Second Look: Clone High ‘Raisin the Stakes: A Rock Opera in Three Acts’ – I’m The Pusher

For all intents and purposes, ‘Raisin the Stakes’ is the most high-concept episode of Clone High; unfortunately, the concept causes the episode to be one of the least enjoyable. It’s got all the gags and pop culture humor of the show’s other 12 episodes, but somewhere between script and execution, the episode falls really, really flat. Without the emotional parts that make other episodes so strong, there really just isn’t much of a point to ‘Raisin the Stakes’, and it all feels very half-baked and thrown together.

The plot itself is probably the least inspired in the show’s entire run: when a famous rocker visits Clone High to tell them about the perils of doing drugs, he turns them onto the idea of smoking raisins. Of course, everyone gets addicted, and the parents of the town rise up (under the dictatorial thumb of Principal Scudworth) to stop the teens from becoming nonsensical drug addicts. Even for a predictable story, there is a lot of dense subject matter being explored: drug use, teens views on drugs, the drug war, the ability of government to control drug use…. tons of shit is there to explore, but instead, there are just haphazard scenes thrown together to give the episode the same experiences we’ve seen in various other forms of media.

They’re all over the place: the PTA getting involved in getting rid of drugs, Abe’s speech to his parents about the raisins they find in his pants, Ghandi’s “trippy” journey… it’s all material done to death elsewhere, and outside of hand-drawn characters, there’s nothing different about what’s going on here. Sure, there are some light pokes in the side along the way – the drug pusher has an actual audience, his rock lyrics include meta references to himself and what he’s currently doing – but the majority of it is straightforward parody, lacking in any sort of original circumstances or jokes to place these clones into (For example, seeing the clone JFK struggle with drug addiction as reported with the real JFK, could’ve been hilarious).

It doesn’t help that half of the episode is dedicated to Ghandi’s journey, the most pointless, laugh less expedition in the show’s short lifetime. Ghandi’s journey with the honkeycorn is so stupid and full of over-played, lazy ‘trippy’ imagery is a complete waste of the chance to explore the inner working of Clone High‘s oddest character. Instead, we get an awkward dream-like sequence where Ghandi searches for a princess who will thrice lay him. Turns out the princess is the honkeycorn, who may or may not have had a hummingbird for a mother. It’s really just a bit collection of stupid jokes, like conjoined Olsen twins, and unicorns with back problems.

‘Raisin the Stakes’ ends in quite a dull fashion, as well. After Scudworth’s wall is built, the high teens try to break it down with love (represented by blocks of text levitating towards the wall). It doesn’t work, and it’s not until the parents accidentally inhale the raisin smoke is the problem solved. The kids no longer think its cool, and inexplicably, the pusher loses all of his power. In the end, it turned out to be an elaborate marketing campaign by the California Raisins Association to get kids to eat more raisins (repeating the fake impairment twist of the pilot). It’s a poor ending to an episode that just felt slapped together and rushed throughout, lacking in cohesion and the interpersonal relationships of characters that makes the show so interesting.

Grade: C-

Other thoughts/observations:

– the one memorable part of the episode are the single-frame cuts made within the episode, their take on “subliminal messaging”. These little nuggets are the best parts of the episode, from DNA Dan’s dark side poster to a quick shot of a naked Cleopatra (which is at the bottom of this article).

– lots of Abe as Jesus images in this episode.

– does anyone else think this episode’s music budget should’ve been bigger? Both the composition and production of the songs are poor. If they’re trying to induce the same audio feel as the 70s-inspired visuals I get it, but it just sounds like shit.

– the other fun gag of the episode is JFK talking backwards. During a scene, he falls through a ceiling and crashes brutally on the floor, inducing a seizure. He then says this line of dialogue, which is played in reverse: “I am talking backwards and telling you–to watch Clone High–and for us to get an Emmy. I’m saying that backwards–’cause it’s sneaky!”

– lines like Abe’s mother saying “raisins are building a barrier, and we have to build a wall to break it down” are like teasers for a much-better version of this episode. Just like when Joan of Arc stands on a pile of raisins being lit (remember, she was burned at the stake).

– Scudworth’s arc in this episode is really boring (and there’s almost no screen time for Mr. Butlertron in this episode), but his paranoia for the PTA is quite amusing.

What did you think of ‘Raisin the Stakes’? feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below. I’m hoping to get through the rest of these episodes and get them written before the fall season hits, so keep your eyes peeled on Facebook and Twitter for when they publish. And, finally, the part everyone’s been waiting for: