Last Day of Summer

So I have seen the show's finale... with choppy songs from a leak on a Russian site! And what a way it was to send off the show. Basically when Phineas, Ferb and their friends make the most out of the last day of Summer, Candace of course fails to bust them. However when she goes to drop off some DVDs from Vanessa, she meets Doof and discovers his Do-Over-Inator, which repeats the day for the two of them so they can try their respective goals again. However, the day keeps repeating, and the space-time continuum starts to disintegrate, with rips appearing that swallow objects, taking them outside of space and time (hmm, Joshua Pruett, I sense a bit of Doctor Who creeping in there, though when I asked him about it he said the resemblance was unintentional ).

First of all, I can now see why OWCA is airing later - the developments in this episode appear to be setting up what will happen in that special. Vanessa applying for an internship and Doof abandoning evil seem to be a part of what will happen in that special.

ANYWAY... gosh that was a lot of stuff in the episode. Might've been the quality, but some things did go by a bit quickly or were hard to hear. Or maybe I'm stuck with time babble. Didn't have too many flaws in the episode besides that, though the whole Doof getting top job and finding out that it isn't fun was done before in The Beak and they kind of had a chance to address Candace's busting motives as a whole to the boys, but chose not to. Yeah, Phineas and Ferb still remain oblivious to the whole thing (though that part at the end suggests more... OH DON'T WORRY I'LL GET TO THAT ENDING LATER). Granted having the whole thing addressed would probably take up too much plot space since Phineas and Ferb coming to terms with Candace would probably be able to fill up a special in itself, but I've always wanted to see how such a thing would go down. Also, some animation from Save Summer seems to be recycled for the final song (when the kids are playing their instruments, specifically). Was also surprised at Vanessa not having a "who is Candace" moment when Doof mentions her after she disappeared, but that's just small. And for another nitpick, is saying that you "got [your] mind erased" a good sentence? Something seems off about it. Oh, and as fellow fan Kyle Narrow pointed out, and why does Candace have three skates? XD One thing that seems to be a bit of a criticism that I actually am not too bothered by is that more of the supporting characters didn't appear, like Jeremy or Stacy. Sure, it would've been nice, but as another fellow fan Albertonykus pointed out, it makes sense for the show's finale to focus more on the central characters. Let's hope Montessa and Stacy knowing about Perry get a resolution in OWCA, though. As you will see there are also a lot of continuity issues, though you could argue that this is kind of a symbolic ending that somehow takes place after everything through time getting screwed up (but seriously, how did Isabella remember Happy New Year if it was after Summer, unless we really have to resort to the "multiple Summers" theory despite many things saying otherwise?). However, despite all of these being nitpicks, I have one big problem with the episode, and that was something that was so infuriating that my brain erased it from my memory as soon as I saw it so I had to refresh my memory on it - Doofenshmirtz not being a part of the plot resolution. Just... why? Things were getting tense and they were all building up, and only to find out that "oh Doof wasn't needed" just makes you feel cheated. Again something from Albertonykus, it also would've been great if they had the show end with all of the subplots working together to resolve anything - in my opinion there should've been something afterwards saying that both machines needed to work together via an analysis from Doof or something, or that just one on its own would've caused even more damage. The reason this doesn't ruin the episode for me however is because it doesn't add anything besides a cheap joke of "lol Perry noticed he failed but who cares," so it wasn't even needed, and since this was resolving the climax of the episode having a nice moment would've been enough.

