working together.
- Wheelchair Antics: Ace pushes an old man in a wheelchair down a steep hill, causing him to crash into a lamp post.
