Dim Lit Ed

"Dim Lit Ed" is the 8th episode of Season 3 and the 60th episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, Edd has had enough of the other kids' low IQs, so he decides to educate the unwilling masses through a class and a scavenger hunt.

Plot
Edd has just completed another expiriment, this one on a ladybug, and has introduced his subject back into the wild to see how it adapts when Jimmy suddenly rolls over it. A worried Double D immediately runs over and plucks the ladybug from Jimmy's hair. When a frightened Jimmy asks if the bug was indeed on him, Edd explains that they live in a world full of arthropods, causing a paranoid Jimmy to run for Sarah as a getaway from what he deems "creepy-crawlies". Double D watches him go, but then starts to move on only to bump into Jonny's legs. It seems that Jonny has gotten himself stuck in yet another tree. Worried, Edd asks if Jonny doesn't learn from his past experiences; upon recieving a negative answer, he asks if should help, but hears that Plank supposedly went for help a while ago, even though the board is lying right behind Jonny. Once again, Edd moves on, but he notes to himself that good judgement seems to be at a premium in the cul-de-sac today–just as Ed bursts out of his house, wrestling with a belt he thinks is a snake. Eventually, Ed manages to get the snake on the ground, and it falls to Edd to point out to his friends that the snake in question is just a belt. Eddy initially doesn't believe this, but after a haranguing from Edd, gets the idea that they could sell it as an exotic pet. This sets Double D off on a rant, but Eddy ignores his friend in favor of looking at a football as an alligator. Edd realizes that his friends, nay, the entire suburb, may be suffering from a massive summer brain-drain and decides that it has fallen to him to make things right.

Ed and Eddy, however, have no compunctions, and they've rigged up their fake alligator and taken it into the lane to show the kids. At first the kids don't believe them, but Eddy claims that the alligator moves. The alligator proceeds to prove him right, much to his surprise, and the alligator moves backward down the lane, with the kids in hot pursuit.

As it turns out, however, the alligator was only moving because of Edd, who had hooked it on a fishing line and reeled it in. Not only that, but he set up a mock-up of a classroom in the lane. He has everyone take a seat and then proceeds to disassemble the alligator, revealing Eddy's forgery. Worried, Eddy loudly tells Ed that Edd's wrecking everything, causing Edd to restore order by having Nazz take Ed's place next to Eddy. He is just starting to teach again when he hears a chewing sound. It seems that Rolf has brought the grease from his father's foot-soakings to class and is chewing on this, but this is unacceptable to Edd, who demands that Rolf get rid of it. While Rolf stores his soakings on Plank, Edd begins to rant about how the break from school seems to have rotted everyone's brain. He is interrupted by a mocking Kevin, so once again the teacher must take the path of discipline and punish his pupil. This time, Edd uses a dunce cap on Kevin.

However, soon the class' attention is drawn away from Kevin and back to Edd, who is announcing a scavenger hunt with a special grand prize. Everyone guesses as to what the prize could be, without giving Double D a chance to tell them, and soon Rolf's suggestion of a jawbreaker takes the class by storm. The kids all head out to hunt for the items on Edd's list, with the exception of his two friends, who stay behind and try and get the answers out of Edd. Edd refuses to reveal the answers, but for once, Ed has an idea. Unfortunately, this one is wrong, as for some reason his answer to the clue "When I grow up, I want to be a tree" is a slice of watermelon. Naturally, both he and Eddy demand the prize, causing Edd to angrily stomp over to a tree and reveal that the answer is an acorn.

Of course, the kids don't have the benefit of this help, and they're busily working on the hunt. Sarah and Jimmy have no clue as to the answer of any of the clues. Jonny seems to be doing better, as he's collecting things all over the place, but when Sarah presses him for answers, he reveals that he's just picking up random things and steals her paper as another "random thing". While Sarah chases Jonny, Nazz is working with Kevin, picking up acorns. Kevin remarks that the whole hunt is stupid, and when Nazz reminds him about the jawbreaker, he in turn reminds her that he has a garage full of jawbreakers, causing her to give up the hunt as well. Jimmy, meanwhile, is crying, until Rolf shows up with a bagful of beets. When asked what clue has beets as the answer, Rolf simply tells Jimmy that the humble beet is the answer to all riddles and motors on to the lane in order to collect his prize.

