Animated Atrocities: Sun Scream

Some viewers may find this disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.

Show: The Powerpuff Girls
Episode: S6 E10a
Year: 2004

Writer(s): Thurop Van Orman
Director(s): John McIntyre


Let me get this straight: the Girls can survive being dipped completely in acid, the heat from the atmospheric buildup when they crash from space, and even getting incinerated with fire, but a little ol' solar flare gives them what amounts to a bad sunburn!? I'd think the sun would do worse to them than sunburn, even without sunblock.


Now onto the main issue: this thing is fucking PAINFUL to watch! It goes on as SLOWLY as possible as we watch the Girls cringe from their sunburns, struggling as hard as possible to just get dressed, let alone fucking move! That isn't funny, that's horrible! We've all gotten horrific sunburns at one point in our lives, and some of us have had it even worse than the Girls here! Just the fact that the citizens of Townsville are so cold to LAUGH at the Girls because of this sunburn after they had just saved the town, possibly the WORLD from a solar flare shows they really don't deserve to be saved.


The Girls can't even fly because the insects blowing into them from the high speed are like getting PUNCHED to them! They even have the gall to lampshade they've never noticed the insects before, and then Buttercup gets her eye POKED by a pigeon! And as for our villains for the episode that required the mayor to call for the Girls' help? A couple of con artists! Not even supervillains, just run-of-the-mill con men! I think the police can handle a pair of everyday swindlers! And what's worse is the Mayor is stupid enough to fall for their ploy! That's kind of believable at this point I suppose, but still. The Girls are in such cringe-inducing pain they can't even fight a pair of regular crooks! This is absolutely PATHETIC! I can't even feel for the Girls here because even with sunburn, they should be able to play through the pain and take on a couple of average criminals no problem. You have SUPER POWERS! USE YOUR ZAPPY EYES TO ZAP THEM!


In the end, the Professor comes to their rescue, and he's a smug prick because he was RIGHT about the sunscreen not being for nerds! Guy says scientists use their minds to cash in on people's ignorance, what the fuck!? But the absolute worst part of the episode isn't the pain throughout, it's the ending where the Girls' skin starts to peel from using Aloe Vera, and it's shown close up in great detail! All oily and crackling! I've had my skin peel really fucking badly before and it didn't look this nasty! It makes me legitimately want to PUKE! And the con men agree with me on that! Honestly, nobody deserves the fate they were given; not even Napoleon deserved this.


Cringe-Inducing Audio: 4
Cringe-Inducing Visuals: 9
Lackluster Writing: 10
Annoyance: 5
Disturbing Content: 7
Unnecessary Cruelty: 9
Rancid Morals: 0
Low Production Values: 0
Unfortunate Implications: 6
Character Derailment: 4

Final Score: 54/100

The Powerpuff Grils is owned by Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting.

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