Flaws and choppy songs aside, the special was great. I didn't tear up at any parts or anything, but it was still a blast. As I noted before, the premise of holes in space and time consuming things and removing them from existence resembles that of a Doctor Who story arc with cracks in space and time that pretty much do the same thing, just without a bleak location outside of the Universe. They seem to work in the same way too - the cracks would remove things from existence, but they would still leave evidence of such a thing existing, which is why cereal as we know it is still the same despite there being no spoons and why Isabella, Buford and Baljeet still hang out with each other and are in Phineas and Ferb's backyard despite them not existing... I think. If I've learned anything, it's that thinking about this episode too much makes you feel as confused as Quantum Boogaloo. I've explained why reality isn't radically different assuming that the crew used the cracks from Doctor Who as their inspiration, but you still wind up with other questions. Namely, the space-time continuum seems to be able to categorise things in a weird way. It seems to be able to somehow make the distinction of species (which is a complicated definition in science itself, so I'll just shut up about it) since tigers and groundhogs get consumed and their whole species ceases to exist. Yet when Phineas and Ferb are consumed, they are the only humans that disappear. It gets weirder - spoons get consumed, but there are no specific categories of spoons, like wooden spoons. Roast turkeys get consumed, but what about living turkeys, or turkey prepared in other ways? Then there's that life raft Candace threw in - it was just the one, but when it happens life rafts suddenly don't exist (does one thing being next to an anomaly suddenly trigger anomalies to appear next to objects that are similar or the same as it?). Come to think of it, besides plot convenience, why do the rifts that characters travel through never suck anything in and just wait for something to do so? Speaking of plot convenience, why do the rifts always take the characters exactly where they need to? What happens to objects that directly resemble those of what have been erased? For example, what would happen to photos containing Phineas and Ferb when they disappear? Also what about the different components of things? Say those muffins that disappeared had chocolate chips in them - would that mean that chocolate chips stopped existing, and that choc chips everywhere would also get sucked into anomalies? Does that mean CHOCOLATE would get sucked into anomalies? Muffins get held in paper, so theoretically paper should get sucked in. What about Linda's pants? Only capri pants get sucked in, yet we see many varieties of cars coming in. How about things like skulls and isolated bones from tigers, do they get sucked in when living tigers do? What if someone ate an orange and still had orange taste in their mouth when oranges disappear? How would they react, or does the partially digested orange come out of someone's body and get sucked away too? Does that mean digestive fluids also disappear? What about all of the microorganisms on everything that gets sucked in? Are the anomalies that specific that they don't take any germs in - wait, that doesn't make sense, Phineas and Ferb would take in trillions of microorganisms inside their bodies. Great, we're back to parts of things - do Phineas and Ferb's clothes cease to exist? Does space-time just ignore the fact that Phineas and Ferb have teeth, and that theoretically teeth getting sucked in should stop them from existing? Does rubber stop existing after that life raft went in, and therefore rubber trees... and does that mean plants should technically disappear? Oh, and chemicals... I'm not even going there! Even really specific chemicals like theobromine in chocolate will just go into ridiculousness. Wait... Phineas and Ferb are made of cells... and cells are made of atoms! And atoms are made up by subatomic particles! And subatomic particles are made up of more subatomic particles! Does this mean that reality itself should cease to exist with one rip? Okay, if you've learned anything, it's that you shouldn't think too hard about this episode...

