With the second season nearing, we feel as though this is a good time to talk about Fox Animaiton's newest pets and where they're at on the morality spectrum. I'm Anthony from WickedBinge and this is HouseBroken: Good to Evil. Quick note before we start, we will be looking at the characters actions from the first season and the first two Christmas specials of season 2. We'll also be looking at minor characters that have had at least some relevance to the story.
As per the norm, we will be starting with our most good characters and working out way to the most vile. These characters are the Good:
-Earning the gold medal of good is everyone's favorite silent hamster Tchotchke. Tchotchke is what we like to call the strong, silent type, but without the strength. In terms of personality, Tchotchke is pretty much the most good out of Honey's group. This is proven in the episode "Who's Getting Cold Feet", when Shel is sad about Lindsay not moving on their wedding day, since she is just a simple croc, he cries out for some ants to move Lindsay to him in order to make Shel feel happy. His golden-heart is shown in the season 1 finale where he basically goes Rambo to save Honey from Armando's coyote pack. While he really didn't get far on that one when the nails harmlessly bounced off the coyote's and ran away with Raccoon like a coward, it's the thought that counts. The only bad deed we ever see him commit, other than running away as just mentioned, is when he fired a nail into Max's ear in the same episode, but for all of the good he's done within the show, it's hard to put him in any lower spot.
-We're gonna give the silver medal of good to the dog couple, Rutabaga and Juliet. Appearing in the episode "Who's a Good Therapist?", they are the prime example of the perfect couple as they both love and respect each other, no questions asked and never get into any fallouts. They said to have fallen for each other ever since they were pups and plan to be with each other until death. The unyielding love these two have for each other ends up making Honey feel touchy due to her complicated relationship with Chief. They are certainly cordial to Honey and Chief, barely showing annoyance to Chief for his poor habits. Despite this, the number one flaw we can take from this is that their constant affection for each can be seen as a nuisance at best and insensitive at worst as they are unknowingly making Honey feel jealous. Even when they find out about Honey's jealousy, they are rather rude and indignant about it rather than attempt to be sensitive and give advice how her and Chief's relationship could be better. This is unfortunately their only act of bad behavior, so we really can't put them any lower.
-Finally, taking the bronze medal of good is the turtle Shel. Shel is an old and let's be honest, oddball turtle. He is a bit of a sex-addict as he would gladly hump anything as long as he feels pleasure. He even spends a majority of the season preparing to be wed to an old crock he names Lindsay, even stating that he couldn't care less that she isn't a real thing. That being said, it should be noted that next to Tchotchke, Shel is the most good-hearted out of all his friends, like when Darla ended up reuniting with him after 15 year separation, he immediately went to her to make that long period of time worth it and in another episode, he managed to appeal to Nibbles by acting as his conscience to get him to rescue an annoying mouse,Lenny, from being digested by a snake. This shows that he has a good head on his soldiers and wants his friends to be the same. The one element that makes him deserving of being this high on the list is when Darla was close to being squashed by a car tire, Shel pushed her out of harm's way. While he ended up surviving the event, it showed that if the situation calls for it, Shel would gladly lay down his life for his loved ones.
-Outside of the good podium is Shel's sweetheart, Darla. Despite only appearing in only a handful of episodes in the first season's second-half, Darla immediately proved herself to be one of the most good-hearted characters in the show. This is proven in her first appearance where it is revealed that she spent at least 15 years trying to reunite with Shel after the two got separated. When the two reunite, Shel does not hold it against him when she sees him trying to marry Lindsay just to feel the void. She also proves to be a good mother when she and Shel have children as shown in the second season as she reacts with motherly protection when Elsa begins to flirt with one of them. Why isn't she any higher than Shel. Well, we don't get to see much of how much of a kind soul she is other than her determinaton to reunite with Shel and being grateful when he saves her life. For the most part, Darla is shown to be as eccentric as Shel, thinking that Lindsay is alive like he does. Despite this, with what was mentioned above, we really can't put her any lower.
-Honey and Chief's owner, Jill, is next. Jill basically treats her pets as if they were her children, with love and respect. Because of this, both Honey and Chief love her in return, Honey in particular both loves and respects Jill. She is shown to sometimes be strict with her dogs whenever they misbehave like when she thinks Chief defecated in her house when it was actually Honey who did it or when she gets on their case for chasing away a dog walker she hired while she was away because they assumed the dog walker was a home invader. She could have been higher up on the list if it weren't for some flaws, one of them is that she can be quite a pushover when it comes to her mother Nancy, who in the episode "Who Done It?", shows how abusive she is to Jill and Jill does nothing to stand up for herself ot set any boundaries, she just takes it no questions asked. She can also be a little irresponsible at times, like in one fo the season 2 Christmas specials, she does not tell her dogs that she is leaving, which caused the aforementioned incident with the dogwalker. In spite of all this, Jill's good qualities outshine her bad ones.
-Up next, we have the handsome coyote, Armando. When he first appeared on the show, Armando proved to be rather suave and polite to Honey, flirting with her in a gentleman-like manner and complimenting her. He is shown to tease her a few times and can often be a bit inappropriate when coming onto Honey, like making her smell his flatulence, but that doesn't take away how much of a gentlemen he is to her. When his is about to leave to go to another forest with his pack, he asks Honey to come with her. When she turns him down, he does not protest. However, once he gives her a chance to change her mind, she takes him up on the offer. We don't put him higher on the list for a number of reasons, one of which is that when Honey decides to break things off with him due to how incompatible they are, Armando let's her go begrudgingly and without support, showing that his patience is quite thin. He is also not above deception as he misled Honey into thinking he was the Alpha of his own pack. This doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things, so we feel as though he doesn't deserve to be lower.
-The Gray One is next. The prime character trait about The Gray One is that he's a bit of a tough guy, which is due to living in horrible conditions at a crazy cat-lady's home. Despite this, he is showing being a pretty good friend to the rest of the pets for the most part. His best friend is Chico and they seem to have a rather decent friendship despite it being tested a few times during the first season. In return, they also seem to care about him as they express concern in the episode "Are You Wild" where he was taken by animal control after a confrontation with Raccoon. Why isn't he higher on the list? A few reasons. Remember when I said about how his relationship with Chico is often tested? Well that's usually because the Gray One often takes advantage of the fact that Chico has better living quarters. Another reason why we don't put him any higher is that during his romance with Tabitha, he does not bring her to her owner's home when he sees that the stray life isn't for her. Yes, Tabitha wants to have that life, but the Gray One should've really did the smart thing and return her home. Despite this though, he has enough positives to put him in this spot.
-After the Gray One is his friend, Chico. Chico is one of the more friendliest members of the group, which is shown through his best friend, the Gray One as he would often invite him to his home for a bite to eat. He also cares about his owner Kevin a lot, so we can add loyalty to his attributes as well. What keeps him from getting any higher is his naivety. It has been shown in a number of episodes that Chico could really stand to use an improvement in the smarts department. His lack of smarts can be seen when he considers Kevin to be a very tendering owner when it's revealed that Kevin actually considers him to be annoying. He also doesn't put two-and-two together after remembering when he rubbed up against a male street cat and therefore got pregnant. He can also be a little insecure at times, like when he got a little angry at the Gray One for coming by his house just for dinner on account of being manipulated by Elsa or when he gets angry at The Gray One again for not telling him about his relationship with Tabitha. Thankfully, these issues are resolved and Chico does value his friends at the end of the day.
-We now come to the show's main protagonist Honey. As the central character, Honey gets the most focus out of everyone in her group and as such, we see both her positive and negative qualities. Getting the bad stuff out of the way first, like Chico, Honey has shown to be incredibly insecure, mostly regarding her relationship with Chief as she feels overwhelmed by the dog's hyperactive and reckless nature. We really can't blame her for feeling that way since it wasn't really her choice to be with Chief, it was an arrangement made by Jill. But still, questioning her relationship like that raises some unfavorable implications. She has also been shown to have a bit of an inconsiderate side, like in the season 1 finale where she runs away with Armando without thinking about the rest of her friends and Chief. Sure, she changes her mind soon afterward, but it was still quite a bad thing. However, Honey has shown that she cares about her friends deep down as she helps them with their psychosis seems to be willing to put up with Chief if for no other reason than to make him happy. All this and more is what makes her elligible for this good enough spot on our list.
-The most recent addition to the group from the pilot, Diablo, is up next. Diablo is what we'd like to call a "nervous wreck", always so nervous and jittery. He seems to be a pet example of having divorced parents as his owners are divorced and he can only go live with one of them. In terms of morality, Diablo is sort of a mixed bag. He means well and does attempt to help out the group sometimes. However, that can come with good and bad results, like when trying to help Elsa get together with a dog she has a crush on, he ends up making Elsa seem like a weirdo, even though he didn't really mean to. Plus, he once bit his owner's kid due just to eat off peanut butter. He also seems to have an irrational fear towards, of all things, a toaster, meaning that he isn't really in a good mindset. However, Diablo is a good friend in spite of his flaws. He sticks with the group even after they didn't let him speak during his first session and he also seems to have gotten a little more braver as in the season 1 finale, he helps his friends find Honey and defend her against Armando's pack. Diablo isn't perfect, but in a show about therapy, that's kind of the point.
-Ranking just a few spots below her significant other is Tabitha. When first introduced, Tabitha is shown to fit the stereotype of a privileged pet, looking down on others and acting rather snobbish. That alone, losses her some points, however, we get to see much of her character development during her arc of being a runaway pet. After her owners got anew kitten, Tabitha gets envious of the attention she gets and decided to leave home and be independent, while also being in a relationship with The Gray One during which. This act of jealousy also makes her fall down lower because her owners were clearly worried about her when they put up wanted posters. Despite this though, Tabitha has grown accustomed to the stray life and is unwilling to return. However, it is shown that she does have a soft spot in her uppity heart. She is clearly shown to be enjoying the Gray One's company when she starts living with him and eventually decides to go back to her owners when the Gray One brings her home. It just goes to show that Tabitha can be a soft kitty despite her hard outer shell.
-Getting to the self-proclaimed 2nd-in-command of Honey's friends, we have Elsa. Elsa is shown to be the most pretentious of the group, often trying to seem like she knows better, but just ends up making herself look like a fool. This is actually shown in the episode "Who's a Good Therapist?", where she takes over for Honey to lead group while she's away. Her advice to the pets is utterly unhelpful, like being the one who convinces Tabitha to run away. Most of this behavior stems from being an apparent service-dog, but ti's soon revealed that her owner just put one on her to avoid getting into legal trouble. Elsa is also shown to be somewhat desperate for romance like when trying to get with Jimmy Chonga, Diablo, a robot dog in one of the Christmas specials, and, quite bizarrely, one of She land Darla's baby turtles at the end of the aforementioned special. In spite of these flaws, Elsa does care about her friends like when she throws Raccoon out of the house for being rude to Honey or when she tells off Nathan for denouncing Honey's therapy skills. She even saves Honey and Chief from drowning in the 4th-of-July special. As obnoxious as she can be, Elsa is pretty good for the most part.
-Rounding out the good tier is the pig once owned by George Clooney, Max. Max's defining character trait, as well as his defining distasteful trait, is his arrogance. Throughout the first season, Max constantly brags about being the pet of a famous movie star. While this does result in some funny moments, it also shows that he has quite an ego on him and he constantly looks down on his friends. Now admittedly, being the pet of a famous person can be something to be proud of, it's just that Max tends to be a little too proud. He's also not above making fun of his friends for whatever misfortune that befalls them. However, in spite of this, he is not really a bad guy as he does show some concern for his friends like when he defends Honey against Raccoon when the latter begins insulting her. You also kind of feel sorry for him when he finds out that he's actually a replacement pig for the original Max that Clooney first owned or when Clooney pawns him off to Ray Liotta, who plans to kill him or that David Spade planned to in the 2nd season. All-in-all, Max could be a little more humble, but that doesn't take away how much of a good guy he is.
