Every Which Way But Ed

"Every Which Way But Ed" is the 2nd episode of Season 5 and the 104th episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, the Eds get lost in Eddy and the Kids' flashbacks while Eddy was trying to explain something to his friends, so the Eds try to find a way to get back to when they are supposed to be.

Plot
Inside Edd's House one night, Ed is playing with his lips while Edd shuffles along a rug up until Edd comes up to Ed and, with his finger, shocks Ed. Ed is surprised, but Edd starts to explain how static electricity works. To assist with this, he hands Ed the slippers, and Ed starts to shuffle about the room. While Edd is initially glad to teach his friend a scientific concept, his happiness turns to worry as Ed starts overdoing it and eventually actually gathers so much static electricity that everything in the room is pulled towards his electromagnetic field. Edd is included in this, and Ed pokes his finger at Edd's nose.

This poke discharges all of the static electricity in one burst, destroying Edd's house, creating a power outage in the cul-de-sac, and blowing a hole through Edd's wall. Ed is blissfully oblivious of all the damage he's caused, and this is just as well, for at that moment Eddy shows up armed with a jawbreaker. Edd is at first excited about Eddy's find, but he soon remembers Eddy's personality and suspiciously asks where it came from. Eddy proceeds to gleefully state he scammed it off of Jonny and then shows off by pulling them into a flashback.

In the flashback, Eddy is walking home from school, a dunce cap on his head, when he passes by the Candy Store. Out of the store waltzes Jonny, palming a gigantic jawbreaker. Eddy is instantly awestruck, and follows Jonny, reaching out his mouth to try and encapsulate it until he's brought up short by Jonny cheerfully asking what Eddy's up to. Eddy quickly draws back and fakes yawning before acting like he has no idea what Jonny's talking about, leaving Jonny to move on. When Jonny keeps going, Eddy turns around and steps in some wet paint that has just been used to paint a fence and gets an idea.

As Jonny continues down the lane, he remarks to Plank that Eddy's quite a weasel. What Jonny doesn't notice is that Eddy has painted himself with the fence paint and is impersonating his best friend. As Jonny continues to talk about Eddy's dastardly ways, Eddy pokes his tongue around the back of Jonny's head and tries to grab the jawbreaker. Unfortunately for him, the moment he thinks he has the candy within his tongue's grasp he pulls it into his mouth and ends up sucking on Jonny's head. Eddy quickly spits out the kid's melon and is told that he's acting weird. "Plank" tries to deny this, but Jonny blames it on the chip Plank got way back when...and into a flashback we go.

This flashback takes place in Rolf's backyard, where Plank is set inside Rolf's Tractor, pretending to be an engine piston. Jonny starts the engine and revs it up, bouncing Plank up and down. When Plank demands more gas, however, Jonny concedes and presses down on the accelerator. This is a grave mistake, as both he and the tractor fly around the yard. Inside the house, meanwhile, Rolf is showing off his huge squash to Kevin and Nazz, who are confused rather than impressed. Soon, though, their attention is drawn to the backyard, where Jonny is trying desperately to control the tractor. Rolf steps outside and yells for Jonny to stop; Jonny's method of doing so is to lasso the exhaust pipes and pull the tractor back. While this does stop the tractor's motion, the engine is still going, and Plank pops out of his piston seating, shooting around the engine until he pops out. Plank sails straight as an arrow into Rolf's face, knocking the poor son-of-a-shepherd backwards into his squash. Rolf pulls his head out of the ruined vegetable to be confronted by an angry Jonny, who reaches into his mouth and pulls out Plank, who had caught on one of his teeth. Plank then develops a crack, and a chip falls out. Jonny is deeply saddened by this, declaring it brain damage, but Nazz's interest is more towards how Rolf looks like she did when she was chubby. Kevin is suspicious of this claim–until he remembers that long-ago time...

Kevin is doing a dive into the Swimming Hole called the Guitar Solo. He completes his dive and is cheered. Nazz then says that she's going to do one, and starts to exit the water. She leaves a huge wake behind her, and when she gets out the water level drops precipitously. She then does her dive, on the way breaking the rope, crushing Kevin, and splashing all the water out of the pool. All the kids are enjoying themselves, however, and they laugh, Rolf saying that it reminds him of his lazy days of youth. This is, of course, the cue for yet another flashback.

