How to Reignite Your Passion in 7 Easy Steps!
When Mario feels like he’s stuck in a rut and not accomplishing anything in this life, he turns to online self-help guides. This goes about as poorly as you’d expect since Mario is Mario and those sort of articles aren’t usually useful even if you are smart enough to follow them properly. Undeterred by his failures, at the end of the episode he decides he wants to become a plumber again.
Mario Goes to Trade School
A typical “cast goes to school Because Reasons and experiences common tropes” episode, except Mario’s actually trying to take things seriously and do well.
Mario and Karen get stuck in an elevator and Mario reveals that part of why he wants to become a plumber is because he’s worried that if he doesn’t find something he’s actually good at he’ll just be stuck mooching off Luigi forever and eventually everyone will realize that the few positives he has to offer aren’t worth the effort of dealing with all the problems he causes. Meanwhile, everyone else is going nuts trying to save them in increasingly absurd and over-the-top ways.
Exams are coming up fast, and Marrio’s worried that his usual crazy-stupid nature will screw him over somehow. So, the crew works together to help him study and get his impulses under control. It works, and the newly minted Serious Mario passes all his written exams. Now all that’s left is the practicals next week.
The practical exam comes in the form of a big Olympics-style competition with plumbing-based events, because fuck logic. Just about everyone Mario knows comes to cheer him on, including SMG1 and 2. However, when they see him acting so Serious the two of them get worried, especially when the crew mention he’s been like that for over a week. As it turns out, when an Avatar denies their nature and suppresses their Meme Energy, like Mario is doing, that energy builds up more and more, until it can’t be contained anymore and comes out as a massive burst of chaos, often at the worst possible moment. The crew are confident in Mario’s chances, and for most of the events it seems like he’ll be just fine. But then comes the final challenge; fixing a toilet, which ends up literally blowing up in his face and messing up the entire arena in the most extravagant, hilarious way possible.
And when the dust clears, there’s Mario standing in the center of the carnage, his dream shattered along with that damn toilet, and for once he doesn’t throw a tantrum or say something stupid. He just…stands there, completely despondent, for a while before dropping his wrench and trudging his way out of the stadium. Roll Credits.
If Luigi was in…Elden Ring
Luigi, Saiko, Tari and Steve get stuck in the Lands Between because of Wizard Rock and try to find their way back home, leaving a trail of chaos and destruction in their wake per the norm. Near the start of the episode Luigi mentions that Mario is still feeling down after the Plumber Games, which is why he isn’t in this episode.
A series of disconnected skits spoofing various shows, movies and commercials, and mainly starring side characters instead of the main cast. They even play the sponsorship ad partway through the episode instead of before the intro since it works fine as an in-universe commercial. At the end of the episode it’s revealed that the framing device is Mario flicking through channels during his wallowing.
MarioMeggy Reacts to Nintendo Memes
Since Mario isn’t feeling up to recording a video, Meggy offers to cover for him. To her credit, she does do better than the last time she tried to do his job. Probably because she’s been in a Mario Reacts video before and has a good idea of what to expect.
Welcome to the Shroom Scouts!
As you’d expect, it’s a Shroomy-centric episode, with Jubjub, Bowser Jr. and one of Karen’s Kittens joining his boy scout troop and getting shown the ropes, often to funny and chaotic results. Less funny is showing them how to do door-to-door fundraising, which he uses as an excuse to check up on Mario. When Mario answers the door, he’s in pajamas despite it being mid-afternoon and has grown a full beard. Thankfully he’s clearly still taking care of himself, and he’s willing to have a friendly(if somewhat awkward) conversation with his friend and buy some of the chocolate the scouts are selling. So we’re at least not having a repeat of Perfection SMG4.
New Super Mario is Very Very Sad 2
It’s been around a month since Mario’s left his house and everyone’s worried about him, especially Luigi, Meggy and SMG4. So the crew each takes a crack at cheering him up, which goes about as you’d expect with these idiots. In the end, he’s not exactly back to his old self, but he does seem to be doing somewhat better. But at the end of the episode, in the middle of the night, he gets dressed in a very different outfit from usual, packs up a big backpack, and starts writing a note, with the scratching of pencil on paper, the soft thuds of boots on hardwood floor, and the creaking of the front door opening and closing replacing the outro music.
Mini Episode: Mario’s Goodbye
It’s only a couple minutes long, and shows Luigi waking up in the morning with Mario nowhere to be seen, but with his signature red cap sitting on the kitchen table along with a note. The note gets read in a voice-over while the visuals periodically switch between Luigi running to the Showgrounds to tell the others and Mario walking along a dirt path in a grassy field. In it, Mario explains that he’s going on a journey outside of the Mushroom Kingdom to find himself, and he’s not sure where he’ll go or when he’ll be back. He also apologizes for leaving without saying goodbye in person, and tries to reassure everyone that it’s not their fault that he decided to leave. The last scene is Mario walking into and then out of a grove of trees, resulting in a change in artstyle that, along with the beard and new outfit, makes him almost unrecognizable as Mario. You gotta avoid that copyright claim somehow, yanno?
Sort of Epilogue: Princess Peach Gets Canceled
Princess Peach is throwing a Kingdom-wide festival, which the crew decide will be a great way to take their minds off Mario’s abrupt departure. And then Peach reveals why she threw the festival; it’s in celebration of the fact that Mario won’t be around to cause trouble for the foreseeable future! Unfortunately for her, treating the fact that your nation’s greatest hero developed depression and ran away from home in the middle of the night like it’s somehow a good thing doesn’t do your approval rating any favors. Especially when you announce that in front of his closest friends. And his brother. Yes, there is an Angry Luigi vs Peach fight scene(more of a curbstomp in Luigi’s favor really), and yes it is glorious.