Pain in the Ed

"Pain in the Ed" is the 6th episode of Season 4 and the 83rd episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, Ed is taking up violin lessons and must practice on his violin. Eddy hates the music so much that he tries to find a way to get rid of the violin.

Plot
The episode begins with Eddy putting glue and carpet pieces onto his armpits to fake puberty and gain attention from the other kids. He then approaches Jonny and Plank, who are both drinking an ice cream float, but Jonny just asks Eddy if that is a carpet on his armpits. Kevin is then shown playing a game involving tossing a playing card into a baseball cap from his porch step. Eddy shows up with his fake pits, but Kevin just laughs and notes Eddy is faking puberty. Eddy believes Kevin is just wishing he had hairy armpits, but Nazz, who is on a bike, also suprisingly notices that Eddy has carpet pieces on his armpits. Nazz notes that is so kindergarten before she pedals off. Eddy states he hates it when the kids catch on. Edd guesses underarm growth is a poor excuse for maturity. Eddy demands what now and Edd notes they can call on Ed. Ed however arrives with a violin and music stand and states to Edd to not bother. Eddy tries to show off his fake pits, but Ed also surprisingly knows as he states "Nice carpet, Eddy!".

Ed then begins practicing on his violin after taking the proper feet positions by twanging one string at a time, but the music is so bad that Eddy snatches it out of Ed's hands and tries to destroy it claiming violin playing is for sissies. However Edd stops him and gives the violin back to Ed (noting that Nicolo Paganini was not a sissy) and the latter continues playing with Edd encouraging him to play more. Soon his music gains both Jonny and Plank's attention and both of them start dancing to the music despite how bad it is. Eddy can no longer take anymore of this and then goes to his room to drown out the noise.

Eventually it goes away and Eddy then finds Edd in his chair with earphones proving that he also thinks Ed's music is terrible. Before any more protesting about this can begin, Ed suddenly appears to practice some more. While he is trying to do his positioning before practicing, Eddy having the final straw throws the instrument out the door with Edd going to save it, but not before seeing Sarah and Jimmy going to Eddy's room with the violin.

But once Eddy starts relaxing on no more violin music, Sarah appears and drags Ed out (With Edd having to tell Eddy that Sarah is here). Ed tries to prove to them that he is practicing, but he still plays terrible regardless. Sarah and Jimmy get behind a fence while Ed is practicing. Sarah whispers Jimmy to spy on Ed while he is playing with the violin and to make sure that the violin is not destroyed by any means. Jimmy agrees to it and Sarah leaves. Eddy then bursts out, grabs the violin and is about to smash it onto the ground when Edd grabs the violin out of his hands immediately. Eddy yells at him to not butt in, but Edd whispers to Eddy that they have company ("A direct line to Sarah should anything go amiss!"). Jimmy is then shown discreetly picking a flower in plain view. Eddy decides that they should find another spot and "tune" the violin.

Eddy stuffs his shoes into his ears and Edd stuffs his ears with cotton wool earmuffs while Ed is practicing and the Eds begin going into many different locations to find a place to "tune" the violin (the woods and later an alleyway). Eddy is also trying to make desperate attempts to destroy the violin (trying to smash it on a rock, trying to drop a heavy brick on it; etc.), but Ed won't be stopped though, for his fear of Sarah's rage is stronger than his fear of Eddy's. The fact that Jimmy is still watching their every move makes it more difficult to get rid of it without Sarah knowing (he disguises himself as a female shepard, a baby in a carriage, and a bird, so he can keep an eye on the Eds). Eddy's plans to destroy the instrument starts to play havoc with Edd's conscious. Edd sees the violin as a beautiful thing, beautiful enough that he'd construct a model of the Statue of Liberty in an attempt to save it while pretending to go along with Eddy's anti-violin plan.

Soon all the steps have been put into place for the plan to destroy the violin. As Ed starts playing his violin again the sour music soon starts to affect everything within the radius area of the music. Eventually, Kevin's bike gets caught in the soundwaves coming from the terrible music of the violin and starts to go crazy injuring Kevin in the process while Nazz and Rolf cover their ears from the irritating noise, but Rolf accidentally steps into the prechewed gum set by Edd and gets stuck while the gum stretches. As Jonny is still enjoying the violin, Eddy introduces Jonny and Plank to Sawtooth Cecil (a saw with a face drawn on it) and Jonny becomes scared out of his wits and in a panic, attempts to run from the saw while Eddy deliberately puts a jack-in-the-box at the spot (but not before turning the handle a few times so it will activate at the right time) where Jonny was. As Jonny is running away, he gets caught by the gum stck to Rolf's shoe and is slingshoted onto the jack-in-the-box and gets launched into the air and down into the model of the Statue of Liberty. He drops down onto a scale pressure device which activates the machine inside and it launches a bowling ball right into the torch. Eddy goes out to see the action, but notices Wilfred inside and asks why is he here. Edd states it is a surprise and Eddy thinks he gets it. While Eddy is outside watching the action unfold, inside Edd feeds Wilfred a magnet covered in grease (Which is safe to eat as he claims), thus sabotaging the plan by moving Ed and the violin away from the target he was under (by moving the music stand Ed was using away from Ed causing the latter to move since he has to read his music sheet on the stand).