Rolf is swinging from a pole where sheep carry him when the Eds step into the picture. Ed is happy to be there, but Edd and Eddy are both confused, with Eddy upset that Jonny, then Nazz, then Rolf hijacked his flashback and he can't remember what he was trying to say. Ed then reminds them that they were standing next to a big hole and then there was a bang–boom, and flashes them back. This isn't what Eddy was remembering, though, as the Eds are in the lane, there's a hole in the fence, and they're all wearing chefs' clothing. Ed is confident that he's remembering right, but soon their attention is drawn down the lane, where Jimmy, unencumbered by his retainer, is about to bite into a creamhorn despite Sarah's objections. Edd instantly figures out that they're at the scam that ruined Jimmy's teeth just as Jimmy bites down, breaking his teeth on the bowling pin that formed the backbone of the creamhorn. Despairing, he sends Sarah after the Eds to inflict more pain. Fortunately, though, Edd remembers when Sarah followed them to school once, and Eddy flashes back to the time they locked Sarah in a locker. Edd then quickly realizes something he forgot: Sarah broke free, and she had boxing gloves that day. Ed, scared, runs away and actually flashes them back to the scam that ruined Jimmy's teeth. Edd thinks that they may have stumbled upon something, but Eddy, fed up with everyone stealing his thunder and flashing back without his permission, throws a bowling ball at Ed, delivering the ultimatum that he's the only one allowed to remember things. Ed is too distracted by what he calls a "face-sucking bowling ball" to pay any attention to this, though, and he starts running, sending the Eds back through the previous flashbacks. Eddy is happy at this, but Edd warns Ed to control his speed; all Ed hears of this is "Speed Ed", though, and he declares that he is "Speed Ed" and proceeds to run the Eds through a long series of flashbacks.

When Ed and the times finally stop, the Eds are toddlers again. Eddy is running a "Bottomwess Ed" scam, and tries to get Edd to pay for it, as that's how it happened in the flashback originally. Edd refuses, however, and instead turns his mind to think about how they can get back to their present. Behind him, Eddy whispers to Ed, and Ed runs across the street, bringing back Edd's house, which he slams over an oblivious Edd.

Eddy then rings the doorbell to Edd's house and whispers his plot to get money out of Edd a second time to Ed. Edd comes out and greets them, learning that they all share the same name and that Ed and Eddy are pals. Eddy soon turns the chat to business, and goes into his spiel about how for just a quarter you could see "Bottomwess Ed" eat a whole TV. Edd, confident in his scientific knowledge, offers up two quarters, as there is supposedly no way the human esophagus could stomach such a meal. Ed brings his fork down in a clumsy move, accidentally hooking it on Eddy's shirt, before raising it up and plowing it down again, this time into the TV. Eddy is hooked on the end of the fork, however, and he struggles in vain as Edd gets a double show of Ed eating both the TV and his best friend. Edd quickly runs back into his house, moaning about how he's going to be ill, while Eddy begs Ed to remember something–anything–as he goes down Ed's hatch.

Memorable Quotes

 * Ed: [three times throughout the episode] "Zappity Zap Zap!"


 * Ed: [after electrocuting Edd, leaving him badly burnt, blowing up his house in an electrical mushroom cloud, and sending an electrical shock throughout the Cul-de-Sac, causing all of the houses to go through a blackout] "Tag! You're it!"


 * Rolf: [gazing adoringly at the huge yellow squash] "Behold the toil of forty days and forty nights! Rolf can sense your jealousy of Rolf's giant squash. Cry, cry if you must. For Rolf would cry too at the sight of this Venus of the gourd family!" [Nazz and Kevin stare blankly] "You may kiss it if you like."


 * Rolf: [sees Jonny on his tractor and runs outside to confront him] "Jonny the Wood Boy, unhand Rolf's tractor!"

Rolf: [confused] "The wood has a brain?"
 * Jonny: [horrified as a chip falls out of Plank] "Look what you did to Plank! He's got brain damage!"

Eddy: [confused] "How the heck'd we get here!? This isn't what I was remembering." Edd: "I'm confused, Eddy. You originally were flashing back to something you remembered. What was it?" Eddy: "I can't remember now. First Jonny stole my flashback, then Nazz, and now Rolf." Ed: "Oh oh! I know! We were standing next to a… hole in the wall… right after a big… boom, remember?" [pulls the next scene in, showing the Eds Super Sweeeeets scam in an alley]
 * Ed: [hugging a sheep] "Woolly bully!"

Eddy: [picks up and looks at the bowling ball] "I think Ed just flashed us backwards or something." Ed: [cheerfully] "You bet your sweet bippy I did!" [Eddy hits him with a bowling ball and it sticks to his face] Eddy: "Hey, what did I tell ya?! Only I'm supposed to remember stuff!" Ed: [attempts to run away from the bowling ball, however Ed's actions cause the Eds to rewind the previous flashback panels] "Run away! Face sucking bowling ball!" Eddy: "Hey! Lumpy's got it right. he's rewinding us back to start." Edd: [cautiously] "Yes, well. Just mind your speed, Ed." Ed: [misunderstands Edd] "Speed Ed? That's me!" [Ed runs too fast, causing the scenes to accelerate very fast, Edd and Eddy fell behind] Edd: "Ed! WAIT!" [Ed stops and looks back with a dumb look on his face while scenes continue to whiz past him]
 * Edd: [after coming back from the locker incident] "Weren't we just here?"