In the lane, meanwhile, Ed and Eddy have started torturing their friend for the location of the prize. After some time, Edd has had enough of this, and he loudly proclaims that there is no jawbreaker just as Rolf, Sarah, and Jimmy enter the lane. They angrily call him out for lying, but Edd tells them that he never promised a jawbreaker at all. Besides, he has a prize, one much more valuable than a simple piece of candy. The kids buck up at this news, but when Double D shows off his prize, they angrily turn on him. It seems that a mistaken Edd believed that the kids would be happy to receive a worthless diploma from his school, and he is quickly proven wrong, as Rolf pelts him with some beets and Sarah thrashes him with Jonny's bag of junk. Bruised and defeated, Edd can only remark to his two friends that there's a lesson to be learned here.

A short time later, Edd has given in and is helping Eddy sell "exotic pets." Edd watches, dismayed, as the kids snap up the falsified animals. Eddy isn't unhappy at all, though, as dumb people means easier scamming. Not only that, but Ed has proof of this, doing a snake charmer routine for Rolf where his foot is obviously controlling the belt from the beginning of the day.

Memorable Quotes
Eddy: "Watch it, Ed! It might bite!" Ed: [fighting with the snake that has wrapped itself around his head] "It has blinded me with its venom!" Eddy: "Pull it off Ed!" Ed: [knocking Eddy off-screen] "It is slippery, Eddy!" [Ed fights with the snake and throws it to the ground.] Eddy: "Did you see that thing lunge at us?" Edd: [unimpressed] "That is a belt." Ed: [scared] "I heard it hiss, Double D." Edd: "Impossible, Ed." Eddy: "It ain't movin' much." Edd: "IT'S A BELT! For crying out loud, it secures your pants!"
 * Ed: [holding a belt] "Snake, snake! I got it Eddy, I got it!"

Edd: [scared] "You need help. YOU ALL NEED HELP!"
 * Eddy: [looking at a football] "Hey, Lurch, with a little paint, that football could look like an alligator."


 * Jonny: [head jammed in Wilfred's mouth] "I can hear the ocean, Plank!"

Ed: [shoving on Edd's other side] "Hello." [Edd falls over.] Edd: [getting up and moving away] "You don't understand." [Eddy leaps onto Edd.] Eddy: "Where'd you stash it, Double D?! Where?!" Ed: [jumping on top of Edd and Eddy] "I am back!" [Eddy grunts in frustration.] "Say 'toy boat' three times really fast!" Edd: [straining under the weight of Eddy and Ed] "In order to receive the prize, you'll need to win the hunt." Ed: "Toy boat, toy boat, toy–" [Eddy punches Ed.]
 * Eddy: [shoving against Edd] "Cough up the jawbreaker!"

Edd: [exasperated] "Ed, why would a watermelon want to be a tree?" Ed and Eddy: "Jawbreaker, please!" [Eddy holds out his hands.] Edd: [unimpressed] "You're not even close!" [He walks over to a tree.] "A tree." [He picks an acorn.] "Oh, look! An acorn!" ["talking" to the acorn] "Wait, yes, uh-huh. Okay, I'll tell them." [to Ed and Eddy] "I'm a little acorn and when I grow up I want to be A TREE!" [pointing between the acorn and the tree] "Acorn, BECOMES A TREE! Acorn, BECOMES TREE! Acorn, TREE!""
 * Ed: [setting down a watermelon] "I win! Jawbreaker, please."

Rolf: "Hello?" Edd: "Get rid of that gum." Rolf: [bemused] "This is no gum. It is the grease from Papa's foot soakings." Edd: [impatient] "NOW!"
 * Edd: [acting as the teacher] "ROLF!"

Nazz: "What's the prize, Double D?" Jonny: "Is it wood varnish?" Jimmy: "Shiny tweezers?" Sarah: "A new brother?" Rolf: "It must be a jawbreaker." Eddy: [surprised] "Jawbreaker?" Rolf: "Glistening with sugar like the sweat on Nana's upper lip."
 * [Edd is announcing there is to be a grand prize for whoever wins the scavenger hunt.]

