Recap / Wander Over Yonder S 2 E 15 My Fair Hatey

My Fair Hatey

In this special half-hour Musical Episode, Lord Hater enlists Wander's help to finally ask Dominator on a date, while Peepers enlists Sylvia's help in destroying Dominator's army. Once they get to the ship though, it turns out Dominator has a nasty surprise waiting for them.

Tropes appearing in My Fair Hatey

• And Then What?: Sylvia points out to Peepers that in his plan to sabotage Dominator's ship with frostonium, he forgot to factor Dominator's army who will curb-stomp him. As they argue in "That's How We'll Get Her," he realizes that if they do an Enemy Mine and she fights the Dominator bots, then they may stand a chance.
• Berserk Button: Hater snaps out of his Villainous BSoD when Wander keeps singing that they're "buddies".
• Big Bad Friend: Wander considering Hater as a buddy becomes a last-minute plot point here, as it manages to anger him enough into breaking down the cell door so they can escape.
• Bittersweet Ending: Dominator now has fire and ice powers, is revealed she wants to destroy the galaxy rather than conquer it, and has no interest in Hater, but all four main characters are going to save the galaxy.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Dominator lowers Hater and Wander slowly into lava after singing, only to get interrupted when her ship freezes over. She then locks them up and tells them to practice their death rattles.
• Break the Badass: Dominator has broken all the villains in the galaxy, except for Hater. She has a vacancy for him. She succeeds temporarily for Hater, who stops caring if Dominator kills him.
• Brutal Honesty: And how! Dominator lets Hater and Wander know she's not interested in love or friendship. She wants galactic destruction, and she wants to do it alone, because she's just plain evil.
• Call-Back:
  • Hater brings up his previous attempts at wooing Dominator such as showing her his cool car ("The New Toy") and his rock band ("The Show Stopper").
  • Peeper's plan uses the frostonium he tried to get Hater to use in "The New Toy".
  • As seen in "The Date", Hater's idea of a perfect date is talking about himself. Luckily, Wander tries to help him learn to talk more about his date.
  • The valentine-shaped planet Lord Dominator is destroying during her Villain Song is Lamouria, also from "The Date".
  • Sylvia once again wakes up inside Lord Hater's prison cells, just like the beginning of "The Day" and the ending of "The Night".
  • During the Imagine Spot, Hater and Dominator are seen riding in the Hate RV from "The New Toy".
• Chekhov's Gag: Hater's hatred of Wander insisting they are friends culminates in a chase scene that allows them, Sylvia and Peepers to escape Dominator's ship.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Sylvia brings up her nicknames for her fists, "Lady Haymaker and the Duchess of Whaling", from "The Fancy Party".
  • The "mustard or mayo" joke is brought up yet again.
  • Dominator reveals that she has imprisoned all the other villains in the galaxy such as Dr. Screwball Jones, Emperor Awesome (who she imprisoned the previous episode), General MacGuffin (who is still a bucket of fried chicken since we last saw him in "The Battle Royale"), Mandrake the Malfeasant, Lil Bits, Kragthar, and more.
  • Wander's Pep-Talk Song eventually angers Hater when he mentions they're buddies; this is a call back to "The Buddies" when one of Wander's final lines is "He may not be my buddy, but I'm still his."
• Diabolus ex Machina: Peepers throws Frostonium X into the power core of Dominator's ship. It freezes both it and her, but Dominator inexplicably thaws herself out, and her ship and battle suit then absorb the Frostonium and are now able to manipulate both lava AND ice.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Turns out, Dominator does not love Hater at all, which upsets him.
• Distant Duet: Two instances:
  • During the song "Let's All Go Meet Dominator", Wander and Hater sing about how they will meet Dominator, while Peepers and Sylvia sing about how they will beat Dominator.
  • The reprise of "You're The Greatest".
• Ear Worm: The Stinger has Dominator singing "You're the Greatest (Reprise)" then yelling about getting the "stupid catchy song" stuck in her head.
• Electric Torture: Wander does this to Hater in the form of Electroshock Therapy, by strapping him to his electric chair and shocking Hater in order to help him give up his It's All About Me attitude.
• The Eleven O'Clock Number: "Buddies" AKA "My Fair Hatey", as Wander tries to cheer Hater after Dominator's true intentions are revealed, but the mention they're buddies angers him enough to break them out.
• Enemy Mine: Lord Hater asks Wander for help with trying to ask Dominator on a date. Sylvia and Commander Peepers join forces to try and stop Dominator.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Peepers is shocked to learn that Dominator's plan is to destroy the galaxy rather than conquer it .
• Evil Gloating: Dominator does this through a Villain Song to break Wander and Hater. It works, more on Hater than on Wander.
• Failed a Spot Check: Wander and Hater don't ask why Sylvia and Peepers are accompanying them to ask Dominator on a date, too caught up in the heat of the moment.
• Foreshadowing: Dominator's suit doesn't move at all during "You're The Greatest", and doesn't even sway back and forth, nor does it respond to Wander or Hater. This is a hint that Dominator herself isn't really inside the suit.
• For the Evulz: Dominator explains, in song, that her entire motivation for destroying planets is because it's fun to her.
• Friendship Song: The second half of "My Fair Hatey" and "You're the Greatest (Reprise)".

