#tue

THE ULTIMATE ENEMY WOULD HAVE WORKED BETTER THEMATICALLY IF DANNY DIDN’T CHANGE THE ECTO-FILTRATOR AND IT EXPLODED; INSTEAD OF CHEATING ON HIS TEST SOMEHOW CAUSING EVERYONE HE LOVES TO DIE IN A RANDOM NASTY BURGER SAUCE ACCIDENT!!!

I truly think the whole message of “don’t cheat on your test” cheapens the story overall and instead it should have focused on personal responsibility.

The PERFECT SOLUTION was right there to have all the pieces in place for a scenario where everyone he loves die as a result of his actions. They ALREADY established that the house has an ecto-filtrator that Danny has to change or else the entire house could explode.

If you still wanted to have a sub-plot of Danny cheating you could have had Lancer do a home-call but I still think the whole story would be cheapened because the message feels like: “don’t cheat on your test or else your entire family could die in a freak accident” instead of: “your choices have rippling effects that don’t only affect you but also those around you” which should have been the message in an episode about an alternate evil timeline self.

Of course, they wouldn’t want to reuse the same plot-line of Danny forgetting to change the ecto-filtrator but it still would have worked much better than the cheating plot-line and could have still worked because he already supposedly learned his lesson; but realistically as a kid you tend to make the same mistakes.

It would have felt more personable and would have made a lot more sense why Danny would feel responsible for the accident. Yes, cheating on his test was the reason his family was even at the Nasty Burger in the first place but in the end it was a freak accident. Maybe the point is that Danny feels responsible for something that was ultimately out of his control but that’s not really how the episode treats it (at least from my memory. I haven’t seen TUE in a while).

I don’t remember how old I was when I first watched TUE but 24 seemed like such a grown up age to me

A age where you have your shit figured out-living on your own-paying taxes-grown up type of shit

But here I am, nearly ten years older than him now and I’m like ‘You should be in college, you should be figuring out your life as an independent adult, doing job applications?? Bickering with a potentially lousy roommate about eating your reserved food - you should be at the club or smth???’

But here you are, taking joy in the destruction that you create ‘cause that is all you’ve known what to do with yourself for the past ten years

‘Cause perhaps that would otherwise mean thinking about everything that you have lost, your family, your friends, your life, including the humanity that you’ve forsaken

HOW COME THE FENTONS + SAM + TUCKER DIDN'T MANIFEST AS GHOSTS AFTER GETTING BLOWN UP???

I'm sure in the long history of this phandom this question has been posted before, but SERIOUSLY, H O W

If we take "obsessions" as canon wouldn't they be the first people to have "unfinished business"??

You can't tell me Jack and Maddie wouldn't manifest as Skulker-type ghosts, ghost-hunting ghosts.

You can't tell me Jazz wouldn't show up as a meddling protector.

You can't tell me Sam and Tucker wouldn't show up to support Danny, they're literally his ride or (apparently AND) die.

Lancer? Eh sorry dude, maybe he'd show up too if he left a good book unfinished lol idk

They would and should become ghosts after having their lives cut short so tragically.

SO IMAGINE: Vlad and Danny desperately trying to find their ghosts in the entire Ghost Zone, every door and realm and crack and cave just to bring them back.

Now if you really want to still keep them out of the picture for the events of TUE to take place consider how:

We also know Clockwork is shady as all hell, so maybe if their spirits did show up in the GZ he could've trapped them in his castle specifically to drive Danny to become Dark Danny. Because even if the Observants told him to prevent Danny from becoming, Dan (evil)- he actively set the gears in motion for the tragedy to occur. He is responsible for his creation.

I don't know where I'm going with this, it super bugs me that we never got clear answers about what happened after the explosion up until Dan's creation, especially if you believe the flashback is "unreliable narrator Vlad" and things occured differently than he claims.

I knooww the DP writing is flimsy and the only reason the phandom keeps marching on two whole decades later is because we love exploring all these different potential outcomes but yeah you get my point. Or maybe not cuz I'm rambling.

Either way give me your thoughts and headcanons!