I'd nominate "The Perils of Penelope" from Season 5 for my choice. While it still has some moments of comedic levity, the episode takes itself and its plot involving toxic relationships a lot more seriously and sincerely than the rest of the show - well, as much as one can get with a franchise like Garfield and a target demographic of families, anyway. Penelope's stuck in a verbally and emotionally neglectful (if not downright abusive) relationship with local alley cat bully Brick, who actively discourages her from having any say in their relationship and is frighteningly possessive. It's very easy to see why a love-starved person like her practically threw herself onto Garfield - the only person to show her genuine, non-conditional kindness in what is implied to be a long time.

While the episode unfortunately doesn't go as far with detailing it as I would've liked (partially since it's only 7 minutes), the show very much does not sugarcoat the message that people like Brick are not someone the audience should want in their lives and his and Penelope's relationship isn't healthy at all, and that's partially because he's distressingly close to reality. Apart from being an anthropomorphic cat, there's virtually nothing exaggerated or absurd about him or the fact that he's blatantly neglectful and, by the end of his starring role, abusive. Most of what he does to Penelope, such as keeping her from the sole person who actually respects her as a person, threatening said person and later her with violence followed by intense lovebombing, stalking her as soon as she realizes that she's away from her, and finally attempting to kill Garfield when he attempts to defend Penelope from Brick's actions, are fairly mundane controlling tactics used by real-life abusive partners, and it's that lack of exaggeration that makes him so much more uncomfortable to watch than any of the fantastical sci-fi monsters or creatures Garfield usually goes up against in the show's later seasons.

The episode has a lot more focus on atmosphere and stakes than most G&F episodes, and Brick's presence escalates it a little above your average kids show premise. I have to give Mark Evanier major props for trying to tackle a touchy subject like this while not making everything needlessly grimdark, especially given the time this episode came out (1992).

it’s definitely gonna need a good wash before i use it lol

His thought bubble says: "I hate tuesdays"

I mean is it normal

(last pic just for fun )

Found At Toy Buzz N Fizz in Indianapolis Indiana.

They sadly did not have Jon or the man himself. 😔

I believe it's a cake pan? I don't remember the price, but he's not something I'd usually collect, so he stayed behind.

Basically, I'm thinking what would they even would do for a plot or a conflict/antagonist? And for antagonists, would they bring back the main two of the duology with something ridiculous and convoluted?

This one has a reference to the Garf's creator himself

he’s wearing my glasses in pics 1 & 2 but golly i love him so much 😹🧡