• The Glomp: Wander and Sylvia share one when they reunite.
• Got Me Doing It: Dominator in The Stinger is irritated that she's singing "You're the Greatest" to herself.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Hater and Peepers at the end of the episode decide to focus on saving the galaxy from Dominator, if only for Pragmatic Villainy.
• He's Back!: Twice!
  • After Dominator crushes his heart, Hater lies depressed in a prison cell with Wander. Wander cheers him up with a song, but then starts annoying him by saying that the two of them have become friends. Hater finally reaches his Rage Breaking Point and snaps out of his depression to chase Wander down, which also breaks down their cell door allowing them to escape.
  • Towards the end of the episode, when Dominator unveils her new ice powers, Hater is just about ready to give up. Until Peepers starts singing the Triumphant Reprise of "You're the Greatest" and he finally returns to his old egotistical self and declares that he's going to save the galaxy.
• Hope Crusher: Dominator describes herself as this, showing it by taking Hater for a dance and then dropping him as he moves in for a kiss.
  I've always had a weakness
  For barreness and bleakness
  I crush all your hopes
  And then I watch you cry!
• Hope Spot: Dominator and her ship are frozen solid... only for them to unfreeze again, revealing that Dominator now has ice powers in addition to her lava powers.
• "I Am" Song: The appropriately titled "I'm The Bad Guy" for Lord Dominator, which also doubles as an "I Want" Song and a Villain Song.
• Kick the Dog: Dominator laughs in Hater's face when she grabs him with his lava fists and he asks "Does this mean you don't want to date me?" She also breaks Wander's banjo, though he fixes it.
• Kingpin in His Gym: In this episode's stinger, Lord Dominator is shown vacuuming, taking inventory of her equipment/minions, and polishing her ship's control panel.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • The episode ends with a hard cut to black just as Dominator quips "Show's over!" and snaps her fingers.
  • The characters singing out of nowhere is pointed out several times throughout the episode.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Wander, Peepers, Sylvia and Hater when Dominator's ship unfreezes and gains ice powers.
• Misery Builds Character: Sylvia tells Wander that admitting he's made a mistake is the first step to making things right.
• Mood Whiplash: Hater is curled on the floor, jailed and suffering Villainous BSoD; Wander then sings to him that he should be himself, but when he mentions how they're buddies it angers Hater and accidentally breaks them out, leading to a slapstick chase scene.
• Musical Episode: Sure, Wander previously had the occasional song in several episodes, but this episode has a total of six songs, making it a full-on musical.
• Musicalis Interruptus:
  • As Hater prepares a reprise of "You're the Greatest," Dominator squeezes him and Wander in her lava fists.
    • She also interrupts the quarter's Triumphant Reprise of "You're the Greatest" at the very end.
  • Sylvia outright tells Peepers there's no time for a reprise of "That's How We'll Get Her".
• Musical Pastiche:
  • Dominator's Villain Song is in the style of Tom Waits.
  • The first half of Lord Hater's "You're The Greatest" song is an homage to musicals from The Golden Age of Hollywood, while the second half is a big heaping shout-out to Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" and many other of his epic metal love ballads. Story editor Frank Angones cites "Broadway Melody" from Singin' in the Rain and "Hot Patootie (Bless My Soul)" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show as influences on the song.
• Musical World Hypotheses: Generally Alternate Universe, though Hater’s love song to Dominator is majorly Diegetic, while Wander’s song to Hater starts out Diegetic before becoming Alternate Universe (Or possibly Maestro, since Wander is the one singing, and his ability to form songs on a dime has been shown throughout the series.). It’s repeatedly Lampshaded throughout the episode.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Peepers tries to freeze Dominator's ship with Frostonium, but accidentally gives her ice powers on top of her lava powers.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Dominator locking up Hater and Wander together allows Wander to inadvertently goad Hater into breaking down the cell doors and escaping.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Peepers when he sees that Dominator wants to destroy the galaxy, not conquer it.
  • Dominator has one when she believes that she's been defeated.
• Omnicidal Maniac: It's revealed that Dominator is essentially this as she has no desire other than destroying the galaxy.
• Outrun the Fireball: In this case, outrun the freezing ship.
• Patter Song: "That's How We'll Get Her"
• Pep-Talk Song:
  • The opening song "Ask Her A Question", as Wander encourages Hater to get to know Dominator more.
  • Wander sings one to Hater when he realizes Dominator doesn't love him. Because of their general relationship, and that the one time they did have common bond blew up in their faces, rather than picking Hater up, it just makes him angry enough to chase him, enabling them to escape.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Peepers points out that if Dominator destroys this galaxy there will be nothing left to conquer, so he and Hater will have to save it and stop her.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Courtesy of Peepers: "Hey Dominator! Freeze!"
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Dominator lets one out when the freezing Frostonium starts spreading over her.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: Hater and Wander's attempts to woo Dominator turn out to be a dead end while Peepers and Sylvia's plan only made her stronger. But Wander and Hater both realize they need to beat her to save the galaxy, so all four of them are finally working toward the same goal.
• The Reveal: Dominator has no interest in conquering planets. She just wants to destroy the galaxy.
• Rule of Symbolism: During her Villain Song, Dominator shrivels Lamouria to a husk of its former self, symbolic of her crushing Hater's hopes that she would want to rule the galaxy by his side and Wander's hopes that Love Redeems.
• Sand In My Eyes: Parodied, Wander admits that the "something" in his eye is Tears of Joy.
• Save the Villain:
  • Inverted, Peepers saves Sylvia when she's overwhelmed by Lava-bots.
  • Played straight when Sylvia gets Hater and Peepers out of the ship with Wander, whether or not they're "buddies".
• Serenade Your Lover: Hater sings "You're The Greatest" to Dominator. Too bad she was in the shower and he just sang to her empty suit, and when he tries again she strangles him.
• Shaking the Rump: Dominator starts her song with one, which confuses Hater and Wander.
  Lord Dominator: Let me explain this in a way you two IDIOTS will understand. *Moves rump from side to side in front of their faces.*
  Hater and Wander: *Share an awkward glance with each other.*
• Ship Sinking: The possibility of a Hater and Dominator romance that both Hater and Wander hoped for gets violently shattered when Dominator spells it out to their faces that she's not interested in being anyone's girlfriend.
• Shout-Out:
  • Not directly a Whole-Plot Reference to its namesake musical My Fair Lady, but shares the basic premise of a simpleton seeking to become more presentable with the help of a mentor—told through song.
  • Wander during "You're the Greatest" plays on a saxophone like Meatloaf in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• The Song Before the Storm: "You're the Greatest" is this, sung right before The Reveal of Dominator's true intentions.
• Special Edition Title: This episode doesn’t start with the theme song, instead showing the show title against a curtain before it opens, cutting to the actual show.
• Symbolism: Dominator destroys the heart-shaped planet when breaking Hater's heart.
• Title Drop: In the beginning of Wander's Pep-Talk Song to Hater.
• Title-Only Opening: The theme song was omitted, instead beginning on the show's title against a curtain which goes up, and we cut right to the episode.
• Triumphant Reprise: "You're the Greatest"
• Villain Has a Point: Dominator makes it clear that she is not interested in a boyfriend or a "partner in crime". Wander and Hater have been ignoring the red flags for ages, and she is most definitely not interested. Sylvia and Peepers had warned their "buddies" about this before, with Sylvia having been on the receiving end of unwanted harassment from Emperor Awesome.
• Villain Song: Dominator has one wherein she explains that she's "The Bad Guy".
• Villainous BSoD: Lord Hater has one after Dominator makes it perfectly clear that she is not interested in him.
• Vocal Dissonance: Dominator for being an Omnicidal Maniac has a soft singing voice. She then switches to her more fitting costume voice, which is deeper and menacing.
• We Need a Distraction: Peepers decides to use Wander and Hater's attempt to court Dominator as an opportunity to freeze up her ship.
• Wham Episode: Let's count the ways, shall we?
  • The Hater/Dominator ship gets a thorough In-Universe Ship Sinking, leaving Hater and Wander in a funk.
  • Dominator's motives are revealed: she's not a Galactic Conquerer, but an Omnicidal Maniac.
  • The Frostonium, instead of neutralizing Dominator's powers as it was meant to, gives her and her fleet ice powers to complement her lava powers.
  • Even though Hater and Peepers break off their alliance with Wander and Sylvia at the end of the episode, all four are now united in a single purpose: to save the galaxy from Dominator. The attempts at wooing or avoiding her are over.
• Wham Line: From Peepers: "She doesn't want to conquer the galaxy so she can rule it...she wants to DESTROY it!"
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Lord Dominator imprisoned all the villains but it is unknown what happened to the rest of them as Emperor Awesome, Little Bits, DR. Screwball Jones, Mandrake the Malfeasant, and Schmartians were the only ones the were shown to escape. Quite literally Fridge Horror if they were unable to escape the ship in time and the frostonium froze them to death .
• Wingding Eyes: Wander's pupils turn into vacuums to suck up his Tears of Joy.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Hater receives summons from Dominator, complete with a heart on the back of the paper. He and Wander prepare to make Hater more civilized so that he can ask Dominator out on a date, only to find that Dominator demanded that Hater come to surrender, enter her cell, and admit that she is the greatest villain in the galaxy. She also laughs in his face. Knowing Dominator, she added the heart to make sure that they would come and to crush their hope.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Wander to Hater in "My Fair Hatey". It starts out as this, but when Wander mentions how they're buddies, it angers Hater full-on.
  • Peepers to Hater in "You're the Greatest" reprise.
• You Fool!: Dominator to Hater and Wander.