TITLE: Girls’ Night Out: If this is the their idea of femininity, I'd hate to see their masculinity
LOGO: "Beware the Kiss of Death!"
EPISODE #: 43
SEASON: 3
AIRDATE: July 10, 2007
DIRECTOR: Butch Hartman, Wincat Alcala, Gary Conrad
WRITERS: Kevin Sullivan
STORYBOARD: Butch Hartman, Ray Angrum, Shaunt Nigoghossian
ART DIRECTIONS: George Goodchild
MUSIC: Guy Moon
APPEARANCE: Bunches of females of Amity Park (1st appearance), Sam, Jazz, Maddie, Danny, Jack, Tucker, Dash and Kwan, Star (cameo)
GHOST APPEARANCE: Spectra, Ember, Kitty, Johnny 13 and Shadow, Skulker
LESSON: Sam wants to be a man, Skulker's suit is a giant sex toy, and Bertrand is gayer then Elton John’s fanny pack.
SUMMARY: 
A high speed chase on a side of a building occurs between Danny and Johnny 13. The former doesn’t break a sweat until Johnny's Shadow blocks him from atop and swings him to a billboard (with Vlad’s sexy face slapped on it—"Ugh, talk about urban blight."—pssh, accept your true feelings, boy). Just when Shadow’s about to do him in, Johnny stops his little game when he confesses he was just blowing off steam—he and Kitty got into yet another argument. He asks what he and "the gloomy chick" does to fix their romantic woes whenever they get into a "lover’s spat". Danny chokes on his words, but he quickly changes the subject. Johnny and "Dork of Darkness" leaves now that they had their share of fun, but not before Danny zaps the latter as part of his small revenge package. Skulker watches from afar, proclaiming it’s "his turn" now, then crushing a picture of Ember. That’s right, the two are dating. Where did it come from? I don’t know. Who started it? I don’t know. Does it make sense? Not a goddamn bit. Only a minute in and already we’re facing problems.
Bertrand: What do you expect? You told Johnny his bike wasn’t as important as you were and you told Skulker he was a lousy hunter.
Ember: *peeved* He is! He can’t even find the TV remote.
The Skulker nonsense doesn’t make a lick of sense since the series never showed he was anything BUT a great hunter with Danny being his only major problem. And the character derailment doesn’t end there. Spectra could care less for her assistant when Kitty blows him a kiss (a power that can send men somewhere she doesn’t know permanently once they stay past 12 hours unless she brings them back) when previous episodes had them working and respecting each other as partners. Kitty quickly returns him. "Oh, was there a 12-hour sale somewhere?" Bertrand, you are so gay. Why else would you hang around with your fag hags? Ember finds potential in her powers and gets the girls (Bertrand counts under that label) motivated, they're invading invade Amity Park. So, how does she and Skulker do it? Because between his robot suit being anatomically correct and his true size, the two has choice but but kinky sex.
Jack announces Danny to hurry so they can spend quality father/son time fishing. Jazz doesn’t express much interest nor does she care to, so more for them, I guess. She then reassures Danny that she and his friends will handle all ghost related problems while he is away. Sam is quick to point out otherwise, "Who said you were part of our team?" Danny, Sam. Danny said it. Danny tells Jazz to get along with the others, causing her to retaliate in shock when she is the one trying to get along, eyeballing the other two in the process. Remember kids, teamwork is super! To further jam the knife, Sam proclaims she’s "Don't look at me, I'm already on the team". Shut up, Sam. Jack gives Maddie a passionate kiss and they’re off. An excited Maddie cries a triumphant "FINALLY!" and rushes back home. Skulker overhears the conversation from afar and decides to crash Danny's party. He burns another Ember picture (how fitting) as he flies off.
Jazz quickly pulls out her ghost schedule chart to the "Ghost-Getters", her chosen team name, something neither one is pleased about. I’m more worried she said "keen-o", it makes her sound dorkier then she has any right to be. She rushes home to get some gear, leaving ample room for Tucker and Sam to scamper. Jazz informs her mother she’s going out, giving Maddie alone time to freely finish her own invention, especially now that she doesn't have to keep fixing Jack’s crap. Curious Jazz asks what the backpack with metal Mickey ears do; it can alter spectral frequency and reverse their effect. No matter how much I look at it, the thing looks like the Pokémon Loudred.
