I just want to start off by saying, that if your expecting this story to be about a game demanding you to slit your own wrists, or a lost cartoon showing you an ad for Taco Bell or Mountain Dew while vomiting blood (seriously what the hell, who writes this shit?), then prepare to be disappointed. This is indeed "Lost Episode" related, but, this was about a episode that was aired on Cartoon Network. That's it: no human waste, no goblins, no Nazi shit, just a simple, typical plot that was strangely different than it's main focus in the show.
This is the story about The Smurfs animated series that aired back in 1981 by Hanna-Barbara. A lot of kids got a kick out of the show, but some teens just went, 'Eh'. But, around the Season 7, we all watched an episode like no other. Parents reported the Police about it; angry and horrified that their children are scarred by the episode. The episode's title number was 191B. Which was then replaced with the episode "Azrael's Brain" a couple of days later. I, was one of those viewers...
The episode's title looked as if it was just a bunch of scrambled texts, so nobody couldn't read them. It started with a shot of Gargamel's home at night, Gargamel can be seen making potions when he heard a knock on his door. He opens it to reveal a man in a hooded robe handing him a note, his face was covered black; making it look that this man was anonymous. Gargamel jumps in joy and reads the letter. He stops... and just stares at it... It reads as follows:
"I HATE YOU!".
That sends chills down Gargamel's spine, but he was also confused. Who hated Gargamel? The Smurfs was the obvious answer, think about it: Why wouldn't they live in peace and harmony instead of being captured all the time by Gargamel, or being chased by Azrael? How they must of grown sick and tired of being the target in their little game. But, why send a simple message? They're too small for a pen or pencil to write with. So, the Smurfs aren't the culprits, even though my theory almost proved correct, though. He asked his servant, Scruple, if she sended the message, but she just says that she had nothing to do with it. scruple even proved her alibi by showing him that she was doing little work around Gargamel's lair. Gargamel was now getting shaky. You can tell by his body language that he was genially afraid for his life. But regained his composure and tells himself that he was the most feared wizard in the land (as usual, even in the movie itself), he even stood in a comedic pose to show us that he wasn't fooling around.
But during the episode... it was all in vain...
During the episode, Gargamel searched for the so called, "Stalker", and got a few clues along the way. This was basically a "Who-Done-It" episode, the clues, the suspects, the detective work, the whole shebang. Every cartoon had a simple "Who-Done-It" episode a long with many others, but the most well known series that was a complete "Who-Done-It", was the cartoon Scooby-Doo. But I'm not talking about Scooby-Doo, I'm talking about The Smurfs. Anyway, Gargamel walked around the woods with his magnifying glass; acting like a detective, till he saw another note nailed to a tree. And yes I will read that note for you:
"DON'T YOU THINK YOU'VE CAUSED ENOUGH TROUBLE?".
Now I'm sitting there thinking, 'What the fuck? This is not the happy, go-lucky show I know'. This was something more dark and grim, than the usual colorful and cheerful show we watched growing up. Who wouldn't be able to sleep and wake up fresh as a cucumber without having to wake up in the morning feeling like total shit; with scarred memories of your childhood being delivered to the morgue in a body-bag. Sometimes later, Gargamel had collected every clue he had discovered, and all he had to do is to catch the culprit. He set up a trap and waited for the suspect to be snared in a cliché rope trap. But as he comically waited with his hand over his ear, he heard the trap go off and he jumped out to see Scruple dangling down from the rope around her ankle. Gargamel scolds her for stalking him. Scruple gave him a scowl, and told him that she went to pick up groceries. Then Gargamel saw before him little, orange, and angry... it was Azrael!
the cat had a crumbled up piece of paper and tosses it to the wizard. It reads:
"YOU THOUGHT I WAS YOUR SIDEKICK? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!".
My god... it was Azrael all this time! Azrael was Gargamel's sidekick, but we didn't know Azrael would try to keep the Smurfs all to himself. Who wouldn't know until now? Think about it: Who wouldn't suspect that Azrael would get in the way of Gargamel's plans, or even thought Gargamel was an idiot? And that was it, Azrael wanted the spotlight instead of Gargamel. HE wanted to be the evil wizard, and let Gargamel become the goofy sidekick. And that's what Azrael was portrayed as, the "Sidekick". How he must of felt furious and enslaved by Gargamel, and wanted revenge on him for treating him like some tool, to get the Smurfs and steal their life-essence for his magic. I stared in shock as Azrael jumped on Gargamel, stomped, kicked, punched, and clawed at the evil wizard; letting out all of his anger and frustration onto him. Azrael then just stared down at the broken and bleeding Gargamel in burning hatred, took his wand, and stood as he claimed that HE is the new wizard in charge (Even though he is speaking in body language). Gargamel slowly got back up, confusion and betrayal gave in to automatic anger. He lunged at Azrael and strangled him to death with a chokehold. Then, he spat on Azrael's corpse.
As Gargamel went into his room exhausted, Scruple, still dangling by the rope, gave one last punchline to the audience...
"Looks like Gargy's leaving me hanging, huh?"
I bet no one laughed when all of this happened, when Gargamel murdered Azrael, or when Azrael beat Gargamel to a bloody pulp. The episode was finally taken off the episode list, and was never to be seen again. No traces of it was ever found. But what was found however, was that cyber hackers revealed the title of the episode by unscrambling the text. It wasn't what we imagined it to be... it was like a message to us Smurfs fans...
"I LIED TO YOU..."