Roadkill

**Roadkill** is the fourth episode of Season 3 of The Cuphead Show! and the twenty-nine overall.

## Synopsis

After hitting the Devil with his car, Elder Kettle takes him in, mistaking him for a stray cat he affectionately calls “Mrs. Meow Meow.”

## Plot

One morning in the Underworld, the Devil wakes up from his sleep. In his hall, he goes to eat the last donut, but gets interrupted by Stickler, who informs him that he hasn't collected a single soul for a while. Unconcerned about it, the Devil goes to sit down on his throne, but gets suddenly launched off of it by the Bubbles of Failure, which seize everything that The Devil holds dear, including his pitchfork, throne, bed, paintings, coffee mug, elevator, and even Henchman. He has one day to get any soul to fulfill the requirements to get his possessions back or they will be seized forever. Because he's now empty-handed, he has to take the spiral staircase to get out of the Underworld.

On the surface, Cuphead and Mugman try to run from Elder Kettle to go to the theatre, and tell him that "it's a double double feature" to get more time away from him. Elder Kettle offers them a lift, which Cuphead and Mugman run away from when Elder Kettle goes to get his keys. Meanwhile, the Devil, exhausted from climbing the stairs, sets out to find the cottage until he steps on a pine cone, which causes him to hop backwards on one foot off a cliff and into a thorny bush.

Elder Kettle exits the house and gets in his car. He drives backwards through the fence before going off at top speed to try and catch up with the boys. The Goat comes out from behind the fence and starts to repair it. The Devil is trying to free himself from being tangled in thorns, but a rabbit bites him on the nose. Free from the branches, he notices Cuphead and Mugman running, but just as he is about to give chase, Elder Kettle rams into him, causing him to go flying and knocked out cold. Elder Kettle drags him inside after crashing through his fence again, and treats him as a house cat, calling him "Mrs. Meow Meow".

The Devil wakes up in Elder Kettle's bed. He hates the idea of being treated like a house cat, but decides that it could work to his benefit, snatching Cuphead's soul when he least expects it. Elder Kettle gives The Devil a bath, which he hates at first, but then calms down after being brushed. Later, The Devil is sitting on Elder Kettle's lap, while Cuphead and Mugman return home. Seeing The Devil causes them to laugh at his appearance, before he jumps at the two and chases them around the house. Elder Kettle whacks him with a broom, but that doesn't stop him. Cuphead pulls out a ball of yarn, which The Devil gets distracted by and happily plays with. Ms. Chalice says that there is a double double feature at the theatre, which Cuphead and Mugman happily follow her to.

The Devil is now angry that he couldn't get Cuphead's soul. He wants to take Elder Kettle's soul instead, but Elder Kettle loves him too affectionately for him to do this. He opens the door and sees Telephone, taking up his offer and challenging him to tic-tac-toe. Back in hell, The Devil returns with Telephone's soul, and all of his items come out from the bubbles. The Devil asks if Henchman has brought more donuts, to which Henchman replies that he was in the bubble. The Devil grabs his pitchfork and sits back on his throne. As soon as Stickler and Henchman leave him be, he pulls out the ball of yarn he stole from Elder Kettle's house, and plays with it again.

Back at Elder Kettle's house, the Front Yard Goat lies on Elder Kettle's lap as they both sleep.

## Cast of Episode

* Cuphead
* Mugman
* The Devil
* Stickler
* Elder Kettle
* Front Yard Goat
* Ms. Chalice

## Trivia

* It's shown that the Bubbles of Failure confiscate everything the Devil cherishes, including people he cares about (ex: Henchman). When it was asked on Twitter if King Dice was also bubbled, headwriter Deeki Deke replied that he "could not reveal at the time whether King Dice was inside a bubble or not." However, he stated that, if King Dice *wasn't* inside a bubble and finds out later that there are bubbles for everything the Devil cherishes and he didn't get a bubble, he would be "a rainbow of emotions."
* The Bubbles of Failure could be a reference to the first phase of the Devil's boss fight in the game where he chants to summon bubble-like bouncing crystal balls as a part of his attack.
* Originally, the scene where Elder Kettle goes to see "Mrs. Meow Meow" (the Devil) was going to be longer, with the Devil trying to "act casual" when posing as a cat.
* When the Devil is hit by Elder Kettle's car and falls on the ground, he does the death pose Peter Griffin does when he falls down the stairs in *Family Guy*.
	+ This is the second time *The Cuphead Show* has referenced *Family Guy*, with the first time being Elder Kettle after he is thrown off the fan in Say Cheese!.
		- Coincidentally, the "family jail portrait" is from the same episode.
* Curiously, the Devil doesn't seem to recognise Ms. Chalice when she came to tell the Cups about the double double feature at the Inkwell Theater, despite the fact she already met him. This is likely due to Old Scratch himself being too caught up in his role as Elder Kettle's housecat and fixated on getting Cuphead's soul (or anyone else's soul) just so he could get the Bubbles of Failure gone to reclaim his stuff and Henchman.