Clone Alone[1] is the tenth and final episode of Season Two of Clone High, and the 23rd episode of the overall series.
Synopsis
As Operation Spread Eagle ends, the students of Clone High are offered the opportunity to attend Clone High College. But when the entrance exam proves deadly, Joan must fend for herself, while Scudworth fights for his career. [1]
Plot
It is Yearbook Signing Day at Clone High High School, and Joan is excited to finally have friends to sign her yearbook. Despite her enthusiasm, her friends are busy signing other people's yearbooks, and although Abe offers to write in hers, he backs out upon noticing Topher with his blackmail evidence. Glen the Janitor walks by and signs Joan's yearbook, telling her that she is "a lone wolf". Candide and Scudworth grab the students' attention by singing a jazzy show tune about Clone High College, a post-secondary institution that the clones have been offered to attend. As the song ends, the crowd erupts with applause, but their hubris is quickly ended by the revelation that only those who pass an entrance exam may attend. The students hustle out of the auditorium, and Candide tells Scudworth that they need to talk. Scudworth is enthused, as he believes that his performance will land him a promotion, only for Candide to fire him and Mr. Butlertron.
In class, Harriet attempts to persuade Confucius to take the test, under threat of ending their relationship. Additionally, Joan converses with Cleopatra, Frida and Harriet, and the four express their excitement at living together in college. However, Cleo expresses suspicion when the brochure does not reveal where the institution is (giving the location as "West Dakota, USA"). As the test begins, Joan is confused by the first page of the test booklet - a near-blank page with the text "LOOK UP" inscribed on it. As it turns out, the room where the test is being held is actually a launch facility, and the desks and chairs quickly turn into escape pods. A message from Candide broadcasts to all students before takeoff: "Good luck. You'll need it." After a rough landing, the clones find themselves at the Death Maze, hosted by Michael Bolton. He tells the students that they will have fun, sing songs, and experience numerous casualties.
Meanwhile, Mr. B suggests to Scudworth that the two crash the Secret Board of Shadowy Figures' Death Maze watch party, and Scudworth quickly agrees, taking his suggestion as an opportunity to kill Candide. Back at the Death Maze, Bolton runs the clones through a basic overview of the test: they have one hour to traverse the maze, and the first person to reach the end is admitted to Clone High College. Those who fail die. As soon as he finishes, the test begins, and the students chaotically hurry inside. Joan links up with Cleo and Frida, but Harriet lags behind: she is waiting for Confucius to finish tying his shoes. She grows more impatient as the clock ticks down, eventually resorting to telling Confucius that she is breaking up with him. Confucius is devastated by this drastic measure, but is saved by JFK, who inadvertently sacrifices the Bronte Sisters in order to get him into the Death Maze.
In the Maze itself, Joan and her friends encounter their first obstacle: a pathway marked with multiple-choice answers that is situated atop a bottomless pit. Cleo comments that the multiple-choice answers resemble that of a Scantron test, to which a rapidly-approaching Scan Grade offers a correction: they are his. His portion of the test begins with a question regarding the foundation of strong female friendships. Cleo believes his response is a trick question, claiming that there are no strong female friendships, to Joan and Harriet's disgruntlement. Van Gogh, who is running past them, tells them to choose C (as "the answer is always C") only to be seemingly killed. Meanwhile, as the Board celebrate the Death Maze's first victim, Scudworth (who has arrived to the party with Mr. B) is infuriated by a Board member congratulating Candide on Operation Spread Eagle, and his mood worsens when he finds out about Michael Bolton's involvement.
Back at the Maze, the group quickly deduce that the answer to every question posed by Scan Grade is E, which manifests itself as a zipline that takes the four across the path. They celebrate their victory by toppling Scan Grade over. Meanwhile, Confucius is still devastated over Harriet breaking up with him as he navigates the maze with Abe, JFK and Topher. While Abe does not care, JFK comes to his defense and tells Abe that he has no idea what breaking up with someone is like. Suddenly, the voices of Harriet and Joan cry out for help. As the four go to investigate, they find that the voices are emanating from baby twins of the Heebie Jeebie, who promptly attack them. Once the twins are dealt with, a barrage of #2 pencils is sent hurtling towards the group, and they quickly escape (although not before telling Topher to shut up after he corrects Confucius). They come to a set of difficult jumps, and JFK and Abe use parts of their body (the former's rectum and the latter's legs) as platforms to secure the group's safety in traveling. During this, JFK and Abe realize that they work as a team, and become fast friends.
At the watch party, the Board are up in arms against JFK and Abe's survival, and clamor for more death. Mr. B is angered by a Board member asking for Scan Grade to be brought back, and hands Scudworth his "death-ccessories". Candide happens to notice the Board's bloodthirstiness, and plays a tune on a whistle which causes numerous clones to fall under her control. As she plays this tune, Scudworth accidentally kills an unrelated member of the Board while aiming for Candide. In the Maze, Joan and company press forward and enter the "Hall of Extra-Curricular Activities", only to be met with a hypnotized Marie Curie, who knocks Harriet and Frida out of the way and drags Joan and Cleo to a bottomless pit, intending to take the two with her. Frida, realizing that she can only save one of them, chooses Cleo. The remaining three weep at Joan's apparent death, only for her to pull herself out of the pit and storm off after a brief rant. Meanwhile, after JFK fights off his mind control, Topher begins ordering Abe around. As JFK questions this, Abe reveals Topher's blackmailing attempt. Astonished, he crushes Topher's phone, causing Abe to comment that their friendship is the most powerful thing in the world. Just then, Joan calls out to Abe, asking if she can join his group. Abe and JFK believe her to be a Heebie Jeebie baby, and shoo her away by insulting her. Joan takes offense to the names they call her, and decides that she does not need friends to go to college, becoming a lone wolf.
