Litter Kills: Litterally

Litter Kills: Litterally is the tenth episode of the first season of Clone High.

Synopsis[]

One of the clones is going to die in this episode. Either Abe, Joan, Gandhi, Cleo, JFK, or the newly introduced Juan Ponce De Leon, renowned amongst the school populace for living every day like it is his last. Meanwhile, Joan becomes concerned that there's too much litter, and starts a campaign to try and get everybody to clean it up.

Plot[]

Abe and Cleo sit outside and make out while having french fries. As they make out, Julius Caesar points out the arrival of JFK and his best friend, Juan Ponce de Leon. JFK reveals that he has a tattoo that declares the duo to be "two peas in a pod", and soon after they pose for a photo. JFK and Ponce also demonstrate their love for littering, a behavior that the rest of the students eagerly copy. This brief montage of good times is interrupted by JFK greeting Cleo and having a terse conversation with her. Before she can thank him for not coming off as clingy or awkward, he points out his dissatisfaction at her dating Abe. JFK jokes with the small crowd following him and Ponce that Abe does not litter, which he attempts to disprove by forcing himself to throw away an empty potato chip bag. Ponce compliments Abe on his willingness to litter. Unbeknownst to all of them, Joan has been witnessing these events, and Glen the Janitor (who happened to be nearby) briefly jokes with her before continuing on.

Later on, Ponce surprises Abe and Cleo in the hall and tells them that he notices they are getting serious. He additionally tells Abe that he takes women out to "someplace special" when he is in a relationship, which gives Cleo the idea to go to Teen Sex Cove. Abe, albeit anxious, agrees with her. After Cleo leaves, Ponce talks to Abe further and mentions to him that he is incredibly lucky to have Cleo, and also informs him that JFK is almost over her. Abe is flattered by this display and thanks Ponce for being a good friend. Suddenly, Gandhi slides in and shows off his new warm-ups, which coincidentally resemble a prison uniform. Ponce leaves, but not before telling the two to "have a wonderful life" and littering. When asked by Abe and Gandhi on why he always concludes conversations with such a phrase, Ponce responds that it is "just [his] thing".

While driving, Joan is incessantly bombarded by Gandhi's terrible attempts at jokes. She is infuriated at Gandhi's casual littering, and forces him out of her car after Gandhi attempts to justify his actions. As he goes to pick up the beverage cup he recklessly threw out the window, he is greeted by a man lending him a tool to easily pick up litter. This man turns out to be a prison inmate on death row, and Gandhi is soon herded onto a prison bus after a correctional officer mistakes him for a prisoner. Meanwhile, Glen the Janitor tidies up Scudworth's office, to his immeasurable disappointment. After he leaves, Scudworth is furious and blames Glen's cleanliness for the recent loss of his secret files. Mr. Butlertron, on the contrary, approves of Glen, an opinion which is met with annoyance from Scudworth. Mr. Butlertron also finds Scudworth's secret files in the bathroom and returns them to him. Despite this, Scudworth still blames Glen for their brief disappearance.

Outside, Ponce walks with JFK, attempting to discuss how short life is with him. JFK does not understand and tries to steer the discussion towards sex instead. Ponce tells him that he is attempting to be more introspective than he was previously, a decision that JFK responds to with derision. He tells Ponce that feelings are not masculine and accuses him of being a "sissy broad". Ponce's attempts at calming JFK prove useless, as the two experience a rift in their friendship, culminating in Ponce angrily telling JFK that he hates him. He almost instantly regrets saying this, and attempts to call JFK back to reconcile. Just then, Joan arrives to tell Ponce that everyone is littering because they look up to him, and that he has to stop. Tempting fate, Ponce asks Joan if litter will kill him. As she leaves, a sudden gust of wind handcuffs him before cutting his face, injecting a candy apple drink into his bloodstream, and wrapping a bag of chocolates around his head. Ponce's attempt to escape only results in him slipping on a banana peel and injuring his head by slamming into a glass bottle, which causes blood to fill the bag wrapped around his head, killing him via asphyxiation.

