Popeye taught us that people could be stubborn, prejudiced, self-centered and obsessed yet still maintain goodness and strength of character when the game is on the line. Simply put, Wimpy had a burger addiction. Wimpy's famous line "I'll gladly repay you Tuesday" was clearly a ruse and not ever to be trusted. Unfortunately Wimpy's hamburger obsession brought about his 'ruin' and so he was condemned to forever live his curse the raw truth is there are never really enough hamburgers. Everything else took back seat to his hamburger quest. Wimpy was always looking for a hamburger and that was it. Our limited kiddie world had its share of obsessive behaviors. As little tykes we had limited exposure to the hard cruel world but Wimpy taught us that an obsessive compulsive behavior could drive one's total behavior. On the other hand weird guy Wimpy was simply one obsessed character. And where we kiddies got to take a look into his cartoon brain. He would make his most poignant insights at this time and it was here that Popeye assessed his life and found his motivation to go on. It was as if he would stop in the middle of some disaster and patiently reflect on where he was and what he needed to do to get out of his current mess. Perhaps the most revealing parts were when Popeye reflected on life and his predicaments. Often it was even clear that Popeye's nemesis Brutus was in fact cleverer albeit he always seemed to lose on principle and didn't have the secret weapon spinach. In fact, one of Popeye's redeeming qualities was he was not bright enough to get too far off track. Poor Popeye's conscience would not let him stray far from the path. He had few redeeming qualities and his motives were either explicitly or implicitly questionable, whereas with amigo Popeye he always let us know that he was playing it straight up. The way to Olive Oyl's heart was through Sweet Pea.
Of course Olive would panic and enlist the aid of both of her suitors one thing was clear Olive's top priority was Sweet Pea not fashions, suitors or going out to the latest clubs.
Sweet Pea would often wander off and that would provide the episode's edge. In fact it never really entered the plot Olive Oyl was always presented as a single mother. It wasn't clear who Sweet Pea's father was but we can assume that it wasn't Brutus or Popeye. And certainly romancing Olive Oyl with her daughter Sweet Pea wasn't easy. From Popeye and Brutus we learned that one will go to great lengths to find true love and certainly Popeye and Brutus were willing to go to great lengths to win favor with Olive Oyl. As little kids we didn't know much about grown-ups and love and such but we knew it was there. Even back then we had to wonder what was so attractive about Olive Oyl but suffice it to say there was something about her that had 'hot babe' written all over it.
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