We now come to the Grey Area. This is the list of characters that aren't as bad as the ones on the Evil tier nor as good as the ones on the Good tier:
-Starting the Grey Area off is Chico's owner Kevin. When first talked about in the show, Chico basically describes him as an ideal pet owner, someone who is tentative to their pet. In reality though, Kevin is an easily stressed person, which is most likely because of how much he works as a flight attendant, which often keeps him away from home and away from Chico. Admittedly, Chico clinging to him when he leaves is annoying, but for the most part, Kevin could have simply told Chico that he needs to spend long hours working to pay for their home, but knowing how much Chico isn't all that bright, it probably would've been a fruitless endeavor. We're putting him high on the Grey Area list on account of his actions int he season 1 finale where he defends Chico against his ex-girlfriend Dana, who previously owned Chico, showing that he cared about Chico deep down despite feeling stressed out by him.
Jill's fish and Honey's other housemate pet, Bubbles, is next.. Bubbles is often a minor character as while she is technically part of Jill's pets, she doesn't really have any sort of impact on the episodes where she has a speaking role. Most of the time, Bubbles just mocks Honey and her friends for their problems and would also make a sexual remark to boot because she can be quite the sex-maniac. She can also be a little disgusting as evidenced by her trademark poop that she uses as any item she can imagine. The reason why we don't put her any lower on the list is because since she is limited to just a simple fish bowl, all she can do is snark and really nothing more.
-Next on our list is the breakout character, Raccoon. Raccoon is what we call the perfect neutral character as most of his roles either have him be a friend or adversary to the pets; in other words, a frenemy. When he first appears, he does act like a jerk to them by teasing them about their problems, letting The Gray One be caught by animal control and uses Honey's want to help him psychologically to raid her house with the help of his gaze. However, in subsequent appearances, Raccoon has been shown to grow fond of the pets as he would often help them out with stuff like getting them in Jill's home when they are locked out, keeping Honey's crush on Armando a secret and even going to save Honey fro ma pack of wild coyotes in the grand finale. He does still have his less than favorable moments though, like when he threw Shel a bachelor party just to capture him and his pals to sell them on the black market or when he blackmailed Honey to let him stay in Jill's shack in exchange for keeping quiet about Armando. Raccoon perfectly belongs in the grey area because he isn't a character who's purely good or purely bad.
-Coming in at the end of our Grey Area is the one-and-only Chief. Like Raccoon, Chief can be described as a person who's entire personality revolves around him being a neutral character. On one hand, Chief does mean well and has been shown to care about Honey in some regard, like when he took the blame for her pooping in Jill's home to keep her out of trouble. On the other hand though, Chief does tend to be quite dim-witted, loud, obnoxious and insensitive with how he acts, like when he often interrupts Honey's group therapy, making a mess in the house, and getting distracted whenever Honey attempts to appeal to his more humane side. He is also shown to be rather insistent about not joining Honey's friends in therapy, most likely because he finds them as boring and uptight as she is. In a world full of intelligent animals, Chief is one of the only few who actually acts like a dog, which often brings either funny or annoying results to the other animal characters. All-in-all, Chief is a mixed bag, he's not such a bad guy in spite of his flaws, but at the same time, his flaws keep him this low on the morality spectrum, just thankfully out of the evil category.
