Zøg is done with Bean's actions and banishes her, so she sets out to prove to him she isn't a hopeless loser. In the wake of Bean's disastrous party, Zøg has her sent to a convent, "Our Lady of Unlimited Chastity." We get another performance from Tress MacNeille in this episode as the head nun, giving Bean a less-than-warm welcome. The next morning Luci assures a frantic and late Bean that no one will spot him as he hides in her clothes, his tail dropping from her shirt. Bean stands out from the start, wearing blue clothes while the others have brown, and catches Mother Superior's attention when she fails to perfectly fall in step. When Bean says her granite slab for a bed prevented good sleep, the other nuns consider become jealous she gets the "best slab." She claims she's only there because of a common mistake, earning some sass from Luci, and Mother Superior directs the nuns to their food: hot dog water soup. Bean further rubs them the wrong way by messing up their chant about their god and slurping out of rhythm, which Luci, of course, encourages. When Mother Superior later gets on to Bean about forgetting they're praying for the poor, Bean replies they could just melt down the statue of their god to make money. Mother Superior is aghast that Bean would try bringing logic into the church, and as the princess turns to go back to her room, the nuns see Luci's tail. The nuns haul Bean back to Dreamland where Zøg reveals an invention of Sorcerio's to make smoke come out his ears when he's mad. A combination of pellets and vinegar, the concoction reacts differently than intended before Zøg wanted, and he begins yelling at her. Bean claims she'll never throw another party or drink again, but gives a wink to a passerby and immediately chugs a drink Luci fetched. Angry that Bean failed again, and forced to make donations to his shouting tax, Zøg calls her a pampered layabout and banishes her from the castle. Now angry herself, Bean states that she doesn't need him or anyone at the castle and can make it on her own, leaving with Elfo and Luci just as Zøg's ears steam. Walking around town, Bean rants that she's probably good at plenty of things and just hasn't done them yet, deciding they're in an opportunity to start fresh. She is cut short when Bunty accidentally tosses trash on her from her family's "trash hole," and the latter invites her in. Bean is surprised to see the squalor Bunty lives in with her large family, reluctant to intrude upon them. Bunty starts pampering Elfo like a baby and Bean learns the family had another daughter who was mauled by a dog, shocked to learn the 9-year-old had a job. One of the kids says she's a midwife and suddenly delivers another baby from Bunty. The baby stops crying when the father, Stan, says they'd be old enough to work if they cry. While Bean becomes determined to go out an get a job, Elfo decides to stay behind and let Bunty keep babying him. Bean tries being a sheep herder, only to lead them off a cliff; a lighthouse worker, failing to warn incoming ships of rocks; and a pet store clerk, which she mistook as a butcher shop. Worried she really might not be good for anything, Bean returns depressed to Bunty's, where Elfo fails to cheer her up by talking about the time it takes to grow up as Bunty burps him. Bean decides to crawl back to Zøg, but Stan decides she could come work as his apprentice, because his disappeared. She agrees and we learn he's the royal executioner, and leads Bean to the castle dungeons where they have prisoners in torture devices. He shows her the different methods: the rack, the iron maiden, and a book of golf jokes, which Luci reads from to the displeasure of one prisoner. Stan hands Bean a mace, directing her to torture a man before giving him his last meal, but she is nervous and decides to have the last meal first, with him. The two go into a satire of a typical relationship joke about girlfriends who say their boyfriend can choose the meal, only to turn down everything suggested. Upon Bean looping right back to what he first suggested, the prisoner cries out. To her surprise and joy, Stan is pleased, saying Bean is a natural, the prisoner begs that he not be left alone with her. The knights bring bring in an old woman they say is part of the "Hansel and Gretel" case, and Stan praises them for bringing her in alive and unharmed for her execution. Still at Bunty's, Elfo's joy soon turns to displeasure as dresses him in baby clothes and gives him a wooden ice cream. He says she's taking it too far and she, calling him cranky, tosses him in a crib with an iron lid and locks. Back in the dungeon, Bean tries talking to the woman about witch and princess stereotypes, but gets only cackles in response. She asks if the woman is just crazy or cursed, and gets another cackle that made me at least assume she was trying to signal that it is indeed a curse. Stan puts himself on a rack after hurting his back, and as he can't behead the witch, he tasks Bean with doing so. Elfo manages to escape from his crib, and a worried Bunty chases him through town as Bean and Stan prepare for the execution. Bean worries that she can't willingly kill someone not trying to wrong her, and Stan even says she made a mistake not wearing her hood before coming out. Luci tries to comfort her by suggesting she look in his eye, but the ensuing Hellish landscape she sees turns her away. While Zøg expresses pride in her new job, Elfo manages to escape the now-tired Bunty by running into the woods. The Herald starts the execution, and Bean steps up, though she expresses her own anxiety by pointing out how everyone is making a mockery of the witch's death. Zøg's tablets from earlier prevent her suggestion that the witch beg for mercy, and the witch's following cackles. Unable to kill the witch, Bean surprises everyone and angers Zøg by stepping down, as Stan relays to everyone that she is a quitter and failure. She walks through the town, dejected, ultimately deciding she's not cut out for city life. She and Luci head out where she is further mocked when she thinks a turtle she's sitting on is a rock. Bean notices elf tracks on the ground, and after prodding from Luci, finally realizes they lead to Elfo, so they go to the woods where Luci shows impressive tracking skills. Elfo, meanwhile, fails to woo a nymph because of his baby clothes, and falls down a hill that leads to the witch's candy house. Inside are Hansel and Gretel, given to us in a strange, interesting way that makes them stand out from the classic story. The remainder of the episode mainly focuses on Hansel and Gretel, and the gang trying to escape from the candy nightmare.
This episode continues Matt Groening's typical background jokes and references, kicking off right at the start with a "live prude girls" sign. Later when Zøg has kicked Bean out, she and the others stop outside an "Orphan Annex" with a little girl who seems to be Little Orphan Annie. I loved that with this episode we got to see more of Bunty, who before seemed to just occasionally pop up for a joke. Now we get to see what her life is like outside the castle, and it's funny to see that she and Ted are a much more optimistic and chipper take on a family like Bob Cratchett of "A Christmas Carol." Where normally these kinds of poor, child-laden are hopeful but sad, here we have a family that has fully adapted to their harsh life, with each kid having a job. In this way it's also comical that Stan is an executioner, as he is so jolly yet works a job that kills others, developing a morbid sense of humor. The take on Hansel and Gretel's story is also great, as while I won't say how the end goes, it's an interesting take on a classic story. The two are done in a stereotypical harsh German way, especially Hansel, who angrily corrects Elfo on whose name comes first, calmly invites him in, then hurries him with a violent "Schnell." Bean continues to struggle despite apparently having learned a bit from her experiences, mainly because Luci pushes her to do bad things. As he does this, we surprisingly don't see the Enchanters at all to see if their plans are coming along as planned or not. We've also yet to see a return to Merkimer's plight or the issue of their closest allies being slaughtered, but the focus of the overarching story is Bean's attempts to find herself, which causes plenty of new, interesting stories. Whether we get back to them soon or not, we'll certainly continue to see Bean struggle with herself as she tries to figure out her fate.
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