At Ponce's funeral, his father Glen prepares to give a heartfelt eulogy before Scudworth advises him to get back to work, telling him that he can give his eulogy after he finishes cleaning up. JFK takes his place instead and delivers an emotional, half-incoherent flurry of grieving, ending his attempt at a eulogy by climbing into Ponce's coffin, only to climb back out and flee with Cleo in tow. Scudworth introduces Genghis Khan, who delivers a rendition of "Ave Maria" to end the service. As the students depart, they leave their trash behind, which causes Joan to stay behind and try to warn the populace on the dangers of littering. Just then, she receives a call from Gandhi, who, after opening with a crank call, reveals to her that he has been mistakenly placed in death row and needs her to bail him out. Before he can reveal more, the correctional officer hits him with a nightstick and moves him to his cell. During his venture, he is told by numerous inmates that they will "see him in the shower".

JFK grieves in a chapel, where he, among other things, cries and blames God for taking Ponce. Cleo tries to comfort him by encouraging him to let out his emotions, to the visible disappointment of Abe. Back at his house, JFK is visited by a part of his subconsciousness that manifests itself as Ponce. JFK initially believes that this manifestation is a ghost, and then later convinces himself that it is a genie. JFK attempts to wish for his dead friend to be resurrected, and fools himself into thinking that the figment of his imagination sitting on his bed is, indeed, a reincarnated Ponce, who is audibly frustrated. Meanwhile, Joan visits Gandhi in prison, who pleads with her to bust him out before shower time. Joan reassures Gandhi that she is talking to some lawyers and is doing everything she can. Gandhi requests that Joan give him a high-five under the table, under the belief that "everyone else is getting them". Joan, not wanting to think about Gandhi's naivete, prepares to tell him the unfortunate news regarding Ponce.

At Teen Sex Cove, Abe is discomforted by how much time Cleo spends with JFK, who is in the backseat playing with his Game Boy. Abe accuses JFK of pretending to mourn only to garner sympathy from Cleo, who would then be more willing to have sex with him. Cleo earnestly tells him that none of her gravitation towards JFK is sexual, and that all that mattered to her (in a romantic sense) was Abe. Just as they begin to make out, a descending note emerges from JFK's Game Boy, and he is reminded of his recent loss via Mario's death. Abe is further aggravated by Cleo suggesting that she move to the back seat to comfort JFK, and angrily tells the two that he will leave them alone to engage in intercourse. He later returns to hand JFK the keys to his car, instructing him to drop it off at his house.

Abe seeks the advice of Joan, having realized his mistakes and aiming to atone for them. The two have a brief, but verbose conversation on human emotion, which drives Abe to tears. Meanwhile, Gandhi attempts to take a shower in the prison, only to be accosted by five other prisoners. His fears of being raped in prison are quickly squashed by their "initiation" turning out to be being thrown in the air three times. He tells the prisoners that his friend, Ponce, is dead, and he intends to break out to visit his grave. The other prisoners agree to help him. At the same time, Abe finds JFK on one of the Thinking Docks, and admits that his aggression was misguided. He also tells JFK that he should not let his friend die in vain, and they vow to end litter for good.

As the correctional officer sleeps, Gandhi escapes his cell by simply stepping through the bars, and frees the other prisoners by stealing the key to their cell. The six of them escape and celebrate almost immediately after their breakout. Meanwhile, JFK despondently looks at the vast amount of litter that has accrued before and since Ponce's death. Abe walks up to him and informs him that he has brought Joan and Cleo to help. Similarly, Gandhi arrives with the five prisoners in tow. JFK also summons the local wildlife of Exclamation! to speed up the process. After the crowd cleans up the litter, Clone High High School is noticeably cleanlier, and Scudworth and Mr. B take this as a sign to fire Glen the Janitor. Joan figures out that some people need litter to keep their jobs, and Abe states that perhaps littering is, in fact, good if done in moderation. While Abe makes out with Cleo, he notices a depressed JFK in the background. He asks him if he is doing alright, to which JFK responds with the revelation that he will soon get over Ponce's death.