But anyway, for a finale, it definitely did what Phineas and Ferb does best - being funny. Boy, there are so many hilarious moments in this episode. Candace and Doof of course steal the show, since they're always hilarious, but there are many moments that are funny. During the song with Phineas and Ferb's big invention at the start, there's a part where the kids go through one part and turn into anime versions of themselves (though Buford remains the same for some reason), and then through a similar section they come out but with their actors' faces (except for Buford, who for some reason becomes a squid - apparently this was because Dan and Swampy thought Bobby Gaylor's face wouldn't fit Buford, but personally I think him having the face of an older guy with grey hair, glasses and a goatee would be even more hilarious). A particular favourite moment of mine was in the scene where Vanessa confronts her dad about being evil, where she freaking spells out his entire characterisation - that he's actually not really a bad guy, and is just doing everything he does out of obligation to being "evil." We also had after Isabella remembering Phineas and being lovestruck about it, we got a similar moment with Baljeet AND A SPOON. I seriously want to see fanart of Baljeet X spoon. XD There was also a short cutaway with Candace lamenting over how boring the Flynn-Fletchers would be without having any children, only for Linda and Lawrence to be dancing to the Platypus Walk in ridiculous outfits, and... a certain moment in the final song. Let's talk about that, actually, or rather how trippy the whole thing was. As if anomalies in the space-time continuum weren't headache inducing enough, we also get an ending that annihilates the fourth wall completely. We have characters singing about the show, and talk about it in a very fourth wall breaking way, but we also get ridiculous with things like Phineas and Ferb get Busted being discussed over whether it was Perry's or Candace's dream, mentioning of episodes outside the Summer in past tense, the OWCA characters - including PERRY - performing in the same vicinity as the others, with them all going inside with each other at the end, and the already infamous scene where Phineas not only references Across the Second Dimension, but also mentions Isabella kissing him and getting the memory of it wiped. Isabella is understandably confused, but Phineas then trolls her with a flirtatious "you just wait ten years." I'm sure some people (which I have seen surprisingly few of) will think Phineas is a massive jerk for this, but since the fourth wall has gone the way the space time continuum was going to go, it's too funny for me to even care (also Night of the Living Pharmacists gets confirmed canon without any references to Stacy and her movie - I don't mean to brag, but I TOLD YOU SO AND SO DID DAN MWAHAHAHAHA - oh yeah, Candace giving the movies back was kind of a callback too, BUT STILL). Oh, and I have to mention the scene during the first part of the final song where everyone is laughing and having a good time, Ferb is just sitting there being Ferb. There's lots of other moments that were quite funny, with many jokes being made about the situation the characters are in with time repeating itself, and other parts like Doof realising that the position he had been seeking this whole time didn't exist, the idea of Phineas and Ferb being a boy band (which actually isn't that far fetched to be honest, given how many songs they do), making fun of Buford's masculinity and "NO HOMO" in a G rated way (basically Buford has Phineas and Ferb in his arms and feels weird about it, then Ferb tells Buford that hugs are a perfectly healthy way to express affection, which just weirds Buford out even more) - I don't believe I still have to actually say something like this is G rated - and Isabella trying on Linda's capri pants while the other characters are worrying about the Universe being destroyed (she actually appeared rather ditzy in that scene, which isn't something I ever thought I would use to describe her). Also something that isn't in the actual episode, but implied by it - if Vanessa is going to become an intern at the OWCA, then that implies that she and Monty will break up when Doof and Monogram finally stop opposing each other. XD

