The Old Switcherooms (Dexter’s Laboratory)

The Old Switcherooms is the second middle half of the 29th episode of Season 2 of Dexter's Laboratory, which first aired on March 4, 1998.

Plot
When Dad makes Dexter and Dee Dee switch rooms, Dexter becomes paranoid that Dee Dee is destroying his lab.

Why It's TOO Old To Switch

 * 1) After Dexter and Dee Dee accidentally destroy Dad’s trophy during a fight, they are both punished by Dad to go to their separate rooms, with Dexter going to Dee Dee’s and Dee Dee going to Dexter’s, which is not a good punishment.
 * 2) Dee Dee and Dexter accidentally destroy their Dad’s trophy. But, at least after that, she wasn’t too bad for the rest of the episode.
 * 3) Dexter is quite unlikable here, because he, along with Dee Dee, started this whole thing, and then tried to sneak out of Dee Dee’s room to make sure his lab is ok, against his punishment, and he ended up destroying Dee Dee’s room by accident.
 * 4) Despite not being quite as bad as Dexter or dad, Dee Dee’s characterization is inconsistent in this episode.  She screams out “yay” when she learns that she will be serving punishment in Dexter’s room, making Dexter fearful that she will destroy his lab like she usually does and she shows no respect for his stuff as proven when she starts the conflict in the episode by stealing Dexter’s Major Glory action figure. She is also shown to be hypocritical when she gets upset that Dexter thrashed her room.
 * 5) * Speaking of hypocrisy, the episode imposes the unfair sex trope with the show suggesting that it is okay for Dee Dee to destroy Dexter’s property, but not okay for Dexter to destroy anything belonging to Dee Dee as Dexter gets punished for thrashing Dee Dee’s room and he is a boy but Dee Dee is a girl who constantly destroy’s her brother’s lab and received no punishment in comparison
 * 6) Plot Hole:  Dee Dee screams “yay” and rejoices in going to Dexter’s room, implying that she plans on spending her punishment wreaking havoc on the lab yet all she does is just lie on Dexter’s bed and fall asleep. Why did Dee Dee rejoice in going to Dexter’s room when she planned to serve her time without causing havoc?
 * 7) Dad himself is no better because of the punishment he gave Dexter and Dee Dee, which caused Dexter’s actions in this episode, and then after he and Dee Dee saw the mess Dexter made to her room, he gave him an even more harsh punishment by sending him to the dog house.
 * 8) A bad ending where Dexter sleeps in the dog house, and while he does say that he doesn’t have to worry about the dog destroying his lab, we see that the dog does indeed destroy his lab.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Mom is the most likable character in this episode.
 * 2) Dee Dee wasn’t too bad for the rest of the episode, as she just slept in Dexter’s room and didn’t go to his lab, and at least accepted her punishment unlike Dexter.