Eddy becomes confused and enraged as he suspects Edd deliberately sabotaged the plan from the start, though Edd denies it, Eddy is still going to destroy the violin but Edd takes the violin from Eddy and confesses that he did sabotage the plan to save the violin, but the now enraged Eddy is on the warpath against Edd but in the end, the violin gets crushed accidentally, by ironically Edd himself, when he accidentally trips and crushes the violin. Jimmy, wearing a bunny costume, had witnessed this and goes off to tell on Sarah, ignoring Ed's pleas. Eddy doesn't care about the violin's destruction, claiming he would play a much manlier instrument "like a kazoo or something", but then Ed states to Eddy that Sarah is here. Sarah then grabs both Edd and Eddy to beat them up.

After beating up Edd and Eddy, she goes to beat up Ed, who runs off. Edd states farewell to the violin as there would be no more music being played from the instrument anymore. However the instrument's destruction doesn't stop Ed from practicing. Ed then comes back and uses Eddy's hair as violin strings to prove he is practicing claiming he is still practicing, much to Sarah's enjoyment and Eddy's dismay.

Memorable Quotes
Eddy: [sighs] "Everyone knows hairy pits are a sign of manliness Double D."
 * Edd: "Eddy, I have my doubts as to the success of using carpeting to achieve virility…"


 * Jonny: [seeing Eddy's overstuffed arms] "Wow Eddy, is that carpeting?"

Eddy: "Hey ignoroid! Who's more mature now huh?" Kevin: [laughs] "The dork's faking puberty!"
 * Kevin: [flicks a card into a hat] "Choice"

Ed: [walking up with a violin] "Don't bother Double D; he (refering to himself) is not home."
 * Edd: "We can call on Ed."


 * Ed: [everytime he gets ready to play his violin] "Position and pose starts by fanning your toes and placing your left foot right."


 * Ed: "Practice I must or Sarah my head will bust."

Ed: "In my mom's dreams I can."
 * Edd: [delighted at Ed's acquisition] "Why Ed, I didn't know you played an instrument."


 * Jonny: [dancing to Ed's violin playing] "Woo-hoo! That's a real toe-tapper, Ed! You're giving me and Plank goose bumps!"


 * Ed: "Tell me a story, Eddy!'

Ed: "And four strings! [takes back the violin from Eddy] Position and pose starts by fanning your toes and placing your left foot right." [Eddy deliberately trips Ed with his leg]
 * Edd: [desperately stopping Eddy from trying to smash the violin on a rock] "Don't you dare Eddy! This instrument has a legacy!"

Kevin: "What an eye-sore." Nazz: "Aw come on guys, I think its cute."
 * Rolf: "Why is the Lady of Liberty looming over the cul-de-sac?"


 * Rolf: [panicking] "Save yourself Double D Ed-boy! A single fiendish fiddle of the mountains toys with our mortality!"


 * Edd: [to the bemused Wilfred] "I made a special treat for you Wilfred. A very powerful magnet - safe to eat and chock full of essential vitamins for the growing young swine."


 * Eddy: [after Edd has smashed the violin] "Ah good riddance, violins are for sissies. Now if I played an instrument I'd get something manly, like a kazoo or somethin'."

Trivia/Goofs

 * Eddy hasn't gone through puberty yet in this episode, but in "X Marks the Ed" he was going through puberty by have that gigantic zit on his head. It is possible that he just hadn't gone through getting armpit and body hair yet.
 * When Edd admits to spoiling the plan to destroy Ed's violin, Wilfred and the music stand vanish. However, just a second before Edd grabbed the violin from Ed, they were still there.
 * We learn that Ed is a horrible violin player, no matter how he practices with it.
 * When Eddy says "Man, he's bad!", captions read "Man, he's deaf!".
 * This is one of the few times where either Nazz or Ed aren't fooled by something (they both knew that Eddy's "armpit hair" were just carpet pieces). In most episodes they are easily fooled by other people and both are shown not to be very bright.
 * This is the first of two times a violin is seen, the second being "Smile for the Ed", except Nazz is the one seen playing it.
 * Running Gags:
 * Ed playing his violin everywhere he goes and doing it badly, plus annoying the others (except Jonny and Plank).
 * Eddy trying to destroy the violin, but either Jimmy or Edd discourage him otherwise.
 * Eddy being told by one of the other Eds that Sarah is here.


 * The title card is a reference to the play Fiddler on The Roof.
 * This marks the first time we see Ed playing an instrument. He later plays the flute in "Who's Minding the Ed?", and then the saxophone in "Smile for the Ed".
 * The Kankers were absent in this episode.
 * This is the last episode to air in 2002.

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