Episode ? "Harlequinade"

Short summary: Tim Burton crossed with David Lynch. Uh, yeah.

Longer summary:

Made with some sort of bizarre claymation-type animation, this was actually pretty short. Thirty minutes, more or less. It's just that it was thirty minutes of weird creepiness (sort of like watching a claymation version of Eraserhead).

So the plot is this: Arlecchino and Colombina are puppet operators. In fact, they operate the Punch and Judy puppets seen at the end of the last episode (weirdly, actual Punch and Judy puppets are shown when Arlecchino and Colombina control them - a weird mixture of media). They are both getting ready for the Harlequinade, a big gathering that will have food and booze and dancing and, of course, a Punch and Judy show.

Both are nervous about the Harlequinade because the Herleking will be there along with some foreign dignitaries (believe me, I'm paraphrasing - I could barely hear them whisper something about a prince). Also complicating things is that Arlecchino and Colombina are married and Arlecchino is fiercly jealous and suspects her of cheating. (I looked these names up later and they are, in fact, from Commedia dell'arte.)

Finally, at the end, Colombina messes up a line of dialogue and Arlecchino starts beating her. I mean brutally beating - even though they were claymation, I could practically see her pain. And then Arlecchino strangles her with the Judy puppet's strings and kills her (yeah, he's a great guy). The very last scene is him being dragged away and placed in "Bedlam Hospital," a mental institution.

No credits.

Analysis: ...do I even want to attempt to analyze this? It's so grotesque, it's would be funny if it wasn't so creepy.