The thematic arc of this episode is that (to indulge in clichéd phrasing) the measure of someone is how they handle difficult situations.
Anthony despairs at first when he realizes it's more than a remote possibility he'll never be an EMT because he :ufup as a young man despite his capabilities. At one point in the episode he even decides to just not bother filling out his job applications because it's pointless. In the end however, and despite not really knowing why he's bothering, he makes a legitimate attempt to better himself and when faced with the chance to take a shortcut on the (again with the clichéd phrasing I’m sorry) road to doing so, he decides it's just not worth it and "does the right thing."
On the other end of the spectrum, when Blossom is presented with the chance to "do the right thing" and tell Six why she was really such a fucking asshole to her for most of the episode, she doesn't do so and lies instead. On some level we can relate to her choice, and not simply because she's a dumb kid. While it's probably just some Judy Blume horseshit, Six is really head over heels for Mr. seaQuest and Blossom doesn't want to darken that by making Six aware of the fact that the cost of her happiness is her own heartache--zero-sum gaming, it’s so demonic friends :tocry--that I'm sure will be ameliorated in the next episode I watch when she's chasing after some other fucking guy I’ve never heard of on some other Earth.
I linked my second Dawn of War clip in these synopses. They have a thematic connection that centers on what they call "exterminatus (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Exterminatus)" in-universe but you or I would just call "mass murder" or “genocide” because we don't live in a grimdark fictional universe but rather just a grimark nonfictional one. :rejoice
The first clip (cf. "Blood for the Blood God") is of the big bad of 4 of the Dawn of War games laying out the nihilistic lunacy of his cockamamie grand scheme that's taken numerous games to put together. He deliberately engineered conditions that would cause the genocide of an
entire solar system simply because the god he worships would enjoy it. I linked this clip because of the cheap blood connection, but also because for the overwhelming majority of us puberty is something that just happens whether we want it to or not, much as the poor souls of Subsector Aurelia would be wiped out whether they wanted to be or not. (The villain even says as much. “In mere hours, billions will die. Innocent! Guilty! Strong and weak! Honest and deceitful! ALL of them!”) The Bloodfather works in mysterious ways, y’all. :whew
The second clip has a bunch of emosad stuff (exacerbated by the Wolf’s Rain OST dub :dead) you need not concern yourselves with. Rather, I chose it because it deals with doing what you think is the right thing in a tough situation but it’s actually not. The “hero” of this scene was once presented with a tough situation and he chose the incomprehensibly gruesome but easy way out of it and is unwavering in his certainty that this was the right decision.
In actuality this action caused an irreparable rift between his closest friend (the villain in the scene) and him that was later exploited by an even more villainous villain to free a
fucking demon from (for lack of a term you would understand without a Lexicanum bookmark in your browser of choice) Hell. Did I mention that this demon then goes on to further corrupt his already corrupt boss who is the batshit fucking insane breh in the clip from “Blood for the Blood God?”
Oh hey, your past catching up with you, where have I seen that in Blossom? :hitler
Oh hey, creating a rift between your closest friend and you with your actions, where have I seen that in Blossom? :hitler
“You were great once before doubt addled your will. Before you rendered judgment on Cyrene. Before you murdered the innocent and guilty, all in one stroke! You weak, sorry fool! How does it feel to have slain millions, to have betrayed your own family?” Oh hey, where have I seen that in a synopsis for an episode of Blossom? :hitler
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kill me. :stahp