A Comprehensive Analysis of "NoseGate" - An Essay by Ivy Lynnwood
Workplace harassment - it is just one of the many rampant, yet little discussed issues that plague the American workplace. According to the article, "Workplace Harassment Statistics in 2023," "20% of American workers have been victims of workplace bullying (up from 14% in 2022)." Workplace harassment can come in a variety of forms including, "...verbal abuse, offensive conduct or behaviors, work sabotage, undermining work performance, and inappropriate use of power or authority (Setyan, 2023)." With workplace harassment being such a taboo topic, one would typically be hard-pressed to find examples of it in media... that is until stumbling upon the 2022 Adult Swim animated comedy, Smiling Friends. Season Two's eighth episode, "The Magical Red Jewel AKA Tyler Gets Fired," is a masterful depiction of workplace harassment, and it's various effects. Within the episode, protagonists Charlie Dompler and Allan Red hash out a past incident that had been haunting Charlie for a number of months. The following essay is not for the purpose of stating who is in the wrong, but rather to lay out what canonically happened in order for the reader to come to their own conclusions.
Where it All Began
In Season Two's episode, "The Magical Red Jewel AKA Tyler Gets Fired," Allan and Charlie are tasked with the important job of babysitting Mr. Boss' 18 year old son, Jason. Later on, while watching Jason in Mr. Boss' office, Allan remarks, "You know, it's weird we don't really hang out one-on-one much, do we?" to which Charlie replies, "Yeah, yeah, it's definitely been awhile uhm... I don't know if you remember this or not, but the last time we hung out, like, you and I, you actually sucked on my nose, so..." Charlie's statement references a scene from the series' pilot episode, "Desmond's Big Day Out," in which Allan does, in fact, suck on Charlie's nose. However, is Charlie's framing of the incident truly accurate to what happened? A full analysis of the scene is needed in order to fully understand each character's actions and motivations.
The above image is from a scene from the ending of, "Desmond's Big Day Out." This takes place after Allan remarks, "Yes, and I got my cheese back...nom," to which Charlie replies, "Aw, come here Allan, you crazy character," after pulling Allan into a friendly embrace and tracing his hand with his finger.
Allan then proceeds to commit the very act that has haunted Charlie throughout Season One and Most of Season Two: nose sucking.
Afterwards, Charlie can be seen pushing Allan away. The two then laugh together.
Allan then tries to suck on Charlie's nose a second time, to which Charlie backs away.
Charlie and Allan laugh it off a second time. Then Allan exclaims, "Nom," again, however this time, he does not try to lean in and suck Charlie's nose. It can be inferred that Allan had learned by that point that his actions were making Charlie uncomfortable, which is why he chose to stop.
It is important to note that Charlie was the one who placed his hands on the other first. We do not know if whether or not Allan was uncomfortable with Charlie touching him, as he does not say anything or make any gestures that can be interpreted as discomfort. Regardless, this could already be counted as misconduct, as it can be argued that he should not have touched Allan to begin with, especially within their workplace. Allan's act of sucking Charlie's nose in response will come off as confusing to most audiences. It could be seen as a form of Allan playfully reciprocating Charlie's initial gesture, as Allan is often depicted as an individual with many quirks. However, it is also important to consider that we do not know the full extent of critter culture and social customs. While Allan's nose sucking can be seen as friendly and playful, it could very well have been Allan expressing his distaste towards Charlie's actions, or some other unknown emotion. Overall, Allan's true intentions behind sucking Charlie's nose are unknown, however it is obvious that Charlie was uncomfortable with that, but this should not disqualify the fact that Charlie touched Allan first.
Present Day
Nearly two entire seasons later in, "The Magical Red Jewel AKA Tyler Gets Fired," the aforementioned event of Allan sucking Charlie's nose is brought up again. Charlie claims that it was necessary to, "...hash it out..." so they, "...can hang out more..."
Allan, upon being confronted by Charlie for his actions, replies in a shocked tone, "What? I don't remember doing that." Whether or not Allan was telling the truth in this statement is unknown, however, evidence suggests that this may very well be the truth. In "Desmond's Big Day Out," before the encounter between the two, Allan was attacked and crucified by an army of bliblies, which had infested the Smiling Friends office.
According to an article by Harbor Psychiatry and Mental Health, "Traumatic experiences can have a profound effect on memory function, often leading to memory loss as a coping mechanism...This impairment can stem from physical or emotional trauma, with memory loss serving as the brain's way of processing and managing the experience (Harbor Mental Health, 2023)." The physical and emotional damage that Allan suffered from that day was certainly enough to result in memory loss, especially in terms of a short-lived interaction that took place not too long after the main event. For Charlie, that day was rather normal, considering that he mainly spent his day out of the office doing his job, so he is much more likely to remember such an interaction.
Despite Allan's lack of memory of the initial interaction, he is clearly distraught by what he had done in the past.
