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Setting a President

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"Setting a President" is the 12th episode of Season 3 of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

Plot[]

SPOILER: Plot details follow.

In the Foster's kitchen, Frankie, Billy the Squid, Hootin' Andy, Two Head Fred, and The Unknown Friend are working hard sorting through trash alphabetically so the garbage collector will leave with a good impression, as assigned by Mr. Herriman. Herriman talks down to Billy for asking for a break when his last one was five hours ago, talks down to Andy over not doing the job fast enough so he can take a nap, talks down to Fred for putting half the effort of the others, and talks down to Frankie over incorrectly sorting the trash, despite her protests. Herriman then says that she is not the president of this house; he is and until Frankie is president, he suggests that Frankie obeys the orders she was given and not to question his authority. As Mr. Herriman leaves the kitchen, Frankie and the imaginary friends are outrageous at Herriman's strict, unreasonable, uncaring, and unfair rules, and that he never cares about what they want or need in their lives. Frankie determinedly vows things will be different when she is the president of the house.

The elections for house president are coming up, and to Mr. Herriman's surprise, Frankie and Bloo (to Frankie's surprise) decide to enter. Whereas Herriman runs everything responsibly though often unfairly, Frankie promises fairness and care for all imaginary friends, and Bloo just acts immature and silly, claiming that "there aren't gonna be any more rules!" and offering free candy, money, and cupcakes to any friend that votes for him. He also insults Frankie by telling her to bake him cupcakes and says a vulgar comment about Herriman. Wilt can't make up his mind who to vote for, while Eduardo and Mac act as reporters to provide 3:15 P.M. news about the election. During the election, Mac mentioned the list of Bloo's misdeeds since he lived in Foster's. Herriman tries to make Bloo resign and team up with him, admitting that without his job he'd have nothing else. After Herriman promises Bloo he won't be punished for a year if he'd resign and successfully help him win, Bloo gladly helps him create a smear campaign to make Frankie look stupid and trashy, using a catchy but rude song, photos of pigs and inaccurate, biased statements. Nonetheless, most of the friends vote for Frankie, leaving Mr. Herriman out of a job. Frankie finds Herriman sadly packing up the last of his belongings and feels sorry for him, but soon finds herself preoccupied with her new position.

Herriman searches for work in town, but most of the jobs are either discriminatory against rabbits and imaginary friends or downright dangerous. He is finally able to find work bagging groceries at a market. Meanwhile, Frankie is really making progress at Foster's, turning everything around and giving new privileges to the imaginary friends, although she demotes Bloo to mopping floors, washing dishes, and wearing a dunce cap, much to his annoyance. While out buying groceries, she runs into a depressed Herriman working there and he tells her that having a role in the workforce makes him feel useful, although he doesn't seem to enjoy bagging groceries. Frankie tells Madame Foster that she feels bad for Mr. Herriman and Madame Foster tells her that the job as president was his whole life. She then pays Frankie and Frankie realizes that her pay is much lower than the pay she was making at her old position (and the president's bonus is just a bundle of carrots). She offers the job back to Herriman to get her old pay back, and Herriman gratefully tells her that it's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for him.

Spoilers end here.

Trivia[]

  • This episode marks the only appearance of Balloty and the first of Hootin' Andy.
  • Mac mentioned that Bloo has caused large amounts of trouble since he came to Foster's. These include:
  • Mac breaks the fourth wall when he says "We'll be back after these commercials.", before an actual commercial break would start. The next scene, he says "Welcome back from those commercials."
    • Eduardo does the same thing too, as he mentioned the line "This is Foster's TV", signifying the name of the show to the viewers as well.
  • From the total number of votes counted for all three candidates, it was revealed that at the time of the episode, there were about 1,343 residents (including Mr. Herriman, Frankie, and Bloo) in the home, assuming all the others voted.
  • The Santa Claus in the mall looks exactly like the first imaginary Santa that arrived at Foster's in "A Lost Claus".

Cultural references[]

  • In the beginning, the hat of The Man With The Yellow Hat from Curious George can be seen.
  • A loaf of bread seen at the grocery store is contained in white packaging with red, blue, and yellow spots, referencing Wonder Bread's iconic packaging.
  • When Frankie feels sympathy for Mr. Herriman losing his job at Foster's, Madame Foster tells her, "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility", which is a nod to both Ben and Peter Parker, two characters from Marvel's Spider-Man series.

