“Josh is Done”: Drake & Josh’s Most Powerful Episode

Courtesy of Nickelodeon

Like many former late 90s and early 2000s kids, I grew up watching Drake & Josh on Nickelodeon. The show about two teenagers who are complete opposites becoming brothers is one of Nickelodeon’s best shows. Drake Parker, the too-cool-for-school kid who is popular with the girls, and Josh Nichols, the happy dorky kid were a comedic duo that kids grew up on. When the show first began, Josh was excited about having a new brother whereas Drake dreaded it. Throughout the show, Drake accepted Josh as his brother and the two went on various misadventures, from making their home into a hotel during spring break to being arrested for selling stolen Gary Coleman grills. Every episode provided a lot of laughs and classic lines. One episode though has always stood out and has aged like fine wine 18 years since it first premiered and it’s the season four episode “Josh is Done”.

The episode starts like any Drake & Josh episode with Drake and Josh talking to the audience, this time about an upcoming chemistry exam that is stressing Josh out, but Drake doesn’t seem to care about it. Drake wants Josh to play ping pong with him and Josh keeps rejecting it until he ultimately gives in to Drake’s demands. The episode shifts to the morning of the test and Drake wants to play Josh in ping pong despite Josh still studying. Drake throws the ping pong paddle where no one wants to be hit and Josh reluctantly agrees. As the two brothers play, Josh accidentally throws his paddle at the window, breaking it. Drakes goes down to get another paddle but immediately forgets when he receives a call from a girl he’s dating to head right to school. Drake goes, forgetting Josh who now has no way to get to school since Drake takes the car, and their sister Megan tells Josh that Drake ran over his bike last night.

Josh runs to school but is late to class. The chemistry teacher, Mr. Roland, refuses to let Josh in as he has a rule saying if you’re late to class you cannot come into his class and tells Josh he will take a make-up exam Saturday morning and will be marked down one letter grade. Josh breaks down and points at Drake with a dangerous look on his face. Drake is oblivious to Josh’s anger which causes Josh to try to attack Drake in rage before being kicked out of class. When Drake gets home, he sees Josh calmly reading and apologizes by giving him a sit ‘n’ bounce. Josh tells Drake he’s not mad at him, but instead done with him, no longer wanting anything to do with Drake and his antics, only considering him a roommate until the day Josh leaves for college.

Drake doesn’t take this seriously at first, convinced this will be like all the other times he upset Josh and that Josh will eventually forgive him. Unfortunately for Drake, that’s not the case. Josh is spending more time hanging out with other friends, having better luck at work with getting tips from the customers and getting along better with his boss Helen, acing his make-up exam where Mr. Roland doesn’t mark him down a letter grade, and a rash he’s had for ages finally goes away. Drake, on the other hand, is struggling without Josh to help him. Josh doesn’t even stop Drake from getting kicked out of the movie theater.

Drake’s at his breaking point in chemistry class. After learning Josh asked for a new lab partner, Drake now has to work with a kid named Clayton, who always mumbles and no one can understand him. When Drake struggles to work with Clayton and tries to do the chemistry assignment himself, he causes a chemical emergency that results in him being put into a chemical shower. Drake steps out and tearfully apologizes to Josh for being a horrible brother and confesses that he needs Josh way more than he needs him. Drake Bell gives one of his best performances on the show right here. Josh Peck gives a strong performance here as well, showing how conflicted he is on Drake’s apology and doing his best to look neutral. It’s here that viewers can see how far the two stars have come in these roles since not only the first episode of Drake & Josh but also the first time they worked together on The Amanda Show. It’s at this point we also see these characters have grown up and changed since the first episode of the show.

The episode ends with Drake looking depressed on the ping pong table. Josh comes in, acting like his goofy, fun self, challenging Drake to a ping-pong match. Drake wants to apologize again, but Josh continues with his ping-ping persona and gives Drake a smile that tells him all is forgiven. No dialogue or words are needed, just Josh smiling instead of the neutral, cold look he was always giving Drake when he pushed Drake out of his life. Drake smiles back and plays along with Josh as they reconcile over a game of ping pong.

To me, “Josh is Done” is a powerful, deeper episode than most people give it credit for. It doesn’t feel like a typical Drake & Josh episode. It’s more mature than any Teen Nick episode from any other Teen Nick show. We see a happy, forgiving character in Josh finally reaching his breaking point with Drake and believing his life would be better without his brother. We see Drake, who usually has good stuff happening to him, have the worst luck he ever had in the series without Josh in his life and reach his emotional breaking point. Drake realizes he’s been a bad brother to Josh and confesses not only to Josh but their entire chemistry class. The show that always provides laughs gave us an episode that is more serious as we get older. The only missed opportunity this episode had was that we never saw Drake and Josh’s parents in this episode to see what they thought of Josh no longer wanting anything to do with Drake.

Many of us could relate to what Josh was going through. How many of us have had family members, friends, maybe even co-workers, and teammates we care for do bad stuff to us or take advantage of our kindness? How many of us forgive them only for them to hurt us again? How many of us finally decided to be done with those people? Sometimes, we can forgive them and bring them back into our lives like Josh eventually did. We might even do it sooner than Josh did. Sometimes, it could take us longer than Josh did, like months or even years. Sometimes, we might not even bring that person back into our lives because they might not have realized their mistakes like Drake did, and we believe our lives have gotten better without them. Many people could also relate to Drake. While we may care for someone, we sometimes keep screwing up and hurting them. Eventually, they are out of our lives, and we realize how much that person means to us. At a certain point, we might break down and emotionally apologize like Drake did in this episode.

Do you think “Josh is Done” is the most powerful episode of Drake & Josh? Have you ever felt like Josh did in this episode with a loved one? Let us know in the comments below.