As Cleo, Harriet and Frida slide across a pit of lava, Harriet realizes that she has wronged Confucius by dumping him after Frida tells her that going to college is meaningless if you cannot attend it with the one you love. Having spotted his bag on a pile of leaves, the three attempt to retrieve it, only to be knocked into a bottomless pit by Joan, who is now out to sabotage her friends. She then traps Abe's group with a basketball court that is designed to eliminate the four when a goal is scored, After this, she goes on a killing spree, eliminating anyone she can find. This deeply pleases Candide, who is the only one left standing at the watch party due to Scudworth's aim killing everyone else but her. As she reaching the end of the maze, Joan regains her conscious upon hitting the buzzer, and immediately expresses guilt to her prior actions. She is greeted by Candide, who beckons her to follow.
Walking down a hallway, Candide reveals that Clone High College does not exist, and the Death Maze was merely an initiative to find a suitable candidate for a world leader. She also reveals that her friends are alive, but are waiting to have their memories erased. Joan is confused, but Candide continues and believes that she will be an excellent world leader (until something tragic happens to her). Just then, Scudworth and Mr. B arrive, having failed yet another attempt to kill Candide. She has predicted their arrival as well, anticipating that Scudworth would kill the other members of the board so she could stand unopposed. During the chaos, Joan picks up a yearbook and begins to reminisce on the previous year. Faced with the threat of having their memories erased, the remaining clones begin to confess things to each other - Harriet reveals to Confucius that she still loves him, JFK tells Abe that Joan is all his, and Topher unveils his misogynistic personality (only to be silenced by the other students). At the same time, Candide and Scudworth continue arguing, with the former believing that Scudworth's constant failures are due to him caring too much, and that Joan will grow up to be just like her: an uncaring sociopathic monster. Upon hearing this, Joan knocks her out and snatches her access card, and the three go to rescue the clones.
Unbeknownst to them, Candide activates the Memory Eraser Ray, and the three race to the brain wipe room. The brain wiping procedure nears completion, but is shut down by Joan, who initially believes she is too late after JFK and Abe do not recognize her. Incidentally, she drops the yearbook, which is revealed to have a DVD containing a portable version of the book in slideshow form. As she shows it to the students, their memories come back. Relieved by Joan's heroism, Abe attempts to reveal one of his biggest secrets to Joan, but is stopped by Candide, who reminds them of her sabotage attempts. As her slideshow finishes, Joan is once again left isolated, and wishes that the brain wipe was carried out.
Characters
Major Roles
- Abe Lincoln
- Joan of Arc
- Cleopatra
- JFK
- Harriet Tubman
- Frida Kahlo
- Confucius
- Topher Bus
- Principal Scudworth
- Mr. Butlertron
- Candide Sampson
- The Secret Board of Shadowy Figures
- Michael Bolton
Minor Roles
- Van Gogh
- Brontë Sisters
- Ethel Merman
- Glen the Janitor
- Scan Grade
- Anne Boleyn (Cameo)
- Julius Caesar (Cameo)
- Marie Curie (Cameo)
- Jesús Cristo (Cameo)
- George Washington Carver (Cameo)
- Peany (Cameo)
- Catherine the Great (Cameo)
- Elvis Twins (Cameo)
- Genghis Khan (Cameo)
- Marie Antoinette (Cameo)
- Sacagawea (Cameo)
- Marilyn Monroe (Cameo)
- Paul Revere (Cameo)
- Sigmund Freud (Cameo)
- Nostradamus (Cameo)
- Wu Zetian (Cameo)
- George Washington (Cameo)
- Gandhi (Non-Speaking Cameo; Frozen)
- Original John F. Kennedy (Pictured)
Trivia
- There is evidence to suggest that John Stamos was originally set to re-appear in this episode, but was replaced by Michael Bolton near the end of the episode's production.
- At around 13:07 in the episode, Scudworth refers to Michael Bolton as his "nemesis," a title that would normally belong to Stamos.
- At around 20:31 while Joan is walking in the hallway with Candide, she says "Michael Bolton," but her lips do not match the dialogue, and she instead appears to mouth "John Stamos."
- This implies that Stamos's replacement was close to the end of production, after much of the animation had already been finalized.
- When Joan is projecting the yearbook CD to her classmates, the picture of the clones and Scudworth at the freezer includes a calendar with the year 2022 on it.
- During the second season's development, many set-pieces that mention 2023 originally had 2022 written on them, such as the school yearbook. Most of them were modified after a possible 2022 release wasn't met.
- The photo with the Heebie Jeebie has his eyes inverted.
- It is revealed whilst expositioning her villainous plot to Joan that Candide had erased all of the clones' memories of Gandhi. However, it is currently unclear as to how Abe was able to remember him in Let's Try This Again.
Cultural References
- The title could be a reference to the Xmas family film Home Alone.
- The two baby Heebie-Jeebies were likely a reference to the Grady Twins from The Shining.
Historical References
- JFK says "Getting dumped is horrible, it feels like a bullet's gone into your head. You have no idea, Lincoln!" This is ironic, as both Abraham Lincoln and JFK were assassinated by gunshots to the head.
Gallery
