"Funishment" is the second segment of the 3rd episode of the first season of Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, and the 6th overall episode in the series. It premiered on January 19, 2018.
Synopsis
An accidental theft of a Bergen's pie forces Poppy to find a way to deal with crime.
Plot
Poppy and The Snack Pack are being held in a ceremony hosted by King Gristle Jr. for their first visit back to Bergen Town. Poppy tells Branch that it's really exciting, but he is drawing an escape plan in case the Bergens try to eat them and responds by asking Poppy how many Bergens she could take on. Poppy then turns to Copper hoping he will share her excitement, but she then notices that he is not present. From a distance, Groth calls out a thief, who is actually Cooper for eating an entire pie that wasn't his. Groth accuses him of theft, even though the Trolls claim that they don't steal but "share". Nonetheless, the Bergens demand his punishment be delivered, or else they threaten to break the peace with the Trolls. Then they take Copper's hat asking what Trolls would call that if they don't say there is such a thing as stealing and wait for a response which is "Yay, I love sharing hats!". Poppy has no idea how to punish a Troll, so Gristle suggests that she could seek help by visiting the Castle dungeon.
On their very first visit on the dungeon, they find that the place is ran by the intimidating but kind Bergen, Nangus, who volunteers to give them a tour of the dungeon so that Poppy can choose what punishment is suitable. The options are imprisonment and torture, none of which suits Poppy and even Gristle, who recommends that she call off the punishment, but Poppy reminds him that if she does so, Groth and the other Bergens would revolt against him. Gristle then backs down and faints, leaving Poppy and Branch to jump off his shoulder and onto a table to avoid falling, and Poppy is now alone in her plan to come up with a punishment that satisfies a sweet, positive Troll like herself.
Back on Troll Village, with minutes left until Groth and the Bergens arrive to inspect Cooper's punishment, Poppy sentences Cooper to their newly-built dungeon for three days, much to the shock of the Trolls. Shortly after, they seem to hear Cooper screaming in agony, but when they inspect the interior, the dungeon is actually more of a funhouse full of "funishments". Poppy explains that she couldn't bear to leave Cooper alone with nothing fun to do, resulting in other Trolls to commit mild crimes on their own such as littering a cupcake wrapper, splashing paint on a wall, and playing odd music loudly to disturb the peace so that they too can be "funished". Poppy's idea of punishment resulted in creating more crimes rather than prevent it.
Groth and the Bergens arrive for inspection; he immediately finds the punishment inappropriate and demands justification. Poppy, having enough of Groth, stands up to him and asks him to deal with how she handles crime with her people, the Troll way. She orders the Trolls in the dungeon to clean up the mess they created from their crimes. Lastly, Poppy asks Groth to follow her to give him something for compensation: a strawberry pie that Cooper is sharing back to Groth. Because of this, Groth drops the charges on Cooper. Poppy and the Trolls proceed to have fun in their dungeon.
Gristle is so impressed by his observation on the justice system of the Trolls that he enacts a decree where the Bergen justice system shall be like the Trolls'. Not long after though, the kingdom erupts into chaos. Gristle realizes that sharing is definitely uncharacteristic for Bergens, so he orders Chad and Todd to fix the situation.
Cast
- Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
- Skylar Astin as Branch
- Ron Funches as Cooper
- Fryda Wolff as DJ Suki, Satin & Chenille (non-speaking)
- David Fynn as Biggie
- Harper (non-speaking)
- Fuzzbert (non-speaking)
- Smidge (non-speaking)
- Sam Lerner as King Gristle Jr.
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Groth, Chad, and Todd (non-speaking)
- Patrick Pinney as Nangus Skullcrusher
- Other
Physical distribution
This episode is available on the "Trolls: The Beat Goes On! - Complete Seasons 1-4" DVD.
Trivia
- The episode's title is a portmanteau of "fun" and "punishment".
- Punishment is the act of imposing a negative reaction for undesired behavior. The objective of the punishment is to prevent or lessen the chances of the undesirable behavior occurring again. The episode is about Poppy having to tackle the responsibilities of her role of leadership by dealing with her first example of negative behavior.
- Proper punishment for bad behavior has a on going societal debate in since the 1900s in most western cultures. For example, past punishments such as capital punishment are seen as a negative or barbaric and even inhumane. This was raised by the episode when Poppy and Branch visited the Bergen dungeon as the Bergen's punishment was extreme. However, despite this being an issue for Poppy we later find out in "Haircuffed", her father King Peppy would punish those who misbehave and argue and had his own forms of punishment; meaning the Trolls overall are not entirely against punishment and the issue was with Poppy herself.
- The Bergens attitude is based on real life approaches to food; food is a valuable resource because it is essential to the survival of the individual and without it one would starve. Food is essential to a current and growing community and this is where its value comes from overall, and like any resource it needs management and control. As seen in the Bergen castle and by Groth's reaction, taking food to feed yourself is "theft" for this reason. Meanwhile, the Trolls who have a more charitable community don't see it as "theft".
- A punishment that doesn't have any negative results, but rather has positive ones can reward undesirable behavior. This causes more of the undesirable behavior; this was demostrated by the episode by Poppy not punishing Cooper at all and instead of sending him to the Fun Dungeon to enjoy himself. Thus, the other Trolls began to do negative behaviors to be sent to the Fun Dungeon.
- Considering the audience of the series is children 4-8 years of age, the episode was likely a nod towards bad parenting as this is the age group most likely to encounter problems with behavioral development. It is very common for parents to "reward" a child throwing a tantrum with sweets to quiet them due to how annoying the child is behaving or embarrassed the parent is of their child's behavior. However, doing so actually encourages the child to throw a tantrum more as it was given something it wanted, thus every time the child wants sweets it learns "just throw a tantrum". But the episode also was a nod to how parents can go to extreme measures to punish their children such as smacking them and the reaction that others have on the act. The episode is put out likely to make children understand a parental perspective.
- Gristle saying that the time the episode happens is the Trolls first trip back to Bergen Town is false, if we take Trolls Holiday into account. However, both the special and the show are counted as separate entities; this easily explains the differences in canon lore.