A Hard Act to Swallow

A Hard Act to Swallow is an episode of the Happy Tree Friends internet series, the eighteenth of the second season, and forty fifth overall.
== HTF Episode Description==
The ants strike again! Poor, poor Sniffles. He can't help that he eats ants, but they do their best to make him regret it. For those of you that like children's fables, see if you can pick up on the reference used in this episode.
==Plot==
The episode begins with Sniffles sitting under a tree in the park, looking at some math equations while eating some bread. He puts his book down momentarily, and notices the baby ant picking up some bread crumbs. The ant catches sight of Sniffles looking at him, so he sheepishly places the bread crumbs back while backing up. Unfortunately, Sniffles catches the ant in one go with his tongue, and rubs his tummy in delight. Inside Sniffles, the baby ant lights a match and notices the predicament he's in. Meanwhile, Sniffles proceeds to fall asleep. The baby ant pulls out a flare gun and fires it, briefly making Sniffles' chest glow. At the anthill, the mother catches sight of the flare, and calls for her children, who are wearing army helmets.
Sometime later, Sniffles wakes up, and to his horror, he realizes that his entire body has been nailed down to the tree he was sleeping on. He notices the ants, and can only look on in horror as they use a battering ram to destroy his teeth and get into his mouth. They tie a rope around his uvula and slide down it, finding the baby ant. The baby ant is happy that he is reunited with his family, and they proceed to climb up the rope to get out. However, due to their combined weight, Sniffles' uvula rips off, making him scream in pain. The mother then suggests another plan to escape.
The ants are now by Sniffles' heart. The brother ant ties up one of Sniffles' arteries, causing blood to overfill the heart up to the point where it exceeds the size of his rib cage. All hope seems lost for Sniffles, as the blood in his heart keeps on piling up. With blood leaking out of his eyes and mouth, his heart finally explodes, ripping open a large hole on his body and killing him. Just seconds later, a yellow inflatable slide pops out, and the ants slide out, cheering at their victory.
===Moral===
"Follow your Heart!"
==Deaths==
*Sniffles' chest expands and bursts when the ants tie his arteries closed, preventing blood from leaving his heart.
==Injuries==
#Sniffles gets nailed to a tree by the Ants.
#The Ants destroy Sniffles' teeth by smashing them with a battering ram.
#Sniffles' uvula rips off from the Ants' weight.
#Sniffles' uvula crushes the sister ant.
==Survival Rate==
*Amount of surviving main characters: 0
*Amount of dead main characters: 1
* Total rate: 0%
==Destruction==
*Sniffles' heart exploded, when the Ants closed and tied the arteries to stop the blood from leaving from his heart.
==Goofs==
#Sniffles is seen chewing from the side of his face, which shouldn't be possible since his teeth are in his snout.
#At the beginning of the episode, Sniffles can be seen eating from his slice of bread, but there isn't a bite mark on it.
#While Sniffles is reading, his pupils go over his glasses' frames.
#If Sniffles was really just asleep, there is no way the Ants should have been able to nail him to the ground and tree the way they did without waking him up.
#When Sniffles first realizes the Ants have nailed him down to the tree, his pocket protector disappears for a few frames.
# There is no tape on the bridge of Sniffles' glasses before the ants break his teeth.
#When the Ants are climbing up the rope before Sniffles' uvula breaks off, the single strand of hair on the Baby Ant's head is missing.
#There's no way the ants could have reached Sniffles' heart through his esophagus.
#With Sniffles' artery being blocked, there is no way for the blood to leave his heart, thus it couldn't leak out of his eyes and mouth while his heart was expanding.
#When the scene transitions to Sniffles' heart, the pupils of the daughter ant's eyes are nearly transparent (in the remastered version, the transition is changed from fade to slide, and the error is fixed).
# A few inconsistencies occur briefly before Sniffles dies. These include his arm being conjoined to his face, a segment of stretched skin being detached slightly from his head, and a nail on his arm being layered over his head. Half of his mouth is also missing when it starts bleeding.
#When Sniffles dies, a heart can be seen flying out of his chest, despite it blowing up from too much blood.
#When Sniffles dies, in one frame, a nail overlaps his eyes.
#When Sniffles dies, in one frame, some nails are layered over his snout (fixed in remastered version).
#When Sniffles dies, his teeth aren't broken, even though they were bashed in by a mini battering ram earlier.
#When Sniffles dies, the nail holding down his tail disappears, reappears, and disappears again.
#When Sniffles dies, the skin held down by the nails, disconnects from his body in several frames. 
==Quick Shot Moment==
When Sniffles' heart grows so big that it exceeds the size of his ribcage, there is a brief shot of him pinned down to the tree.
Note: This is fixed in the Classics Remastered version on Mondomedia.com.
Category:Internet Episodes
Category:Internet Season 2
Category:Solo Episodes
Category:Ants' Episodes
Category:Episodes
Category:Rebel Without a Cause
Category:Regular Episodes
Category:Episodes Starring Sniffles
Category:2003 Episodes
Category:Episodes With No Debatable Deaths
Category:Single-Character Torture Episodes
Category:No Primary Characters
Category:Episodes written by Kenn Navarro
Category:Episodes written by Rhode Montijo
Category:Episodes written by Warren Graff
Category:Episodes written by Ken Pontac
Category:Episodes directed by Kenn Navarro
Category:No Featuring
Category:No Appearances
Category:No Destructions