The Episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog That Changed EVERYTHING.

I agree with what the creator of this show once said that life is scary and unpredictable, and the only way to deal with it is to be scarier than life itself

The fact that courage saw his parents get separated from him by a HUMAN and now he protects his owners who are also HUMANS really says a lot about courage

Nobody talks about Kitty beating Courage and Muriel ignoring it completely. That is another representation of abuse that gets neglected.

Courage really proves himself in this episode. He beats tf outta some rottweilers, chases down a whole car and survives a car crash to save an abused victim

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the action despite it."

As a kid, I never even thought about kitty and bunny being lovers. I just thought they were the best of friends and I was so jealous I didn't have a friend like that 😅

You ever realize how much of an uber badass giga chad man killer Courage is? The dude battles gods, gangs, aliens, demons, mummies, protects women and his family. The dude is a Lone Wolf Legend.

I love how Eustace is mean spirited, but Muriel has no problem putting him back in his place. They fight like an old married couple

You didn't mention it, but at 12:39 when Bunny is in the pot, it's heavily implied that she was SAed by Mad Dog (and maybe the other 2). When somebody is SAed, they often feel dirty, soiled. Another fitting term is "deflower". I thought that that scene was the darkest in this episode. You typically see some type of violence and sexism in cartoons and shows (whether more light-hearted or not, and with or without a lesson learned at the end), but I don't remember any cartoon referencing SA.

It is interesting that Eustace, for all his general character flaws (toxicity being the one examined here), is rarely shown to be a toxic partner the way Mad Dog clearly is and unlike Bunny, Muriel is consistently shown to be on equal footing with her husband; just as capable of dishing it out as we see by her having no problem throwing insults right back the second he attempts to use her insecurities about eating against her and it’s implied several times and he likes the fact that she can stand toe to toe with him. And while Mad Dog was purely motivated by jealousy over how close Kitty and Bunny are, Eustace has more general insecurities over perceived inferiority stemming for his family life before Muriel.

This just made me feel sad for courage. I really always just felt sad with this show. No one treated Courage nice.

I think the fire escape not coming all the way down is a metaphor of how in abusive relationships the partner that wants to leave can sometimes find themselves going back if they don’t see a clear “escape”. In this case courage helped push her to actually escape if he hadn’t been there bunny would of climbed back up.

As someone born 1997, I’m grateful with the Cartoon Network lineup I grew up with

I also love the choice of animals, bunny and kitty are both pet names used for women, unfortunately many times it’s degrading. Both can also act as euphemism which may be the play when courages sees she’s a “cat”, and with Mad Dog being a dog also works with chasing tail. Cats and Dogs both can hunt rabbits, but Bunny giving Kitty a mouse is something cats do to show affection or loyalty, but doubles as way to show how they love each other even if they are both women and prey and predator. Everything about this episode is done beautifully.

The darkest for me would be the backstory behind courages parents disappearance. Even Eustace was appalled at what that vet was doing and that's saying a lot.

Courage never once, does what he does in the name of fame and notoriety. He saves the day because that's who he is. The world needs a lot more Courage.

Personally to me, the Freaky Fred episode is the peak of the dark themes of the show. Fred is basically a man that uses others to pleasure himself, no matter their consent. He appears kind and polite, but when he has the perfect opportunity to do his thing with the victim, when they can't escape, nor seek help, he strikes. All while he don't seem to understand the damage be inflicted on others, calling it just "naughty". In his retrospection he starts with animals, then close ones, then strangers, which is something often associated with serial killers. He even found a job that would put him in close contact with what basically is his kink. At the end it's revealed that he escaped from essentially a psychiatric hospital. Also it's interesting that he is Muriel's nephew, so a family and not some stranger, which is something not often seen in media. (I could also say that Muriel and Eustace being ignorant, represents the common inability to notice or believe that someone from their own family could be an offender, but they are always oblivious as hell, even if mask person is beating the hell out of their dog, so yeah). I love that sucker, perfect villain.

I unfortunately must note that Mad Dog was not only abusing Bunny but also using her. The fact they live in a "Red Light Zone" with bunny being a rabbit- often a figure of fertility and lust- while wearing fancy clothes and pearls points to Mad Dog being a Pimp and selling Bunny. The scene of her being buried in the plant pot in the episode, which is heard but not shown, implies that she was "forcibly used" by Mad Dog, his cronies, or both of them. Also the reason why the fire escape logically wouldn't work is because for Bunny it was an escape route that wasn't accessible to her without Courage who opened the way for her. Yeah this was a dark episode with most of it flying over my head as a kid. I only recognize the toxic relationship, Courage's bravery in rescuing Bunny and essentially helping Kitty heal by reuniting her.

I remember watching this episode when it aired. As a teenager I thought Kitty and Bunny’s relationship was a bit odd, but I picked up on the nuances and hints. When Kitty said, “I hate dogs,” with Bunny repeating it later on the episode, I picked up that they were hinting they didn’t like men, and that all men were dogs - until Courage proved them wrong. When Eustis put on the mask at the end of the show, I “knew” it was a representation of him hiding himself from the world and living in his own personal denial. Wonderful breakdown, and an interesting trip down memory lane. 26:30

I think Courage's first reaction to realizing that Kitty is a cat is a reflection of how Kitty's view on dogs, seeing one of them forcefully imprison and manipulate her lover and now she views all dogs as evil as a result. The same way Courage's initial reaction to finding out her identity, after being tormented by Katz for a really long time. Courage however didn't let his trauma overcome his will to right the wrong, and eventually help the both of them to be together again.