fun fact about operation birthday takeback: nickelodeon's s&p department actually asked showrunner lindsay katai if she would consider changing the ending, not because it actually violated any standards or practices, but because it made them feel too sad
I don’t know man I’m with the S&P department here this kid is going THROUGH IT and it is shattering my heart. Like I don’t know about you but seeing kids hurting hits a hell of a lot harder then when it’s adults. Even as someone who isn’t interested in having kids theirs just something fundamentally wrong about seeing adults beat down a child and get away with it.
He found out someone who he thought was his first real friend made a wish to befriend him (she is his real friend and wasn’t after his money but this is from Devs pov here) and is pretty sure it was just to get access to his fathers money, his dad cares more about Hazel then his own son and ruined his first real birthday that he thought he could really enjoy now that he had friends due to sheer laziness and not bothering to get to know Dev, and his godparent is only interested in shoving more stuff at him then trying to form any sort of real connection with him.
The animation department and VA absolutely nailed this final scene you can feel the agony Dev is in and the confusing clash of rage and pain festering inside of him. This is a very young child who has no tools or understanding of how to properly process and deal with these heavy emotions and has no one he feels he can turn to, to help him.
His teachers don’t care, his dad doesn’t care, he thinks his only friend doesn’t care (which again is wrong but he doesn’t think that and even if he thought they where friends Hazel is not even remotely equipped as a fellow ten year old to deal with this stuff she’s TEN), his godparent is more concerned with work then with Dev (notably very similar to his dad who is more concerned with work then Dev so their has got to be some triggering stuff mixed in with that).
When Dev called for help from Peri, Peri didn’t answer and Dev didn’t bother to try again because he realized that Peri wasn’t going to come and likely in his mind realized Peri didn’t care enough to come. This is a kid who has been taught he doesn’t matter, he’s not important enough for people to care and his beliefs and fears repeatedly get reinforced.
I think this is the first (and potentially only?) episode to end on a real sad note like this. The episode ends with Dev flying off audibly crying and there isn’t any sort of joke or punchline after it. Thats what we’re left with, a very young and abused child in tears after his birthday was ruined, destroying everything he thought he had with it.
