Big Boys Don't Cry

"**Big Boys Don't Cry**" is Episode 36 in Season 1. It originally aired on March 6, 1995.

## Plot

As Julie is watching Ben and Skye play vertical checkers, Leon stops them and announces the idea of making pancakes (the way his [paternal] grandmother, Edna, does it). However, things go wrong, starting when Ben says that pancakes are just pancakes. Leon disagrees by showing them (and the viewers) a montage of different kinds: flapjacks with old-fashioned maple syrup, buttermilk pancakes with strawberries (and strawberry sauce), buckwheat pancakes with honey on them, two pictures of crêpes with mushrooms in them, blintzes (folded pancakes with a cheese filling inside) with raspberries and blackberries, a crispy bubbly pancake filled with couscous, tortillas, and potato latkes. He says that the kind they get depends on the recipe.

The kids (except for Kiki and Jody who show up later) try getting going, but they ignore or dismiss Leon's pleas (and in the process, the recipe ends up in the batter, much to his dismay). They try doing things differently, such as Julie getting the milk (but there is none in Edna's pancakes), and Ben doing things the way his mother does so. When Leon expresses injustice, Julie is the first to be concerned. He explains the problem. Ben says the point is that they did everything together, but Leon disagrees because they didn't let him, whose idea it was, help, and left him out. He gets so angry that he cries. Ben tells him to not be such a crybaby. He is even more offended and walks out. This is when Sizzle and Nuzzle, having been interested in this, begin to take away the pancakes and eat them while none of the kids are looking. More are made, and Ben doesn't understand why Leon is crying. He thinks the important thing is that the pancakes are turning out fine. Julie says the point was he wanted to show them how Edna does it, but they didn't let him. Ben says that not cooking pancakes is no reason to cry. Julie is not sure. She indirectly asks real-life kids what makes *them* cry. Ben doesn't care what they say and still says Leon is a crybaby, much to Julie's shock. Ben doesn't think it's a big deal that they (instead of Leon) made the pancakes. He says that if he and his brothers were like that, anyone of them taking things from the rest would make them cry all the time. Julie asks Skye if *he* doesn't think Leon is a crybaby. He doesn't state it, but he says that while Leon is one of his best friends, he doesn't think boys are supposed to cry even if their feelings are really hurt. Julie tells them that they are so mean. She leaves the kitchen in anger to cheer Leon up. Then Ben and Skye react in horror to their recently-made pancakes being gone.

Up in the greenhouse, in an attempt to make Leon feel better, Julie appears to him in a pair of funny glasses. He is not fooled by the appearance, but asks her if she thinks he is a crybaby. She says no and that it wasn't nice of them to do what they did. They had just been excited, and she asks him to come downstairs, but he refuses. He is even more upset to find out that Skye thinks he is a crybaby, too.

Back downstairs, Julie tells Ben and Skye that Leon refuses to come downstairs because he is hurt, and that he is embarrassed by their reference to him as a crybaby. They say that everyone knows that men and boys do not cry, as it is only for girls, women, and babies. Julie asks them if they ever heard of Paul Bunyan. They say they have, but they do not believe it is even possible that he cried (for days and days).

In the story, the famous giant Paul Bunyan is to the liking of everybody, especially his blue ox, Babe. He goes with Paul everywhere. However, one day, he got sick. But even though Paul is the biggest and strongest man, there was nothing he could do to help him. He felt bad and started to cry. He cries big tears for days. To prevent a flood, he digs up a big hole. Still feeling bad, he continues to cry. Much later, it turns out that Babe only had a fever and needed to rest, and Paul's tears become the Great Salt Lake. Suddenly, Babe has recovered, and he and Paul live happily ever after.

The boys are surprised and moved a bit. Ben explains he had learned one thing: it's okay that Leon is a crybaby. This doesn't please Julie, and the boys go to apologize to Leon.

However, Leon does not want to talk to them. Ben and Skye try to apologize to him, but Ben adds insult to the injury by saying he wouldn't have taken over if he had known that Leon was going to cry about it...and that he guesses it's okay for certain people to be crybabies about certain things. Leon says he had plenty of reasons to be upset, and reminds them. They apologize to him, but Skye figures he must have felt embarrassed to cry in front of everyone. He says lots of boys cry. Ben says that doesn't, however, make it right. His uncles had told him not to cry if he got hurt because "men and boys do not cry". Leon acknowledges that some people *say* that, but that Ben and Skye were really rude to him by leaving him out of making the pancakes even though it was his idea and acted like he wasn't even there. Ben asks if he thinks it's okay for him to cry. Exasperated, he brings them downstairs, explaining that men and boys cry all the time as a way of releasing their feelings, as everyone has them. He asks Weebus to show them so. It shows a montage of feelings being expressed in various ways, including men crying, to the song "Let Them Show" by Porter Carroll, Jr.

After this montage, Ben and Skye admit they were wrong, but Ben guesses he knew it all along. At first, Leon asks him what he means, but he denies anything. Leon points out he has cried, too, but he asks him not to tell anyone. He is just afraid people will call *him* a crybaby, so when he does cry over missing his father since *his* death, he goes to his room to hide his feelings. Skye points out that his grandfather cried when *he* held his (Skye's) little sister for the first time, but not because he was sad, in fact, because he was so happy. Then again, Leon points out that *he* cried because he was so angry with them for leaving him out of everything. Ben understands that, and he says he'd be mad too if someone left *him* out. He then apologizes to Leon for calling him a crybaby, and accepts that it was okay. Skye apologizes, too. After this is settled, Leon asks them how the pancakes turned out. After trying to explain, they say they stirred them too much.

Back in the kitchen, the kids (including Kiki and Jody) have been making more pancakes, only to find them gone. Ben points out the source: Sizzle and Nuzzle have been eating them, and are lying on the floor, feeling badly sick with their injury bellies. Kiki gets so angry at them and takes them out of the kitchen by sending them to a time out until they have finished eating! Jody despairs in hunger, but Leon decides the way to solve this problem: by actually showing them how to make them his grandmother's way.

## Notes

* Even though Julie is the one who brings up the Paul Bunyan story, she is not the one narrating. Instead, it is an anonymous uncredited woman.
* Two of the clips in the "Let Them Show" montage are from the Kwanzaa and Hanukkah segments from "Deck the Halls".