[Jimmy looks inside Rolf's bag and two beets fall out.] Jimmy: "This bag is full of beets." [picking up one of the beets] "What clue is beets?" Rolf: [sourly] "Know-nothing! The humble beet is the answer to all riddles. You bore Rolf!"
 * Rolf: [heaving a bulky bag along] "Why do you cry, feeble one? You must shed tears of joy! As Rolf is victor of this scavenger hunt."

[Kevin raises his hand.] Edd: "Yes, Kevin?" Kevin: "So what you're saying is, you're a dork?"
 * Edd: "My apologies for being so blunt."

Edd: "Ed, please–" [Ed slaps Edd's belly again.] "Stop it Ed!" Eddy: "You know how to make Ed stop, Double D. Tell us where you hid the jawbreaker!" Edd: "I can't do that, Eddy. I'd be denying you both an opportunity to learn." Eddy: "Ed..." Ed: [slapping Edd's belly] "Pink belly! Pink belly! Pink belly!" Edd: [having suffered enough] "THERE IS NO JAWBREAKER!"
 * Ed: [slapping Edd's belly] "Pink belly! Pink belly! Pink belly!"

Eddy: "The iguana ain't dead, windbag, it's just…um…" [He elbows Edd.] Edd: "...sleeping like a baby, Kevin. That'll be 25 cents." Jonny: [handing over the money] "Sold!" Edd: [annoyed] "I'm surrounded by idiots." Eddy: "Who's complainin'?"
 * Kevin: [looking at Eddy's exotic pet] "Is this thing supposed to be dead?"

Nazz: "You're not even trying, Kevin. Don't you want to win that jawbreaker?" Kevin: "What for? I got a whole garage full of jawbreakers, remember?" Nazz: [tossing the sheet aside] "This is stupid."
 * Kevin: [looking at the clue sheet] "Nazz, this is so stupid."

Trivia

 * Goofs:
 * When Edd is explaining that the belt Ed and Eddy are messing with is not a snake, he has dirt on his hat in two scenes, but none in the next shot. It is possible that he got the dirt off when the camera panned away from him.
 * Ed was holding the leash with the "alligator" when he and Eddy were showing it off, but when Edd pulls the "alligator" with the fishing rod, Ed is not holding the leash.
 * When the "alligator" is being pulled away from the kids, Wilfred suddenly disappears.
 * While Edd is educating the kids, Rolf sits behind Jonny. In another shot, he is behind Jimmy.
 * When Ed was slapping Edd's belly, his shirt is completely around the bent belly rather than showing the shirt tucking the belly from the top.
 * Ed is the only character who doesn't laugh when Kevin openly mocks Edd.
 * This is one of the few episodes that is proven to take place in the summer, because Edd says at one point, "Our break from school."
 * Running Gags:
 * Eddy and Ed thinking miscellaneous inanimate objects are creatures.
 * Edd trying to educate the kids.
 * Edd thinking the kids are uneducated.
 * People searching for the clues that Edd gave them to win the prize.
 * This is one of the few episodes where Eddy has money at the end.
 * Kevin mentions the garage full of jawbreakers he had back in "A Boy and His Ed."
 * This is the second time Jonny gets his head stuck in a tree. The first time was in "Rent-a-Ed."
 * When Wilfred is looking at the "alligator", you can see him smiling.
 * This episode is dedicated to Shawn "Wilfrid" Godin (1979-2001).
 * This marks the first episode of the series to be dedicated to someone. The second is "Look Before You Ed," which was dedicated to Paul Boyd.
 * This is the 42nd time the Kankers don't appear.
 * Rolf apparently believes that beets are the answer to any riddle.
 * Ed said "Pink belly" about 6 times in this episode.
 * This was the last episode to air in 2001.
 * This is the first time Nazz says "This is stupid." She says this again in "Once Bitten, Twice Ed."
 * There were some captioning mistakes in this episode:
 * Ed: "Run, sing a song!" when it's supposed to be "Let's sing a song!"
 * Rolf: "Let rug wrestle the beast!" when it's supposed to be "Let Rolf wrestle the beast!"
 * Eddy refers to Ed as "Lurch" in this episode. Lurch was the name of the Frankenstein-monster butler in the Addams Family.
 * This is the second time Edd educates Ed and Eddy. The first time was in "A Boy and His Ed."
 * Jimmy has a fear of insects.