Despite Sniffles' numerous encounters with the ants during the internet series, this is the only Sniffles vs. Ants episode of the TV series (unless one counts the prehistoric ants in Blast from the Past having a brief appearance).
This is the only episode of the TV series to have only one death in it. (Though Handy is the only confirmed main character to die in A Change of Heart, a whale dies as well, and Lumpy may have died and an aphid may have died in this episode).
Now introducing the most torturous death in any show.
This is probably the most torturous death in Happy Tree Friends. Lumpy's death in The Chokes on You is second to this.
This is one of the few TV episodes where there are less than five characters.
This is the only TV episode where all of the characters who appear don't have visible buckteeth, including the Ants.
This is the only TV episode where only one character stars alone without any featuring characters.
Sniffles' death is the longest in the TV series, the second longest being Lumpy's in Letter Late than Never.
Nobody dies until 6 minutes throughout the episode. This qualifies as Sniffles' most antagonistic role in the series.
For now, this is the last episode with the Ants. (though it is possible they will appear again.)
This episode, along with Wishy Washy, is considered one of the most graphic episodes in the TV series.
This episode marks the second time a character uses a part of a character as clothing, where in this case Lumpy wears Sniffles' hand as a glove. The first time is in Let It Slide when Lumpy wears Flaky's skin as a hoodie.
There are no female characters in this episode, if one doesn't count the Mother and Daughter ant. Sniffles' remains are used for three different things at the end of the episode, more than any other single corpse in the series.
Cultural References
The title of this episode is a reference to the term "tongue-in-cheek," which means to joke around.
Sniffles' tongue licking the mother ant with her back to the wall is a reference to the 1979 movie Alien.
And to your right, you'll see the elusive Loch Ness Toungster.
The photo The Mole takes of Sniffles' tongue closely resembles the Loch Ness Monster photo, also referred to as "The Surgeon's Photograph."
The moral of this episode is a reference to the famous idiom "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill," which means to not make a big issue out of a smaller one.
Sniffles later suffers a similar death in In a Jam. Lumpy is wearing the same golf outfit from the end of Chew Said a Mouthful. It is possible this episode takes place after that one; two of the three surviving characters reappear here but none of the characters who died reappear.
Production Notes
This episode aired on YouTube on April 27, 2012 as confirmed on Twitter along with Easy Comb, Easy Goand Wingin' It. The name for the mix is "Eleventh Hour" (which was originally titled "Good and Nice Eleven"). Lumpy, Sniffles and The Mole appear in all three of these episodes. Lumpy dies once and Sniffles dies twice while The Mole survives in all three.
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