Goofs[]

  • At the presidential debate, there are several duplicate imaginary friends in the crowd.
  • When someone in the crowd coughs "Loser!", there appears to be translucent renders of Bloo and Mr. Herriman at the bottom-left quarter of the screen.
  • At the presidential debate, Mac states all of the "troubles" Bloo was responsible for since he had started living at Foster's, with Bloo justifying why they occurred. However, the context to Bloo's justification and a lot of the stunts Mac lists out can be quite convoluted in regard to the scenarios they belong to as a whole. Some of the convoluted points can be easily disproved by the viewer(s) due to further analysis of those scenarios.
    • Bloo justifies that all the mishaps Mac mentions him doing in previous episodes were because of Mr. Herriman's rules, although that's only true for the episode "Busted", where Mr. Herriman makes Bloo strictly conform to the former's house rules, and so he makes Bloo so emotionally unstable that it causes Bloo to accidentally knock over and break Madame Foster's bust.
    • A plot error Mac brings up is when he references "Busted" as a moment where Bloo got in trouble for breaking Madame Foster's head bust. However, in the episode, it is revealed Mr. Herriman has a closet full of busts in his office and that the Bust actually breaks way too often, so it isn't against the rules to break them. Bloo and his friends thought he was going to get in deep trouble in that episode, but he never got in trouble by Herriman; he just gave Bloo a new head bust and told him to just go and replace it. So, technically speaking, that doesn't count as a moment that Bloo got in trouble with Herriman.
    • Mac states that Bloo threw a wild party against house rules in "Partying is Such Sweet Soiree". The problem with this is, while Bloo did technically break a rule in the episode, said rule wasn't to not throw wild parties but, as said by Madame Foster, "No wild parties... Without me!". On top of this, Mac also doesn't give light on the fact that he came in on it when he was given sugar, making him choose to get fully naked and go streaking as a result of his uncontrollable sugar rush, instead of learning to control himself. So, Mac is also to blame in that scenario. But regardless, the main point to focus on here was the fact that there was no long-term trouble in the house due to Bloo's actions for throwing a party.
    • Mac criticizes Bloo's ability of not being qualified to run for president with one of the reasons being that Bloo ruined Frankie's date in "Frankie My Dear", even though Mac had also conspired and collaborated with Bloo in doing so, along with the help of Chris and Prince Charming. On top of this, Frankie said that they ended up doing her a favor. Especially since she ended up dumping her date, Dylan, right on the spot. Even though the whole "Orlando Bloo situation" had seemed very phony and very ridiculous to Frankie; Bloo, Mac, Chris, and Prince Charming all had basically helped Frankie to see the true colors of Dylan and reveal the type of jerk and user that he was. She even appreciated her friends' support for their help in the end. All and all, Bloo never got in trouble at Foster's for ruining Frankie's date.
    • Mac criticizes Bloo for destroying the rubber elephant in the episode, "Squeakerboxxx" as a point of his trouble at Foster's. However, technically speaking, that wasn't seen as a long-term troubling damage for the whole house, since Mac was able to buy a new one (before Bloo had accidentally swallowed it). Besides Bloo being squeezed at the end of the episode so that everyone can play with the toy, there wasn't any trouble for the house, or long-term trouble for Bloo; It was just a point for him to learn some personal responsibility for his actions. While the imaginary friends did cherish it, it should also be noted that toys are just small material possessions and can usually be replaced. This was just a moment of Bloo having to "own up to what he did and try to make right". That technically doesn't fit the correct criteria of being a point of major trouble for Foster's.
    • One point Mac makes is actually really debatable, due to complete obscurity (depending on however you see it), was the fact that Mac criticizes Bloo for opening the secret door and releasing all of the scribbles that wreak havoc on everyone, from the episode, "The Trouble With Scribbles". However, Bloo did show that the scribbles can show responsibility, and because of that, Herriman did get people to adopt all of the scribbles, even though he originally suspected the scribbles were just do-nothing imaginary friends that were a waste of space in the house. It was a bit of trouble at first for Bloo, since he did open a door that he wasn't supposed to open, but it didn't lead to any sort of long-term punishment. One good side to it, was that the scribbles did learn household chores; but the downside, caused all the imaginary friends to become lazier. That seemed to have gotten all turned around by Mr. Herriman due to his realization that these scribbles can actually be worth something for adoption. So technically speaking, that moment of trouble for Bloo wasn't technically a long lasting one, since it helped to make Foster's have some more space in the house.
    • Mac blames Bloo for ruining his reputation in the episode "Bye Bye Nerdy", Technically speaking, this was really weird to bring up, since Mac disregards a few of the important aspects to it. First being the fact that was more in regard to Bloo's selfishness and was not causing any lasting trouble or danger onto the house. Another fact, technically speaking, Mac too was still partially at fault for this as well, since he chose to embarrass himself by going along with Bloo's plan to make him "cooler" instead of speaking up for himself. Mac had also chosen to hang out with Jamez Withazee and not arrive at Foster's to make sure Bloo is protected from adoption, leading to Herriman causing Bloo to become an adoptee, which had gone against Mac's moral code to try to keep up and visit Bloo as often as possible at Foster's. That issue of itself didn't cause any trouble or danger for the house. The only trouble it caused was for Mac's reputation and almost risked Bloo being taken away from Mac. It also only caused some temporary tension between Bloo and Mac, not a long-term tension between Bloo and the house. So that point seems irrelevant in regard to what really is Bloo's "trouble" at Foster's.