Time to discuss the story, and by that I don't mean more nitpicking anomalies. :V First of all, I'm going to say that unlike a certain other show that had a similar plot, they actually managed to make THE DESTRUCTION OF REALITY ITSELF intense. Man, that climax was heart stopping. Time getting shorter and shorter, getting to the point where it's too short for the characters to easily achieve their goal, just wow (okay the days weren't always consecutively shorter than the previous one - UGH MORE TIME NITPICKS - but it worked for the plot and in-Universe maybe space-time is unstable so we get a few fluctuations in day length). This even reminded me back to Pharmacists and how intense that got (though that was helped by the fact that zombies creep me the heck out). Anyway, of course we got two main plots - Candace trying to bust her brothers and then save them, and Doofenshmirtz trying to defeat Perry while dealing with some issues with Vanessa. Interestingly enough I was actually more emotionally invested in the latter despite the opposite being typically true, since we finally got back to the conflict with Vanessa being embarrassed about her dad and not being interested in evil after a while. It was interesting that the big thing going on was actually that she was planning to become an intern at the OWCA (lol does this mean that Vanessa and Monty will break up when they end up on the same side?), and not just feeling awkward around her dad. Things even get a little sad with Perry being made to leave since Doof makes it illegal to thwart him, and he actually gives him sad eyes and a sad chortle (someone on tumblr even pointed out that it's sadder because Doof is all he has now that Phineas and Ferb don't exist)! Vanessa and Perry even briefly bond over being rejected (when Doof becomes governor, despite wanting to spend more time with Vanessa he actually ends up not being able to since governing is obviously a busy job) before more wacky time loops. Doof deciding to give up evil was also pretty nice to watch (though that does beg the question of why he's up to no good in post-Summer episodes, as fellow fan Spongey444 pointed out). Oh, speaking of tear jerkers, you can't help but feel sorry for Monogram when he brings up Carl going to school (I guess all of those Halloween and Winter specials were special visits, and... Doof 101? I don't care, Monogram's look is still freaking sad!). We also have the Candace plot, which while it didn't tug at the heartstrings as much as some other times it was still pretty good. Like I said earlier I felt like they kind of danced around the idea of Candace fully admitting her motivations, though like I also said doing so would probably be too big of a thing to bring into the episode at that point. Still, I felt bad for her after she realised what was happening, especially when she gets confronted by Baljeet over it. And of course it was great seeing her determination to save her brothers and by extension the Universe again - it really makes me amazed at how much she has grown over the course of four seasons, with her starting out more selfish and shallow before getting so many layers. Not sure I mentioned this in my Pharmacists reaction, but I also was amazed at her badassery there (she was the least scared out of Vanessa's friends, and even didn't freak out that much when she got touched by a pharmacist), as well as The Klimpaloon Ultimatum and her "saving Klimpaloon is more important" part. Gosh, Candace is awesome, and as a fellow fan said the really defined character development helps show that she IS the show's main character. Also loved seeing how Isabella, Buford and Baljeet were without Phineas and Ferb - it really showed how much of an affect on their lives the stepbrothers have had, and that without them they probably never would be friends. Also bonus points to Candace for not getting grumpy at Baljeet's nerdiness while Isabella and Buford couldn't stand it, and the scene where Candace and Doof interact and sort of relate (amazingly the writers apparently didn't even notice the parallels they shared until they wrote that scene). I also love how people have described this episode as a sort of redemption for the show's two most developed characters, given that Doof decides evil isn't for him and Candace actually realises she almost destroyed reality and lost her brothers because of her busting urge.

The songs for this episode were pretty good as well, even if I didn't get to watch them properly. The opener is fun and catchy, and the songs for their invention and the outside-Universe location (which looked pretty good by the way) were fine, but I particularly loved the ending song since it was a nice send off for the show, and the Candace and Doof duet which even references Busted. Hopefully I will get to see them in better quality someday.

So yeah, Last Day of Summer is a great finale for the show, and had lots of different things that made it that. Most importantly it was very funny, but it also had great songs, good character interaction, some emotional moments and best of all, confusing space-time anomalies! We also get a nice moment at the very end of the episode where Phineas looks at the audience and waves goodbye... yeah, pretty touching way to go out. You have to wonder if Monogram and Carl snuck in a mind wiping device after the fourth wall breaking though. Oh, and something interesting pointed out by another fan (Ryan W. Mead) is that Phineas and Ferb ceasing to exist and Perry going on hiatus in the episode could be allegories for the how in real life. XD

Also, OWCA looks like it will be reusing the whole "Doof sucks at evil so he becomes a good guy" thing. My least favourite episode might become pointless! Wait a minute, since Agent Doof had Doof doing the "giving up evil" thing, does having that episode kind of take away some of the impact that this episode has, in a sense? I mean, having no "I'm gonna be a good guy" things would definitely make this episode stand out more, even if it was nice enough on its own. Or maybe my dislike of Agent Doof is getting to my head and I am finding more reasons to trash talk the episode. :V

EDIT: I planned to rewatch the episode in higher quality, but since I'm a master procrastinator I've never gotten around to it. So... here's my reaction of what I had, though I did watch stuff that was choppy in better quality on YouTube.