Danny is about to face his worst enemy,exprience his greatest fear while dealing with the fact that he might become the evilest ghost on the planet.Dark,Depressing,Angsty, Mature, and Delicious.
10
"Perfect"
WOAH.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing more amazing, than this Episode. No DP episode is as Dark, Depressing, Angsty, Mature, and Delicious as TUE. How they managed to create the Ultimate Enemy for Danny is amazing. How They created the ultimate evil and tragedy is unspeakably awesome. Danny. He's a famous hero in Amity Park. Girls want to date him and boys want to be him. He's the superman of amity park- the show's superman. But He's not all Sunshine and Butterflies, because he's been showing hints of Darkness. Overshadowing Tucker as a far as PB, the second episode, and betraying him, his best friend, abusing his powers in SI and RS, and Many hints of Darkness through the series that lead to this, the conclusion of his Evil. Note that cheating on the C.A.T. despite that his friends told him not to is also a dark deed. Even though Sam and Tucker didn't continue trying to convince him, he still bears the responsibility because Danny made that choice, one that might have come back to him after his friends; and family's deaths, because he chose to do the bad despite his heroism.
Darkness is another amazing quality of this episode. There is no revival because people die here, in fact Its the protagonists themselves plus a few other important figures. People DIE, DIE and they don't come back. Hell, Even Danny dies in the Alternate Universe while another half goes on a killing spree, and not because he's insane but because It is Danny's Dark side that is left in it, the only trace of Danny Fenton in His Alternate self. Not only the main characters but the rest of the world die- Its Literally the end of the world brought by none other than our favourite protagonist. This story almost results in a tragedy, Phantom ALMOST Succeeds; they almost actually die and would if not for Clockwork. Miracle comes only in the very end, and the majority of the episode is a huge tragedy.
The Growth and Development is another theme in this episode that makes it so Awesome. Jazz, Who bears responsibility to her brother and tries to prevent the inevitable. Out of everyone, she is one of the most important people in his life, and is one of the most amazingly developed characters. Jack, who shows sings of true seriousness, bursting into Jazz's room showing a good example of his seriousness, who aims at Phantom with a completely serious expression, demanding to know where his son is, and not Comedic seriousness like it Mystery Meat. One of the Many Reasons I love Jack is that he is not a typical "Fat Dad" character but he's just not the most competent one when it comes to Ghost Hunting, but he is very book-intelligent, he just doesn't have lots of common sense most of the time, but he's serious when it comes to matters of his family. Even Lancer gets some nice screen time, it's obvious he doesn't want to call Danny's parents but he really cares for his students, where he sighs at the thought of actually blaming Danny. He's not a typical cartoony teacher. Valerie, not many important roles but more Vengeful than before, oh and I love her new voice.
Danny, I figured I'd give him a separate paragraph because He plays an very special role in development. I Already said on the development of his Darkness, But His Maturity is also developed here, taking it on himself to prevent everything from happening, promising his Family he'll never turn to the dark side, yet nearly failing if not for Clockwork. He CAN turn into Phantom. And he WILL, if not for Clockwork, once again because of his turn to the dark side in this episode.
Vlad reaches the highest peak of development and greatness where we see another face of Vlad, another side of him. Guilty and Sorrowful, spending ten years in nothing but regret over everything he did. Once again, His Development reaches an incredibly high peak because it proves that despite his evil ways in the next seasons, he's not your typical "Big Bad". He's evil, a ghost and he's Danny's enemy...But He's still human, He's not heartless despite his evil ways. His expressions and words, "Ten Years without My Powers made me see what a Fool I've been", they all just shove in our faces the fact that he is not heartless. And the flashback proves it even more. Because I've always been obsessed with the father/son relationship between Danny and Vlad, this episode makes me squeal with glee because it shoves some of Vlad's Fatherly affections for Danny, and in a good way. Instead of weakening him in any way by shoving in Danny's face that his family is Dead, Vlad puts a hand on Danny's shoulder and gives a look of pity and understanding. Pure Love. Maybe It's because Danny knew Vlad would give him that understanding and always wanted him as a son Danny turned to Vlad. Vlad would get a son and Danny someone who understands, and then they'll all be happy if Danny would have ever gotten over the deaths. Shame Danny's desire to get rid of his humanity got in the way. The Way Vlad looked on the Picture of him, Jack and Maddie in their college years, it almost makes you cry because It adds to the tragedy, but it also proves that he doesn't only miss Maddie, But Jack too. If there was actually something as Jack dead, Vlad wouldn't actually celebrate in joy and magnificence.
The New Characters are also a nice treat. Box Lunch is truly an entertaining character. One of the reasons I added her in my Post series finale Fanfic. Clockwork is yet another good character that plays an important yet neutral role. He says: "I Know Everything". He knows what will happen and what is and he will prevent the wrong from happening. His Child for is also Undeniably Cute. He's also got a killer design, and a good character to go with it, although if he would be ancient then everything would probably be hourglass themed because clocks are modern inventions. It Could be that he was chosen to be a time master during a period where Clocks were already invented, to Replace an Hourglass-Themed Time Master. I already have a story in mind about him, now I Just need to write it…
One of the most engaging, amazing, and unspeakably awesome characters is Phantom, or Dark Dan, or whatever you want to call him but I refer to him as Phantom. He's everything Danny is and isn't. In Ten years, he managed to waste the world so greatly that only one city remains and only one vengeful Ghost Huntress is Ready to face him as equal. He's ruthless, heartless, evil, merciless, and powerful. Unlike other Powerful characters in Superhero shows, he has a reason for his almighty power. Despite that he was defeated by Danny, he has almost no weaknesses except for the small ones Danny was able to exploit. With No Human emotions to make him feel guilt for what he did, he can easily- and will- kick your ass faster than you can blink. Armed with Nothing but Ghost Powers, his Many Strengths turned him into the Evilest Ghost on the Planet- The Next Pariah Dark. Despite everything I listed above…He's still Danny. That add a strong sense of tragedy because Danny, the hero can and almost will become the next Pariah Dark, and in some ways even worse. Phantom easily turned into my Ultimate Obsession, also because He's really damn Sexy. In Fact, He Is the most Sexilicious character in DP. His Voice is the most amazing quality. Seriously, I Damn LOVE that voice. So Much that Words Cannot describe how AWESOME it is. His face when before he killed Danny in the flashaback scared the hell out of my brother. And His Awesome laughter when he flew out of Vlad's mansion (In That Flashback) is Hypnotizing. However did the voice, I worship you.
Despite the confusing Time Paradoxes, small animation flaws the fascinating qualities of this Dark, Tragic episode that I listed above more than make up for the small goofs or flaws in here. The Only Major Plot hole is how Danny got his time medallion off, but we can only guess, all we have now is fanfictions write down any theories. But Everything more than makes up, making this episode the proof that even Y7 shows can add darkness and tragedy without making a TV-14 show. Despite that it almost reached that rating, it didn't, and this is makes TUE a very special episode. This is the highest peek of DP, but sadly one it never reached again.