Wallaby Wednesday: The “Cabin Fever” diagnosis for all four lodgers

In the “Cabin Fever” episode of Rocko’s Modern Life, no one can duck the title condition. But why is Ed’s case the worst, and how do the others’ measure up?

After Ed Bighead disappears late in “Cabin Fever,” his wife’s concern is as conspicuous by its absence as he is.

The reporter covering the avalanche that buried the Bigheads, Rocko and Heffer starts his interview by inquiring on Ed’s whereabouts. But he only gets to pose the question after Bev greets her girlfriends.

Given how her husband has blasted himself out of their cabin and gone missing, Bev may be a little too happy to escape herself. Then again, with her nonchalance, she reverts to her trust in Ed’s self-reliance.

Recall an earlier sequence, when she cannot convince him to refrain from trying to dig out. She simply tells her co-renters, “Ed is a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

While Ed’s case of the episode’s title condition has lapped everyone else’s, the others are noticeably affected at times. Bev’s enjoyment of their eventual relief punctuates the effects on her.

For their part, Rocko and Heffer field Bev’s curious calmness while she outclasses them in strip poker. Their heads may not be in the contest, as they are proverbial placid ducks kicking their feet below the water.

The results on the poker table may also speak to Bev’s cunning and experience with the game. Still, she and the two young men plainly misplace some marbles during stretches of their cabin confinement.

The preceding night, moments before Ed triggers the avalanche, all three stumble egregiously over his shadow puppets. One would think an international culture enthusiast like Rocko would know the Eiffel Tower when he sees it. And even Heffer ought to know a prancing deer from a hose or a radiator. But perhaps the cabin is too cozy and dark for them to get on their A-game.

In between, at mid-afternoon, Rocko is still in character when he suggests everyone “relax and wait for (the search team) to rescue us.” The wallaby whose creator, Joe Murray, and voice artist, Carlos Alazraqui, have both considered “the eye of the hurricane” transcends all natural disasters with his levelheadedness.

 

Heffer, however, raises eyebrows with his non-reaction as the quartet listens to the news of their own predicament. If the newsman’s prediction that “they’ll probably starve” fazes the insatiable steer, he does not show it.

Granted, he and Rocko have stocked up on the items he rattles off during their drive up the mountains. But he starts his dreamy speech by announcing the timeline of “an entire weekend.” It is implicitly Friday afternoon at that point, with a return to O-Town slated for Sunday.

With the snowy disruption, he might wonder if he has enough to last longer than he and Rocko had planned. Speaking of plans, neither party knows there will be twice as many occupants until Heffer finishes his list.

Come what may, Heffer, Rocko and Bev resist all open panic until Ed has been gone for unspecified hours. They only snap on Saturday night, after a full day and sunset have elapsed post-avalanche.

Heffer sets it up with an ill-timed horror tale before Ed sets it off upon returning from his fools’ errand. The cryptozoological “adominal snow monkey” is fresh on the others’ minds, and they unleash their self-defensive reflexes without mercy.

For the second night in a row, Ed’s three cabin co-tenants lose their rationality at his expense. On Friday, they cannot decipher Ed’s perfect manual renderings of splendid art, architecture and fauna. The next night, they let the fresh fright from Heffer’s story and a block of ice cloud their otherwise effortless recognition of Mr. Bighead himself.

The key word in that paragraph is “night,” for their wits only scramble when the sky is dark. Conversely, Ed is out of sorts from the start, dating back to before “Cabin Fever” commences.

As his first mishap, Ed realizes his reservation mix-up when Rocko reminds him it is January. He is half an almanac off, having booked the cabin for Independence Day weekend.

When the error sinks in, Ed’s stupor underscores the mistake’s honesty. His workload at Conglom-O has clearly done more than leave him desperate for a getaway with his wife. It has also led him to reserve the cabin with clashing dates on his tongue and mind.

Naturally, Bev also misses the vast discrepancy, implying that Ed has surprised her at the last minute. When the error dawns on her, she is momentarily crushed before Rocko offers to share the cabin.

 

But her husband had spent one of the last portions of their drive expressly anticipating “no idiot neighbors.” Despite the stress he incurs at work, he singles out Rocko as the aspect of O-Town he will not miss.

And yet, of all people to cross paths with him at the cabin, it is Rocko and Heffer. Denied a key measure of relief he had itched for, Ed cannot help spiraling into cabin fever. As he himself rants, “How can I rest when I have to spend my weekend with those two pinheads?!”

By triggering the avalanche, that loss of volume control exacerbates his unrest. And it is all self-imposed, especially given his previous backfired attempts to sabotage Heffer and Rocko’s fun. With that said, he channels his desperation into active determination the next afternoon.

Meanwhile, when Bev shrugs off the perils of a civilian trying to dig out of multiple stories of snow, Rocko and Heffer both glance at the camera. Their expressions exude skepticism against Bev’s faith. Their silent, comparative concern is proven right when Ed returns.

The next day, Ed’s choice of escape cements his over-the-top worry amidst the lodgers’ ordeal. Bev is at the other extreme with her lack of worry when he is gone. While their effects of cabin fever are distinct, Bev’s case is the second-worst.

Perhaps it is a toad thing, or an age factor. By comparison, the two twentysomething campers stave it off, and show as much in their faces.

They might be less well-versed in disasters than their elders, especially in environments nothing like the city or the Outback. But they know enough, and retain the presence of mind, not to try digging themselves out. And while they are more mindful of Ed’s first ill-advised solution than Bev, they avoid panicking, which would be unproductive.

Unfortunately, if they are to keep overcoming all symptoms of cabin fever, their search team needs to beat the sunset. In unfamiliar settings, darkness will always exacerbate anxiety, or unleash it if it is fettered at first. That is human and, apparently, amphibian, bovine and wallaby nature.

But at least Rocko and Heffer had more light and clean air before they came than the corporate office-bound Ed. That holds them up until late in the second night, when their confinement becomes consequential.