Characters[]

Major Roles[]

Minor Roles[]

Songs[]

Trivia[]

This episode has the shortest title of the first season.
The Theme Song is different for this episode, now sung by a lone female singer instead of Tommy Walter, and being given a more sad and downtrodden instrumental.
- This rendition of the theme song is absent from the complete series DVD, instead using the normal version.
JFK goes through character development, proving to care about his dead friend and be more than a chauvinistic dumb jock archetype.
In the shot where JFK leaves the room, Marilyn Monroe is seen in the funeral audience, erroneously depicted with brown hair.
Genghis Khan is revealed to be a beautiful singer.
Joan and Gandhi grow closer as friends.
Moral: Always pick up after yourself and never litter.

Production Information[]

Although this episode premiered on January 19, 2003, it was produced in 2002 according to the credits.
- Despite being produced in 2002, this episode is shown to take place in 2003 (the year the episode aired), since that was the year of Ponce's death as seen on the memorial.
  - This episode was completed on November 12, 2002.^[1]

Death Foreshadowing[]

This episode makes numerous very obvious references to the fact that Ponce is going to die, as well as random exposition on Ponce being a long-time friend of the clones, despite never being seen or mentioned at any given moment prior to this episode.

In the cold opening, the narrator said "One of the clones you've grown to love will be horribly killed." When the narrator says "killed", Ponce appears on screen.
The narrator assured the audience that this wasn't some cheap-ass stunt where they lamely introduce a new character just to kill him off. Ponce had never appeared in any episodes prior to this.
Ponce was featured multiple times in the cold opening, more so than anyone else. His background is also colored red, as opposed to all other characters appearing on a black background.
Julius noted that JFK and Ponce always spend time together and asked "Are you guys ever apart?"
Julius also called him a "regular character".
JFK said about Ponce, "We're best friends for life. Til' death do us part."
Abe told Ponce that JFK was lucky to have him as a friend. They all were.
When Ponce left Abe and Gandhi, after his final interaction with them, before he died, he said "If I don't see you guys again, goodbye, and have a wonderful life."
Ponce said that he loves life.
Ponce told JFK that he's been thinking about how short life was and how you should live every day as though it was your last.
Ponce told JFK that he wanted to tell JFK something before it was too late.
JFK got mad at Ponce and said that he was "dead to him".
Ponce berated Joan for being paranoid about the dangers of litter and sarcastically asked her "What, Joan? Is litter gonna kill me?" As he said "kill me", thunder was heard in the background.

Continuity[]

In the previous episode "Raisin the Stakes: A Rock Opera in Three Acts", a subliminal message shows up on screen for a few frames, reading "I Buried Ponce".
Joan of Arc takes part in cleaning up litter, as part of a community service program that she started in "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand".
Gandhi wore orange warm ups, which are just an orange version of the yellow warm ups he wore in his dance group from "A.D.D.: The Last D is for Disorder".
Joan is shown to still live in Cleo's House, after moving in in "A Room of One's Clone: The Pie of the Storm". In the scene where she's in her room reading, it can be noticed that her bed is stacked on top of Cleo's bed and tied down with rope, in order to make their sleeping environment a passable bunk bed.
- Joan's bed is also notably covered in smoldering ashes, implying this was her original bed, having been retrieved from the wreckage of her original house.
Geshy from "Homecoming: A Shot in D'Arc" appears again, as one of the animals summoned by JFK.

Cultural References[]

Glen the Janitor is voiced by Neil Flynn, the actor who played The Janitor from the medical comedy-drama, Scrubs, another show created by Clone High's co-creator, Bill Lawrence.
Abe and Cleo eating a fry on opposite sides and having their lips meet in the middle is a reference to the Disney film Lady and the Tramp.
When Gandhi steps through the wide prison bars, it parodies the animation rule that jail bars have to be wide enough to see the character's entire face.
JFK is playing a Super Mario Bros. game on a Nintendo Game Boy.
"The Meaning of Goodbye" by James Stewart plays while JFK mourns at the Thinking Docks.

Historical References[]

While Ponce explains how short life is, he claims that there's no Fountain of Youth. His clonefather, Juan Ponce de Leon went to La Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth, under the belief that it was real.
JFK says that as a Kennedy, he's not accustomed to tragedy. This is a reference to the Kennedy curse, a half-serious myth explaining why almost everyone in the Kennedy family dies tragically.