| Ren Seeks Help | |
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| Season 1, Episode 2 | |
Vital statistics
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| Air date | July 3, 2003 |
| Written by | John Kricfalusi Richard Pursel Matthieu Cousin (Uncredited) |
| Directed by | John Kricfalusi |
Episode guide
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| Onward & Upward | Fire Dogs 2 |
Ren Seeks Help is the second Adult Party Cartoon episode that aired on Spike TV and TNN.
The episode presents the darkest story focusing on Ren's behavior that is in serious jeopardy after abusing Stimpy to the point that Stimpy loses his innocence and tearfully kicks him out of the house, which drives him to seek help from the therapist, Mr. Horse, about his problems, follow by informing him his disturbing childhood.
Plot[]
Ren is currently experiencing a severe mental crisis, placing him in great jeopardy due to his actions. This, in turn, causes Stimpy to burst into hysterical tears on the bed. Ren’s guilt and regret become evident through his expression, leading him to apologize and make a promise to seek help for the consequences of his behavior. Stimpy tearfully expresses his anger through curses while continuing to cry. Meanwhile, Ren decides to leave home and takes a leisurely walk through the city before eventually seeking out a therapist.
Upon his arrival, he encounters Mr. Horse, who is a psychiatrist. Ren proceeds to share his childhood story with the doctor. During a flashback, the doctor introduces Ren to his first experience of pain, when he was spanked at birth, and consequently makes a promise to inflict pain on others. This abusive behavior begins during his childhood, where he engages in acts such as yanking out bugs’ legs, licking them with a barbed tongue, and burning them, but his most favored act involves torturing a helpless Frog. Despite the Frog's pleas for a release from its misery, Ren is confused and hesitant to comply with its request for death. Eventually, Ren refuses to kill the Frog, leading the Frog to persistently beg him for its own demise.
At a later time, Ren’s parents force him to complete the task of ending the abused Frog's life by providing him with a chainsaw. However, Ren, as usual, pretends confidentially to kill the Frog and instead throws it alive into the garbage can.
Back in the present day, Ren finishes his story after informing Mr. Horse about the time he met Stimpy. After hearing all of Ren’s horrific stories, it leads to an extreme and violent physical altercation between Mr. Horse and Ren. Infuriated, Mr. Horse declares Ren crazy and reminds him that he should be in prison for his animal abuse. He angrily argues with Ren and violently beats him up. However, this only drives Ren to become even more berserk. He furiously launches himself at Mr. Horse and angrily kills him by beating him up with a gun, just as two groups of ambulance workers arrive. As the crazed dog turns to one of the ambulance workers by biting their hand, the second group captures Ren with a net and sends him away to the asylum. Blood spills everywhere.
Afterward, the injured Frog from Ren’s childhood crawls in and shoots himself with the gun. However, he fails and suffers even more agony. The episode ends with a Looney Tunes-like ending card, with the characters smiling at the audience and a sign that reads “That’s It Folks!”
Characters[]
- Ren
- Stimpy
- Mr. Horse
- Reverend Hoek
- Mrs. Hoek
- Frog
- Dog Doctor
- Cat Nurse
- Deer
- Bugs
- Ren's Childhood Human Friend
- Ambulance Workers
Trivia[]
- This episode holds many similarities with "Jimminy Lummox" (original series): here Ren prank calls a frozen chicken, splashes lemonade in a beaver's mouths, and trying to pull the wings of a fly named Ralph. In "Ren Seeks Help", Ren tortured bugs and a Frog in his childhood.
- This episode is heavily banned by many due to its excessive animal cruelty to the Frog.
- This and "Ren Needs Help!" from the original show hold many similarities, as Ren is forced to seek help due to a problem that involves Stimpy and despite the luck that he has received throughout the episode, ends up menacing by the end.
- In "Ren Needs Help", Ren was taken away to an insane asylum after Stimpy made a call to get Ren immediate mental help when Ren was about to commit suicide through a garbage disposal. In the Adult Party Cartoon episode, "Ren Seeks Help", Ren goes to a psychologist, Dr. Mr. Horse, more on his own volition for mental help after having an extremely horrible argument with Stimpy, but was eventually taken away to an asylum at the end after an extremely brutal fight with Dr. Mr. Horse.
- According to John Kricfalusi, a cancelled episode entitled "Life Sucks" was meant to be the prequel episode to "Ren Seeks Help". This is suggesting that this episode was the cause of Ren and Stimpy's argument as it is never stated what Ren had done.
- "Ren Seeks Help" was originally written in 1991.
- Ren's father is voiced by John Kricfalusi's own real life father, Mike Kricfalusi. * Dr. Horse cusses at Ren.
- In this episode, Ren, Stimpy and Mr. Horse all lose.