At the Amity Park...Park, Johnny gets Ecto-Blasted by an angry Kitty upon seeing him flirt again while Jazz manages to catch up with Tucker and Sam, caked in anti-ghost gears. Immediately Tucker and Sam criticize her. Well, technically, Tucker negatively quips here and there, Sam chastises everything wrong about her enthusiasm as "Danny’s sidekick". Besides, you at least need one specter deflector to hang out with the cool kids. Jazz tries to convince once more that she's a member, but Sam is still in heated denial. Seriously, did Danny not sit either her or Tucker down and mention she's an honorably member of "Team Phantom?" Any further arguments are shot when Johnny’s bikes are trashed by the Witches Three.
Kitty: So the minute we have a fight, you come here and flirt with some meaningless, human girls?!Johnny: Aw, baby, c-come on! You know you’re the only meaningless girl for me.
*shakes head* Oh, Johnny. Johnny. Johnny. While this is going on, Ember is confronted by Dash and Kwan, still huge fans of her. They both fight over each other to prove they’re the bigger fans, then seconds later for absolutely no reason, all the surrounding men start beating each other up. What? Why? How? For once, I think I’m inclined to agree with Spectra, "Men are useless in this world, too." Ember decides to end the violence by sending a shockwave from her guitar. At the same time, Kitty uses her kissing power to send Johnny away. With their powers combined, the kiss expands from the waves, reducing all the men in Amity Park to whatever dimension Kitty doesn’t know they're in. With the reminding ladies in confusion, Ember hypnotizes all of them except Sam and Jazz who are immune from all the Anti-Ghost equipment they’re wearing. Okay, first of all, doesn’t Ember have to be worshipped to nigh degree to have that kind of power within just a short amount of time? Secondly, anti-ghost gadgets or not, how does any of them protect Jazz and Sam from Ember’s trance? A Specter Deflector for one thing pushes ghost away physically. Couldn’t they have just animated the Fenton Phones? That’s what its entire purpose is for; to filter out ghost noises! Thirdly, even if the anti-ghost gizmo rules applied, why is Valerie presumably affected (like she is in the title card) or at the very least, absent from a massive ghost crisis? SHE has anti-ghost gears.
Now HERE’S where you know the animators stopped caring (cancellation, what are ya gonna do about it). The next scene has Jack instantly asleep and Danny on the other side of the boat. Also, the background, once gray and dreary suddenly turns pink and bright. I suppose the latter is yet another palette swipe that DP constantly uses whenever a battle starts, but they never show the switch, so it ends up looking like a mistake then a typical color transformation. It’s not Young Jack bad, but it’s close.
Danny wards off Skulker with the tackle box, the multiple baits serving as...well, bait for Skulker’s missiles. Yeah, it's improbable—I'm bothered by it, too. The wave of water washes Jack awake, but before he can see Skulker, Danny rocks the boat, tipping it upside down and giving him prime time to turn into Phantom. Skulker strikes with a blue electro-ball, causing Danny to—Ow. OW. Owwwwwwwww! I don’t normally say this for a cartoon, but when Danny’s neck/head smacked on that cliff—OW. That actually looked painful. Alright, animators, I’ll say kudos on that part!
Danny: What do you want, Skulker?Skulker: My girlfriend said I’m a lousy hunter. Hanging your pelt on my wall will change your mind.
Danny: *shocked* Wow.
Skulker: Frightened now?
Danny: No, I can’t believe you have a girlfriend.
Skulker: ...Now that just plain hurts.
Danny, have some sensitivity. Apparently not, he kicks off his arm, then once again, smacking him to a tree where a bird’s nest lands on him. The mother hawk, falcon, eagle, whatever gives chase while Skulker runs off like a little girl. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. Big guy who captures and/or commands ghosts ten times his size (including one appearing later on) and he can’t ward off a tiny bird? Why is everybody acting out of character today?! Jack pushes the boat over and cries for Danny who returns in time to assure him he’s alright.
Sam and Jazz passes the legion of hypnotized women and conclude it's Ember’s doing. With that in mind, Sam argues with Jazz some more. However, the preppy pep decides to take action. The two head to the lab basement where Maddie also remained unaffected thanks to the anti-ghost layer built around the area. The moment she hears the word "ghost", she locks and loads to kick some ass. That is, until Jazz settles her down by saying she has a plan. Sam butts in saying she has one, too, and unlike Jazz's, her's will work. Condescending witch. She tells the three to split up, each taking a ghost.