It is clear in his facial expressions (see above image), body language, and tone of voice that he clearly regrets his actions and the distress that he has caused Charlie. After Charlie explains what had happened, that fateful day, Allan responds with, "Sure, I- I honestly don't remember doing that but- well, yeah, if I did, I'm sorry. I just don't remember doing that but it sounded like it really bothered you." An interesting thing to note is how, during Allan's attempt at an apology, Charlie interrupts him to remark that the incident had happened "recently," however, the event had taken place before both Halloween episodes, suggesting that well over a year had passed in-universe. Whether or not this is a case of Charlie misremembering the incident, or just being so distraught by it that it felt more recent that it truly was is up to interpretation.
So Charlie finally admits his feelings about the incident and Allan gives a decent apology in return. The logical next step would be to just move on and allow time to heal any remaining wounds, right? Unless...
Present Day Part Two: The (Temporary) Death of Jason
During Charlie and Allan's confrontation, Jason suddenly screams, then dies immediately afterwards.
Charlie begins to search Mr. Boss' desk for anything that might help, then momentarily gets distracted by Mr. Boss' manifesto. Allan tries to calm Charlie down and says, "Charlie, there is nothing we can do." Charlie, undeterred, attempts to perform CPR on Jason (in an incorrect fashion). Charlie accepts defeat, and Allan replies, "Yeah, I already told you that."
Later on, Charlie and Allan try to get Glep to pretend to be Jason for the rest of his life in order to avoid the inevitable consequences. Glep eventually becomes fed up with the situation and leaves. Allan says, sarcastically, "Great idea, Charlie," to which Charlie responds, "At least I'm trying to think of stuff, man!"
Allan argues, "Well, maybe if you weren't talking my damn ear off we would have noticed something was wrong with him in the first place!"
Allan's argument begs an important question: would they have even noticed something was wrong with Jason had they not been arguing previously? Mr. Boss states at the beginning of that episode that Jason is "super low maintenance," and that if he were to need something, he would let them know. In the scenes following up to his death, Jason doesn't give any sort of major signal that something was wrong. He simply sat there, as he typically does. Jason dies immediately after screaming, so there was no time for Charlie and Allan to help him. It could be argued that Charlie did technically try to help Jason, however this was after he died. Allan recognized that Jason was dead and did nothing because there is simply nothing that could have been done.
Back to the argument, Charlie exclaims, "Woah, woah, this is not my fault, dude. You were the one that was on the phone the whole time and you were not paying any attention at any point!"
While Allan was on his phone previously, he was technically paying at least some attention to Jason, as he says early on, "Is it supposed to be doing that?" in response to Jason breathing noisily. Charlie responds to this with, "Yeah, that's like his whole shtick." It should be noted that Jason does not make this heavy breathing sound in any of his other appearances, which means that this could very well have been a sign, albeit a very subtle one, that something was wrong. Allan was the one to question this behavior, and Charlie thought nothing of it. It should also be noted that Charlie shifts all of the blame onto Allan, suggesting that Jason died because he wasn't paying any attention. But what was Charlie doing at that time? Wasn't he also not paying attention? Why doesn't he take any responsibility, considering that he agreed to help watch Jason?
Allan goes on to argue, "Fuck you, I was checking work emails, you yellow son of a bitch!" with this insult implying racism. This is not the first time Allan has engaged in such behavior, as is shown in the episode, "A Allan Adventure," in which he calls Armzo, a critter with several arms, "spider." Whether or not Allan truly feels this way about other critters is unknown, as he very well could have just been frustrated. However, one could argue that in these modern times, there really is no good reason to insult someone based on race or appearance, and that Allan's insults were just terribly "low hanging fruit."
Onto the physical portions of the altercation! Allan and Charlie begin arguing back and forth over who killed Jason. Allan is the first to make things physical, by slapping Charlie's hand. Charlie understandingly responds by slapping him back in a similar fashion.
After various kicks and punches from both sides, Allan once again reaches for low hanging fruit and punches Charlie in the nose, a spot that he had previously established as a place he would rather not have touched.
Charlie responds to this by attempting to choke Allan. While Charlie seemingly won the (physical) fight in the end, it can be argued that his win was not a fair one. While Allan did punch Charlie's nose, he did not try to full on kill him. However, it is also unclear if Charlie's true intent was to ultimately choke Allan to death, or to simply give him the illusion that he was going to do so.
The Verdict
Allan and Charlie would ultimately end up confessing that Jason died while in their care, and then embrace each other once he was revived by the magical red jewel. At this point, it is safe to say that they have put aside their differences for the common good of Jason, and perhaps have even made up (though it remains unclear if there was any forgiveness on either side). However, there is a fairly good chance that none of these events would have had to happen had Charlie and Allan been educated on proper workplace conduct. It is truly horrifying how such a small gesture can ultimately progress into such catastrophic, and even fatal, events. The story of Charlie and Allan proves that workplace harassment is no laughing matter, and that we as a society need to improve upon how we conduct ourselves in public environments, as well as work towards establishing rules that can help to keep ourselves and others safe. So next time you find yourself thinking about sucking your coworker's nose, remember Charlie and Allan, and think twice about your potential actions.
Sources:
Setyan Law - Workplace Harassment Statistics in 2023
Harbor Mental Health - Does Trauma Cause Memory Loss?
