Hothead is part two of the third episode of Season One, written by David Steven Cohen and directed by John R. Dilworth. It first aired November 26, 1999, following "Courage Meets Bigfoot".
Synopsis
After reading an ad in the newspaper, Eustace goes to a testing facility hoping that they can get him to grow some hair. Unfortunately, the product that they give him causes explosive results whenever he gets mad at anything. Can the cowardly dog cool down this furious fireball of fury before it all goes up in flames?
Plot
Sick of being bald, Eustace finds an ad in the newspaper claiming that there is a hair growth experiment that can remedy baldness. While reveling in the prospects of no longer being bald, Muriel asks him to fix the creak in her chair. Eustace brushes off her request, instead wanting to go to the institute. He grudgingly takes Courage along after Muriel tells him that he was in need of a haircut, but never stops to get Courage groomed.
In the waiting room, the two see Floyd, who expresses much gratitude after leaving his consultation with a bottle of hair growth formula. Eustace is next for his appointment and goes through a series of very irrelevant and stressful tests like being blown by strong wind; being thrown into a pool at fast speed and finally being spinned around in a centrifuge.
Courage breaks free from his leash to use the restroom. He finds Floyd applying the experimental formula to his head before washing his hands. When he realizes that the paper towel dispenser is empty, he becomes irrationally enraged. His face turns red and veins pop up from his skin. His focus on the empty dispenser causes the whole restroom to tremble until, ultimately, the dispenser explodes, leaving a large hole in the wall and the bottle of growth formula rolling to Courage's side. Out of curiosity, Courage reads the label on the bottle and discovers that it has a very dangerous side effect:
WARNING
When using...
Do not get angry
Do not get mad
Do not get upset
...OR ELSE.
Realizing the imminent danger as Eustace is never known for watching his temper, Courage tries in vain to warn Eustace of what he just witnessed in the restroom by turning into the old man and applying the formula, then becoming enraged and exploding into nothingness, but Eustace falls on deaf ears. On the way home, Eustace applies the formula while driving and is almost immediately cut off by Di Lung who insults him. As he speeds off, Eustace starts fuming with rage. His intense focus on Di Lung causes the young man's car to explode, sending him flying.
At home, Eustace applies more formula to his head while Courage struggles to keep Muriel away from his outbursts. Eustace becomes enraged when he can't fix Muriel's chair, but the phone rings and catches his attention causing it to explode instead. He becomes enraged once again when Muriel asks him to open a can of dog food, blowing up the top of the lid as well as the entire kitchen in the process.
With no results so far, Eustace applies the formula quite liberally, which causes Courage to attempt to keep him calm, especially to Muriel's frequent badgering. He again becomes enraged when he attempts to thread Muriel's needle. The whole house begins to quake with his rage and frustration and Courage grabs Muriel in her chair to escape the impending explosion, but unfortunately for him, the door has been blocked by a tipped over grandfather clock. Just when Eustace's rage peaks, a long curly hair sprouts from his head, and it temporarily abates his rage.
Unfortunately however when the curl falls flat, this was the last straw for Eustace as he goes on a mild exploding livid rage, turing into a furious raging timebomb as his rage has fully reached its limit. Courage manages to escape by breaking through a window, with Muriel still in his grasp, and runs for cover just before Eustace explodes one last time, blowing himself up and destroying the entire house in the process. Among the wreckage, Muriel tells Courage to remind her that whenever Eustace returns to ask him to fix her chair.
Characters
Main Characters
Minor Characters
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Trivia
- This episode reveals that Courage can use the toilet instead of going outside like a normal dog.
- There is an innuendo when the announcer asks "What's 414 divided by 6?", which equals 69 and represents a sex position.
- This episode marks the first appearances of Floyd and Di Lung.
- The song "Beautiful Dreamer" by Stephen Foster plays in the lobby scene.
- A shot from this episode of Eustace getting mad has become an Internet meme.
- Specifically, this comes from the moment he's trying to thread a needle, as requested by Muriel.
- Eustace dies at the end of the episode when he explodes one more time and destroys the house, therefore making this the first episode where he gets killed.
- This is also the first episode where the house is completely destroyed.
- This even has a plot-hole or foreshadowing, when the windmill is destroys by an explosion from Eustace, Windmill Vandals will come to kill Muriel and Courage.
- When Di Lung cuts off Eustace, there is no visible stop sign or yield sign, so it's unclear who actually had the right of way. However, Eustace was driving on a two way yellow dotted road while Di Lung was driving on a road with no lines. Also, at a t-intersection, most of the time the road going into the main road has to yield the right of way to the road which it is perpendicular to. Therefore, despite Di Lung yelling at Eustace to watch where he's going, he is probably the one at fault, while Eustace probably had the right of way.
- This is the first episode to be written by David Steven Cohen.
- The hair institute is operated by Germans based on their accents.
Errors
- When Courage was playing the harp, his mouth didn't move when he said, "Stay calm."
- The chair keeps changing position
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic | الشعر المستعار | The Wig |
| French | Chauve Eustache | Bald Eustace |
| Japanese | アブナい毛はえ薬 | Dangerous Hair Growth Medicine |
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