Meanwhile, Danny wades off Skulker underwater, currently creating a giant water tornado with a turbine fan strapped to his back, hoisting Jack’s boat up. Danny easily defeats him. Alright, I’ll give the animators another thing, they were smart enough to make the Ecto look slower in water. Jack wakes up, wet again. Danny casually passes it off as a rainstorm despite the current sunny air. Being Jack, he buys it, thinking he just slept through the damn thing.
The Ghostly Trio has already begun their leadership over Amity Park. Maddie sneaks into a stage set where Spectra is hosting a cooking show. Okay, Maddie doing the Vulcan pitch is very cool, but Spectra as a chef don’t make an ounce of sense. Why couldn’t the writer make her a pop psychologist? THAT would have fit! Or maybe a host of her own beauty show given vanity is her obsession. Maddie slowly ascends on stage where she is mistaken as a volunteer. Out comes the incognito coat and hat, in comes the apron. Even worse, her partner is Sam’s mother.
Sam meanwhile trains under Kitty’s obstacle course. Well, alright, the boot camp doesn’t fit her either, but at the very least her temperamental personality would make her an effective drill sergeant. THIS I’ll accept. Sam pulls out a Fenton Thermos after her training, but is interrupted by Helga, the beefy counterpart to Miss Tetslaff who punches Sam. I can’t say I feel sorry for her because that’s just karma properly being delivered to that snobby little brat.
Out of the three, Ember’s shtick is the only one that closely matches her character; she performs an anti-men concert with Jazz as one of the back-up singers. I hate this song, it’s stupid, it’s annoying, and it’s insulting. Frequently interrupted by all the singing and dancing, Jazz is forced to sing a tune when it’s her turn, only to reveal her voice can put Tucker's to shame. She doesn’t get a chance to suck Ember in when the audience literally trash her. "You’re all just jealous!"
The girls later gather in Fenton Works to complain about their failures. For some reason, only Jazz still has her costume on, the rest are in normal clothing. They go to the Opt Center when they hear Ember’s announcement. They get a pretty good view of the three and a wave of women armed to the teeth with everyday materials. "We’ve only got two hours left before the spell becomes permanent." Plot hole, the good guys never learned whatsoever about Kitty’s time limit. Jazz chimes in with a plan, but Sam butts in again with her lack of faith. Con. De. SCENDING. WITCH. No, wait, witch is a weasel word. BITCH. HARDCORE BITCH. And she won’t stop, she argues back with a flimsy excuse and only the rational-minded Maddie calms the two down. She convinces Sam to listen to Jazz. Thank you. Jazz mentions the only way to reverse the effect is to use the newly named Maddie Modulator (cute chibis). Still irritated, Sam asks how they can get Kitty to blow another kiss, but Jazz concludes that they need to get them to think men are still around. One of them has to cross-dress and both Jazz and Maddie eye Sam. She's not pleased, "This is because I wear boots, right?!" Shut up, Sam.
Back in B-Plot Isle, the lake setting is back to gray, but immediately switches to pink when a giant red ghostly sea beast pops out. Now that’s more like it. "New pet or is this the new girlfriend I’ve been hearing so much about?" I’ll give Sullivan credit; he knows how to dish the hurt. The monster quickly eats Danny. Problem solved. No, not really, Skulker incurred the wrath of a parent. Jack hitches a ride on the creature, blinds it with a can of EZ cheese, then beheads Skulker with his fishing pole. Damn, that’s brutal. Danny then sucks up the tiny Skulker, impressed with his father’s skill. All in all, I’d say they had a pretty good day.
"This is going to require years of therapy." Sam groans after she shows up dressed in Danny’s clothes. Yeah, still not feeling sorry. His clothes are ridiculously form-fitting. Danny, is there something you need to tell us or Vlad, per say? As Maddie and Jazz watch from afar, Sam walks up on stage and gets all "manly" with the Ghost Gals. Kitty blows another kiss and just for good measure, Ember amps up her guitar incase they missed anymore men. With timing, Maddie uses the Modulator and turns the kiss upside-down, returning all the men back to Amity Park. Realizing they’ve been tricked, the three bitches attack the do-gooders in a short, but surprisingly poignant high speed battle. But poor Maddie gets gypped.
Jazz and Sam finally gets along, the latter going as far as complimenting her. By the time they return home, the two girl-chats and decides on ice cream. Around this point, Danny and Jack return home. Their catch of the day: the giant sea beast. Both suspect something is up when they see Sam and Jazz’s chummy spirits, but Maddie claims it’s nothing. Besides, they got a more pressing matter in their hands, how to gut and fry a 50 ft. beast.
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Article written revised in: Feb. 19, 2010
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