The Great Magpie Invasion

The Great Magpie Invasion is a Season 3 episode

## Characters

* Ki-Chouel
* Maggie
* Dong-Chouel
* Young-Chouel
* Mr. Chouel
* Ms. Chouel
* Lee Choi
* Myung-Hee
* Sid Jeon
* Dae-Jung
* Swoople
* Magpies
* Jimmy (does not speak)
* Joey (does not speak)
* Harmeoni-Chouel (does not speak)
* Harabeoji-Chouel (does not speak)
* Hana-Chouel (does not speak)
* Nari-Chouel (does not speak)
* Iseul-Chouel (does not speak)
* Eun-Chouel (does not speak)
* Seok-Chouel (does not speak)
* Sae (does not speak)
* Pammy (does not speak)
* Buggy (mentioned only)

## Plot

When the magpies threaten to invade Dong-Chouel's house for magpies, Ki-Chouel adopts a magpie that meets an untimely end.

## Summary

It is winter, and Dong-Chouel and his family are sleeping, then Swoople notices that the magpies are coming for persimmons, Dong-Chouel gets ready for school, then the magpies show up and peck on him, Dong-Chouel, with Swoople throw snowballs at them, causing them to get angry and chases them

The next day, Dong-Chouel tries vainly to invent a new way to walk in the snow to avoid the Magpie, using pizza boxes with his shoes duct-taped to them after failing to warm up his winter boots, which end up melting into the bricks of the fireplace. However, his new idea fails, as he left leftover pizza in the boxes, causing the neighborhood dogs to attack. He also discovers that Sid-Jeon couldn't stand the sock smell and opens the windows to let some fresh air in, but forgot to close the windows at the end of his shift. Due to this, indoor temperatures drop to below freezing.

At school, Dong-Chouel tells his classmates that the magpies are invading the neighborhood for persimmons, Then the magpies arrive at the school and causes a big chase, through the library, through the hallway, through the canteen and through the office,

Then, Dong-Chouel and Sid tell Kim-Seo that the magpies had invaded the school, the principal tells the entire school, to cut class short

The magpies start running after Dong-Chouel and Lee, having believed the other magpies on the street lying about him throwing the snowball. They then decide to run from them, leading them into the woods.

Dong-Chouel and Lee are forced to run in the woods, where a mythical creature is known as the "tiger man" exists. Dong-Chouel sees a light coming from a broken car, but he and Lee then realize they're in the Feeble' camp as Dong-Chouel finds Meeky Feeble's belt buckle. After getting close to a car, the hand puppet that Dong-Chouel wears in place of a glove gets stuck on the door handle of the car, resulting in Dong-Chouel abandoning him because of some unknown figures rising from the cars, which Dong-Chouel and Lee believe are the Feeble kids. He and Lee then dash out of the woods,

While Dong-Chouel and Lee are in the woods, Ki finds a little, lost magpie who broke his leg. However, Ki soon realizes that Dong-Chouel might not approve, as he hates magpies, so he decided to keep it a secret. The next morning, Ki calls his magpie, Maggie, During dinner, Maggie comes by the dinner table and Ki notices him under the table. They try to get him but accidentally shake the table causing Dong-Chouel to look underneath. Myung-Hee is impressed at the sight of the little magpie, and Dong-Chouel decides to let Ki keep him. Sid-Jeon eventually finds a cure for Dong-Chouel's hatred to Magpies. Young-Chouel makes a bed for Maggie and Ki gives him his Crazy Train plush; they both tell him goodnight and that they love him. Swoople also secretly tells Maggie he loves him but takes the Crazy Train plush believing he is tough enough to sleep without it.

That night, Maggie flies out the window by accident and is hit by a truck early the next morning and everyone is very upset. The Chouel kids and Swoople each respond to their grief in their own way. A distraught Ki denies Maggie's death, insisting he is just lost and trying desperately to find him. Swoople angrily takes all of the house plants outside and orders Sae and Pammy to get away from their house,

A depressed Young sits in their room curled up while Dong-Chouel's attempts to cheer him up with his favorite hobbies prove futile. Some time later, the boys are tearfully blaming themselves for Maggie's death.

Ki blames himself for not checking the window being closed while Dong-Chouel blames himself for not letting him sleep with Ki. Young blames himself for hiding Maggie in the closet, Even Swoople is unable to hide his sorrow and blames himself for taking the Crazy Train before breaking down in sobs. Mr. Chouel tells them that they have all the great memories of Maggie, leading into the song "Beautiful Memories." As they reflect on the good times they had with Maggie, The chouel kids and Swoople finally able to come to terms with their grief and look on proudly as Mr. Chouel places Maggie's collar on a plaque made to honor his memory

At Mapo Elementary School, Dong-Chouel's family, with Lee, Swoople, Jimmy and Joey bury Maggie in the ground, and put flowers and a Crazy Train plush that Ki recently brought,

Later that day, Mr and Ms. Chouel take the Chouel kids to the pet shop to get a new pet. Young is initially upset by the idea, but when the whipoorwill they choose plays with his snow outfit, Young comes to accept the new puppy and love her. As they return home, Dong-Chouel sneezes so Young tries again to cure his allergy, but Dong-Chouel refuses.

The episode ends with a dedication to "In Loving Memory of Lloyd Vaughan (1909-1988)"

## Trivia

* According to Jim Jinkins’ biography, this episode was written to satisfy a CBS executive who wanted there to be a pet magpie for Ki-Chouel
* Maggie's character was designed by both Jim Jinkins and Iwao Takamoto in 1988
* This episode is apart of Dong-Chouel's Seollal Marathon on Cartoon Network Korea in 2021
* This is regarded by many *Dong-Chouel* fans in South Korea and Belguim as the most heartbreaking episode of the entire series.
	+ Because of the episode's popularity in South Korea, an animated music video made by Rough Draft Korea was made in 2019 to reflect Ki-Chouel and Maggie's relationship
* This episode somewhat contradicts The Kimchi-Caper since Dong-Chouel had a hatred toward whippoorwills, while in this episode, he has a hatred towards magpies. However, oddly enough, Dong-Chouel develops an allergic reaction to whippoorwills near the end of this episode.
* Dong-Chouel, Ki-Chouel, Young-Chouel and Swoople are shown going through the Five Stages of Grief (a.k.a. the Kübler-Ross model) when Maggie dies. This includes
	+ **Denial** (Ki first keeps denying Maggie is dead and that he is lost),
	+ **Anger** (Swoople throws all the plants out of the Chouel household and does not allow poodles on their front yard),
	+ **Bargaining** (Ki thinks that it's another magpie that looks like Maggie that got ran over and that his collar must have fallen off),
	+ **Depression** (Young-Chouel is too depressed to do his favorite hobbies), and finally
	+ **Acceptance** (The Chouel Family reflects the good times they had with Maggie and goes to the animal shelter to buy a new pet in the form of a Whippoorwill named "Oscar").
* When this episode aired on The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, The scene when Ki looks for Maggie is removed, but the scene can be still seen on International Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels and on VHS and DVD