You Need to Watch "Smiling Friends"

So, I watch an absurd amount of adult animation. I don't know if it's just my big child brain trying to entertain itself, but nothing makes me laugh harder than a cartoon with swear words. Without a doubt, Smiling Friends is one of my all-time favorites. I think it has something to do with the fact that lots of adult animation has a deeper core theme that they're trying to get across while simply using adult animation as its medium. Think shows like Bojack Horseman (I love that horse so much, omg). Smiling Friends, on the other hand, does none of that; it's just a dumb good time. If you're interested in having a dumb good time as well, here's my summary of my top three favorite episodes of Smiling Friends thus far.

Episode 1: "Desmond's Big Day Out"

In this episode, we're introduced to our main characters, Pim (lil pink guy) and Charlie (the other one lol). They work for a company called Smiling Friends, where it's their duty to go out into the community and make people smile. On this day, they receive a call from a woman asking to have the Smiling Friends come out and cheer up her son. Upon arrival, Pim and Charlie are met with a VERY grown man; this man is Desmond. Desmond explains, "Well, life is not going that great for me. My wife left me. My kids left me. My dog died from a broken heart last fall, so I don't know. Yeah. They're probably just going to end it all or something." It's at this moment that I should probably note that Desmond is holding a gun to his head for the ENTIRETY of the episode; it's like, apart of his character design, it's kind of wild. I cropped it from this image, but you're obviously going to go watch the show, so you'll see it! Charlie believes that this man is a complete lost cause, but Pim convinces both Charlie and Desmond to give him just one day to attempt to make Desmond smile. Charlie first attempts to show Desmond how wonderful family is by taking him to a dinner at his parents home. There are little pink children running around the house; his parents are arguing; his sister tells him she hates him; all around, it's a bad time. Pim tries again by taking Desmond and Charlie to a party and stating that another wonderful part of life is making new friends. At said party, when Pim approaches a partygoer, they bully him for being old and lonely. Pim's going through it at this point, but he has one final idea: take Desmond to a theme park. They all enjoy themselves there, but Desmond says that while he did have fun, it was fleeting. He says, "Are the best parts of life really just finding momentary distractions to keep yourself busy so you don't think about the harsh realities of life for a second?" Which is, you know, heavy. In the end, they are able to get Desmond to smile, but only after he commits MURDER.

Episode 5: "Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?"

This episode begins with Pim and Charlie leaving a theater after seeing a film. They decide to get food and go to one of Charlie's favorite fast food joints, Salty's. Once they enter, they're greeted by a commercial on screen stating that due to the fact that Saily's food has been traced to 15 deaths in the past four months, there will be some changes to the menu. This frustrates Charlie, especially after the Century Egg, another favorite of his, was also taken off the menu. He walks up to the counter and is greeted by the first of the mascots, Ketchup. Charlie attempts to purchase two Salty Delight Burgers, and after being told that they've been removed from the menu, he tries to speak with Salty directly; that's when they learn that Simon S. Salty has been murdered. The police have had budget cuts, so ultimately it's up to the Smiling Friends to solve the case. They interview each of the mascots, none of whom have a believable alibi. While trying to determine the culprit, they discover a secret room inside the restaurant. There they find the aforementioned Century Egg, who offers to give them his security tapes as long as they promise to take him back to China so he could be buried in his homeland. They agree, and he gives them the tapes. They watch these tapes with the mascots only to discover that every single one of them played a part in killing Salty. They rewind the footage back to the very beginning only to discover that Salty had already died of a heart attack before any of the mascots got to him, meaning they were technically innocent! They then proceeded to go out and flip over a bus and terrorize the town.

Episode 6: "Enchanted Forest"

In this episode, Pim and Charlie are called upon by the Princess of the Enchanted Forest to help her smile for her portrait. Pim is over the moon at the opportunity to go, stating that as a child he was never allowed. Upon arrival, Pim wants to complete every quest they encounter, but Charlie refuses, stating that he simply wants to do this job and get it over with. Pim attempts to do a Witch QuestTM, which results in the two being rescued by a very creepy-looking forest dweller named Mip (pictured above in all his creepy glory). He is coincidentally on a quest to the princess's castle as well; he's attempting to find a hero worthy of delivering his gift for the princess. As the group continues, they come across a tree with a thorn stuck inside of it. The thorn is killing the tree, and the three are attempting to figure out a way to save it. While Pim ponders whether perhaps the thorn is a metaphor, Charlie suggests just pulling the thorn out. This works (obviously), and Mip begins to sing a song about Charlie's heroism while we're taken through a montage of all the quests Charlie completes while Pim is stuck on the sidelines. When they finally make it to the mountain that houses the princess's castle, Mip and Charlie decide to set up camp, exhausted after a day of questing. Pim attempts to steal the gift that Mip intends to give to the princess, citing that he should be able to complete at least one quest. This wakes up Charlie, and the two begin to fight over the gift. While fighting, Pim accidentally pushed Mip into a spike in the ground, killing him. Before he dies, he apologizes for getting between Pim and Charlie and tells the two that they can give the princess the gift together and tell her it was from them. They decide to make the trek to the castle in honor of Mip. Upon arrival, they hand the princess the gift, telling her that it's actually from a forest dweller named Mip, who died on the way to her. She pauses and tells them that Mip is her STALKER, and he was the entire reason that she couldn't smile. She asks them if they know what the gift is; they have no idea. When she finally opened the gift, it was a BOMB. IT WAS A BOMB THE WHOLE TIME. She throws the bomb out the window and asks them if they're sure Mip is dead. They're certain he's dead, and she finally smiles.

That was so fun, omg. I know I've effectively just spoiled three of the best episodes, but I left out a ton of information, so there's still tons of content to enjoy in those episodes. As well as the rest of the season! It's super funny and really dumb, so if you're anything like me and you enjoy dumb humor, I'm sure you'll like it. Okay, bye-bye, MWAH.