Valentine's Day Massacre

"Valentine's Day Massacre" was chronologically the first full length episode of Pete and Pete to air (despite being listed as Episode 9 of Season 1 on imdb). After more than 20 shorts McRobb and Viscardi were given the go-ahead to make a special.

I know this is one of the lowest rated episodes of the series, but I cut this episode a lot of slack due to it being the first. They didn't hit a home run at their first at bat, but it was not a total disaster.

The show first aired on February 9, 1991 - months before the second special - and one thing I noticed was how young Michael C. Marona and Allison Faneli are in this episode. Michael's prepubescent voice sounds very different and during the narration He even sounds nasal (like He has a cold). Allison as Ellen sounds like a girl doing her first acting job. Some lines Ellen says sound very rehearsed and thus lacking in naturalness. Danny as Little Pete has very little to do in this episode.

The tone of the episode felt very different due to the rest of the series. Everything felt very exaggerated. One thing that I found annoying was how the actors were making unnecessary gestures often after the dialogue for the scene had ended. The performances in the episode felt too goofy - with nobody being the "straight man" (except maybe Big Pete). Everybody is acting goofy with a certain self-awareness of how goofy they're acting that I personally found annoying.

The episode is definitely a first attempt, and the show people/writers were experimenting with what worked and what didn't, and as I said earlier, because of that I am a little more forgiving of its flaws. The episode was cute.

Other Observations:

1) We get the start of the Ellen/Big Pete on/off relationship (or the continuation of it if you consider the shorts as canon). Although in this episode given their youth, it feels more like a platonic friendship between two childhood friends. I thought Big Pete's crush on Miss Fingerwood is cute and innocent.

2) I didn't like the fight between Ellen and Big Pete. Ellen smashing the model out of anger felt very out-of-character and overdramatic.

3) There are quite a few one-time characters who do not appear again: Open Face, Mr. Beverly, and Open Face's gang.

4) Open Face was just not as interesting of a bully as the ones that would come after him that would include Endless Mike, Pit Stain, and Paper Cut.

5) I loved Miss Fingerwood and I was happy to see her return for a few more episodes. I liked the idea of a quirky yet dedicated teacher who was really enamored with her subject.

6) Michael C. Marona NEEDED a haircut. Oddly enough in the last episode of the series, He does get a haircut.

7) What is with all the insults over Big Pete's red hair?

8) I love the episode ending with the song "She's Staggering" by Polaris - a song that would reappear many times throughout the series.

In this pilot episode, Big Pete accidentally kills the school mascot, the Squid, when attempt to throw a disc. Instead of telling the facts, Pete decides to bury the squid in the middle of the football field. The only ones that know about the incident are the two Pete's and Ellen.

Meanwhile, Big Pete has a crush on the math teacher, Miss Fingerwood. Pete is not hiding his feeling as he uses a little math word problem in class that makes the entire class uncomfortable. This only makes the rough boy in class, Open Face, think of a plan where he'll try to cause havoc with the situation.

This was a nice episode but one can tell that the exchange between the actors are not fully developed in this early offering. There are many good moments in the show as when Miss Fingerwood states nearly all things in some kind of mathematical formula and when Big Pete meet Open Face and his gang on the street- those were great scenes. This episode, even though entertaining, just did not possess the same interest as the other previous episodes. But one has to remember that this was the first attempt at a full thirty minute show for the producers. They had done some one minutes shorts but this was the first full show.