"Moral Decay" is the 23rd episode of the third season of The Powerpuff Girls, and the 73rd episode overall.
Synopsis[]
After cleaning the house and getting a $1.00 reward, Buttercup discovers a way to get more by knocking out teeth from bad guys and putting them under her pillow.
Plot[]
When the girls clean the house for the Professor, he gives them a dollar coin each for their hard work. Buttercup gets excited and accidentally hits Bubbles in the face, knocking her tooth out. She apologizes repeatedly and Bubbles forgives her. The next day when she discovers a dollar from the Tooth Fairy under Bubbles' pillow. Buttercup sees an opportunity to make money by putting teeth under her pillow.
Buttercup becomes so obsessed with money that she tries to knock out Bubbles' teeth again until the Professor prevents her from doing so. After facing disappointment, Buttercup fights a bad guy and some of his teeth fall out. With a greedy grin, Buttercup starts to beat up every bad guy and steals the teeth that fall out for money, including a monster's absolutely humongous fang. Then one day, when no crimes are being committed, Buttercup gets impatient and hunts down the girls' worst enemies (including Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins, HIM, and the Gangreen Gang), breaks into their homes, beats them and takes off with their knocked out teeth.
After finishing his dental work, an agonized Mojo Jojo walks into the waiting room, only to discover the other villains in just as much agony over their teeth. Realizing they had all been unjustly assaulted by Buttercup, Mojo declares something must be done. After finding out what Buttercup has been doing behind their backs, Blossom and Bubbles trick her into being cornered and beaten up by all the villains that she had harmed for her comeuppance, resulting in most of her teeth being knocked out as sweet revenge.
At the dentist's office, all three Girls and the Professor are in the waiting room. Blossom and Bubbles proudly look at the now beaten and near-toothless Buttercup. The Professor briefly scolds Buttercup for her actions, and hopes this will teach her one thing: the value of a dollar. He then reveals to Buttercup that he recently found her stash, which she intended to use to buy a punching bag, and now he plans to use it to pay for her dental bills. Blossom and Bubbles are happy about Buttercup's punishment.
Bubbles then blows a raspberry at the crestfallen Buttercup, who goes into the operating room to get her teeth repaired. The episode ends with a defeated Buttercup clenching at her mouth, and Blossom giving her one final victorious smirk, and Bubbles blowing another raspberry at her as the narrator lispingly announces: "So, once again, the day is saved thanks to the Powerpuff Girls. Oww!"
Characters[]
Major characters[]
- Powerpuff Girls (Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup)
- Mojo Jojo
- Fuzzy Lumpkins
- HIM
- Gangreen Gang
- The Powerbluffs
- Trevor (cameo)
- Robbers
- Criminals
- Professor Utonium
- Narrator
Minor characters[]
- Dr. Payne
- Fish monster
- Mayor
Locations[]
- Townsville
- Utonium Residence
- Townsville Dentist
- Mojo's Lair
- Museum
Trivia[]
- The dollar coins in this episode are neither Susan B. Anthony silver dollar coins from "Equal Fights" nor the current Presidential dollar coins. They are the gold Sacagawea dollar coins from 2000-2006. In the early 19th century, Sacagawea played a very helpful part in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
- The year on the coin being 2000 may be an allusion to the fact that this episode was produced in 2000.
- This episode premiered in some countries before the United States.[1]
- This episode premiered in Australia on August 25, 2000.
- This episode premiered in Canada on September 30, 2000.
- This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2000.
- After losing her front tooth, Bubbles speaks with a lisp for the rest of the episode.
- After being operated on by the dentist, Mojo is unable to speak without spitting everywhere.
- Trevor, the Fake Blossom in Powerpuff Bluff, also makes a cameo appearance.
- This is the second episode in the series to feature corruption among the girls. In this case, Buttercup, who was under the influence of her own greed, immorally attacked many criminals who were not even committing crimes at the moment (much less even provoked her), without even the slightest bit of justification.
- The villains shown in the waiting room are Mojo Jojo, Him, Fuzzy Lumpkins, and the Gangreen Gang.
- In this episode two 3D stars were removed from the 3D star explosion, resulting in the introduction of the February 2001 version of the 1998-2001 3D star explosion.
- This is the only episode that features Buttercup having a criminal role, the same way a negative ending happened to Blossom in A Very Special Blossom.
- This is also the third episode where one of the girls had a criminal role, the others being Bubblevicious with Bubbles and A Very Special Blossom with Blossom.
- There are three Morals in this episode:
- Greed can lead to your downfall.
- Actions do have consequences.
- Even if somebody is evil, causing them unnecessary harm can be a crime itself.
- This episode (along with Meet the Beat-Alls) was the first broadcast on Cartoon Network after their rebrand to the "City" era on June 14, 2004.[2]
- Along with A Very Special Blossom, it is one of the most hated episodes of the series because of the ending and Buttercup being out of character.
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States on February 9, 2001, it was actually produced in 2000 according to the credits.
- This episode was finished in May of 2000.[3]
References[]
Episodes and VHS/DVD releases - The Powerpuff Girls Movie - Powerpuff Girls Z | |||
Characters: The Powerpuff Girls (Main: Blossom - Bubbles - Buttercup Other: Bunny - Bullet) - Professor Utonium - Mayor - Ms. Bellum - Ms. Keane Mojo Jojo - Fuzzy Lumpkins - HIM - Princess Morbucks - The Rowdyruff Boys (Brick - Boomer - Butch) - The Amoeba Boys - Sedusa - Gangreen Gang - Minor characters | |||
Video Games: Fifth Generation Games: Chemical X-Traction (PS, N64) - Bad Mojo Jojo (GBC) - Paint the Townsville Green (GBC) - Battle HIM (GBC) Sixth Generation Games: Relish Rampage (PS2, GCN) - Mojo Jojo-A-Go-Go (GBA) - HIM and Seek (GBA) Seventh Generation Games: Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z (DS) PC Games: Mojo Jojo Clone Zone - Princess Snorebucks - Mojo Jojo's Pet Project | |||
Misc. Superpowers - Townsville | |||
Creator: Craig McCracken |