    • Mac criticizes Bloo for getting in trouble for the uploaded video to Foster's website in the episode, "World Wide Wabbit". In some standards, it can be viewed as partially true, since Mr. Herriman did find out about the "Funny Bunny Video" and was angered about it, but there is still more context to look at it and see what properly defines as "trouble". In that episode, Mr. Herriman did find out about the video and wanted to get back at Bloo, Mac, and Frankie since he was embarrassed about it. However, Herriman soon realized that the video helped to promote fame and attention to Foster's and helped to increase adoption sales of imaginary friends. Because of it, the house was able to have some more space. It did more good for the business rather than bad, and Herriman learned to accept the existence of the video. Herriman even realized how people, and especially kids, had loved the video. Also because of that, Bloo wasn't in trouble any longer for that video upload, and neither were Frankie and Mac, since Herriman did credit them for helping Foster's. Mac also seems to forget that when bringing up this point in the debate, he too was in on this scenario since it was both him and Bloo who filmed it. Regardless on whoever else was involved for making the video, when looking closer at this point, it shouldn't technically be considered by Mac as a moment of long term "trouble" at Foster's, especially since Bloo's video had helped the business.
    • Another major plot error Mac had made to Bloo about his "troubles" was the point about him flooding the house. To the eyes of the viewer(s), it appears that Mac had made reference to the episode, "Everyone Knows It's Bendy", where the antagonistic Bendy continuously frames Bloo, Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco for things that they never did, causing Bloo to try and get back at Bendy making him flood the house and to frame it all on him, only to end up getting in trouble for it himself by Herriman and Frankie in the end, making Bendy once again scot-free. While this did cause long term trouble for the house, both Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust had both declared the episode and even the character of Bendy to be no longer canonical to the series, because the episode, and Bendy, had gotten extremely poor reviews from fans and critics, and as a result, apologies were sent out by the two writers, and Bendy and the episode were ultimately erased from Foster's storyline canon, making the two wish they had done better. So in the sense of the show's storyline, the episode and flooding situation in the episode should not be considered canon to the series. So even though that episode is declared to no longer have relevance and reliability to the series, Mac seems to make a reference to that moment.
      • However, it could also be assumed by the viewer(s) that Mac wasn't talking about the situation involving Bendy at all, but an unseen/off-camera incident with Bloo flooding the house. If Bendy is still declared as non-canon, then this flooding incident that Mac talks about could have been an entirely different antic caused by Bloo (There is a scene in "Beat with a Schtick" which shows Wilt covered up to his head in a flooded room). Whether Mac was talking specifically about the Bendy episode and referencing that non-canonical moment, or even talking about an entirely different incident involving Bloo's crazy antics that the viewers had never seen is left uncertain. There is also that possibility that Mac could not have been referencing the episode at all, seeing as he had never brought up Bendy's name when talking about that incident.
    • Continuity-wise and evaluation-wise to the show's canonical universe, and in regards to Bloo's antics, the only indisputable and most valid criticism that Mac presents in regards to Bloo causing trouble at Foster's, is the point he brought up about Bloo when he had blown off the brand new roof. This valid point was from the episode, "Cookie Dough". There were also multiple aspects to that episode that Bloo did get in further trouble for, that he actually needed to own up to (more than any of the previous points that were listed here). He first got into trouble for using Madame Foster's cookie recipe for business purposes. It was revealed earlier in that episode that Madame Foster had a secret family recipe that she didn't intend to use for reasons of profit, it was only to help the house in times of need. At the time, the house needed to use the recipe when the roof started leaking and needed to be fixed. Bloo, however, didn't want it to end right there, so he went against Madame Foster's orders to not use the recipe for a means of profit. On top of this, while falling into his own greed, he had also started to greatly abuse his friends to unfairly work for him in baking the cookies. And in the peak moment of when everyone else backed out from helping him bake the cookies any longer, Bloo decided instead of just giving in, to still do things his way, and bake the cookies all by himself. This, however, would be the biggest mistake on his part, because in return, he would end up blowing off the newly installed roof of the house. This was all done because of his own ignorance and selfishness while trying to run things his way, all by himself, without the care or consideration for others. Because of all those troubles he caused, he had to work for Madame Foster to pay everything off, showing to him in the end that greed leads to disaster. This is the only criticism in the presidential debate that Mac brings up that makes the most sense as a long-term trouble at Foster's that was caused by Bloo; as it was actual damage to the Foster's house and trust of everyone else in the house. Bloo, in that scenario, was forced to take personal responsibility for his actions at Foster's, and had to fix the messes he made. It even makes sense as to what is actually defined as "trouble", since there is no way to make any justifications as to what he did here in this scenario.
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