Young Edd: "I'll give you two, for it would be impossible for the human esophagus to manage such a feat!" Young Ed: "In your hat, bucko!" [Young Ed pierces through the T.V. with his fork and Eddy attached and prepares to eat it with Eddy] "Yum!" Young Eddy: "What the?! ED!" ''[Ed shoves the T.V. and Eddy into his mouth and starts chewing] ''Young Edd: "Good Lord, I'm gonna be ill!" [runs back into his house] Young Eddy: [while inside Ed's mouth] "Remember something, stupid! REMEMBER!"
 * Young Eddy: [showing Little Edd the 'Bottomwess Ed' scam] "Be amazed, kid! Watch bottomwess Ed eat this humungous TV set. For you, only a quarter!"

Time Periods (In Order)

 * Eddy flashes back to when he scammed off the Jawbreaker Jonny 2x4 bought.
 * Jonny 2x4 flashes back to when Plank got the chip in his forehead.
 * Kevin flashes back to when Nazz was chubby.
 * Rolf flashes back to when he was in his lazy youth.
 * Ed flashes back to when one of Eddy's scams ruined Jimmy's teeth.
 * Eddy (frightened) flashed himself and his friends back when they locked Sarah in a locker.
 * Ed flashes back to when a scam ruined Jimmy's teeth, again.
 * Ed accidentally goes too fast and flashes the Eds back to when Edd first moved in and met Ed and Eddy and also when Eddy's Bottomless Ed scam started.

Trivia

 * It is never revealed how Eddy and Ed met even though we see how Edd met Ed and Eddy.
 * This episode reveals a lot about the cast, such as Kevin's hair, Jonny's hair, Jimmy's teeth accident, Nazz's obesity, Plank's missing chip, Rolf's youth and a little bit of what it looked like, and the Eds as small kindergarten kids when they first met.
 * Eddy's scamming seems to have started early in his childhood, which says something about when Eddy's brother started the lessons alluded to in "Ed in a Halfshell."
 * The time period that starts at Edd's House go to the right when it goes back in time. The Eds go forward in time when they go to the left. However when Ed runs past Edd's house, to the left, the Eds go farther back in time. This is an error since they should be going into the future in that case, not the past.
 * While Ed is quickly flashing back, the second to last one shows Jonny with his head caught in the monkey-bars. This is Jonny as a baby because if you look careful enough, you can see he has more hair than he does now. He is also wearing a diaper, and Plank is also there with him. But since Ed goes really fast, most viewers will not notice.
 * This is the second time Jonny gets his head stuck in the monkey bars. The first was in "See No Ed".
 * Young Ed is seen again in Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, when Ed was zapped with the electric gum gag.
 * When Edd was badly burnt, he was back to normal when Eddy shows Ed and Edd the jawbreaker.
 * The flashback at the end of the episode shows Edd has been wearing his hat before he met Ed and Eddy. This possibly vetoes its theoretical relation to the mysterious "dodgeball incident".
 * When Kevin performs a complex dive bomb into the swimming hole he air guitars and calls it 'The Guitar Solo', he then sings "Ding-a-ling-dang-my-ding-a-long-ding-dong", which could be a possible reference to metal band Ministry's famous song 'Jesus Built my Hotrod'.
 * In Rolf's flashback, when Ed is climbing the pole he's wearing the bunny slippers, but when he was being swung at the top of the pole he was wearing his regular shoes.
 * The clock in the title card is backwards which resembles traveling back to time to go back to the most memorable moments.
 * There are many fourth wall breaks in this episode, mainly when the next flashback scene is pulled in by a character.
 * In Rolf's flashback, when Ed picks up one of the sheep, he calls it a "Woolly Bully". This is a possible reference to the rock and roll song of the same name.
 * 76th time the Kankers don't appear.
 * Ed said "Zappity zap zap!" three times in this episode.
 * Edd, Jimmy and Sarah were the only ones that did not pull a flashback in this episode, but were seen in several flashbacks.
 * This episode explains why Jonny said "I did it again, huh, buddy?" in "Rent-a-Ed."
 * The skunk is possibly reused from "Sorry, Wrong Ed."
 * Near the end when Young Edd meets Young Ed and Young Eddy, you can see some houses still being built such as Jimmy's. This may hint that Jimmy is not from the cul-de-sac, and may not be from Peach Creek.
 * Goof: When The Eds were in Rolf's flashback and Eddy was mentioning the people that stole his flashback, he said Nazz was one of the people that stole his flashback, however it was Kevin who stole his flashback.
 * This is the second time that Ed lifted a house up. The first time was in "Cry Ed".
 * Goof: When Sarah breaks the Ed's Super Sweeeeets scam stand, the debris was within the Lane. When Ed pulled the flashback to the aftermath, the debris were on the outside of the lane.
 * Eddy's shocking "buzz bob" is seen again in this episode. The first time was in "Fool on the Ed".
 * This is the only episode where Edd's House was destroyed.
 * Edd is teaching Ed how static electricity works even though Ed appeared to already know how to do so in "An Ed in a Halfshell", but considering Ed's personality, he might have forgotten how it works by this point.

People who had Flashbacks

 * 1) Eddy
 * 2) Jonny 2x4
 * 3) Nazz and Kevin
 * 4) Rolf
 * 5) Ed