Speaking of which, we now come to the Bad to Evil. These are characters who only exist to cause trouble in this simple slice-of-life story. This will be a very short list because their aren't really all that bad characters in the show:
-Starting off, earning the bronze medal of evil is the remaining member of the group, Nibbles. Now you might think that Nibbles couldn't do any sort of harm since she is just a hamster. Well, you'd be wrong. Nibbles has been shown to suffer from a psychopathic streak that she just can't shake. Whenever something annoys her, Nibbles wastes no time responding to it in cruelty, like the aforementioned incident with Lenny the Mouse where after annoying Nibbles for who knows how long, after Lenny gets eaten by a snake, Nibbles was actually gleeful of this. While Nibbles does save Lenny through the urging of Shel, she doesn't do it out of a good heart. Nibbles also seems to have a love/hate relationship with the children in the classroom she's the pet in as she hates being touched by them but it doesn't really go beyond there. Why isn't she higher on the list? Well, Nibbles has been shown to actually appreciate her friends and can act rather nice to them on some occasions like finding Honey and Chief and defending them against Armando's pack. However, due to her sociopathic tendencies, we just couldn't put her any higher.
-Jill's mother, Nancy, earns the silver medal of evil. Nancy is the textbook example of an abusive mother. She always puts Jill down, doesn't care about how she feels and seems to favor her pet parrot Nathan over Jill. Nancy even once allowed Nathan to attack Jill when Nathan wanted to perch on her head. She always expects Nancy to cater to her every need without ever thanking her or giving her a break and from the look of things, Jill does not seem to be willing to put her foot down or set boundaries with her mom, instead just being passive about the whole thing and even chanting a mantra, 'Detach with love", to prevent herself from going insane. Whew, now that's a toxic parent relationship. I guess it's very easy to see why Jill became a therapist and why she has so many problems. The reason why Nancy doesn't get the most evil spot is because for all intents and purposes, she is just a jerk and not much beyond that really.
-We've reached the end of our list and we're giving the gold medal of evil to Honey's Uncle Nathan. Nathan is the pet parrot of Nancy, who she dotes on and treats more like her offspring than Jill. When he first appears in the episode "Who Done It?", Nathan proves what a complete sociopath he truly is, as he insults Honey's friends and constantly interrupts her sessions for laughs and Honey's friends take an immediate dislike of him. It goes beyond that however, as he set up a complex series of events to frame Honey for murdering her so that he could be free from his cage, because once Nancy dies, Jill becomes Nathan's new owner and knowing how much he's hated by Jill and Honey, he would be confined to his cage forever, showing how cruel and selfish he can be. He also managed to get Chief overly excited in one of the Christmas specials so that he could make a mess in the house, which results in Honey getting a decorative pine cone stuck on her ear and having to go to the vet. With all this and more, we are perfectly happy to give Nathan the gold medal of evil
With the morality list finished, it's time we give out some sinner medals.
-Getting the Darwin Medal is Chief. I mean, with how much of a doofus he is, it really shouldn't be a surprise.
-The Pride Medal goes to Max. By letting the fame of being the pet of a famous actor go to your head, he might as well be proud enough to accept the Pride Medal.
-The Lust Medal goes to Shel. He is such a sexual deviant that he is willing to have a threesome with his girlfriend and a croc shoe. You don't get more lustful than that.
-The Envy Medal goes to Tabitha. We get it, having all the love your owners gave you being transferred to another can be heartbreaking, but running away from your owners didn't seem all that too good of an option.
-Earning the Gluttony Medal is Chico. I'd explain why, but to anyone who is familiar with the show, or if you watched and heard me talk about Chico on this list, you might understand why we had to give him this medal.
-Raccoon takes the Greed Medal. He's always taking stuff like Jill's chicken and Tabitha's collar. Yes, greed is part of a raccoon's nature, but that's all the more reason to give him this medal.
-And finally, the Wrath Medal goes to Nibbles. She's always violent and wanting to take the aggressive approach when annoyed. Do I really need to say more.
And that's our list folks. What do you think? Leave your thoughts and comments below and don't forget to hit that notification bell. See you all later.