"The Ugly Griffling" is the second half of the twentieth episode in the second season of Stanley.
Summary[]
Stanley thinks he’s funny looking because of his ears, so Dennis tells him the story of a ‘duckling’ that felt different from others and he eventually learns to feel good about himself.
Plot[]
Stanley and Mimi are drawing pictures of each other in the backyard. Stanley shows Mimi his drawing of her, which she likes. However, when she shows her picture of him, Stanley is a bit concerned about how his ears are drawn. He becomes a bit embarrassed, thinking they look weird and stick out.
Later, Stanley goes up to his room in a state of panic, and looks in a mirror. Meanwhile, Dennis is doing a crossword and becomes confused by what Stanley is doing. Stanley tries taping his ears to his head, but it doesn’t hold for long. His dad then calls him down for dinner, which makes him panic again. He starts wearing a football helmet at the dinner table while eating, which concerns his family.
Afterwards, Stanley dashes back into his room and takes off the helmet. His pets become concerned of what’s going on. Stanley points out that his ears are sticking out. However, nobody else sees the big issue. They try to calm him down by saying that his ears don’t look weird, but it doesn’t help. He then gets thoughts about running away forever because he thinks his ears make him look ugly. Dennis sympathizes with his pal and decides to tell him a story about ‘the ugly duckling’.
While Dennis tries to find the fairy tale book, Harry and Elsie decide to look in the Great Big Book of Everything for the story, which they manage to find. Stanley and Dennis hop into the book, with Stanley as the ‘ugly duckling’. While in the story, Stanley begins to swim with a group of ducks. Dennis describes the ugly duckling as having grey down feathers and having a longer neck compared to the other ducklings. The ugly duckling then leaves and walks off on his own. This makes Stanley feel sad, remembering how he tried to hide his ears.
But just when he thought the story was about to get sadder, he finds other ‘ducklings’ that look just like him. However, Dennis reveals that those ducklings were actually baby swans, or signets. Stanley is confused at first, but immediately brightens up when he finds out he’s not so ugly after all.
After getting out of the book, Stanley’s dad comes into his room to check on him. He then takes him downstairs to show him a photo album. The pictures show his dad as a child, and had the same ears as Stanley does, which runs in the family. He tells Stanley that he felt the same way when he was his age and was embarrassed by them too. After hearing that, Stanley now understands that his ears are what make him and his family unique and he begins to feel proud of how he looks.
Cast[]
- Khylan Jones as Mimi
- David Landsberg as Mr. Griff
- Rene Mujica as Harry
- Shawn Pyfrom as Lionel
- Charles Shaughnessy as Dennis
- Jessica D. Stone as Stanley
- Hynden Walch as Elsie
Featured Animals[]
- Ducks/ducklings
- Swans/cygnets
Quotes[]
- Stanley: Mimi, how come you gave me four arms?
- Mimi: Those aren’t arms, silly. They’re your ears.
- Stanley: My ears? But they’re huge! I mean, do they really stick out like that?
- Mimi: A little bit, but so what? Don’t you like them? I do.
- Stanley: (embarrassed) I did like them.
- Dennis: What’s a four letter word for things you hear with?
- Stanley: (looking in a mirror) Whaaaah!!!
- Dennis: ‘Aaah’? No I don’t think that’s it. Oh, I know! Ears!
- Stanley: (screams again)
- Dennis: Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with ‘ears’.
- Dennis: Well it’s a good question Stanley, because your ears aren’t funny looking. In fact, I rather like them.
- Stanley: Well I don’t! Nobody else has ears like these! You don’t!
- Dennis: (Bitter) I’m a fish. I don’t have ears.
- Elsie: You can’t leave us, Stanley. We’d miss you.
- Stanley: I know. I don’t want to hide, but my ears make me look so………so………ugly.
Trivia[]
- Moral: You shouldn’t feel ashamed of yourself because of how you look. Your features are what make you unique. So instead of hiding, you should be proud of yourself as you are.
- The episode’s title is an obvious reference to the classic fairy tale, The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson, which is even referenced within the episode itself.
- This is the only episode that features Mimi without Marci.
- Irony: Stanley complains that his ears stick out. However, due to the show’s art style, nearly all other characters have ears like that.
